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The Works of Voltaire. A Contemporary Version. A Critique and Biography by John Morley, notes by Tobias Smollett, trans. William F. Fleming (New York: E.R. DuMont, 1901). In 21 vols. Vol. VIII The Dramatic Works Part 1 (Mérope, Olympia, The Orphan of China, Brutus) and Part II (Mahomet, Amelia, Oedipus, Mariamne, Socrates). https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/2187,
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Volume 8 of the 21 volume 1901 edition of the Complete Works. It contains 9 plays: Mérope, Olympia, The Orphan of China, Brutus, Mahomet, Amelia, Oedipus, Mariamne, Socrates.
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Mérope, Widow of Cresphontes, King of Messene.
Ægisthus, Son of Mérope.
Poliphontes, Tyrant of Messene.
Narbas, an old Man.
Euricles, Favorite of Mérope.
Erox, Favorite of Poliphontes.
Ismenia, Confidante of Mérope.
Scene at Messene, in the Palace of Mérope.
"Mérope," produced in 1743, is the greatest of Voltaire's tragedies and a perfect literary performance. Frederick the Great amused himself by turning it into the libretto of an opera. Its success was great and the author was called before the curtain, an honor until then unknown in France. The interest of the following correspondence justifies its length.Edition: current; Page: [5]
The Greeks and Romans, to whom modern Italy, as well as all other nations, are indebted for almost everything, dedicated their works, without the ridiculous form of compliments, to their friends, who were masters of the art: by this claim I take the liberty of addressing to you the French "Mérope."
The Italians, who have been the restorers of almost all the fine arts, and the inventors of many, were the first, who, under the auspices of Leo X., revived tragedy; and you, sir, are the first who, in this age, when the Sophoclean art became enervated by love-intrigues, often foreign to the subject, and so often debased by idle buffooneries, that reflected dishonor on the taste of your ingenious countrymen, you, sir, were the first who had courage and genius enough to hazard a tragedy without gallantry, a tragedy worthy of Athens in its glory; wherein the maternal affection constitutes the whole intrigue, and the most tender interest arises from the purest virtue. France prides herself in her "Athalie"; it is indeed the masterpiece of our stage, perhaps of poetry itself: of all the pieces that are exhibited among us, it is the only one where love is not introduced: but at the same time we must allow, that it is supported by the pomp of religion, and that majesty of eloquence which appears in the prophets. You had not that resource, and yet you have so contrived, as to furnish out five acts, which it is so Edition: current; Page: [6] extremely difficult to fill up without episodes. I must own, your subject appeared to me much more interesting and tragical than that of "Athalie"; and even if our admirable Racine had worked up his masterpiece with more art, more poetry, and more sublimity than he has, yours, I am satisfied, would have drawn more tears from the audience.
The preceptor of Alexander—kings ought always to have such preceptors—the great Aristotle, that extensive genius, so just, and so deeply versed in all the learning of those times, Aristotle, in his art of poetry, has declared that the meeting of Mérope and her son was the most interesting circumstance of the whole Grecian theatre. This stroke was, in his opinion, infinitely superior to all the rest. Plutarch tells us, that the Greeks, who, of all the people in the world, had the quickest feeling, trembled with fear, lest the old man who was to stop the arm of Mérope, should not come in time enough. That piece, which was played in his time, and a few fragments of which are still extant, appeared to him the most affecting of all the tragedies of Euripides; but it was not the choice of his subject alone to which that poet owed his success, though in every species of the drama, a happy choice is, no doubt, of the greatest service.
France has seen several "Méropes," but none of them ever succeeded: the authors perhaps overloaded this simple subject with foreign ornaments: it was the naked "Venus" of Praxiteles which they wanted to cover with tinsel. It requires a great deal of time to teach men that everything which is great should be simple and natural. In 1641, when the French flag began to flourish, and even to raise itself above that of Greece, by the genius of P. Edition: current; Page: [7] Corneille, Cardinal Richelieu, who ambitiously sought for glory of every kind, and who had just then built a magnificent hall, for theatrical representations, in the Palais Royal, of which he had himself furnished the design, had a "Mérope" played there under the name of "Telephonte"; the plot of it is generally believed to have been entirely his own. There are about a hundred verses in it, supposed to be written by him; the rest was by Colletet, Bois-Roberts, Desmarets, and Chapelain; but all the power of Cardinal Richelieu could not impart to those writers that genius which they never possessed: his own was not indeed adapted to the stage, though he had a good taste; so that all he could do, or that could be expected from him, was to patronize and encourage the great Corneille.
Mr. Gilbert, resident of the celebrated Queen Christina, in 1643, gave us his "Mérope," which is at present as little known as the other. La Chapelle, of the French academy, author of a tragedy called "Cléopatre," which was played with some success, gave us another "Mérope" in 1683, and took care to insert a love episode: he complains withal in his preface, that the critics reproached him with too great a degree of the marvellous; but he was mistaken, it was not the marvellous that sank his performance, but in reality the want of genius, added to the coldness and insipidity of his versification; this is the great point, the capital fault, that condemns so many poems to oblivion.
