Lafond did
the part of Polyphonte and did it well. At this tragedy many allusions were
caught hold of by the audience according as they were Bourbonically or
Napoleonically inclined; at that part of Polyphonte's speech wherein he
says:
Le premier qui fut Roi fut un soldat heureux.
Qui sert bien son pays n'a pas besoin d'ayeux.
Thunders of applause proceeded from those who applied it to Napoleon. At
the line:
Est il d'autre parti que celui de nos rois?
a loud shout and clapping proceeded from the Royalists; but I fancy if
hands had been shown these last would have been in a sad minority. I have
often amused myself with comparing the _Merope_ of Voltaire with that of
Maffei and am puzzled to which to give the preference. Maffei has made
Polyphonte a more odious and perhaps on that account a more theatrical
character, while Voltaire's Polyphonte is more in real life. In the play of
Voltaire he is a rough brutal soldier, void of delicacy of feeling and not
very scrupulous, but not that praeternatural deep designing villain that he
is represented in the piece of Maffei. In fact Maffei's Polyphonte appears
too _outre_; but then on the stage may not a little exaggeration be
allowed, just as statues which are destined to be placed in the open air or
on columns appear with greater effect when larger than the natural size?
Alfleri seems to have given the preference to the Merope of Voltaire.
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