"than Lady 66 was. When it was bringing out, I was applied to to write "a prologue; but as the request did not "come from Kean, who was to speak it, I 6 "declined it. There are fine things in all "the Plays on the Passions: an idea in De "Montfort' struck me particularly; one of "the characters said that he knew the footsteps of another.* "There are four words in Alfieri that speak volumes. They are in Don Carlos.' "The King and his Minister are secreted "De Montfort.-'Tis Rezenvelt: I heard his well-known foot! From the first staircase, mounting step by step. Freberg. How quick an ear thou hast for dis tant sound! I heard him not." Act II. Scene 2. "during an interview of the Infant with the "Queen Consort: the following dialogue 66 passes, which ends the scene:-' Vedesti? 66 Vedi. Udisti? Udi. All the dramatic beauty would be lost in translation—the no"minative cases would kill it. Nothing pro"vokes me so much as the squeamishness "that excludes the exhibition of many such 66 66 subjects from the stage;-a squeamish ness, the produce, as I firmly believe, of a "lower tone of the moral sense, and foreign 66 66 to the majestic and confident virtue of the golden age of our country. All is now "cant-methodistical cant. Shame flies from “the heart, and takes refuge in the lips; or, 66 our senses and nerves are much more re"fined than those of our neighbours. 66 "We should not endure the Edipus story, nor Phædra.' Myrrha,' the best 66 worked-up, perhaps, of all Alfieri's tra"gedies, and a favourite in Italy, would "not be tolerated. The Mysterious Mo"ther' has never been acted, nor Mas 66 singer's Brother and Sister.' Webster's "Duchess of Malfy' would be too har 66 rowing her madness, the dungeon-scene, "and her grim talk with her keepers and "coffin-bearers, could not be borne: nor "Lillo's 'Fatal Curiosity." The‘Cenci' "is equally horrible, though perhaps the "best tragedy modern times have produced. "It is a play, not a poem, like 'Remorse' "and Fazio ;' and the best proof of its "merit is, that people are continually 66 quoting it. What may not be expected "from such a beginning? "That matter of the murder is hush'd up." "The Germans are colder and more phleg"matic than we are, and bear even to see "Werner's play. "To write any thing to please, at the pre"sent day, is the despair of authors." It was easy to be perceived that during this tirade against the stage and Shakspeare, he was smarting under the ill reception 'Marino Faliero' had met with, and indignant at the critics, who had denied him the dramatic faculty. This, however, was not the only occasion of his abusing the old dramatists. Some days after, I revived the subject of the drama, and led him into speaking of his own plays. "I have just got a letter," said he, " from "Murray. What do you think he has en"closed me? A long dull extract from that "long dull Latin epic of Petrarch's, Africa, “which he has the modesty to ask me to "translate for Ugo Foscolo, who is writing some Memoirs of Petrarch, which he has 66 66 got Moore, Lady Dacre, &c. to contribute ❝ to. What am I to do with the Death of "Mago? I wish to God, Medwin, you "would take it home with you, and translate "it; and I will send it to Murray. We will 66 say nothing about its being yours or mine; "and it will be curious to hear Foscolo's opinion upon it. Depend upon it, it will "not be an unfavourable one." In the course of the day I turned it into couplets, (and lame enough they were,) which he forwarded by the next courier to England. |