" left in the old plays. When Leigh Hunt "comes we shall have battles enough about "those old ruffiani, the old dramatists, with "their tiresome conceits, their jingling 66 rhymes, and endless play upon words. "It is but lately that people have been "satisfied that Shakspeare was not a god, 66 nor stood alone in the age in which he "lived; and yet how few of the plays, even "of that boasted time, have survived! and "fewer still are now acted. Let us count 6 ❝ them. Only one of Massinger's (New "Way to pay Old Debts), one of Ford's*, "one of Ben Jonson's*, and half-a-dozen of "Shakspeare's; and of these last The Two "Gentlemen of Verona' and 'The Tempest "have been turned into operas. You can"not call that having a theatre. Now that * Of which I have forgot the name he mentioned. "Kemble has left the stage, who will endure "Coriolanus? Lady Macbeth died with "Mrs. Siddons, and Polonius will with "Munden. Shakspeare's Comedies are quite "out of date; many of them are insufferable "to read, much more to see. They are 66 gross food, only fit for an English or Ger"man palate; they are indigestible to the "French and Italians, the politest people in "the world. One can hardly find ten lines 66 66 together without some gross violation of taste or decency. What do you think "of Bottom in the Midsummer Night's "Dream?' or of Troilus and Cressida pas"sim?" Here I could not help interrupting him by saying, "You have named the two plays which, with all their faults, contain, perhaps, some of the finest poetry." "Yes," said he, "in Troilus and Cres "sida :' Prophet may you be! If I be false, or swerve a hair from truth. From false to false, among false maids in love, Upbraid my falsehood! when they've said,-As false As air, as water, wind, or sandy earth, As fox to lamb, as wolf to heifer's calf, Pard to the hind, or stepdame to her son; Yea, let them say, to stick the heart of falsehoodAs false as Cressid!'" These lines he pronounced with great emphasis and effect, and continued. "But what has poetry to do with a play, << or in a play? There is not one passage "in Alfieri strictly poetical; hardly one in "Racine." Here he handed me a prospectus of a new translation of Shakspeare into French prose, and read part of the first scene in 'The Tempest,' laughing inwardly, as he was used to do; and afterwards produced a passage from Chateaubriand, contending that we have no theatre. 66 "The French very properly ridicule our 6 bringing in enfant au premier acte, bar"bon au dernier.' I was always a friend to "the unities, and believe that subjects are "not wanting which may be treated in strict "conformity to their rules. No one can be "absurd enough to contend, that the pre "servation of the unities is a defect,-at "least a fault. Look at Alfieri's plays, and "tell me what is wanting in them. Does he "ever deviate from the rules prescribed by "the ancients, from the classical simplicity “of the old models? It is very difficult, "almost impossible, to write any thing to please a modern audience. 66 "I was instrumental in getting up • Ber tram,' and it was said that I wrote part "of it myself. That was not the case. I "knew Maturin to be a needy man, and "interested myself in his success; but its "life was very feeble and ricketty. I once thought of getting Joanna Baillie's "Montfort' revived; but the winding-up 66 66 De was faulty. She was herself aware of this, and wrote the last act over again; "and yet, after all, it failed. She must "have been dreadfully annoyed, even more |