REMARKS. This tragedy is a translation from Racine, a French poet of the highest celebrity, who lived in the reign of Lewis the Fourteenth ; and who, in the possession of wealth, and the enjoyment of fame, died of chagrin, occasioned by the king's displeasure at a memorial he addressed to his majesty, written with infinite eloquence, upon the miseries of the people. Ambrose Philips, the translator of this favourite play, has been more successful than dramatic translators generally are. The French and the English stages differ so essentially, that every drama requires great alteration, before it can please a London audience, although it has previously charmed the audience of Paris. The gloomy mind of a British auditor demands a bolder and more varied species of theatrical amusement, than the lively spirits of his neighbours in France. The former has no attention, no curiosity, till roused by some powerful fable, intricate occurrences, and all the interest which variety createswhilst the latter will quietly sit, absorbed in their own glowing fancy, to hear speeches after speeches, of long narration, nor wish to see any thing performed, so they are but told, that something has been done, "The Distressed Mother" partakes of the common quality of French dramas in this respect-much more is described to the audience than they see executed: but every recital is here in the highest degree interesting; and the dignity of the persons introduced on the stage seems to forbid all violence of action, which might endanger their respective grandeur. The mere falling on the knee, by Andromache, when she exclaims to her victor "Behold how low have reduc❜d a queen !" you is perhaps more affecting, more admirable, in the character of a mother, haughty, like the Queen of the Trojans, than any event which could have occurred in the play, than any heroic deed which, either in grief or in rage, she could have performed. The love of Hermione for Pyrrhus, founded on ambition, is, again, as natural a representation of that love, which but too often governs the heart of woman, as could be given: and Orestes, doting with fondness, the more he finds she, whom he loves, loves another, is equally as true a picture of this wellknown passion, as it rules over the heart of man. Frequently as this tragedy has been acted, and much as it has been approved by an English audience, it will still gain more favour with a reader than a spectator. Imagination can give graces, charms, and majesty, to Hector's widow, and all the royal natives of Troy and Greece, which their representatives cannot always so completely bestow; and, as the work is chiefly narrative, reading answers the same purpose as to listen. The attraction of this play, on its first appearance in England, was, by some critics, ascribed to the exertions of the translator's friends. Steele, who wished well to Philips, devoted a whole paper of his "Spectator" to the praise of the piece, even before it was acted; and continued his encomiums afterwards, to the no small reputation of the English author. This Ambrose Philips was a gentleman well known for having a number of warm friends, and implacable enemies; and it is supposed that the imprudent eulogiums of the one often did him as much injury, as the malicious animadversions of the other. The writers in "The Spectator" were, however, of too judicious a class to praise him into ridicule without intending it; and, no doubt, they aided the popularity of his play. But with all the reputation Mr. Philips acquired by "The Distressed Mother," and two other tragedies, of which he was the original author, his name is better known to the world as a pastoral poet, than as a dramatist. He is still more remembered as the pretended rival of Pope in his rural poetry; and as a man whom Pope hated, even beyond his ordinary bounds of pettish spleen. The paper war, which Mr. Ambrose Philips held, through life, with his literary antagonists, did not, however, shorten his days; for he survived every ef fort of his enemies to make his existence burthensome, till the age of seventy-eight,—and died in 1749. |