age
for ten years.

Another triumphant battlefield--a veritable _fete romantique_--was the
first representation in 1831 of Alexandre Dumas' "Anthony." "It was an
agitation, a tumult, an effervescence. . . . The house was actually
delirious; it applauded, sobbed, wept, shouted. A certain famous green
coat was torn from the author's back and rent into shreds by his too
ardent admirers, who wanted pieces of it for memorabilia." [28]

The English reader who hears of the stubborn resistance offered to the
performance of 'Hernani' will naturally suppose that there must have been
something about it contrary to public policy--some immorality, or some
political references, at least, offensive to the government; and he will
have a difficulty in understanding that the trouble was all about affairs
purely literary. "Hernani" was fought because it violated the unities of
place and time; because its hero was a Spanish bandit; because in the
dialogue a spade was called a spade, and in the verse the lines overlap.
The French are often charged with frivolity in matters of conduct, but to
the discussion of matters of art they bring a most serious conscience.
The scene in "Hernani" shifts from Saragossa to the castle of Don Ruy
Gomez de Silva in the mountains of Arragon, and to the tomb of
Charlemagne at Aix-la-Chapelle. The time of the action, though not
precisely indicated, covers at least a number of months. The dialogue
is, in many parts, nervous, simple, direct, abrupt; in others running
into long _tirades_ and soliloquies, rich with all the poetic resources
of the greatest poet who has ever used the French tongue. The spirit of
the drama, as well as its form, is romantic. The point of honour is
pushed to a fantastic excess; all the characters display the most
delicate chivalry, the noblest magnanimity, the loftiest Castilian pride.
Don Ruy Gomez allows the King to carry off his bride, rather than yield
up the outlaw who has taken refuge in his castle; and that although he
has just caught this same outlaw paying court to this same bride, whose
accepted lover he is. Hernani, not to be outdone in generosity, offers
his life to his enemy and preserver, giving him his horn and promising to
come to meet his death at its summons. There is the same fault here
which is felt in Hugo's novels. Motives are exaggerated, the _dramatis
personae_ strut. They are rather over-dramatic in their
poses---melodramatic, in fact--and do unlike