Note 242 — Chapter XI · (continued 2)

What I have already observed with regard to the Novelle—namely, that Italy lacked the purifying and ennobling influences of a real public, embracing all classes, and stimulating the production of a largely designed, broadly executed literature of human nature—is emphatically true also of her stage. The people demand greatness from their authors—simplicity, truth, nobleness. They do not shrink from grossness; they tolerate what is coarse. But these elements must be kept in proper subordination. Princes, petty coteries, academies, drawing-room patrons, the audience of the antechamber and the boudoir, delight in subtleties, doubles entendre, scandalous tales, Divorce Court arguments. The people evokes Shakspere; the provincial Court breeds Bibbiena.