16 - Le Pere de Famille /

Je connois mon frere; & s'il étoit ici, nous n'aurions tous les deux qu'unevoix.

17 - Der Hausvater /

Ich kenne meinen Bruder; und wenn er hier wäre, so würden wir ganz gewiß nur eine Sprache führen.

18 - Fils naturelle /

En feuilletant le manuscrit, j'apperçus un petit coup de crayon que j'avois passé. Il étoit à l'endroit de la scène seconde du second acte, où Rosalie dit de l'objet qui l'a séduite, qu'elle croyoit y reconnoître la vérité de toutes les chimeres de perfection qu'elle s'é- toit faites. Cette réflexion m'avoit semblé un peu forte pour un enfant; & les chimeres de perfection s'écarter de son ton ingénu. J'en fis l'observation à Dorval. Il me renvoya pour toute réponse au manuscrit. Je le considérai avec attention; je vis que ces mots avoient été ajoûtés après-coup de la main même de Rosalie, & je passai à d'autres choses.

19 - Fils naturelle /

Je voudrois bien vous parler de l'accent propre à chaque passion. Mais cet accent se modifie en tant de manieres; c'est un sujet si fugitif & si délicat, que je n'en connois aucun qui fasse mieux sentir l'indigence de toutes les langues qui existent & qui ont existé. On a une idée juste de la chose; elle est présente à la mémoire. Cherche-t-on l'expression: on ne la trouve point. On combine les mots de grave & d'aigu, de prompt & de lent, de doux & de fort; mais le réseau, toujours trop lâche, ne retient rien. Qui est-ce qui pourroit décrire la déclamation de ces deux vers?

20 - Fils naturelle /

21 - Der natürliche Sohn /

Nicht als ob ich meine Uebersetzung frey von allen Mängeln halten wollte; nicht alsVorrede. ob ich mir schmeichelte, überall, auch da den wahren Sinn des Verfassers getroffen zu haben, wo er selbst in seiner Sprache sich nicht bestimmt genug ausgedrückt hat! Ein Freund zeigt mir nur erst izt eine dergleichen Stelle; und ich bedaure, daß ich in dem Texte von diesem Winke nicht Gebrauch machen können. Sie ist in demnatürlichen Sohne in dem dritten Auftritte des ersten Aufzuges, wo Theresia ihrer Sorgfalt um Rosaliens Erziehung gedenkt. „Ich ließ mir es angelegen seyn, sagt sie, den Geist und besonders den Charakter dieses Kindes zu bilden, von welchem einst das Schicksal meines Bruders abhangen sollte. Es war unbesonnen, ich machte es bedächtig. Es war heftig, ich suchte dem Sanften seiner Natur aufzuhelfen.“ Das es ist in allen vier Stellen im Französischen durch il ausgedruckt, welches eben sowohl auf das vorhergehendeenfant, auf Rosalien, als auf den Bruder gehen kann. Ich habe es jedesmal auf Rosalien gezogen: aber es kann leicht seyn, daß es Vorrede. die beiden erstenmale auf den Bruder gehen, und sonach heißen soll. „Er war unbesonnen, ich machte sie bedächtig. Er war heftig, ich suchte dem Sanften ihrer Natur aufzuhelfen. Ja dieser Sinn ist unstreitig der feinere.

22 - Der natürliche Sohn /

Ich blätterte in dem Manuscripte und fand einen kleinen Strich mit dem Bleystifte, den ich übergangen hatte. Er war an der Stelle des zweyten Auftritts in dem zweyten Aufzuge, wo Rosalia, von dem Gegenstande, der sie verführet, sagt: sie habe in ihm die Wirklichkeit aller der Einbildungen, die sie sich von der Vollkommenheit gemacht, erblickt. Diese Betrachtung war mir für ein Kind ein wenig zu stark vorgekommen, und diese Einbildungen von Vollkommenheithatten mir mit ihrer ungekünstelten Sprache zu streiten geschienen. Ich theilte Dorvaln meine Anmerkung mit. Statt aller Antwort verwies er mich auf das Manuscript. Ich betrachtete es genauer, ich fand, daß diese Worte erst nachher von Rosalienseigner Hand dazu gesetzt worden, und wendete michzu andern Dingen.

23 - Der natürliche Sohn /

Ich wollte Ihnen gern etwas von dem Accente sagen, der jeder Leidenschaft eigenthümlich zukömmt. Aber dieser Accent ändert sich auf so verschiedene Weise ab; es ist ein so feiner und flüchtiger Gegenstand, daß ich keinen einzigen wüßte, bey welchem sich der Mangel aller itzigen und aller ehemals vorhandenen Sprachen deutlicher spüren liesse. Von der Sache hat man den richtigsten Begrif; sie ist dem Gedächtnisse gegenwärtig. Aber sucht man den Ausdruck, so findet man ihn nicht. Man verbindet die Worte: hoch und tief; geschwind und langsam; sanft und stark. Allein das Netze ist zu weit, und es bleibt nichts hangen. Wer ist im Stande die Declamation dieser zwey Verse zu beschreiben?

