Gibbon has remarked, that the
kings of the Gepidae, and the Ostrogoths in Corneille's tragedy
of Attila, are profound politicians, and sentimental lovers;--a
description which, with a varying portion of pride, courtesy, and
heroism, will apply to almost all the characters in plays drawn upon
this model.
It is impossible to conceive any thing more different from the old
English drama, than the heroic plays which were introduced by Charles
II. The former, in labouring to exhibit a variety and contrast of
passions, tempers, or humours, frequently altogether neglected the
dignity of the scene. In the heroical tragedy, on the other hand,
nothing was to be indecorous, nothing grotesque: The personages were
to speak, not as men, but as heroes; to whom, as statuaries have
assigned a superiority of stature, so these poets have given an
uniform grandeur of feeling and of expression. It may be thought, that
this monotonous splendour of diction would have palled upon an English
audience, less pleased generally with refinement, however elegant,
than with bursts of passion, and flights of novelty. But Dryden felt
his force in the line which he chose to pursue and recommend. The
indescribable charms of his versification gratified the ear of the
public, while their attention was engaged by the splendour of his
images, and the matchless ingenuity of his arguments.
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