The art of eloquence in verse is of all arts the most difficult and the most uncommon: there are a thousand geniuses to be found who can plan a work, and put it into verse after the common manner; but to treat it like a true poet, is a talent which Edition: current; Page: [8] is seldom bestowed on above two or three men on the face of the whole earth.
In December, 1701, M. de la Grange played his "Amasis," which is nothing more than the subject of "Mérope" under another name. Gallantry has its share in this performance likewise; and there is more of the marvellous in it than even in La Chapelle's: but it is more interesting, conducted with more art and genius, and written with more warmth and power; notwithstanding which, it met with no great success;
Et habent sua fata libelli.
Since that, however, it has been revived with great applause; and is one of those few pieces which generally give pleasure in the representation.
Before and after "Amasis" we have had several tragedies on subjects very nearly resembling this, wherein a mother is going to avenge the death of her son on the son himself, and discovers him just at the instant when she was about to kill him. We frequently saw on our stage that striking but rarely probable situation, wherein a person comes with a poniard in his hand ready to destroy his enemy, and another arrives at the same instant, and snatches it from him. This incident recommended, at least for a time, the "Camma" of Thomas Corneille.
But amongst all the tragedies on this subject, which I have here enumerated, there is not one of them but is filled with some episode of love, or rather gallantry; for everything must give way to the reigning taste. But you must not believe, sir, that this unhappy custom of loading our tragedies with ridiculous love-intrigues was owing to Racine; a crime, which, in Italy, I know he is generally Edition: current; Page: [9] reproached with: on the contrary, he did everything in his power to reform the public taste in this particular: the passion of love is never brought in by him as a mere episode; it is the foundation or ground-plot of all his pieces, and forms the principal interest: it is certainly of all the passions the most truly theatrical, the most fruitful in sentiments, and admits of the greatest variety: it ought, therefore, no doubt, to be the soul of a dramatic performance, or entirely to be banished from it: if love is not tragical, it is insipid; and when it is tragical, it should reign alone; it was never made for a second place. It was Rotrou, or rather we must own, the great Corneille himself, who, in his creation of the stage, at the same time disfigured and disgraced it, by those ridiculous intrigues, bespoken, as it were, and made on purpose, those affairs of gallantry, which not being true passions, were unworthy of the stage; if you would know the reason why Corneille's tragedies are so seldom played, the reason is plain enough: it is because, in his "Otho."
"Otho makes a compliment to his mistress more like a man of wit than a real lover: he follows step by step the effort of his memory, which it is much more easy to admire than to believe. Camille herself seemed to be of his opinion; she would have liked much better a discourse less studied.—Tell me then, when Otho made love to Camille, was he contented, or was she kind?"
It is because in, "Pompey," Cleopatra—a useless character—says that Cæsar "sighs for her," and in a plaintive style calls himself "her captive, even in the field of victory."
It is because Cæsar asks Antony if he has seen Edition: current; Page: [10] this "adorable queen": to which Antony replies, "Yes, my lord, I have seen her, she is incomparable."
It is because, in "Sertorius," old Sertorius falls in love, not only because he likes the lady, but with a political view, and cries out: "I love: but it suits my age so ill to be in love, that I even conceal it from the fair one who has charmed me, as I know that the deep and yellow wrinkles on my forehead can have no great power in captivating the senses."
It is because, in "Œdipus," Theseus begins by saying to Dirce, "Whatever dreadful havoc the plague may make here, absence to true lovers is far more dreadful."
In a word, it is because such love as this will never make us shed tears; and when that passion does not affect us, it must be quite insipid.
I have said no more here, sir, than what all good judges, and men of taste, say to one another every day; what you have often heard at my house; in short, what everybody thinks, but none dare to publish: you know well enough the nature of mankind: half the world write in opposition to their own opinions, for fear of shocking received prejudices and vulgar errors. With regard to myself, who have never mixed any political reserve with my sentiments on literature, I speak the truth boldly, and will add, that I respect Corneille more, and have a higher opinion of the real merit of this great father of the stage, than those who praise him indiscriminately, and are blind to all his faults.
A "Mérope" was exhibited at London in 1731: who would have thought a love-intrigue could ever have been thought of at that time? But ever since the reign of Charles II. love has taken possession of the English stage; though there is not a Edition: current; Page: [11] nation upon earth by whom that passion is so ill painted; but the intrigue so absurdly brought in, and so badly treated, is the least fault of the English "Mérope." The young Ægisthus, delivered out of prison by a maid of honor, who is in love with him, is brought before the queen, who presents him with a bowl of poison, and a dagger, and speaks thus to him: "If you don't swallow the poison, this dagger shall put an end to your mistress' life." The young man drinks the poison, and is carried off in the agonies of death: he comes back in the fifth act coldly to inform Mérope that he is her son, and that he has slain the tyrant. Mérope asks him how this miracle was performed: to which he replies, that a friend of the maid of honor had put poppy-water, instead of poison, into the cup. "I was only asleep," says he, "when they thought me dead; I learned, when I awaked, that I was your son, and immediately killed the tyrant." Thus ends the tragedy; no doubt but it met with a bad reception: but is it not strange that it should ever have been represented? Is it not a proof that the English stage is not yet refined? It seems as if the same cause that deprives the English of any excellency in, or genius for, music and painting, takes from them also all perfection in tragedy. This island, which has produced the finest philosophers in the world, is not equally productive of the fine arts; and if the English do not seriously apply themselves to the study of those precepts which were given them by their excellent countrymen, Addison and Pope, they will never come near to other nations in point of taste and literature.
