d a Poticary, in
which each tries to tell the greatest lie; plays of this kind are seen
in France at the present day. In the fifteenth century the drama in
France became more secularized and included political events and
satire, but the French were undoubtedly the fathers of drama in the
Middle Ages. Their plays were known a whole century before Spain or
Italy had any theater, while the romantic drama in other countries of
Europe was founded on the early French drama. Modern drama in France
during the time of Corneille, Racine and Voltaire was almost entirely
classic. The French regarded the Greek standard as the highest art; and
sought to imitate it faithfully, so much so that the French Academy,
criticizing a tragedy of Corneille, said "that the poet, from the fear
of sinning against the rules of art, had chosen rather to sin against
the rules of nature."

Comic drama in France from the end of the sixteenth to the middle of
the seventeenth century was borrowed from Spain, and had to do with a
multiplication of trap doors, dark lanterns, intrigues, and puzzling
disguises, until Moliere, in his "Precieuses Ridicules" successfully
attacked these follies of his age.

The Romantic drama, which arose in the second quarter of the nineteenth
century, holds at present the first place in France. Its chief
exponents have been Victor Hugo, the two Dumases, Sardou and Octave
Feuillet. Between them and the followers of the Classic School there
was for some time a lively war. The latter wanted to exclude the
Romanticists from the Theatre Francais, but without success. In spite
of the beauty of its French, and the polish of its style, this latest
form of the drama in France frequently offends strongly against
morality. In Spain the drama was at all times thoroughly national. Even
when they introduced mythological, Greek or Roman characters, it was
always in a Castilian dress. In this respect Spain stands alone among
the nations of Europe, as it borrowed nothing from France, Italy or
England. Its earliest plays were the Mysteries, which it is supposed to
have obtained from Constantinople, where the ancient theatre of Greece
and Rome was kept up, in a grosser form, far into the Middle Ages. In
later times this Eastern drama became so corrupt that the Christian
Church tried to offset it by introducing the Mysteries, and it became a
common custom every year at Christmas, for the Manger at Bethlehem, the
Worship of the Shepherds, and th