Page:Readings in European History Vol 2.djvu/365

 Rise of Russia and Prussia 1*7 you will see presented the abominable plays of Shakespeare translated into our language, and the whole audience trans- ported with delight by these absurd farces, fit only for the savages of Canada. I speak of them thus because they sin against every rule of the drama. These rules are not arbi- trary : Aristotle in his Poetics prescribes the unity of time, of place, and of action as the only possible means of making tragedy interesting. One may perhaps forgive Shakespeare for his fantastic eccentricities, for one must not expect maturity of the arts at the time of their birth. But now we have a Goetz von Ber- lichingen appearing on the scene, a detestable imitation of those wretched English plays, and the pit applauds it en- thusiastically and demands the repetition of its disgusting platitudes. . . . Give us Medicis for rulers and we shall see genius unfold ; without an Augustus we cannot have Virgils. We shall yet have our classic authors ; every one will wish to read them alike for pleasure and profit; our neighbors will learn Ger- ingcare man, and our language, polished and perfected by our writers, of roy % p3.rroris« will be spoken, not in court circles only, but throughout the length and breadth of Europe. This happy time is not yet here, but it approaches. I prophesy that it will come, though I shall not see it ; my age forbids that hope. I am like Moses : I see the promised land from afar, but I may not enter it. Pardon me the comparison. I will let Moses alone, — I do not mean to put myself on a level with him in any respect ; but as for the " promised land " of our literature, it is far more to be desired than the bleak and arid rocks of the sterile Idumea. Progress of literature dependent on the foster VIII. The Partition of Poland Maria Theresa was heartily ashamed of her part in the First Partition of Poland. She writes as follows to Archduke Ferdinand, her son, explaining and excusing her course.