But whilst the subject of "Mérope" has been thus disgraced and disfigured in one part of Europe, it Edition: current; Page: [12] has met with better fate in Italy, where it has for a long time been treated in the true taste of the ancients. In this sixteenth century, which will be famous throughout all ages, the Count de Torelli gave us his "Mérope" with choruses. If in La Chapelle's tragedy we find all the faults of the French stage, such as useless intrigues, episodes, and a romantic air; and in the English author the highest degree of indecency, barbarism, and absurdity; we likewise meet in the Italian with all the faults of the Greek theatre, such as the want of action, and declamation. You, sir, have avoided all the rocks which they split upon; you, who have done honor to your country, by complete models of more than one kind, you have given us in your "Mérope" an example of a tragedy that is at once both simple and interesting.
The moment I read it I was struck with it; my love to my own country has never shut my eyes against the merit of foreigners. On the other hand, the more regard I have for it, the more I endeavor to enrich it, by the addition of treasures that are not of its own growth. The desire which I had of translating your "Mérope," was increased by the honor of a personal acquaintance with you at Paris, in the year 1733. By loving the author, I became still more enamored with his work; but when I sat down to it, I found it was impossible to bring it on the French stage. We are grown excessively delicate: like the Sybarites of old, we are so immersed in luxury, that we cannot bear that rustic simplicity, and that description of a country life, which you have imitated from the Greek theatre. I am afraid our audiences would not suffer young Ægisthus to make a present of his ring to the man that stops Edition: current; Page: [13] him. I could not have ventured to seize upon a hero, and take him for a robber; though, at the same time, the circumstances he is in authorize the mistake. Our manners, which probably admit of many things which yours do not, would not permit us to represent the tyrant, the murderer of Mérope's husband and children, pretending, after fifteen years, to be in love with her; nor could I even have dared to make the queen say to him, "Why did not you talk to me of love before, when the bloom of youth was yet on my face?" Conversations of this kind are natural; but our pit, which at some times is so indulgent, and at others so nice and delicate, would think them perhaps too familiar, and might even discover coquetry, where, in reality, there might be nothing but what was just and proper. Our stage would by no means have suffered Mérope to bind her son to a pillar, nor to run after him with a javelin, and an axe in her hand, nor have permitted the young man to run away from her twice, and beg his life of the tyrant: much less could we have suffered the confidante of Mérope to have persuaded Ægisthus to go to sleep on the stage, merely to give the queen an opportunity of coming there to assassinate him: not but all this is natural: but you must pardon us for expecting that nature should always be presented to us with some strokes of art; strokes that are extremely different at Paris from those which we meet with at Verona.
To give you a proper idea of the different taste and judgment of polite and cultivated nations, with regard to the same arts, permit me here to quote a few passages from your own celebrated performance, which seem dictated by pure nature. The Edition: current; Page: [14] person who stops young Cresphontes, and takes the ring from him, says:
I will take the liberty to translate this into blank verse, in which your tragedy is written, as I have not time at present to work it into rhyme.
The tyrant's confidant tells him, when speaking of the queen, who refuses, after twenty years, to marry the known murderer of her family:
The queen's waiting-woman answers the tyrant, who presses her to use her influence in his favor, thus:
In your fourth act, old Polydore asks one of Mérope's courtiers who he is? To which he replies, "I am Eurises, the son of Nicander." Polydore then, speaking of Nicander, talks in the style of Homer's Nestor.Edition: current; Page: [15]
In another place the same old man, being invited to the ceremony of the queen's marriage, says:
All these strokes are natural, all agreeable to the characters and manners represented: such familiar dialogues would, no doubt, have been well received at Athens; but Paris and our pit expect a simplicity of another kind. We may, perhaps, even boast of a more refined taste than Athens itself, where, though the principal city of all Greece, it does not appear to me that they ever represented any theatrical pieces except on the four solemn festivals; whereas at Paris there is always more than one every day in the year. At Athens the number of citizens was computed at only ten thousand, and Paris has nearly eight hundred thousand inhabitants; among whom, I suppose, we may reckon thirty thousand judges of dramatic performances, who really do pass their judgments almost every day of their lives.
In your tragedy you took the liberty to translate that elegant and simple comparison from Virgil.
But if I were to take the same in mine, they would say it was fitter for an epic poem: such a rigid master have we to please in what we call the public:
The English have a custom of finishing almost all their acts with a simile; but we expect that, in a tragedy, the hero should talk, and not the poet. Our audience is of opinion that in an important crisis of affairs, in a council, in a violent passion, or a pressing danger, princes and ministers should never make poetical comparisons.
How could I ever venture to make the under characters talk together for a long time? With you those conversations serve to prepare interesting scenes between the principal actors: they are like the avenues to a fine palace: but our spectators are for coming into it at once. We must therefore comply with the national taste, which is, perhaps, grown more difficult, from having been cloyed, as it were, with such a variety of fine performances: and yet among these recitals, which our excessive severity condemns, how many beauties do I regret the loss of! How does simple nature delight me, though beneath a form that appears strange to us!
