Α

TREATISE

OF

Plays and Shews.

T

HÉ common Criticism of Plays is founded on an Application of the Poetick Rules to thofe particular Works of which it intends to discover the Beauties or Defects. It confiders the Choice of the Subject, whether it be Hiftorical, Fabulous, or a Mixture of both; It confiders the Beginning, the Progrefs and the Catastrophe, if the Paffions are defcrib'd with Delicacy, or with Force and Vehemence, according to their Nature, or to their Degree; if the Characters and Manners of Nations, of Ages, of Conditions, of Sexes, and of Perfons are preferv'd; if the A&tion, Time, and Place, are conform'd to those Rules which the Poets have prefcrib'd

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prefcrib'd themselves, that the Atterition of the Audience being not divided they may be the more fufceptible of that Pleasure or Inftruction which is intended to be given them; if the Verfification is fine and correct; if the Words by their Turn, by their Juftness, by their Sound, by their Gravity, bỵ their Sweetness, by their Richness and their Magnificence, by their Pleafingnefs,by their Languifhment, or by their Vivacity contribute to the Exactness of the Picture which the Thoughts they exprefs are to raise in the Mind, or to that Emotion of the Heart which is to be excited by the Sentiments they reprefent. According as thefe things are found or are wanting in the Compofition of a Dramatick Poem it is receiv'd with Applaufe or with Contempt.

The Criticism which I now undertake is not of this Nature, it leaves to Poefy all her Jurifdiction, but it is likewife much Superiour to her; it has a Right to correct even what is confor mable to the moft ftrict and severe Laws of that Art. As it is guided by the Religion of JESUS CHRIST, it fol lows infallible Rules, and provided that it applies them with Juftness and Fide

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lity it cannot be deceiv'd in Judgment. I do not write here for thofe who not believing the Chriftian Religion, thọ they outwardly profefs it, are only to be look'd on as Baptiz'd Heathens, who disavow by their Impiety and Irre. ligion, the Offer which their Parents have made of them to the Church, and retract the most Solemn Promifes of their Baptifm. Their profound and miferable Blindnefs makes them reject with Contempt the most certain Truths of Chriftianity; and as these are the Principles and Foundations of this Difcourfe, they will be unhappy enough not to receive any Fruit from it. 'Tis only defign'd then for those Christians who partake in fome manner of the Gospel, acknowledging its Myfteries because thole do not make them uneafy; but not acknowledging its Maxims at least not in their PraEtice) because these condemn their Life and Libertinism; as they refolve to abandon themselves to the Defires of their Heart, they corrupt the moft Solid Truths, they feek to find that Innocent which they will not cease to do, they obícure their Minds by a voluntary Darkness, that they may fol N 3 low

low that Cuftom without Remorfe which they will not overcome; and the Fear they are in of discovering fuch Truths as would hinder them from finning at Ease, makes them continue in. Common Errors without ever examining whether they are Errors or not. They are befides fortified in them because they see them Authoriz'd by the Example or the Approbation of many Perfons who have either a pretended or a very ignorant Piety, and who accommodate the Maxims of the Gospel to the Remifnefs of their Manners, inftead of forming as they ought their Manners on the Truths of the Gospel.

As these Perfons cannot deny the Principles of our Religion, 'tis to them I particularly addrefs this Work; I hope to prove to them that Plays in the ftate they are in at this time are not an innocent Diversion as they imagine, and that a Chriftian is oblig'd to look on them as Evil. Provided one will be Sincere one will eafily be convinc'd of this, if we examine the Nature of Plays, their Origine, their Circumftances, and their Effects; and if we inform our felves of the Univerfal Tra dition of the Church on this Subject,

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by the Sentiments of the Fathers who have spoken of it, and by thofe of the Church affembled in a great Number of Councils. This feems to me the best and fureft way to find out the Truth, and this Order the most natural and the moft regular that I can obferve.

The General Idea that may be form'd of a Play, that is to fay, of a Dramatick Poem, is nothing elfe but a Natural Representation of an Action, or rather of an Event, in its Substance and in its Circumstances. 'Tis a real Painting,the Words paint the Thoughts, and the Acting paints Actions and Things; and if this Definition may be apply'd in fome manner to History and Fable, a Dramatick Poem is in this different from them, that befides that they only furnish it with Matter, it makes us fee things as Prefent, which History and Fable recounts to us as paft, and that it represents them in a lively, animated, and as it were perfonal manner, whereas History and Fable only relate them in a manner Lifelefs and without Action. By Hiftory we recal things paft to us, and by Dramatick Poetry, Things do as it were make us go back to them.