24 - Der natürliche Sohn /

25 - An Essay on Dramatick Poesy /

But if we will allow the Ancients to have contriv'd well, we must acknowledge them to have written better. Questionless we are deprived of a great Stock of Wit in the loss of Menander amongst the Greek Poets, and of Cæcilius, Afranius, and Varius among the Romans. We may guess at Menander's Excellency, by the Plays of Terence, who translated some of them; And yet wanted so much of him, that he was called by C. Cæsar the Half-Menander; and may judge of Varius, by the Testimonies of Horace, Martial, and Velleius Paterculus: 'Tis AnEssayof Dramatick Poesy. probablc that these, could they be recover'd, would decide the Controversy; but so long as Aristophanes and Plautus are extant; while the Tragedies of Euripides, Sophocles, and Seneca are in our Hands, I can never see one of those Plays which are now written, but it encreases my Admiration of the Ancients; and yet I must acknowledge further, that to admire them as we ought, we should understand them better than we do. Doubtless many things appear flat to us, the Wit of which depended on some Custom or Story which never came to our Knowledge; or perhaps on some Criticism in their Language, which being so long dead, and only remaining in their Books, 'tis not possible they shou'd make us understand perfectly. To read Macrobius, explaining the Propriety and Elegancy of many Words in Virgil, which I had before pass'd over without consideration, as common things, is enough to assure me that I ought to think the same of Terence; and that in the Purity of his Style (which Tully so much valued, that he ever carried his Works about him) there is yet left in him great room for Admiration, if I knew but where to place it. In the mean time, I must desire you to take notice, that the greatest Man of the last Age (Ben. Johnson) was willing to give place to them in all things: He was not only a profess'd Imitator of Horace, but a learned Plagiary of all the others; you track him every where in their Snow. If Horace, Lucan, Petronius Arbiter, Seneca, and Juvenal, had their own from him, there are few serious Thoughts which are new in him; you will pardon me therefore, if I presume he lov'd their Fashion when he wore their Cloaths. But since I have otherwise a great veneration for him, and you, Eugenius; prefer him above all other Poets, I will use no further Arguments to you than his Example: I will produce before you Father Ben. dress'd in all the Ornaments and Colours of the Ancients, you will need no other Guide to our Party, if you follow him; and whether you consider the bad Plays of our Age, or regard the good Plays of the last, both the AnEssayof Dramatick Poesy. best and worst of the modern Poets, will equally instruct you to admire the Ancients.

26 - An Essay on Dramatick Poesy /

And one farther Note of them let me leave you: Tragedies and Comedies were not writ then as they are now, promiscuously, by the same Person; but he who AnEssayof Dramatick Poesy. found his Genius bending to the one, never attempted the other way. This is so plain, that I need not instance to you, that Aristophanes, Plautus, Terence, never any of them writ a Tragedy; Æschylus; Euripides, Sophocles and Seneca never meddled with Comedy: The Sock and Buskin were not worn by the same Poet. Having then so much care to excel in one kind, very little is to be pardon'd them if they miscarried in it; and this would lead me to the Consideration of their Wit, had not Crites given me sufficient Warning not to be too bold in my Judgment of it; because the Languages being dead, and many of the Customs, and little Accidents on which it depended, lost to us, we are not competent Judges of it. But tho' I grant, that here and there we may miss the Application of a Proverb or a Custom, yet a thing well said will be Wit in all Languages; and tho' it may lose something in the Translation, yet to him who reads it in the Original, 'tis still the same; He has an Idea of its Excellency, tho' it cannot passe from his Mind into any other Expression or Words than those in which he finds it. When Phædria in the Eunuch had a Command from his Mistress to be absent two Days, and encouraging himself to go through with it, said, Tandem ego non illâ caream, si opus sit, vel totum triduum? Parmeno, to mock the Softness of his Master, lifting up his Hands and Eyes, cries out as it were in admiration, Hui! universum triduum! the Elegancy of which universum, tho' it cannot be rendred in our Language, yet leaves an Impression on our Souls: But this happens seldom in him, in Plautus oftner; who is infinitely too bold in his Metaphors and coyning Words, out of which many times his Wit is nothing; which questionless was one reason why Horace falls upon him so severely in those Verses:

