# Letters concerning the English Nation/Letter XIX

LETTER XIX.
ON
COMEDY.
I AM surpriz'd that the judicious and ingenious Mr. de Muralt, who has publish'd some Letters on the English and French Nations, should have confin'd himself, in treating of Comedy, merely to censure Shadwell the comic Writer. This Author was had in pretty great Contempt in Mr. de Muralt's Time, and was not the Poet of the polite Part of the Nation. His dramatic Pieces which pleas'd some Time in acting, were despis'd by all Persons of Taste ​and might be compar'd to many Plays which I have seen in France that drew Crowds to the Play-house, at the same Time that they were intolerable to read; and of which it might be said, that the whole City of Paris exploded them, and yet all flock'd to see 'em represented on the Stage. Methinks Mr. de Muralt should have mention'd an excellent comic Writer (living when he was in England) I mean Mr. Wycherley, who was a long Time known publickly to be happy in the good Graces of the most celebrated Mistress of King Charles the Second. This Gentleman who pass'd his Life among Persons of the highest Distinction, was perfectly well acquainted with their Lives and their Follies, and painted them with the strongest Pencil, and in the truest Colours. He has drawn a Misantrope or Man-hater, in Imitation of that of Moliere. All Wycherley's Strokes are stronger and bolder than those of our Misantrope, but then they are less delicate, and the Rules of Decorum are not so ​well observ'd in this Play. The English Writer has corrected the only Defect that is in Moliere's Comedy, the Thinness of the Plot, which also is so dispos'd that the Characters in it do not enough raise our Concern. The English Comedy affects us, and the Contrivance of the Plot is very ingenious, but at the same Time 'tis too bold for the French Manners. The Fable is this. —— A Captain of a Man of War, who is very brave, open-hearted, and enflam'd with a Spirit of Contempt for all Mankind, has a prudent, sincere Friend whom he yet is suspicious of, and a Mistress that loves him with the utmost Excess of Passion. The Captain so far from returning her Love, will not even condescend to look upon her; but confides intirely in a false Friend, who is the most worthless Wretch living. At the same Time he has given his Heart to a Creature who is the greatest Coquet, and the most perfidious of her Sex, and is so credulous as to be confident she is a Penelope, and his false Friend a Cato. ​He embarks on board his Ship in order to go and fight the Dutch, having left all his Money, his Jewels and every Thing he had in the World to this virtuous Creature , whom at the same Time he recommends to the Care of his suppos'd faithful Friend. Nevertheless the real Man of Honour whom he suspects so unaccountably, goes on board the Ship with him; and the Mistress on whom he would not bestow so much as one Glance, disguises herself in the Habit of a Page, and is with him the whole Voyage, without his once knowing that she is of a Sex different from that she attempts to pass for, which, by the Way, is not over natural.
The Captain having blown up his own Ship in an Engagement, returns to England abandon'd and undone, accompanied by his Page and his Friend, without knowing the Friendship of the one, or the tender Passion of the other. Immediately he goes to the jewel among Women, who he expected had preserv'd her Fidelity to him, and the Treasure he had left in her Hands. He ​meets with her indeed, but married to the honest Knave in whom he had repos'd so much Confidence; and finds she had acted as treacherously with regard to the Casket he had entrusted her with. The Captain can scarce think it possible, that a Woman of Virtue and Honour can act so vile a Part; but to convince him still more of the Reality of it, this very worthy Lady falls in Love with the little Page, and will force him to her Embraces. But as it is requisite Justice should be done, and that in a dramatick Piece Virtue ought to be rewarded and Vice punish'd; 'tis at last found that the Captain takes his Page's Place, and lyes with his faithless Mistress, cuckolds his treacherous Friend, thrusts his Sword through his Body, recovers his Casket and marries his Page. You'll observe that this Play is also larded with a petulant, litigious old Woman (a Relation of the Captain) who is the most comical Character that was ever brought upon the Stage.
​Wycherley has also copied from Moliere another Play, of as singular and bold a Cast, which is a kind of Ecole des Femmes, or, School for married Women.
