Orazio monologue (Act 1) — The history of the harlequinade, volume 2 (of 2)

Woe to us were we to attempt such an innovation! It is not yet time to risk it. In all things we must not offend universal taste. In other times the public attended comedy only to laugh, and they desired to see no other actors on the stage but the masks. Did the serious characters render the dialogue a little too long, at once they grew weary; to-day they have learned to listen to serious rôles, to enjoy words, to be interested by events, to favour the moral, to laugh at the sallies and altercations derived from the serious itself. But the masks are still beheld with pleasure, and it is not necessary to withdraw them altogether. Rather let us seek to limit their conventions and to bridle their ridiculous characters.