funeral occupies the fourth; in the
interval, between the fourth and fifth acts, the actor who performs the
lover comes forward, and announces to the audience with the greatest
tranquillity in the world, the harlequinades which are to be performed
on the following evening; he then reappears in the fifth act, to shoot
himself with a pistol. The tragic actors are quite in harmony with the
coldness and extravagance of these pieces: they commit all these horrors
with the utmost calm. When a performer uses much action, they say he
conducts himself like a preacher; for in truth, there is more acting in
the pulpit than on the stage. It is very fortunate that these actors are
so moderate in their pathos; for as there is nothing interesting, either
in the piece or its situations, the more noise they made about it, the
more ridiculous they would appear: it might still be endurable, were
there any thing gay in this nonsense; but it is most stupidly dull and
monotonous. There is in Italy no more comedy than tragedy; and here
again we stand foremost. The only species of comedy peculiar to Italy is
harlequinade. A valet, at once a knave, a glutton, and a coward; an old
griping, amorous dupe of a guardian, compose the whole strength of these
pieces. I hope you will allow that _Tartuffe_, and the _Misanthrope_,
require a little more genius than such compositions."

This attack of the Count d' Erfeuil was sufficiently displeasing to the
Italians who were his auditors; nevertheless they laughed at it. The
Count was more desirous of showing his wit than his natural goodness of
disposition; for though this latter quality influenced his actions,
self-love guided his speech. Prince Castel-Forte and the rest of his
countrymen present, were extremely impatient to refute the Count
d'Erfeuil; but as they were little ambitious of shining in conversation
and believed their cause would be more ably defended by Corinne, they
besought her to reply, contenting themselves with barely citing the
celebrated names of Maffei, Metastasio, Goldoni, Alfieri, and Monti.
Corinne began by granting that the Italians had no drama; but she
undertook to prove that circumstances and not want of talent, were the
cause of it. Comedy, which depends upon the observation of manners, can
only exist in a country where we live in the midst of a numerous and
brilliant society. In Italy we meet with nothing but violent passions or
idle enjoyments which produce crimes of so bla