I have here, sir, given you some of those reasons which prevailed on me not to follow what I so much admired. I was obliged, not without regret, to write a new "Mérope"; I have done it in a different manner, but I am far from thinking that I have therefore done it better. I look upon myself, with regard to you, as a traveller to whom an eastern monarch had made a present of some very rich stuffs: the king would certainly permit this traveller to wear them according to the fashion of his own country.
My "Mérope" was finished in the beginning of the year 1736, pretty nearly as it now stands; studies of another kind prevented me from bringing it on the stage: but what weighed most with me was, Edition: current; Page: [18] the hazard which I ran in producing it, after several successful pieces on almost the same subject, though under different names. At length, however, I ventured to produce it, and the public gave me a convincing proof that they could condescend to see the same matter worked up in a different manner. That happened to our stage which we see every day in a gallery of pictures, where there are many of them on exactly the same subject. The judges are pleased by the observation of these different manners, and everyone marks down and enjoys, according to his own taste, the character of every painter. This is a kind of happy concurrence, which, at the same time that it contributes towards the perfection of the Art, gives the public a better insight into it. If the French "Mérope" has met with the same success as the Italian, it is to you, sir, I am indebted for it; to that simplicity in your performance which I have taken for my model, and which I was always an admirer of. Though I walked in a different path, you were always my guide. I could have wished, after the examples of the Italians and English, to employ the happy facility of blank verse, and have often called to mind this passage of "Rucellai":
But I am satisfied, as I have long since declared, that such an attempt would never succeed in France, and it would be rather a mark of weakness than good sense, to endeavor to shake off a yoke which so many authors have borne, whose works will last Edition: current; Page: [19] as long as the nation itself. Our poetry has none of those liberties which yours has; and this is perhaps one of the reasons why the Italians got the start of us, by three or four centuries, in this most difficult and most delightful art.
As I have endeavored to imitate you in tragedy, I should be glad to follow your example in other branches of literature, for which you are so eminently distinguished: I could wish to form my taste by yours in the science of history; I do not mean the empty, barren knowledge of dates and facts, that only informs us at what period of time a man died, who perhaps was a useless or a pernicious member of society; the science of lexicography, that loads the memory without improving the mind; I mean that history of the human heart which teaches us men and manners, which leads us from error to error, and from prejudice to prejudice, into the effects of the various passions and affections that agitate mankind: which shows us all the evils that ignorance, or knowledge misapplied, has produced in the world; and which, above all, gives us a clue to the progress of the arts, and follows them through the dangers of so many contending powers, and the ruin of so many empires.
It is this which makes history delightful; and it becomes still more so to me, by the place which you will possess amongst those who have pleased and instructed mankind. It will raise the emulation of posterity, to hear that your country has bestowed on you the most signal honors, that Verona has raised a statue, with this inscription, "To the Marquis Scipio Maffei in his lifetime"—an inscription as beautiful in its kind as that at Montpellier to Louis XIV. after his death.Edition: current; Page: [20]
Deign, sir, to accept, with the respects of your fellow-citizens, those of a stranger, who esteems and honors you as much as if he had been born at Verona.
You had the politeness to dedicate your tragedy of "Mérope" to M. Maffei, and have served the cause of literature both in Italy and France, by pointing out, from the perfect knowledge which you have of the theatre, the different rules and conduct of the Italian and French stages. The partial attachment which you have to everything that comes from Italy, added to your particular regard for M. Maffei, would not permit you to censure the real faults of that excellent writer; but as I have myself nothing in view but truth, and the advancement of the arts, I shall not be afraid to speak the sentiments of the judicious public, and which I am satisfied must be yours also.
The Abbé Desfontaines had already remarked some palpable errors in the "Mérope" of M. Maffei; but, according to his usual manner, with more rudeness than justice, he has mingled a few good criticisms with many bad ones. This satirist, so universally decried, had neither knowledge enough of the Italian tongue, nor taste enough to form an equitable judgment.
This, then, is the opinion of the most judicious amongst those literati whom I have consulted, both in France and on the other side of the Alps. "Mérope" appears to every one of them, past dispute, Edition: current; Page: [21] the most interesting and truly tragic subject that was ever brought on the stage, infinitely beyond that of "Athalie"; because Athalie does not want to assassinate the young king, but is deceived by the High-Priest, who seeks revenge on her for her former crimes: whereas in Mérope we see a mother, who, in avenging her son, is on the point of murdering that very son himself, her only desire, and her only hope: the interest of "Mérope" therefore affects us in a very different manner from that of "Athalie": but it seems as if M. Maffei was satisfied with what the subject naturally suggested to him, without making use of any theatrical art in the conduct of it.
1. The scenes in many places are not linked together, and the stage is left void; a fault which, in the present age, is looked upon as unpardonable, even in the lowest class of dramatic writers.
