The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-26

| with this intent he publisAed IN liza ncs
| only voluminous translstious, but PERI
odlcal called L. Posy 1t Confvs. The very
next year Y oltaire's famous Letters APP
peared, nominally at Amsterdam, but really
q Rouea; he English edition had oeen
published In the preceding year. vol
] taire's friends In England. Bohngoroke
/, and Pope, had made him acquainted win
| Shakespeare; he went to see the plays
| Of the great dramatist and witnessed
performance Of Julius Cesar" He was
l thrilled, Notwithstanding the 'barbarous
irregularities' Of the tragedy. Ho re-
preached himself later for too favorable
appreciation OF the English dramatic poet
In the .Letre ssy "a Traoedie.' N. Jusee-
rand recalls that In that letter voltaire
says: Shakespeare. whom the English
take for q Sophocles, hourished ABOUT
the same time as Lope do Vega; he created
the drama; he had genius full Of strength
and fecundity, OF naturalness and SUD-
Unity. without the least sparks OF good
taste and without the slightest knowiedse
Of rules. I am going TO cay . thing very
haxardous but true. namely. that this au-
thor's merit has ruined the English stage;
there are such 6ne scenes, such grand ana
terrible parts interpreted In those mon
strous farces called tragedies that his
plays have always been acted with great
success. Most Of the eccentric or g'odn-
tesgxs ideas Of this author have acquired
after two hundred years the right TO pass
for sublime Thereupon Voltaire sneers
at .Othello--.a very touching play, In
which husband stranGles his wife on the
stage; and at Hamlet In which grave
diggeu dig . grave. drinking and singing
ballads A for the grand and terrible
parts: he givea Q specimen Of them by trans
lating the soliloquy Of Hamlef, which.
however, he turns into . diathbe against
religion. In spite OF his preiudices, Vol
taire's literary sense was too keen for him
not to feel all there was Of truth, OF strength
and Of life in the play Of Hamlet: 90 he
sums up his opinion In . phrase which.
our author thinks. would not have been
altered in the least by the romantic en-
thusiasts Of 1880. The poetic genius OF
the English In UP to now like bushy tree
planted by nature, throwing out thousand
branches and growing unsymInetTically
with strength. 1t dies II you try to force
it's nature and to clip II like one OF the
trees In the Marty Gardens
voltaire having spok n, everybody
listened. His 'Lettres' gave rise to
quantity Of essays on the esme subject.
Sh ,kespeare became. like the Qua ers.
ono of the ouriosities Of England. 1t was
henceforth difficult to talk about that
country in Paris without mentioning him.
French historical dictionaries. which pre-
| viously had not said a word about the
dramat st. now allowed him . few Ines.
no Of these said that he died In 1879. The
Abbe Prevost in 1873 devote whole num-
bers Of his peri dioal to hak sp are. He
wa, retic Is regards the pseudo-classic
rules, and declared the Niolation OF them
to be reiitable to Englis playwright.
Shakespeare, he said, did not IL ow the
ancients: so much the better; for. perhaps.
the O intact would have made him lose
som sthing Of that warmth. OF that i'm
petuosity, nd Of that admirable delirium.
II one may t rus express 1t. which bursts
forti in his slightest productions. He
did not bserve the unities. but. II We con-
slider the mann,rs, the characters. the
unfoldin Of passions. an the expression
Of sentiment, We shall find scarcely any
thing in his works that cannot Be justified.
and on all sides abou nd beauties which
cannot be praised too highly Thereupon
| followed an analysis OF Macbeth.
| .Othello, the Tempest, and other plays.
Up to this tinae. however. the French
| public knew Shakespeare only by hearnay.
| from the comments OF few men Of letter.;
| II had at It's disposal only Prevost's short
accounts OF the principal pieces and .
\ few fragments translated by Voltsire.
| The first experiment In the way OF con-
eecutive reproduction was made BY La
| Place In I7IS In the two volumes drst
brought out by him some plays were trane-
lated, but others were simply analysed.
| The authors success exceeded his expecta-
| tions and be was encouraged to devote
| two additional volumes to Shakespeare.
+, Yet not until the second half Of the eigh-
tsenth century can there he said TO have
been a Shakespeare question In France
4 That was the epoch OF AnglomAnia; when
Richardson was deemed the greatest Of
novelists; when the might Thoughts' OF
Young were received with boundless ad-
| miration, and the poems Of the sham o.
sian with rapturous enthusiasm. Every
thing was now done "a "A ngiaiss'; people
rode a PAnqioise' and boxed "a FAnaloiss
.Matinees' were spent "a FAnoldiss' that
10, without saying . word. A picture now
in the Louvre represents q 'Tht d FAN
elaise' at the Prince de Conti's. English
fashions were welcomed In France. En-
broidered coats, 'sman hats under the
arm.' and laocs were dropped. 1T 10 now
the craze among young men, wrote Mer'
cier. TO copy England In her dress. The
son Of fnancier. a young man OF family
a. It 10 called, Q commercial clerk, alike
don the long. narrow coat. carry their
hat on their head. sport q flowing scarf
with gloves, cropped hair. and stick.
Bets were made. ponehe was drunk, yosbil
and poudiNe were eaten with relish. ciarc'
was preferred TO champagne and Bur
Rundy, fights were fought with the fort
de Ia halle In the same way that 'milords
boxed or wrestled with ecavengers or cal
drivers In the streets Of London. Under
the circumstances. It u not surprising that
some Frenchmen went 90 far ~ TO prefer
.shakeepeare' to Corneille. When Gar
rick went to Paris In 1881 he acted In salons
scenes from Shakespeare. or expressec
them In dumb show. Not few Parisiani
went to London and saw Garrick on ths
STAGE. Marmontel. who had seen him
perform Nacbeth In dumb show, wrote
'sleep has not removed, sir, the tmpres
sion you left on me. and hope II will evel
abide; the image Of AocbstA. always present