collection of curiosities, but as a fruitful field of great and
noble work, it cannot but be of subordinate interest, and as such
requires but cursory treatment here[287].

FOOTNOTES:

[284] Editions of almost all authors of any merit from the beginning of
the eighteenth century are common and accessible enough. They will,
therefore, not be specially indicated henceforward unless there is some
special reason for the citation, such as the peculiar elegance or
literary merit of a particular edition, or else the comparative rarity
of the book in any form.

[285] Chenier has been somewhat unfortunate in his editors. The only
complete and accurate edition (though it is far from perfect) is that of
M. Gabriel de Chenier. 3 vols. 1879.

[286] Excellent selections from many of these lighter poets have
recently been put forth under the editorship of M. Octave Uzanne.

[287] Rouget de L'Isle, the author of the famous _Marseillaise_,
deserves mention for that only. He published poems, but their singular
difference from, and inferiority to, his masterpiece were the chief
causes of the scepticism (apparently ill-founded) which has sometimes
been displayed as to his authorship of it.

CHAPTER II.

DRAMATISTS.

[Sidenote: Divisions of Drama.]

[Sidenote: La Motte.]

At the beginning, and indeed during the whole course, of the eighteenth
century, the theatre continued to enjoy all the vogue which the
extraordinary brilliancy of the authors of the preceding age had
conferred on it. There were three tolerably distinct kinds of dramatic
work--tragedy, comedy, and opera--the latter either artificial or comic,
and subdividing itself into a great many classes, from the dignified
opera of the Comedie Francaise and the Comedie Italienne, down to the
vaudevilles and operettas of the so-called 'fair' theatre, _Theatre de
la Foire_. Towards the middle of the century there grew up a fourth
class, to which the not very appropriate and still less definite name of
_drame_ is applied. This was subdivided, also somewhat arbitrarily, into
_tragedie bourgeoise_ and _comedie larmoyante_. Thus the dramatic author
had considerable liberty of choice except in tragedy proper, where the
model of Racine was enforced on him with pitiless rigour. La Motte, who
was, as has been said, a brilliant writer of prose, endeavoured to break
these bonds, first, by decrying the alleged superiority of the ancients;
secondly, by attacking the theory of t