Page:An Essay of Dramatic Poesy.djvu/17

Rh blank verse as the following can be had, no one will ever ask for rhyme: —

But when long passages are given us such as —

then, since the thoughts are neither supremely interesting in themselves, nor presented with supreme force or skill, the hearer is apt to grow weary, and to ask from the form of the verse that entertainment which he does not derive from the substance. In other words, he would, consciously or not, be glad of rhyme if he could get it.

There seems good reason to think that the French masterpieces of the seventeenth century would not, if they were not rhymed, hold their ground on the modern stage. With us, Shakspere's amazing genius enables us, even without the aid of rhyme, still to enjoy his plays; but this is true of no other dramatist of that age. In his work on the Elizabethan dramatists, Charles Lamb produced passages from some of the best plays of all the