2. The actors frequently come in and go out without reason; a fault no less considerable.
3. There is no probability, no dignity, no decorum, no art in the dialogue: in the very first scene we see a tyrant reasoning in the calmest manner with Mérope, whose husband and children he had murdered, and making love to her: this would have been hissed at Paris, even by the poorest judges.
4. While the tyrant is thus ridiculously making love to the old queen, word is brought that they have found a young man who had committed murder; but it does not appear through the whole course of the play who it was he had killed: he pretends it was a thief, who wanted to steal his clothes. How low, little and poor is this! It would not be borne in a farce at a country fair.Edition: current; Page: [22]
5. The captain of the guard, provost, or whatever you call him, examines the murderer, who has a fine ring upon his finger: this scene is quite low comedy, and the style is agreeable to it, and worthy of the scene.
6. The mother immediately supposes that the robber, who was killed, is her son. It is pardonable, no doubt, in a mother to fear everything; but a queen who is a mother should have required better proofs.
7. In the midst of all these fears, the tyrant Poliphontes reasons with Mérope's waiting-woman about his pretended passion. These cold and indecent scenes, which are only brought in to fill up the act, would never be suffered on a regular stage. You have only, sir, modestly taken notice of one of these scenes, where Mérope's woman desires the tyrant not to hasten the nuptials; because, she says, her mistress has "an attack of a fever": but I, sir, will boldly aver, in the name of all the critics, that such a conversation, and such an answer, are only fit for Harlequin's theatre.
8. I will add, moreover, that when the queen, imagining her son to be dead, tells us she longs to pull the heart out of the murderer's breast, and tear it with her teeth, she talks more like a cannibal than an afflicted mother; and that decency should be preserved in everything.
9. Ægisthus, who was brought in as a robber, and who had said that he had himself been attacked, is taken for a thief a second time, and carried before the queen, in spite of the king, who notwithstanding undertakes to defend him. The queen binds him to a pillar, is going to kill him with a dart; but before she throws it, asks him some questions. Edition: current; Page: [23] Ægisthus tells her, that his father is an old man, upon which the queen immediately relents. Is not this an excellent reason for changing her mind, and imagining that Ægisthus might be her own son? a most indisputable mark to be sure: is it so very extraordinary that a young man should have an old father? Maffei has added this absurdity, this deficiency of art and genius, to another even more ridiculous, which he had made in his first edition. Ægisthus says to the queen, "O Polydore, my father." This Polydore was the very man to whom Mérope had entrusted the care of Ægisthus. At hearing the name of Polydore, the queen could no longer doubt that Ægisthus was her son: thus the piece was entirely at an end. This error was removed; but removed, we see, only to make room for a greater.
10. While the queen is thus ridiculously, and without any reason, in suspense, occasioned by the mention of an old man, the tyrant comes in, and takes Ægisthus under his protection. The young man, who should have been represented as a hero, thanks the king for his life, with a base and mean submission that is disgusting, and entirely degrades the character of Ægisthus.
11. At length Mérope and the tyrant are left together: Mérope exhausts her resentment in reproaches without end. Nothing can be more cold and lifeless than these scenes, full of declamation, that have no plot, interest, or contrasted passion in them; they are schoolboy scenes: everything in a play, that is without action, is useless.
12. There is so little art in this piece that the author is always forced to employ confidants to fill up the stage. The fourth act begins with another Edition: current; Page: [24] cold and useless scene between the tyrant and the queen's waiting-woman, who, a little afterwards, lights, we know not how, on young Ægisthus, and persuades him to rest himself in the porch, merely to give the queen a fair opportunity of despatching him when he falls asleep; which he does according to promise. An excellent plot this! and then the queen comes a second time, with an axe in her hand, in order to kill the young man, who is gone to sleep for that purpose. This circumstance, twice repeated, is surely the height of barrenness, as the young man's sleep is the height of ridicule. M. Maffei thinks there is genius and variety in this repetition, because the queen comes in the first time with a dart, and the second with an axe. What a strange effect of fancy!
13. At last old Polydore comes in apropos, and prevents the queen from striking the blow. One would naturally imagine that this happy instant must produce a thousand affecting incidents between the mother and son; but we meet with nothing of this kind: Ægisthus flies off, and sees no more of his mother: he has not so much as one scene with her. This betrays a want of genius that is insupportable. Mérope asks the old man what recompense he demands; and the old fool begs her to make him young again. In this manner the queen employs her time, which doubtless she should have spent in running after her son: all this is low, ill-placed, and ridiculous to the last degree.
14. In the course of this piece the tyrant is always for espousing Mérope; and, to compass his end, he bids her agents tell her, that he will murder all her servants, if she does not consent to give him her hand. What a ridiculous idea, and how extravagant Edition: current; Page: [25] a tyrant! Could not M. Maffei have found out a more specious pretext to save the honor of a queen, who had meanness enough to marry the murderer of her whole family?
15. Another childish college trick: the tyrant says to his confidant, "I know the art of reigning; I'll put the bold and rebellious to death; give the reins to all kinds of vice; invite my subjects to commit the most atrocious crimes, and pardon the most guilty; expose the good to the fury of the wicked." Did ever man pronounce such vile stuff? This declamation of a regent of sixteen, does it not give us a fine idea of a man who knows how to govern? Racine was condemned for having made Mathan—in his "Athalie"—say too much against himself; and yet Mathan talks reasonably: but here it is to the last degree absurd to pretend, that throwing everything into confusion is the art of ruling well; it is rather the art of dethroning himself. One cannot read anything so ridiculous without laughing at it. M. Maffei is a strange politician.
