It is quite otherwise with comedy, which should be mere common life, and not one jot bigger. Every character should speak upon the stage, not only what it would utter in the situation there represented, but in the same manner in which it would express it. For which reason, I cannot allow rhymes in comedy, unless they were put into the mouth and came out of the mouth of a mad poet. But it is impossible to deceive one’s self enough (nor is it the least necessary in comedy) to suppose a dull rogue of a usurer cheating, or _gros Jean_ blundering, in the finest rhymes in the world. As for operas, they are essentially too absurd and extravagant to mention: I look upon them as a magic scene, contrived to please the eyes and the ears, at the expense of the understanding; and I consider singing, rhyming, and chiming heroes, and princesses, and philosophers, as I do the hills, the trees, the birds, and the beasts, who amicably joined in one common country dance, to the irresistible tune of Orpheus’s lyre. Whenever I go to an opera, I leave my sense and reason at the door with my half guinea, and deliver myself up to my eyes and my ears. [_Jan. 23, 1752._] RIDICULE.--It is commonly said, and more particularly by Lord Shaftesbury, that ridicule is the best test of truth; for that it will not stick where it is not just. I deny it.[53] A truth learned in a certain light, and attacked in certain words by men of wit and humor, may, and often doth, become ridiculous, at least so far, that the truth is only remembered and repeated for the sake of the ridicule. The overturn of Mary of Medicis into a river, where she was half drowned, would never have been remembered, if Madame de Vernueil, who saw it, had not said _la Reine boit_. Pleasure or malignity often gives ridicule a weight, which it does not deserve. [_Same date._] COMEDIES.--I chiefly mind dialogue and character in comedies. Let dull critics feed the carcasses of plays; give me the taste and the dressing. [_Feb. 6, 1752._] THE WEIGHT OF LOW PEOPLE.--In courts a universal gentleness and _douceur dans les manières_ is most absolutely necessary: an offended fool, or a slighted _valet de chambre_, may, very possibly, do more hurt at court, than ten men of merit can do you good. Fools, and low people, are always jealous of their dignity; and never forget nor forgive what they reckon a slight. [_Same date._] AT COURT.--There is a court garment, as well as a wedding garment, without which you will not be received. That garment is the _volto sciolto_: an imposing air, an elegant politeness, easy and engaging manners, universal attention, an insinuating gentleness, and all those _je ne sais quoi_ that compose the _grâces_. [_Same date._]