Men, in praising, naturally applaud the dead.  Tragedy celebrated the dead.

Great men are never sufficiently shown but in struggles.  Tragedy turned, therefore, on melancholy and affecting subjects,—­a sort of threnodia,—­its passions, therefore, admiration, terror, and pity.

Comedy was satirical.  Satire is best on the living.

It was soon found that the best way to depress an hated character was to turn it into ridicule; and therefore the greater vices, which in the beginning were lashed, gave place to the contemptible.  Its passion, therefore, became ridicule.

Every writing must have its characteristic passion.  What is that of comedy, if not ridicule?

Comedy, therefore, is a satirical poem, representing an action carried on by dialogue, to excite laughter by describing ludicrous characters.  See Aristotle.

Therefore, to preserve this definition, the ridicule must be either in the action or characters, or both.

An action may be ludicrous, independent of the characters, by the ludicrous situations and accidents which may happen to the characters.

But the action is not so important as the characters.  We see this every day upon the stage.

What are the characters fit for comedy?

It appears that no part of human life which may be subject to ridicule is exempted from comedy; for wherever men run into the absurd, whether high or low, they may be the subject of satire, and consequently of comedy.  Indeed, some characters, as kings, are exempted through decency; others might be too insignificant.  Some are of opinion that persons in better life are so polished that their tone characters and the real bent of their humor cannot appear.  For my own part, I cannot give entire credit to this remark.  For, in the first place, I believe that good-breeding is not so universal or strong in any part of life as to overrule the real characters and strong passions of such men as would be proper objects of the drama.  Secondly, it is not the ordinary, commonplace discourse of assemblies that is to be represented in comedy.  The parties are to be put in situations in which their passions are roused, and their real characters called forth; and if their situations are judiciously adapted to the characters, there is no doubt but they will appear in all their force, choose what situation of life you please.  Let the politest man alive game, and feel at loss; let this be his character; and his politeness will never hide it, nay, it will put it forward with greater violence, and make a more forcible contrast.[3]

But genteel comedy puts these characters, not in their passionate, but in their genteel light; makes elegant cold conversation, and virtuous personages.[4] Such sort of pictures disagreeable.

Virtue and politeness not proper for comedy; for they have too much or no movement.

They are not good in tragedy, much less here.