whose aversion is dulness; who think it no disparagement to follow the dictates of the heart, nor affect by criticism a studied parade of genius.
Observe this assembly dissolved in tears at the fate of Britannicus, the grief of Andromache, the danger which threatens Iphigenia: behold them appalled with terror at the alarming situation of Merope: see them glowing with patriotic zeal and the love of liberty, while they listen to the generous sentiments of Emilia and the elder Horatius: observe them petrified with horror on beholding the dreadful cup in which Atreus presents to Thyestes the blood of his unhappy son.
Remark also the triumphs of the Comic Muse, and observe the same assembly making the vaulted roofs resound with shouts and acclamations at the exhibition of Harpagon, or the Miser, Jourdain, Diaforius, and The Learned Ladies: attend to the universal bursts of applause, when, after exposing the folly of an author's reciting his compositions in public, Vadius draws from his pocket his own verses: observe a similar effect, when Francaleu mistakes for a mere theatrical representation a real interview between a father and son. Who is so insensible as to be a spectator of the character of Ariste, the Hypocrite, or the Boaster, without at once imagining himself on the great theatre of the world?
Truth is the life of all, and thence the beautiful and sublime derive their force; and, whether pleased in the closet, or ravished in the playhouse, by the masterpieces of Corneille, Racine, Voltaire,
