Mon cœur prend son parti; mais malgré son effort, In another of Corneille's plays, Les Horaces, is a passage connected with our subject, which produces a great effect on the French stage, but which, it has been said, must evaporate in any English translation. The father of the Horatii is angry at hearing that his surviving son retreats before the Curiatii (that being the stratagem he practised with success.) The people answer him—" What could your son do against three? (Que pourroit il faire contre trois ?) The father replies" Qu'il mourût.” The Cardinal Richelieu instigated the French Academy to write a severe criticism on Corneille's play of the Cid; this occasioned a neat couplet by Boileau En vain contre le Cid un ministre se ligue, Tout Paris pour Chimene a les yeux de Rodrigue. Mention has been above made of the actress Clairon, and her admiration of Garrick's acting, in Mrs. Garrick's presence. Voltaire celebrates her own acting in Corneille's tragedies— Corneille, des Romains peintre majestueux, T'aurait vue aussi noble, aussi Romaine qu'eux. That Mrs. Garrick might have some cause for jealousy, appears from a "young man's song" composed by Voltaire for Clairon's birthday; one of the stanzas is as follows Je suis a peine en mon printemps, Sois bien discrete, And here I am tempted to introduce a passage, from the same eloquent author, concerning another French actress Couvreur; especially as the bigotry of the French clergy against theatrical performers may be a warning to other nations. By this, and like measures they offered outrage to human nature; the re-action, as is always the case with the inevitable re-actions of nature, was terrific. How much more wisely did our amiable and eloquent Archbishop Tillotson confess to Betterton, in a conversation with him at Lambeth, where he was often invited, that he envied him the superior powers which he possessed and exercised upon the stage, of impressing virtuous sentiments on the human heart. His Lordship asked Betterton, how he accounted for the greater effect produced by an actor than by a preacher? Betterton said, he thought it was because "the Archbishop was telling a story, but he was showing facts." Couvreur was buried on the banks of the Seine, close to the Pont-Royal, the "churlish priests" having denied her "sacred earth" and "hallowed dirges:" Que direz vous, Race future! Lorsque vous apprendrez la flétrissante injure Celle qui dans la Grèce aurait eu des autels. Voilà mon Saint-Denys; oui, c'est là que j'adore Je les aímai vivans; Je les encense encore, Malgré les horreurs de trepas, Malgré l'erreur, et les ingrats Que seuls de ce tombeau l'opprobre déshonore. Having dipped into French poetry, I will take the opportunity of inserting a few extracts illustrative of different parts of this work from the same source; it would be out of place The to occupy for this purpose more than a page or two. first shall be Voltaire's description of the voice of Conscience raised against Parricides: Jamais un parricide, un calomniateur, N'a dit tranquillement, dans le fond de son cœur, Que respecte le crime en 's 'elevant contre elle. Il ne peut la changer; son juge est dans son cœur. The following passage regards the effects of native air; a subject to which Bolinbroke, in the passage above cited upon Exile, does not advert. L'astmatique Damon a cru que l'air des champs Il s'est fuit a grands frais, transporter en Bretagne. Damon seroit mort a Paris, Damon est mort à la campagne. I will not prolong these French extracts further than by citing some verses closely connected with the sentiments ascribed to the Soldier of Evander, and the Dying Gladiator, as above noticed. Boucher, author of Les Mois, was condemned to death by Robespierre; on the morning of his execution he sat for his picture, and under it wrote the following lines, addressed to his children : I Ne vous etonnez pas, objets charmans et doux, An Arabic poet may take advantage of the present digression, the translation is by Sir W. Jones On parent knees, a naked new born child Thou then may'st smile, while all around thee weep. To return to the behaviour of children towards parents. Dryden's description of the Duke of Monmouth's rebellious designs against his father Charles II, in his Absalom and Architophel, is one of the choicest specimens of English poetry that can be produced. It may be thought to afford an instance of greater poetical vigor than Pope could have exhibited, had he chosen a like subject. But this poem, which is the most splendid of English satires, appeared at a very improper moment. It is chiefly directed against Shaftesbury, who had been committed to the Tower, and was published only a few days. before a Grand Jury was to determine on a bill preferred against him for high treason. That Jury, however, did its duty. Their famous Ignoramus occasioned another satire by Dryden, the Medal, and led to consequences intimately bearing on the Revolution. Auspicious Prince, at whose nativity The young men's vision, and the old men's dream! And, never satisfied with seeing, bless. Swift unbespoken pomps thy steps proclaim, And stammering babes are taught to lisp thy name. Surrounded thus with friends of every sort, His looks, his gestures, and his words he frames, Though far unable to prevent your fate. Expos'd a prey to arbitrary laws! Yet oh! that I alone could be undone |