e reflection must be sufficient
to convince every candid inquirer, that this consideration not only does
not explain the difficulty but augments it. Genius is never extinguished
by genius; on the contrary, it is created by it. The divine flame passes
from one mind to another similarly constituted. Thence the clusters of
great men who, at intervals, have appeared simultaneously and close to
each other in the world, and the long intervening periods of mediocrity
or imitation. Did the immortal genius of Dante destroy subsequent poetic
excellence in Italy? Let Tasso, Ariosto, Metastasio, and Alfieri,
answer. Homer did not extinguish AEschylus--he created him. Greek
tragedy is little more than the events following the siege of Troy
dramatised. The greatness of Sophocles did not crush the rising genius
of Euripides--on the contrary, it called it forth; and these two great
masters of the dramatic muse thrice contended with each other for the
prize awarded by the Athenians to dramatic excellence.[K] The great
Corneille did not annihilate rivalry in the dramatic genius of
France--on the contrary, he produced it; his immortal tragedies were
immediately succeeded by the tenderness of Racine, the wit of Moliere,
the versatility of Voltaire. Lessing in Germany was soon outstripped by
the vast mind of Schiller. Michael Angelo, vast as his genius was, did
not distance all competitors in Italy; he was speedily followed and
excelled by Raphael; and when the boy Correggio saw Raphael's pictures,
he said--"I, too, am a painter." Did the transcendent greatness of Burke
close in despair the eloquent lips of Pitt and Fox; or the mighty genius
of Scott quench the rising star of Byron? We repeat it--genius is never
extinguished by genius; it is created by it.

But if the state of dramatic poetry in Great Britain since the time of
Shakspeare affords matter of surprise, the late history and present
state of the drama, as it appears on the stage, afford subject of wonder
and regret. We are continually speaking of the lights of the age, of the
vast spread of popular information, of the march of intellect, and the
superiority of this generation in intelligence and refinement over all
that have gone before it. Go into any of the theatres of London at this
moment, and consider what evidence they afford of this boasted advance
and superiority. Time was when the versatile powers of Garrick enchanted
the audience; and exhibited alternately the perfection