In all
ages the theatrical art had kept pace with the improvement
of mankind, and with the progress of
letters and the fine arts. As man has advanced
from the ruder stages of society, the love of dramatic
representations has increased, and all works
of this nature have been improved, in character
and in structure. They had only to turn their eyes
to the history of ancient Greece, although he did
not pretend to be very deeply versed in its ancient
drama. Its first tragic poet commanded a body of
troops at the battle of Marathon. Sophocles and
Euripides were men of rank in Athens, when
Athens was in its highest renown. They shook
Athens with their discourses, as their theatrical
works shook the theatre itself. If they turned to
France in the time of Louis the Fourteenth, that
era which is the classical history of that country,
they would find that it was referred to by all
Frenchmen as the golden age of the drama there.
And also in England, in the time of Queen Elizabeth,
the drama was at its highest pitch, when the
nation began to mingle deeply and wisely in the
general politics of Europe, not only not receiving
laws from others, but giving laws to the world,
and vindicating the rights of mankind.
Pages:
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48