In a word, sir, this work of Maffei is a fine subject, but a very bad performance. Everybody at Paris agrees that it would not go through one representation; and the sensible men in Italy have a very poor opinion of it. It is in vain the author has taken so much pains in his travels, to engage the worst writers he could pick up to translate his tragedy: it was much easier for him to pay a translator, than to make his piece a good one.
The letter which you did me the honor to write to me entitles you to the name of "Hypercritic," which was given to the famous Scaliger; you are truly a most redoubtable adversary; if you treat M. Maffei in this manner, what am I to expect from you? I acknowledge that, in many points, you have too much reason on your side. You have taken a great deal of pains to rake together a heap of brambles and briars; but why would you not enjoy the pleasure of gathering a few flowers? There are certainly many in M. Maffei; and which, I dare affirm, will flourish forever. Such are the scenes between the mother and son, and the narration of the catastrophe. I can't help thinking that these strokes are affecting and pathetic. You say, the subject alone makes all the beauty; but was it not the same subject in other authors who have treated Mérope? Why, with the same assistance, had they not the same success? Does not this single argument prove, that M. Maffei owes as much to his genius as to his subject?
To be plain with you, I think M. Maffei has shown more art than myself, in the manner by which he has contrived to make Mérope think that her son is the murderer of her son. I could not bring myself to make use of the ring as he did; because, after the royal ring that Boilieu laughs at in his satires, this circumstance would always appear too trifling on our stage. We must conform to the fashions of our own age and nation; and, for the same reason, we ought not lightly to condemn those of foreigners.Edition: current; Page: [27]
Neither M. Maffei nor I have sufficiently explained the motives that should so strongly incline Poliphontes to espouse the queen. This is, perhaps, a fault inherent in the subject; but I must own I think this fault very inconsiderable, when the circumstances it produces are so interesting. The grand point is to affect and draw tears from the spectators. Tears were shed both at Verona and at Paris. This is the best answer that can be made to the critics. It is impossible to be perfect; but how meritorious is it to move an audience, in spite of all our imperfections! Most certain it is, that in Italy many things are passed over, which would not be pardoned in France: first, because taste, decorum, and the stage itself, are not the same in both; secondly, because the Italians, having no city where they represent dramatic pieces every day, cannot possibly be so used to things of this kind as ourselves. Opera, that splendid monster, has driven Melpomene from among them; and there are so many of the Castrati there, that no room is left for Roscius and Æsopus: but if ever the Italians should have a regular theatre, I believe they would soon get beyond us: their stages are more extensive, their language more tractable, their blank verses easier to be made, their nation possessed of more sensibility; but they want encouragement, peace, and plenty.
ismenia, mérope.
mérope, ismenia, euricles.
mérope, poliphontes, erox.
poliphontes, erox.
End of the First Act.
mérope, euricles, ismenia.
mérope, euricles, ægisthus in chains, ismenia, Guards.
In Elis.
mérope, ægisthus, euricles, ismenia.
[To Mérope.
mérope, ismenia.
mérope, euricles, ismenia.
mérope, euricles, ismenia, erox, Guards.
mérope, euricles, ismenia.
narbas, ismenia.
[At the farther end of the stage several of the queen's attendants, near the tomb of Cresphontes.
mérope, ismenia, euricles, ægisthus in chains, Guards, Sacrificers.
mérope, euricles, narbas, ismenia.
mérope, poliphontes, erox, ismenia, Attendants.
poliphontes, erox.
poliphontes, erox, ægisthus, euricles, mérope, ismenia, Guards.
mérope, narbas, euricles.
mérope, narbas, euricles, ismenia.
ægisthus, narbas, euricles.
poliphontes, ægisthus, narbas, euricles, Guards.
ægisthus, narbas, euricles.
mérope, ægisthus, narbas, euricles, Attendants.
narbas, ismenia.
[A crowd of people.
mérope, ismenia, narbas, People, Soldiers.
[At the farther part of the stage is exposed the corpse of Poliphontes, covered with a bloody robe.
mérope, ægisthus, ismenia, narbas, euricles, People.
cassander, sosthenes, antigones, hermas.
antigones and hermas in the porch.
The three doors of the temple are opened. The inside of the temple is discovered. The priests advance slowly on one side, and the priestesses on the other. They are all clothed in white raiment, with blue girdles, the ends of which touch the ground. Cassander and Olympia lay their hands on the altar. Antigones and Hermas stand in the porch.
antigones, hermas.
The three doors of the temple are opened. Though this scene and many others, are supposed to pass in the innermost part of the temple, as theatres are not built in a manner favorable to the voice, the performers are obliged to advance forward towards the porch, but the three doors of the temple are open, to show that they are supposed to be in the temple.
the hierophants, the priests, and the priestesses.
the hierophants, the priests and priestesses, statira.
statira and olympia.
statira, olympia, the hierophants.
statira, olympia, the hierophants, and a priest.
statira, olympia.
