| Citation |
NYM(G.769.062
29 May 1769:21 (918)
An historical and Philosophical Essay on the principal
Follies of different Nations. By M.G. Dourk. [Written in
French.]. . . [c.109 lines, includes:] Some of our nation
consider the English stage, which affords that people so
much delight, as a proof of their barbarity. Their
tragedies, it is true, though interesting and replete with
beauties, are nevertheless dramatic monsters, half butchery
and half farce. Grotesque character, and extravagant
pleasantry, constitute the chief part of their comedies: in
one of these, the Devil enters sneezing, and somebody says
to the Devil, God bless you. They are not however, all of
this stamp: they have even some in a very good taste; but
there are hardly any which give us an advantageous idea of
the English Nation; though it is from the theatre that a
stranger forms his opinion of the manners of a people. The
English comic poets do not endeavour to paint their
countrymen such as they are; for they are said to possess as
much humanity as reason.
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