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Show 182 THE CODE OF TERPSICHORE. head dart forth their stings, and hiss for an opportunity to inflict their venom." The allegorical sense of this passage may be applied to the theatre. " Would we introduce an envious character, it is only necessary to bring it in contact with virtue, and its hideous deformity is immediately perceived. A n assemblage of various descriptions of characters forms a relief to each other ; thus the Misantrope becomes enamoured of a Coquette; while the Glorieux has an indigent unpresuming and secluded father. The integrity of Severus, in the Polieucte, defeats the suspicious policy of Felix."-DE C H A B A N O N. In the characters of Racine, we should frequently be glad to find more variety; the same remark may be made with respect to Alfieri and Metastasio ; these great poets, adhering too strictly each to his peculiar style, did not perceive that they employed the same materials in describing characters totally opposite. Voltaire was aware of this, and we rarely find him in such an error; he is varied and natural both in character and incident. Corneille may be termed the Michael Angelo of the drama, he is sublime and true to nature. Shakspeare frequently excels in the varied and striking style of drawing his characters, but his imitations of nature are not always finished, nor historically true ; he, however, appears as inexhaustible as nature herself; he creates with ease, but his imaginings want finish, and appear never to have been corrected. W h e n , however, the English poet does succeed, he surpasses all; his characters are life itself, and their power over us is prodigious. Those inequalities w e perceive in some of his personifications proceed, most commonly, from the nature of the events that happen during the piece, rather than from their own peculiar nature. The genius of Shakspeare was endued with a power capable of undertaking any thing, and of completing what it undertook |
