of being commemorated, even on his tomb:- Nullis in scribendis agendisque comædiis, ingenio, facundia, aut arte, secundo.' Salvator Rosa was, it appears, a comic actor of infinite vivacity; and his personation of Formica, and of the Coviello of the ancient farces, is said to have thrown the Immortal City into convulsions of gaiety. Another Neapolitan painter, of much less celebrity, Andria Belvedere, was, about the beginning of the 18th century, at the head of a society of theatrical amateurs at Naples, and diffused such a zeal for the drama among his fellow-citizens, that (says M. Amaury Duval)+ l'on vit plusieurs seigneurs, par amour pour cet art, éléver dans leurs 'palais des théâtres particuliers.'

The Duke Annibale Marchase, who resigned his government of Salerno in the year 1740, and retired to the Monastery of the Holy Fathers of the Oratory at Naples, ‡ is said to have written his Sacred Dramas for the private theatre of that holy retreat, from whose performances the Oratorio, or Scriptural Opera, derives both its origin and name.

Coming down to a still later period, we find the 'Serse' of Bettinelli acted, for the first time, in a private theatre at Verona; the principal character of the piece being performed by the Marquis Albergati, who was, himself, the author of various comedies, and so accomplished an actor, that Goldoni says of him, ' non vi era in Italia comico ne dilettante chi rappresentasse al 'pari di lui gli eroi tragici e gli amorosi nelle commedie.'

Lastly, we have Alfieri, the great boast of the Italian stage, performing in his own Antigone at Rome, with the beautiful and majestic Duchess of Zagarolo-establishing afterwards his little theatre on the Lungo d'Arno, near the Ponte S. Trinita, at Florence, where he acted successively the parts of Filippo, Carlo, and Saul, in his own plays; and, finally, taking his leave for ever of the boards at the feast of the Illumination at Pisa, where (says the poet) ebbi la pueril vanagloria di andarvi, e là recitai per una sola volta, e per l'ultima, la mia diletta 'parte del Saul, e là rimasi, quanto al teatro, morto da Re.'

In France, as well as in Italy, it was on the boards of Private Theatres that the first glimmerings, the 'primus oriens,' of the

See Lady Morgan's lively account of these exhibitions in her Life of this Painter.

+ Mémoires sur le Royaume de Naples.-Belvedere was followed by Amenta, the comic poet, who died in 1719. Comme Belvedere,' says M. Duval, il faisait jouer chez lui ses propres pièces par des 'amateurs qu'il avoit formés à l'art du Théâtre.'

+ L'Oratorio de' PP. di S. Filippo Neri.

Drama appeared. The only difference was, that, in Italy, as we have seen, the originators of the art were scholars and nobles, while in France they were humble bourgeois and priests. C'est 'à la lettre (says Suard) que l'on peut dire que nôtre comédie naquit dans le sein de l'Eglise.'* Excited by the example of those religious shows, which, in the fourteenth century, were exhibited in different parts of Europe by the Pilgrims who had returned from the Holy Land, some pious citizens of Paris formed themselves into a society (on the model of the Christian Theatre, instituted by Gregory Nazianzene) for the purpose of improving upon these rude spectacles. Having established a sort of theatre at St Maur, near Vincennes, they there continued for some time to attract audiences of the faithful, and even to wean away crowds of good Christians from less amusing places of devotion.

Voltaire, who has thought proper, in an unusual fit of charity, to vindicate the scriptural dramas of this period from the charges of absurdity brought against them, assures us that they were performed with a solemnity not unworthy of their sacred subjects; -'il y avait (he says) sur le théâtre beaucoup plus de pompe et d'appareil que nous n'en avons jamais vus. La troupe 'bourgeoise était composée de plus de cent acteurs, indépendamment des assistans, des gagistes, et des machinistes.'

The priests, naturally becoming a little jealous of these showy competitors, thought it the safest policy at length to court an alliance with them. The hours of prayer were altered so as to suit those of the theatre; reverend pens volunteered to dramatise new subjects from the Scriptures; and priests not only became managers of this devotional theatre, but condescended without scruple to appear as actors on its stage. It was not long, however, before this union between the Church and the Drama was dissolved; and it is perhaps on the principle of family quarrels being invariably the most violent, that actors and priests have continued on such deadly terms of hostility ever since.

The Drama, being thus disengaged from Religion, soon stooped its wing' towards an humbler and more congenial region, and in the affairs of this world found its most legitimate quarry. A society of private actors, styling themselves' Enfans sans soucy,' was instituted about the beginning of the reign of Charles VI., and still flourished, after an interval of a hundred years, in the time of Marot, the poet. The professed object of their representations-which were called Sotties, or

* Mélanges de Littérature.

Sottises, and answered probably to our idea of farces-was to satirize good-humouredly the manners and vices of the age, and particularly those of the classes always most obnoxious, the Nobility and higher Clergy.

The most brilliant period of this merry fraternity was under the gentle reign of Louis XII., who had the good sense to tolerate their sallies, even when directed against himself. To judge from Marot's description of them-this charming French poet having apparently lived much in their society-they were, in general, young men of wealth and condition, and must have contributed, in no small degree, to prepare the way for the birth of a regular Theatre in France.

