[xix]
that his judgment grows weaker, when it ought to be farther matured. But I shall make use of his own words, delivered on the general topic of the theatre, when he was neither thinking to recommend or decry Shakespeare's practice; consequently at a moment when Voltaire was impartial. In the preface to his Enfant Prodigue, that exquisite piece of which I declare my admiration, and which, should I live twenty years longer, I trust I shall never attempt to ridicule, he has these words, speaking of Comedy [but equally applicable to Tragedy, if Tragedy is, as surely it ought to be, a picture of human life; nor can I conceive why occasional pleasantry ought more to be banished from the tragic scene, than pathetic seriousness from the comic] On y voit un melange de serieux et de plaisanterie, de comique et de touchant; souvent meme une seule aventure produit tous ces contrastes. Rien n'est si commun qu'une maison dans laquelle un pere gronde, une fille occupèe de sa passion pleure; le fils se moque des deux, et quelques parens prennent part differemment à la scene, &c. Nous n'inferons pas de là que toute Comedie doive avoir des scenesde