(The Temple is shut.)
cassander, sosthenes.
cassander, sosthenes, the hierophants.
[Coming out of the Temple.
cassander, sosthenes, statira, olympia.
statira, olympia.
statira, olympia, antigones.
statira, olympia.
antigones, hermas.
[In the porch.
antigones, hermas, cassander, sosthenes.
[Stopping Antigones.
The Hierophants come precipitately from the temple with the priests and the initiated, who, with a multitude of the populace, part Cassander and Antigones, and disarm them.
cassander, sosthenes.
[In the porch.
cassander, olympia.
cassander, olympia, sosthenes.
olympia, the hierophants, Attendants.
antigones, hermas.
antigones, hermas, the hierophants, the priests.
[Advancing slowly] olympia [in mourning, and supported by the priestesses.]
olympia, the hierophants, priests, priestesses.
[To the Hierophants.
[At the front of the stage, the priestesses in a semi-circle at the bottom.]
olympia, cassander, the priestesses.
olympia, cassander, antigones and the priestesses.
olympia, cassander, antigones, the hierophants, priests, priestesses.
the inferior priestess.
Princess, 'tis time.—
[To Cassander.
Genghis Khan, Emperor of the Tartars.
|Officers under Genghis Khan.
Zamti, a learned Mandarin.
Idame, wife of Zamti.
Asseli, friend to Idame.
Etan, friend to Zamti.
SCENE a Mandarin's palace near the court, in the city of Cambalu, now called Pekin.
This piece was produced in Paris, 1755, when the author was in exile.
My Lord, I would have presented you with a piece of fine marble; but, instead of it, can only offer you a few Chinese figures. This little performance is not indeed worthy of your acceptance; there is no hero in this piece, who has united all parties in his favor, and rendered himself universally agreeable, by the force of superior talents, or supported a falling kingdom, or made the noble attempt to overthrow an English colony with four cannons only. I know better than anybody else the insignificance of my own works; but everything may be forgiven to an attachment of forty years' standing. The world, indeed, will say, that, retired as I am to the foot of the Alps, covered with eternal snows, and where I ought to be nothing but a philosopher, I had still vanity enough to let it be known, that France's brightest ornament on the banks of the Seine has not forgotten me. I have consulted my own heart alone, which has always guided me, inspired every word, and directed every action. You know it has sometimes deceived me; but not after such long and convincing proofs. If this tragedy should survive its author, permit it to inform posterity, that he who wrote it was honored with your friendship; that your uncle laid the foundation of the fine arts in France, and that you supported them in their decline.
I took the first hint of this tragedy some time since Edition: current; Page: [176] from reading the "Orphan of Tchao," a Chinese tragedy, translated by Father Bremare, an account of which is given in Du Halde's history. This piece was written in the fourteenth century, and under the dynasty of Genghis Khan; an additional proof, that the Tartar conquerors did not change the manners of the conquered nation; on the other hand, they protected and encouraged all the arts established in China, and adopted their laws: an extraordinary instance of the natural superiority which reason and genius have over blind force and barbarism. Twice have the Tartars acted in this manner; for when they had once more subdued this great empire, the beginning of last century, they submitted a second time to the wisdom of the conquered, and the two nations formed but one people, governed by the most ancient laws in the world; a most remarkable event, the illustration of which was the principal end of this performance.
The Chinese tragedy, which they call "The Orphan," was taken out of an immense collection of the theatrical performances of that nation, which has cultivated this art for about three thousand years before it was invented by the Greeks, the art of making living portraits of the actions of men, establishing schools of morality, and teaching virtue in dialogue and representation. For a long time dramatic poetry was held in esteem only in that vast country of China, separated from and unknown to the rest of the world, and in the city of Athens. Rome was unacquainted with it till above four hundred years afterwards. If you look for it among the Persians, or Indians, who pass for an inventive people, you will not find it there; it has never yet reached them. Asia was contented with the fables Edition: current; Page: [177] of Palpay and Lokman, which contain all their morality, and have instructed by their allegories every age and nation.
One would have imagined, that from making animals speak, there was but one step to make men speak also, to introduce them on the stage, and to form the dramatic art; and yet this ingenious people never thought of it: from whence we may infer, that the Chinese, Greeks, and Romans are the only ancient nations, who were acquainted with the true spirit of society. Nothing indeed renders men more sociable, polishes their manners, or improves their reason more than the assembling them together for the mutual enjoyment of intellectual pleasure. Scarce had Peter the Great polished Russia before theatres were established there. The more Germany improves, the more of our dramatic representations has it adopted. Those few places where they were not received in the last age are never ranked amongst the civilized countries.