27 - An Essay on Dramatick Poesy /

Beaumont and Fletcher, of whom I am next to speak, had, with the Advantage of Shakespear's Wit, which was their Precedent, great natural Gifts, improv'd by Study. Beaumont especially being so accurate a Judge of Plays, that Ben Johnson while he liv'd submitted all his Writings to his Censure, and, 'tis thought, us'd his Judgment in correcting, if not contriving all his Plots. What value he had for him appears by the Verses he writ to him; and therefore I need speak no farther of it. The first Play that brought Fletcher and him in Esteem, was their Philaster; for before that, they had written two or three very unsuccessfully: As the like is reported of Ben Johnson, before he writ Every Man in his Humour. AnEssayof Dramatick Poesy. Their Plots were generally more regular than Shakespear's, especially those which were made before Beaumont's Death; and they understood and imitated the Conversation of Gentlemen much better; whose wild Debaucheries, and Quickness of Wit in Repartees, no Poet before them could paint as they have done. Humour, which Ben Johnson deriv'd from particular Persons, they made it not their Business to describe: They represented all the Passions very lively, but above all, Love. I am apt to believe the English Language in them arriv'd to its highest Perfection; what Words have since been taken in, are rather Superfluous than Ornamental. Their Plays are now the most pleasant and frequent Entertainments of the Stage; two of theirs being acted through the Year for one of Shakespear's or Johnson's: The Reason is, because there is a certain Gayety in their Comedies, and Pathos in their more serious Plays, which suits generally with all Mens Humours. Shakespear's Language is likewise a little obsolete, and Ben Johnson's Wit comes short of theirs.

28 - An Essay on Dramatick Poesy /

As for Johnson, to whose Character I am now arrived, if we look upon him while he was himself, (for his last Plays were but his Dotages) I think him the most learned and judicious Writer which any Theater ever had. He was a most severe Judge of himself as well as others. One cannot say he wanted Wit, but rather that he was frugal of it. In his Works you find little to retrench or alter. Wit and Language, and Humour also in some measure, we had before him; but something of Art was wanting to the Drama, 'till he came. He manag'd his Strength to more advantage than any who preceded him, You seldom find him making Love in any of his Scenes, or endeavouring to move the Passions; his Genius was too sullen and Saturnine to do it gracefully, especially when he knew he came after those who had performed both to such an Height. Humour was his proper Sphere, and in that he delighted most to represent Mechanick People. He was deeply conversant in the Ancients, both Greek and Latin, and he borrow'd boldly from them: There is scarce a Poet or AnEssayof Dramatick Poesy. Historian among the Roman Authors of those Times, whom he has not translated in Sejanus and Catiline. But he has done his Robberies so openly, that one may see he fears not to be taxed by any Law. He invades Authors like a Monarch, and what would be Theft in other Poets, is only Victory in him. With the Spoils of these Writers he so represents old Rome to us in its Rites, Ceremonies, and Customs, that if one of their Poets had written either of his Tragedies, we had seen less of it than in him. If there was any Fault in his Language, 'twas, that he weav'd it too closely and laboriously, in his Comedies especially: Perhaps too, he did a little too much Romanize our Tongue, leaving the Words which he translated almost as much Latin as he found them: Wherein though he learnedly followed their Language, he did not enough comply with the Idiom of ours. If I would compare him with Shakespear, I must acknowledge him the more correct Poet, but Shakespear the greater Wit. Shakespear was the Homer, or Father of our Dramatick Poets; Johnson was the Virgil, the Pattern of elaborate Writing; I admire him, but I love Shakespear. To conclude of him, as he has given us the most correct Plays, so in the Precepts which he has laid down in his Discoveries, we have as many and profitable Rules for perfecting the Stage, as any wherewith the French can furnish us.

29 - An Essay on Dramatick Poesy /

As for Johnson, to whose Character I am now arrived, if we look upon him while he was himself, (for his last Plays were but his Dotages) I think him the most learned and judicious Writer which any Theater ever had. He was a most severe Judge of himself as well as others. One cannot say he wanted Wit, but rather that he was frugal of it. In his Works you find little to retrench or alter. Wit and Language, and Humour also in some measure, we had before him; but something of Art was wanting to the Drama, 'till he came. He manag'd his Strength to more advantage than any who preceded him, You seldom find him making Love in any of his Scenes, or endeavouring to move the Passions; his Genius was too sullen and Saturnine to do it gracefully, especially when he knew he came after those who had performed both to such an Height. Humour was his proper Sphere, and in that he delighted most to represent Mechanick People. He was deeply conversant in the Ancients, both Greek and Latin, and he borrow'd boldly from them: There is scarce a Poet or AnEssayof Dramatick Poesy. Historian among the Roman Authors of those Times, whom he has not translated in Sejanus and Catiline. But he has done his Robberies so openly, that one may see he fears not to be taxed by any Law. He invades Authors like a Monarch, and what would be Theft in other Poets, is only Victory in him. With the Spoils of these Writers he so represents old Rome to us in its Rites, Ceremonies, and Customs, that if one of their Poets had written either of his Tragedies, we had seen less of it than in him. If there was any Fault in his Language, 'twas, that he weav'd it too closely and laboriously, in his Comedies especially: Perhaps too, he did a little too much Romanize our Tongue, leaving the Words which he translated almost as much Latin as he found them: Wherein though he learnedly followed their Language, he did not enough comply with the Idiom of ours. If I would compare him with Shakespear, I must acknowledge him the more correct Poet, but Shakespear the greater Wit. Shakespear was the Homer, or Father of our Dramatick Poets; Johnson was the Virgil, the Pattern of elaborate Writing; I admire him, but I love Shakespear. To conclude of him, as he has given us the most correct Plays, so in the Precepts which he has laid down in his Discoveries, we have as many and profitable Rules for perfecting the Stage, as any wherewith the French can furnish us.

