DRAMATIC POETS.--To counterbalance, the dramatic poets are numerous and not without merit. Let us recall _Inez de Castro_ by De la Motte. Campistron, the feeble pupil of Racine (and, moreover, there could be no pupil of Racine, so original was the latter, so closely was his genius associated with his mind), perpetrated numerous tragedies and operas which enjoyed the success obtained by all imitative works: that is, a success which arouses no discussion, and which today appears to be the climax of tediousness. CRÉBILLON.--Crébillon followed, vigorous, energetic, violently shaking the nerves, master of horror and of terrors, not lacking some analogy with Shakespeare, but without delicacy or depth, never even giving a thought to being psychological or a moralist, writing badly and to a certain extent meriting the epithet of "the barbarian" bestowed on him by Voltaire. The latter was infatuated with the drama, having the feeling for beautiful themes and for new and original topics, adapting them to the stage with sufficient aptitude, delighting, in addition, in pomp, mimicry, and decorativeness, and causing tragedy to lean towards opera, which in his day was no bad thing; but weak in execution, never creating characters because he could not escape from himself, as moderate in psychology and morality as Crébillon himself and replacing analysis of passion by these and philosophical commonplaces. He left tragic dramas which until about 1815 enjoyed success, but which then fell into a disregard from which there is no probability they will ever emerge. COMIC POETS.--The comic poets of this period were highly agreeable. The most notable were Destouches, Regnard, La Chaussée. Destouches was the very type of the comic writers of the eighteenth century already alluded to, who took a portrait by La Bruyère and turned it into a comedy, and that is what was called a comedy of character. Thus he wrote _The Braggart_, _The Irresolute_, _The Ungrateful_, _The Backbiter_, _The Spendthrift_, etc. Sometimes he took pains to be a trifle more original, as in _The False Agnes_, _The Married Philosopher_; sometimes he borrowed a subject from a foreign literature and adapted it fairly dexterously for the Gallic stage, as in _The Impertinent Inquisitive_, taken from _Don Quixote_ and _The Night Drum_, borrowed from an English author. His versification was dexterous and correct without possessing other merit. REGNARD.--Regnard, on the contrary, was an original genius, though frequently imitative of Molière. He possessed the comic spirit, gaiety, animation, the sense of drollery, and a prodigious capacity for humorous verse of great flexibility and incredible ease, highly superior in point of form to that of Boileau and even of Molière, for he suggests a Scarron perfected by Molière himself and by the Italian poets. Still alive and probably imperishable are such works as _The Gamester_, _The Universal Legatee_, _The Unexpected Return_.