| Citation |
IL.781.008
29 Jan 1781:11 (3/139)
[Article on the "principal follies of the English."] From
the French of M.G. Da [blurred]
. . . [1/2 column]
Some of our nation consider the English stage, which
affords that people so much delight, as a proof of their
barbarity. Their tragedies, it is true, tho' interesting
and replete with beauties, are nevertheless dramatic
monsters, half butchery and half farce. Grotesque
character, and extravagant pleasantry, constitute the chief
part of their comedies; in one of these the devil enters
sneezing, and somebody says to the devil God bless you.
They are not however all of this stamp: they have even some
in a very good taste; but there are hardly any which give us
an advantageous idea of the English nation; though it is
from the theatre that a stranger forms his opinion of the
manners of a people. The English comic poets do not
endeavor to paint their countrymen such as they are: for
they are said to possess as much humanity as reason.
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