circumstances
of their situation, and to the events which had so lately taken place,
the interest which the theatres must at any time have excited, was
greatly increased.

There was another object also, less temporary in its nature, which
rendered frequent attendance at the theatre, one of the most useful and
instructive occupations of our time. The construction and character of
the French tragedies have been as generally questioned in other
countries, as they are universally and enthusiastically admired in
France; and with whatever feelings, whether of pleasure or fatigue, we
might have read these celebrated compositions, we were all naturally
most anxious to ascertain how far they were calculated for actual
representation, and what effect these plays, which possess such
influence over the French people, might produce on those who had been
accustomed to dramatic writings of so very different a description.

The theatres present, at first view, a very favourable aspect of French
character. The audience uniformly conduct themselves with propriety and
decorum; they are always attentive to the piece represented, and shew
themselves, in general very good judges of theatrical merit; and the
entertainments which please their taste are certainly of a superior
order to a great part of those which are popular in England. A great
number of the performances which are loudly applauded by the pit and
boxes of the London theatres, would be esteemed low and vulgar, even by
the galleries at the Theatre Francais. It must be added, likewise, that
the morality of the plays which are in request, is very generally more
strict than of favourite English plays; and often of a refined and
sentimental turn, which would be little relished in England. The
tragedies acted at the Theatre Francais are generally modelled on the
Greek; those of Racine and Voltaire are common. The comedies have seldom
any low life or buffoonery, or vulgar ribaldry in them; The after
pieces, and the ballets at the Academie de Musique, and at the Opera
Comique, are often beautiful representations of rural innocence and
enjoyments.

It appears at first difficult to reconcile this taste in theatrical
entertainments with the well-known immorality of the Parisians; but the
fact is, that as they are in the daily habit of speaking of virtues
which they do not practise, so it never appears to enter their heads;
that the sentiments which they delight in hearing at the theatre