clinging
to the dungeon walls of his
native city, and expiring from his dread of leaving them.
native city, and expiring from his dread of leaving them.
Byron
" (See
_Two Doges of Venice_, by Alethea Wiel, 1891; _I due Foscari, Memorie
Storicho Critiche_, di Francesco Berlan, 1852; _Storia Documentata di
Venezia_, di S. Romanin, 1855, vol. iv. ; _Die beiden Foscari_, von
Richard Senger, 1878. For reviews, etc. , of _The Two Foscari, vide
ante_, "Introduction to _Sardanapalus_," p. 5. )
Both Jeffrey in the _Edinburgh_, and Heber in the _Quarterly Review_,
took exception to the character of Jacopo Foscari, in accordance with
the Horatian maxim, "Incredulus odi. " "If," said Jeffrey, "he had been
presented to the audience wearing out his heart in exile, . . . we might
have caught some glimpse of the nature of his motives. " As it is (in
obedience to the "unities") "we first meet with him led from the
'Question,' and afterwards . . .
clinging to the dungeon walls of his
native city, and expiring from his dread of leaving them. " The situation
lacks conviction.
"If," argued Heber, "there ever existed in nature a case so
extraordinary as that of a man who gravely preferred tortures and a
dungeon at home, to a temporary residence in a beautiful island and a
fine climate; it is what few can be made to believe, and still fewer to
sympathize with. "
It was, no doubt, with reference to these criticisms that Byron told
Medwin (_Conversations_, 1824, p. 173) that it was no invention of his
that the "young Foscari should have a sickly affection for his native
city. . . . I painted the men as I found them, as they were--not as the
critics would have them. . . . But no painting, however highly coloured,
can give an idea of the intensity of a Venetian's affection for his
native city. "
Goethe, on the other hand, was "not careful" to note these
inconsistencies and perplexities. He thought that the dramatic handling
of _The Two Foscari_ was "worthy of great praise," was "admirable! "
(_Conversations with Goethe_, 1874, p.
_Two Doges of Venice_, by Alethea Wiel, 1891; _I due Foscari, Memorie
Storicho Critiche_, di Francesco Berlan, 1852; _Storia Documentata di
Venezia_, di S. Romanin, 1855, vol. iv. ; _Die beiden Foscari_, von
Richard Senger, 1878. For reviews, etc. , of _The Two Foscari, vide
ante_, "Introduction to _Sardanapalus_," p. 5. )
Both Jeffrey in the _Edinburgh_, and Heber in the _Quarterly Review_,
took exception to the character of Jacopo Foscari, in accordance with
the Horatian maxim, "Incredulus odi. " "If," said Jeffrey, "he had been
presented to the audience wearing out his heart in exile, . . . we might
have caught some glimpse of the nature of his motives. " As it is (in
obedience to the "unities") "we first meet with him led from the
'Question,' and afterwards . . .
clinging to the dungeon walls of his
native city, and expiring from his dread of leaving them. " The situation
lacks conviction.
"If," argued Heber, "there ever existed in nature a case so
extraordinary as that of a man who gravely preferred tortures and a
dungeon at home, to a temporary residence in a beautiful island and a
fine climate; it is what few can be made to believe, and still fewer to
sympathize with. "
It was, no doubt, with reference to these criticisms that Byron told
Medwin (_Conversations_, 1824, p. 173) that it was no invention of his
that the "young Foscari should have a sickly affection for his native
city. . . . I painted the men as I found them, as they were--not as the
critics would have them. . . . But no painting, however highly coloured,
can give an idea of the intensity of a Venetian's affection for his
native city. "
Goethe, on the other hand, was "not careful" to note these
inconsistencies and perplexities. He thought that the dramatic handling
of _The Two Foscari_ was "worthy of great praise," was "admirable! "
(_Conversations with Goethe_, 1874, p.
