It is a common error, in the plan of Corneille's tragedies, that the intereft of the piece turns upon fome unknown perfon, generally a haughty princess; so that instead of the reprefentation of an important event, and the characters of illuftrious perfons, the bufinefs of the drama is the love-intrigue of a termagant Lady, who, if the is a Roman, infults the Barbarians, if she is a Barbarian, braves the Romans, and even to her Lover is infolent and fierce. Were fuch a perfon to be produced on our theatre, fhe would be taken for a mad Poetefs escaped from her keepers in Bedlam, who, fancying herself a Queen, was ranting, and delivering her man→ dates in rhyme upon the stage. All the excufe that can be made for Corneille in fuch representations is, that characters like thefe, dignified indeed with nobler sentiments, were admired in the Romances, where the manners of chivalry are exaggerated. By the inftitutions of chivalry, every valiant knight profeffed a peculiar devotion devotion to the fair fex, in whose cause, as the Champion of the defenceless, and Protector of the oppreffed, he was always ready to take arms. A lady's interest being often the object, and fometimes her person the prize of a combat, she was supposed to infpire his courage; and, as he was to be not less distinguished for Politeness than Valour, he affected an air of fubmiffive obedience, while fhe, by the courtesy of Knighthood, was allowed to affume a stile of superiority and command. To carry thefe manners into ancient Greece and Rome, and weave them into a confpiracy there, betrays want of judgment. This drama is carried on in the ftrain of Romance. The lady enjoins her Lover to kill Auguftus; that adventure atchieved, he is to hope for her hand; his glory is to be derived from her acknowledging him worthy of it; fhe is continually exhorting him to deferve the honour of being beloved by her. The fate of Augustus, of the Roman empire, all the duties of the citizen and the friend, are to depend on her decifion. decifion. She fays to Auguftus, when he has discovered the confpiracy, as a fufficient vindication of her lover, Oui, tout ce qu'il a fait, il l'a fait pour me plaire, Et j'en etois, feigneur, la cause et le falaire. : The author certainly intended to recommend Cinna to his fpectators merely as a loyal lover, according to the phrase of romance in every other light he appears contemptible, and indeed fuffers himself to be used with the greatest contempt and indignity. As Shakespear laboured to fhew that the motives of Brutus were untinctured by any bad paffion; every movement in the mind of Cinna has on the contrary the character of baseness, and whether he conspires or whether he repents of it, he is still, as he acknowledges himself to be, Un efprit malheureux, Qui ne forme qu'en lache un deffein genereux. From this unhappy Wretch, who bafely conceives a generous defign, let us turn to There we fhall fee the different judgment Brutus. |