The principal Character in this Comedy is one Horner, a sly Fortune-Hunter, and the Terror of all the City Husbands. This Fellow in order to play a surer Game, causes a Report to be spread, that in his last Illness, the Surgeons had found it necessary to have him made an Eunuch. Upon his appearing in this noble Character, all the Husbands in Town flock to him with their Wives, and now poor Horner is only puzzled about his Choice. However, he gives the Preference particularly to a little female Peasant; a very harmless, innocent Creature, who enjoys a fine Flush of Health, and cuckolds her Husband with a Simplicity that has infinitely more Merit than the witty Malice of the most experienc'd Ladies. This Play cannot indeed be call'd the School of good Morals, but 'tis certainly the School of Wit and true Humour.
​Sir John Vanbrugh has writ several Comedies which are more humourous than those of Mr. Wycherley but not so ingenious. Sir John was a Man of Pleasure, and likewise a Poet and an Architect. The general Opinion is, that he is as sprightly in his Writings as he is heavy in his Buildings. 'Tis he who rais'd the famous Castle of Blenheim, a ponderous and lasting Monument of our unfortunate Battle of Hockstet. Were the Apartments but as spacious as the Walls are thick, this Castle wou'd be commodious enough. Some Wag, in an Epitaph he made on Sir John Vanbrugh, has these Lines:
Sir John having taken a Tour into France before the glorious War that broke out in 1701, was thrown into the Bastile, and detain'd there for some Time, without being ever able to discover the Motive which had prompted ​our Ministry to indulge him this Mark of their Distinction. He writ a Comedy during his Confinement; and a Circumstance which appears to me very extraordinary is, that we don't meet with so much as a single satyrical Stroke against the Country in which he had been so injuriously treated.
The late Mr. Congreve rais'd the Glory of Comedy to a greater Height than any English Writer before or since his Time. He wrote only a few Plays, but they are all excellent in their kind. The Laws of the Drama are strictly observ'd in them; they abound with Characters all which are shadow'd with the utmost Delicacy, and we don't meet with so much as one low, or coarse Jest. The Language is every where that of Men of Honour, but their Actions are those of Knaves; a Proof that he was perfectly well acquainted with human Nature, and frequented what we call polite Company. He was infirm, and come to the Verge of Life when I knew him. Mr. Congreve had one Defect, ​which was, his entertaining too mean an Idea of his first Profession, (that of a Writer) tho' 'twas to this he ow'd his Fame and Fortune. He spoke of his Works as of Trifles that were beneath him; and hinted to me in our first Conversation, that I should visit him upon no other Foot than that of a Gentleman, who led a Life of Plainness and Simplicity. I answer'd, that had he been so unfortunate as to be a mere Gentleman I should never have come to see him; and I was very much disgusted at so unseasonable a Piece of Vanity.
Mr. Congreve's Comedies are the most witty and regular, those of Sir John Vanbrugh most gay and humourous, and those of Mr. Wycherley have the greatest Force and Spirit. It may be proper to observe, that these fine Genius's never spoke disadvantageously of Moliere; and that none but the contemptible Writers among the English have endeavour'd to lessen the Character of that great comic Poet. Such Italian Musicians as despise Lully are themselves Persons of no ​Character or Ability; but a Buononcini esteems that great Artist, and does Justice to his Merit.
The English have some other good comic Writers living, such as Sir Richard Steele, and Mr. Cibber, who is an excellent Player, and also Poet Laureat, a Title which how ridiculous sover it may be thought, is yet worth a thousand Crowns a Year, (besides some cosiderable Privileges) to the Person who enjoys it. Our illustrious Corneille had not so much.
To conclude. Don't desire me to descend to Particulars with regard to these English Comedies, which I am so fond of applauding; nor to give you a single smart Saying, or humorous Stroke from Wycherley or Congreve. We don't laugh in reading a Translation. If you have a Mind to understand the English Comedy, the only way to do this will be for you to go to England, to spend three Years in London, to make your self Master of the English Tongue, and to frequent the Play-house every Night. I receive ​but little Pleasure from the Perusal of Aristophanes and Plautus, and for this Reason, because I am neither a Greek nor a Roman. The Delicacy of the Humour, the Allusion, the à propos, all these are lost to a Foreigner.
But 'tis different with respect to Tragedy, this treating only of exalted Passions and heroical Follies, which the antiquated Errors of Fable or History have made sacred. Oedipus, Electra and such like Characters, may with as much Propriety, be treated of by the Spaniards, the English, or Us, as by the Greeks. But true Comedy is the speaking Picture of the Follies and ridiculous Foibles of a Nation; so that he only is able to judge of the Painting, who is perfectly acquainted with the People it represents.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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