1 ftriking; where the ears and eyes are better satisfied than the mind; where, thro' a conftant fubferviency to mufic, the most ridiculous faults are become neceffary*; where the actors dance around a tomb, and fing at the destruction of a town; where you may fee now Pluto's palace, now the palace of the Sun; where gods and demons, magicians, monfters and miracles are formed and destroyed in the twinkling of an eye. We tolerate these extravagancies, we are even fond of them, because we suppose ourselves on enchanted ground; and provided there be fome fhow, fine dancing, delightful mufic, and a few interesting scenes, we are fatisfied. It would be as ridiculous to expect the unities of action, place and time, preserved agrees * Mr. Addison, who in general was averfe to operas, fo far with monfieur de Voltaire in this particular, as to fay, that "An opera may be allowed to be extravagantly lavish in its decora tions, as its only defign is to gratify the fenfes, and keep up an indolent attention in the audience." in in Alceftes *, as it would be to attempt introducing dances and devils in Cinna or in Rodogune. And though we difpenfe with rules in our operas, yet thefe dramatic laws are fo natural and neceffary, and contribute so much to entertain the spectator, that the beft operas are thofe, in which, they are leaft broke through; and there are fome even, in which they are strictly obferved. How then can Mr. de la Motte reproach his countrymen with levity in condemning in one fpectacle, what they approve of in another? There is no one but could make the following answer to Mr. de la Motte: "I have a right to expect much greater per * One of the first and finest of the french operas ; the mufic was composed by Baptifta Lulli, and the words by Quinaut, who was a man of real poetic genius and taste, as it is now generally allowed in France, notwithstanding Boileau's criticism and contempt of this writer, which he fhewed in the following lines: Si je penfe exprimer un auteur fans defaut. fection in a tragedy than in an opera, be-caufe in a tragedy my attention is not divided; it is not from a well-tuned note, nor from a finely-executed step, that my pleasure is to arife; my mind alone is to be fatisfied." I admire a man who can conduct and bring about in one place, and in the fame day, a fingle event, which I conceive without fatigue, and which affects me by degrees. The more I fee that this fimplicity is difficult, the more I am pleased with it; and if afterwards I would fain account for this fatisfaction, I find myself of Boileau's opinion, who fays, Qu'en un lieu, qu'en un jour, un feul fait accompli Tienne jufqu'à la fin le théatre rempli. I have befides in my favour, the authority of the great Corneille; I have also his example, and the pleasure which his plays afford me in proportion as he has, more or lefs, ftrictly obeyed this rule. * The theatre should be taken up from the first to the last act with a fingle event; past in one day and in one place. Mr. Mr. de la Motte, not content with endeavouring to banish from the ftage it's fundamental laws, would fain also exclude poetry from it, and introduce tragedies in profe. This ingenious and fertile author, who has been all his life writing poetry, or fomething in profe relative to his poetry, now rails at his own art, and treats it with the fame contempt that he treated Homer, whom, however, he has deigned to tranflate. Neither Virgil, Taffo, Boileau, Racine or Mr. Pope ever took it into their heads to write against the harmony of verfe, nor Lulli against mufic, nor Sir Ifaac Newton against the mathematics. Some men have been weak enough to think themselves above their profession; but none ftrove to make their profeffion contemptible. There are too people who defpife poetry, because they are not acquainted with it. Paris is full of men of understanding, born with organs infenfible to all harmony, to whom mufic is but noife, and poetry but ingenious fancies. If these perfons find out D. 4 many that that a man of parts who has published five or fix volumes of poems, is of their opinion, will not they think that they have a right to look upon all other poets as madmen; and Mr. de la Motte as the only one, who has recovered his under ftanding? It is therefore neceffary to anfwer his objections for the honour of the art, and I may fay, for the honour of a country who owes part of its glory, among foreigners, to the perfection of this very art. Mr.de la Motte afferts that rhyme is a barbarous custom lately introduced. And yet all the people of the earth, except the ancient Greeks and Romans, have always rhymed and continue to do fo to this day. The return of the fame founds is fo natural to man, that it is as common among the Savages as it is at Rome, at Paris, at London, or at Madrid. Montaigne has a fong in American rhymes translated into French, and in one of Mr.Addison's Spectators there is a translation of a Lapland ode in rhyme, which is full of fentiment and expreffion. The Greeks, quibus dedit ore |