ord the action of the play. Action, however, there is almost none in
classic French tragedy. The tragic drama is, with the French, as it was
with the Greeks, after whom it was framed, merely a succession of scenes
in which speeches are made by the actors. Lofty declamation is always
the character of the play. In the "Athaliah," as in the "Esther," Racine
introduced the feature of the chorus, a restoration which had all the
effect of an innovation. The chorus in "Athaliah" consisted of Hebrew
virgins, who, at intervals marking the transitions between the acts,
chanted the spirit of the piece in its successive stages of progress
toward the final catastrophe. The "Athaliah" is almost proof against
technical criticism. It is acknowledged to be, after its kind, a nearly
ideal product of art.

There is a curious story about the fortune of this piece with the
public, that will interest our readers. The first success of "Athaliah"
was not great. In fact, it was almost a flat failure. But a company of
wits, playing at forfeits somewhere in the country, severely sentenced
one of their number to go by himself, and read the first act of
"Athaliah." The victim went, and did not return. Sought at length, he
was found just commencing a second perusal of the play entire. He
reported of it so enthusiastically, that he was asked to read it before
the company, which he did, to their delight. This started a reaction in
favor of the condemned play, which soon came to be counted the
masterpiece of its author.

First, in specimen of the choral feature of the drama, we content
ourselves with giving a single chorus from the "Athaliah." This we turn
into rhyme, clinging pretty closely all the way to the form of the
original. Attentive readers may, in one place of our rendering, observe
an instance of identical rhyme. This, in a piece of verse originally
written in English, would, of course, be a fault. In a translation from
French, it may pass for a merit; since, to judge from the practice of
the national poets, the French ear seems to be even better pleased with
such strict identities of sound, at the close of corresponding lines,
than it is with those definite mere resemblances to which, in English
versification, rhymes are rigidly limited. Suspense between hope and
dread, dread preponderating, is the state of feeling represented in the
present chorus. Salomith is the leading singer:--

SALOMITH.

The Lord hath deigned to spe