he unities; and, lastly, by boldly
denying the necessity of verse in tragedy, and still more the necessity
of rhyme. He was, of course, answered, and the only one of the answers
which has much interest for posterity is that which Voltaire prefixed to
the second edition of _Oedipe_. This is, as always with its author,
lively and ingenious, but ill-informed, destitute of true critical
principles, and entirely inconclusive. La Motte himself wrote a tragedy,
_Ines de Castro_, in which he did not venture to carry out his own
principles, and which had some success. But the justice of his
strictures was best shown by the increasing feebleness of French tragedy
throughout the century. Were it not for the prodigious genius of
Voltaire, not a single tragedy of the age would now have much chance of
being read, still less of being performed; and were it not for that
genius, and the unequal but still remarkable talent of Crebillon the
elder, not a single tragedy of the age would be worth reading for any
motive except curiosity, simple or studious.

[Sidenote: Crebillon the Elder.]

Crebillon was born in 1674, and lived to the age of eighty-nine. His
family name was Jolyot, and the most remarkable thing about his private
history is, that, being clerk to a lawyer, he was enthusiastically
encouraged by his master in his poetical attempts. His first acted
tragedy, _Idomenee_, appeared in 1703; his last, 'The Triumvirate,' more
than fifty years later. In the interval he was irregularly busy, and the
duel of tragedies, which in his old age his partisans got up between him
and Voltaire, was not entirely in favour of the more famous and gifted
writer. Crebillon's best works were _Atree_, 1707, and _Rhadamiste et
Zenobie_, 1711, the latter being his masterpiece. He had in the eyes of
the minute critics of his time some technical defects of style and
construction. But, despite the restraints of the French stage, he
succeeded in being truly tragical and truly natural; and not a few of
his verses have a grandeur which has been said to be hardly discoverable
elsewhere in French tragedy between Corneille and Hugo.

[Sidenote: Voltaire and his followers.]

Voltaire's own tragedies have been very differently judged by different
persons. It has been said that they owed their popularity chiefly to the
adroit manner in which, without going too far, the author made them
opportunities for insinuating the popular opinions of the time. Yet
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