30 - Von Johann Dryden und dessen dramatischen Werken /

Wenn wir aber zugestehen wollen, daß dieAlten ihre Schauspiele gut angelegt haben, so müssen wir auch bekennen, daß ihre Ausführung nicht schlechter gewesen. Mit dem Menander, unter den griechischen Dichtern, und dramatischen Werken. mit den Cäcilius, Africanus und Varius unter den römischen, haben wir, ohne Widerspruch, einen grossen Vorrath an Witz verloren; Menanders Vortreflichkeit kann man aus den Lustspielen des Terenz abnehmen, der verschiedne von ihm übersetzte, gleichwohl aber noch so weit hinter ihm zurück blieb, daß ihn Cäsar nur den halben Menander nennte; von dem Varius können wir uns aus den Zeugnissen des Horaz, Martial und Vellejus Paterculus einen Begriff machen. Wenn wir dieser ihre Werke wieder finden könnten, so würde, wahrscheinlicher Weise, der Streit auf einmal entschieden seyn. Doch so lange wir den Aristophanes und Plautus noch haben; so lange die Trauerspiele des Euripides, Sophokles und Seneca noch in unsern Händen sind, kann ich keines von unsern neuerlich geschriebenen Schauspielen ansehen, ohne daß sich meineBewunderung der Alten dadurch vermehrt. Dabey aber muß ich noch gestehen, daß um sie so zu bewundern, wie sie es verdienten, wir sie besser verstehen müßten, als es geschieht. Verschiednes scheinet uns, ohne Zweifel, bey ihnen plat, weil der Witz davon von irgend einer Gewohnheit oder Geschichte abhängt, die uns niemals zu Ohren gekommen; oder vielleicht auch von einer Feinheit in ihrer Sprache, die als eine todte, und nur noch in den Büchern vorhandene Sprache, unmöglich volllommen Von Johann Dryden u. dessen von uns verstanden werden kann. Jch habe nur den Macrobius lesen dürfen, wo er die eigenthümliche Bedeutung und Zierlichkeit ververschiedner Wörter des Virgils erklärt, die ich vorher als gemeine Dinge übergangen hatte, um mich zu überzeugen, daß ein gleiches auch wohl bey dem Terenz Statt haben könnte, und daß in der Reinigkeit seines Styls (welcheCicero so hoch schätzte, daß er seine Werke beständig um sich hatte) noch manches zu bewundern seyn möchte, wenn wir es nur erst wüßten. Unter dessen muß ich Sie zu erwägen bitten, daß der größte Mann des nächft<nächst> vergangenen Weltalters (Ben Johnson) nicht anstand, den Alten in allen Stücken den Vorzug zu lassen. Er war nicht allein ein ausdrücklicher Nachahmer des Horaz, sondern auch ein gelehrter Plagiarius aller andern; so daß wenn Horaz, Lucan, Peronius Arbiter,Seneca und Juvenal alle das ihrige von ihm wieder zurück fordern sollten, er wenig ernsthafte Gedanken, die neu bey ihm wären, behalten würde. Sie werden mir also verzeihen, wenn ich glaube, daß der ihre Mode müsse geliebt haben, der ihre Kleider getragen. Weil ich aber sonst eine grosse Hochachtung für ihn habe, und Sie, Eugenius, ihn allen andern Poeten vorziehen, so will ich itzt weiter keine. Gründe, als dieses seinen Exempel anführen Jch will Jhnen ihren Vater Ben mit allen Klei dramatischen Werken dern und Farben der Alten ausgeputzt zeigen, und das wird hinlänglich seyn, Sie auf unsere Seite zu ziehen. Denn Sie mögen nun entweder die schlechten Schauspiele unsrer Zeit, oder die guten der nächst verflossenen betrachten, so werden beyde, die schlechtesten sowohl als besten neuen Dichter, Sie die Alten bewundern lehren.“