During the long interval that elapsed between these rude beginnings and the sudden maturity of the Drama in the beginning of the seventeenth century, when the Muse of Tragedy sprung at once, full-armed, from the brain of Corneille, all the essays in this department of literature were confined to the private theatres and universities. The plays acted in the colleges of Paris were a source of constant irritation to the higher powers; and we find decrees without end, not only from the Principals of the University, but from the Parliament, forbidding (particularly at the annual return of the Fête des Rois) the representation of any farces, momeries, ni sottises,' among the students. The reason given for these anti-dramatic interferences was one which, in all times and in all countries, has been made the pretext for the incursions of power upon intellect:- La • précaution étoit d'autant plus necessaire, que les exemples du passé faisoient craindre, que, dans ces jeux folâtres, on ne s'emancipât à parler contre le gouvernement, et contre les 'premières personnes de l'Etat.' *

Sometimes these collegiate performances were made the medium of theological satire; as in the instance of a Comedy played at the College of Navarre, in which Marguerite de Valois (on account of the supposed leaning of that celebrated Princess towards the Reformation) was represented under the shape of a Fury of Hell,-a piece of priestly pleasantry for which, on a complaint to the King, the learned amateurs were forthwith cast into prison.

Few names of any distinguished celebrity appear among the private actors of this period; but there is one worth whole millions of university pedants, who will be read as long as racy

* Histoire de l'Université de Paris, tom. i. p. 191.

† Another instance may be seen in Bayle, Art. Schorus.'

language, attaching egotism, and philosophy without pretension, have any charms for mankind. I played,' says Montaigne, the chiefest parts in the Latin tragedies of Buchanan, Guerente, and Muretus, that were presented in our College ' of Guienne, with very great applause; wherein Andreas Goveanus, our Principal, as in all other parts of his undertaking, was, without comparison, the best of his employment in France, and I was looked upon as one of the chief actors. 'Tis an exercise that I do not disapprove in young people of • condition, and have since seen our Princes, by the example of the ancients, in person handsomely and commendably perform these exercises.'

It was in the year 1552 that the first regular tragedy, the Cléopatre of Iodelle made its appearance in France. Having been first acted before the King at the Hotel de Reims, it was afterwards performed by the author and his friends at the College of Boncour. I was there present myself, (says Pasquier,) in company with the great Turnelus. All the actors were men of name, and Remy de Belleau and Jean de la Peruse played the principal parts."

Of the merit of the dramatic pieces that succeeded this first attempt-almost all of which, as Suard tells us, were performed 'sur des théâtres particuliers'-the reader may form some idea from a specimen or two of their plots and dialogue. In the tragedy of La Force du Sang,' the heroine, Leocadie,—not having, as yet, the fear of the unities before her eyes-is seduced in the First act of the play, confined in the Fourth, and steps forth, the mother of a fine seven-year-old boy, in the Fifth. In another tragedy, founded on the Loves of Dido and Æneas, by Scuderi, (a wretched pretender, who was by a Court cabal set above Corneille,) the Trojan hero, during his scene with the enamoured Queen in the cave, having bethought him of the state of the weather, walks forth to see whether it has cleared up, and returns saying,

'Madame, il ne pleut plus-vôtre Majesté sorte.'

From the time of Louis XIV. downward, the annals of private theatres afford a still more ample field for discursiveness and research. Amidst the projects of ambition and the plots of bigotry, through all the war of priests, philosophers, economists, and courtiers, down to the very brink of that Revolution towards which all were hurrying, we find the practice of private acting prevalent throughout, and enlisting under its gay banner almost every name that high station, genius, or misfortune, has rendered celebrated.

The private theatre of Madame Maintenon, on a night when

Esther or Athalie was performed, affords, in itself, a gallery of historical portraits, where our attention is equally divided between the audience and the poet-between Louis and his sanctified mistress, on one side, and Racine, prostituting his fine genius to their bigotry and vanity, on the other. Imagination carries us through the rehearsals of these honourable performances; we see the actor, Baron, courteously keeping down his powers to the level of those of his amateur pupils;—we see Racine himself giving instructions to his Athalie, the fair Madame de Caylas, with whose soavità e l'altre grazie,' we are told by an eye-witness, † he was so captivated. In 1702, a few years after the death of Racine, when this consummate tragedy was acted before the King, the part of Josabat was performed by the Duchesse de Bourgogne, and that of Abner by the accomplished and dissolute Duke of Orleans, afterwards Regent.

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In the subsequent reign we find another Duke of Orleans, the grandson of the Regent, and the father of Egalité, distinguishing himself by his superior talents as a comic actor. Besides his various performances at Bagnolet-where, till the sale of this chateau, he maintained a regular theatrical establishment -we trace him acting in the Philosophe Mario' at St Cloud, and afterwards before Mesdames de France, in the now ruined chateau of Bellevue. The piece performed on the latter occasion was Les Trois Cousines'-the Duke de Chartres, as he was then, acting Delorme, and Madame de Pompadour taking the part of Collette;-and when this adroit mistress of the monarch, looking earnestly at her royal lover, sung the words, 'Mais pour un amant chéri Tromper tuteur ou mari,

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La bonne aventure,' &c.

'One may easily guess,' (says Collé, who relates the circumstance,) what was passing in the minds of all the audience at the moment.'

The details of the fêtes given by this dramatic Duke of Orleans at Villers-Cotteret-of the comedies in which he performed there with Madame de Montesson and Mesdames de Segur and Barbantane, and of the love that sprung up out of these festivities with Madame de Montesson, to the great grief of his

* The allusions in the Esther to Madame de Montespan and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantz, are an eternal disgrace to Racine. + The Abate Conti, who translated the Athalie into Italian. C'est le plus excellent acteur, (says Collé,) et le plus vrai, que 'j'aie vu.'