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LECTURES ON DRAMATIC ART[11] (1809)

TRANSLATED BY JOHN BLACK

LECTURE XXII

Comparison of the English and Spanish Theatres--Spirit of the Romantic
Drama--Shakespeare--His age and the circumstances of his Life.

In conformity with the plan which we laid down at the first, we shall
now proceed to treat of the English and Spanish theatres. We have
been, on various occasions, compelled in passing to allude cursorily,
sometimes to the one and sometimes to the other, partly for the sake
of placing, by means of contrast, many ideas in a clearer light, and
partly on account of the influence which these stages have had on the
theatres of other countries. Both the English and Spaniards possess a
very rich dramatic literature, both have had a number of prolific and
highly talented dramatists, among whom even the least admired and
celebrated, considered as a whole, display uncommon aptitude for
dramatic animation and insight into the essence of theatrical effect.
The history of their theatres has no connection with that of the
Italians and French, for they developed themselves wholly out of the
abundance of their own intrinsic energy, without any foreign
influence: the attempts to bring them back to an imitation of the
ancients, or even of the French, have either been attended with no
success, or not been made till a late period in the decay of the
drama. The formation of these two stages, again, is equally
independent of each other; the Spanish poets were altogether