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 tional people, so it is easier to find good representatives of parts in which the actor can adapt the part to himself, than of those in which he must adapt himself to the part. Many Zaires and Alzires might be found for one Lady Macbeth or Cleopatra. In all that he aimed at—in versification, language, situation, and stage effect—Voltaire was one of the most successful of dramatists. A note in Forster's 'Life of Goldsmith' says: "Gray placed Voltaire's tragedies next to those of Shakespeare… Gray's high opinion of Voltaire's tragedies is shared by one of the greatest authorities on such matters now living, Sir E. B. Lytton, whom I have often heard maintain the marked superiority of Voltaire over all his countrymen in the knowledge of dramatic art, and the power of producing theatrical effect."