force, but without morals, and without taste; sans mœurs et sans gout. There is no wonder, therefore, that Lord Kaims, in his Elements of Criticism, should have expressed himself, upon this subject, of the indelicacy of English comedy, in terms much stronger than any that I have used; concluding his invective against it in these words: "How "odious ought those writers to be, who thus spread infection through their native country; employing the talents which they have received from their Maker most traitorously against himself, by endeavouring to corrupt and disfigure "his creatures. If the comedies of Congreve did "not rack him with remorse in his last moments, "he must have been lost to all sense of virtue." Vol. II. 479. I AM happy, however, to have it in my power to observe, that, of late years, a sensible reformation has begun to take place in English comedy. We have, at last, become ashamed of making our public entertainments rest wholly upon profligate characters and scenes; and our later comedies, of any reputation, are much purified from the licentiousness of former times. If they have not the spirit, the ease, and the wit of Congreve and Farquhar, in which respect they must be confessed to be somewhat deficient; this praise, however, they justly merit, of being innocent and moral. FOR this reformation, we are, questionless, much indebted to the French theatre, which has not only been, at all times, more chaste and inoffensive than ours, but has, within these few years, produced a species of comedy, of still a graver turn than any that I have yet mentioned. This, which is called the serious, or tender comedy, and was termed by its opposers, La Comedie Larmoyante, is not altogether a modern invention. Several of Terence's plays, as the Andria, in particular, partake of this character; and as we know that Terence copied Menander, we have sufficient reason to believe that his comedies, also, were of the same kind. The nature of this composition does not by any means exclude gaiety and ridicule; but it lays the chief stress upon tender and interesting situations; it aims at being sentimental, and touching the heart by means of the capital incidents; it makes our pleasure arise, not so much from the laughter which it excites, as from the tears of affection and joy which it draws forth. IN English, Steele's Conscious Lovers is a comedy which approaches to this character, and it has always been favourably received by the public. In French, there are several dramatic compositions of this kind, which possess considerable merit and reputation, such as the "Melanide," and "Prejugé à la Mode," of La Chaussée; the "Père de Famille," of Diderot; the " Cénie," of Mad. Graffigny; and the " Nanine," and "L'En"fant Prodigue," of Voltaire. WHEN this form of comedy first appeared in France, it excited a great controversy among the critics. It was objected to as a dangerous and unjustifiable innovation in composition. It is not comedy, said they, for it is not founded on laughter and ridicule. It is not tragedy, for it does not involve us in sorrow. By what name then can it be called? or what pretensions hath it to be comprehended under dramatic writing? But this was trifling, in the most egregious manner, with critical names and distinctions, as if these had invariably fixed the essence, and ascertained the limits, of every sort of composition. Assuredly, it is not necesary that all comedies should be formed on one precise model. Some may be entirely light and gay; others may be more serious; some may be of a mixed nature; and all of them, properly executed, may furnish agreeable and useful entertainment to the public, by suiting the different tastes of men*. Serious and tender comedy has no title to claim to itself the possession of the stage, to *« Il y a beaucoup de très bonnes pièces, où il ne regne que de la gayeté: d'autres toutes sérieuses; d'autres melangées; d'autres, où l'attendrissement va jusq'aux larmes. II ne faut donner exclusion à aucune genre; & si l'on me de"mandoit, quel genre est le meilleur? Je repondrois, celui qui est le mieux traité." VOLTAIRE. 66 the exclusion of ridicule and gaiety. But when it retains only its proper place, without usurping the province of any other; when it is carried on with resemblance to real life, and without introducing romantic and unnatural situations, it may certainly prove both an interesting and an agreeable species of dramatic writing. If it become insipid and drawling, this must be imputed to the fault of the author, not to the nature of the composition, which may admit much liveliness and vivacity. IN general, whatever form comedy assumes, whether gay or serious, it may always be esteemed a mark of society advancing in true politeness, when those theatrical exhibitions, which are designed for public amusement, are cleared from indelicate sentiment, or immoral tendency. Though the licentious buffoonery of Aristophanes amused the Greeks for a while, they advanced, by degrees, to a chaster and juster taste; and the like progress of refinement may be concluded to take place among us, when the public receive with favour, dramatic compositions of such a strain and spirit, as entertained the Greeks and Romans, in the days of Menander and Terence. INDEX TO THE THREE VOLUMES. The Numeral Letters refer to the Volume; A ACCENTS, thrown farther back from the termination in the Achilles, his character in the Iliad, examined, iii. 225. Aets, the division of a play into five, an arbitrary limitation, Adam, his character in Milton's Paradise Lost, iii. 268. |