The "Orphan of Tchao" is a valuable monument of antiquity, and gives us more insight into the manners of China than all the histories which ever were, or ever will be written of that vast empire. 'Tis true, indeed, it is extremely barbarous, when compared with the excellent performances of our times; but, notwithstanding, is a masterpiece, when placed in competition with the pieces written by our authors in the fourteenth century. Our "Troubadours," "Bazoche," the company of "Children Without Care," and "The Foolish Mother," all of them fall short of the Chinese author. It is remarkable also, that this piece is written in the language of the Mandarins, which has never changed, whilst we can scarce understand the language that was spoken in the time of Louis XII. and Charles VIII.Edition: current; Page: [178]
One can only compare the "Orphan of Tchao" to the English and Spanish tragedies of the sixteenth century, which still please beyond sea, and on the other side of the Pyrenees. The action lasts five and twenty years, as in some of the monstrous farces of Shakespeare and Lope de Vega, which are called tragedies, though they are nothing but a heap of incredible stories. The enemy of the house of Tchao wants to destroy the head of it; and for that purpose lets loose on him a great dog, whom he imagines endowed with the power of discovering guilt by instinct, as James Aimar amongst us was said to have found out thieves by his wand: at last he forges an order from the emperor, and sends his enemy Tchao a rope, a dagger, and some poison. Tchao sings, according to the custom of his country, and very deliberately cuts his own throat, in consequence of that obedience, which every man owes to the divine right of the emperor of China. The persecutor puts to death three hundred persons of the family of Tchao. The prince's widow is brought to bed of the orphan. The infant is saved from the rage of the tyrant, who had exterminated the whole family, and would have destroyed the only remaining branch of it: the tyrant orders all the children in all the towns round about to be destroyed, in hopes that the orphan might perish amongst the rest in the general slaughter.
We fancy we are reading the Arabian Night's Entertainment put into scenes; and yet, in spite of all these marvellous and improbable things, it is extremely interesting: though there is such a multiplicity of events, all is clear and simple; a merit which must recommend it to every age and nation, and which is greatly wanting in our modern performances. Edition: current; Page: [179] The Chinese piece is indeed very deficient with regard to all other beauties: there is no unity of time or action, no picture of the manners; no sentiment, eloquence, reason or passion in it; and yet, as I said before, the work is superior to anything we could produce in former ages.
How comes it to pass, that the Chinese, who in the fourteenth century, and a long time before, could boast of better dramatic performances than any European nation, still remain, as it were, in the infancy of this art, while we, in process of time, and by dint of pains and assiduity, have been able to produce about a dozen pieces, which, if they are not absolutely perfect, are at least much above anything the rest of the world could ever pretend to of this kind. The Chinese, as well as the rest of the Asiatics, have stopped at the first elements of poetry, eloquence, natural philosophy, astronomy, and painting; all practised by them so long before they were known to us. They began in everything much sooner than us, but made no progress afterwards; like the ancient Egyptians, who first taught the Greeks, and became at last so ignorant, as not even to be capable of receiving instruction from them.
These people, whom we take so much pains and go so far to visit; from whom, with the utmost difficulty, we have obtained permission to carry the riches of Europe, and to instruct them, do not to this day know how much we are their superiors; they are not even far enough advanced in knowledge to venture to imitate us, and don't so much as know whether we have any history or not.
The celebrated Metastasio has made choice of pretty nearly the same subject as myself for one of his dramatic poems, an orphan escaped from the Edition: current; Page: [180] destruction of his family, and has drawn his plot from a dynasty nine hundred years before our era.
The Chinese tragedy of the "Orphan of Tchao" differs in many respects; and I have chosen one that is not much like either of them, except in the name, as I have confined my plan to the grand epoch of Genghis Khan. I have endeavored to describe the manners of the Tartars and Chinese: the most interesting events are nothing when they do not paint the manners; and this painting, which is one of the greatest secrets of the art, is no more than an idle amusement, when it does not tend to inspire notions of honor and virtue.
I will venture to say, that from the "Henriade" to the publication of "Zaïre," and this tragedy, be it good or bad, such is the principle by which I have always been governed; and that in my history of the age of Louis XIV., I have celebrated both my king and country, without flattery to either. In labors of this kind I have spent above forty years of my life. But observe the following words of a Chinese author, translated into Spanish by the famous Navarrete.
"When you compose any work, show it only to your friends; dread the public, and your brother writers; for they will play false with you, abuse everything you do, and impute to you what you never did: calumny with her hundred trumpets, will sound them all to your destruction; whilst truth, who is dumb, shall remain with you. The celebrated Ming was accused of hating Tien and Li, and the Emperor Vang: when the old man died, they found amongst his papers a panegyric on Vang, a hymn to Tien, another to Li, etc."
idame, asseli.
idame, zamti, asseli.
zamti, idame, asseli, etan.
zamti, idame.
zamti, etan.
zamti, etan.
zamti, idame.
zamti, idame, octar.
genghis, octar, osman.
genghis, octar.
genghis, octar, osman.
genghis, octar, osman.
genghis, idame, octar, osman.
genghis, octar, osman.
[On one side of the stage.
idame, and zamti.
[On the other, Guords.
genghis, octar.
genghis, octar, osman.
genghis, octar.
octar, genghis.
genghis, idame.
idame, asseli.
zamti, idame, asseli.
idame, asseli.
idame, asseli, octar.
genghis khan, idame.
zamti, idame.
genghis, octar, idame, zamti.
Titus, Son of Brutus.
Tullia, Daughter of Tarquin.
Algina, Confidante of Tullia.
Aruns, Ambassador from Porsenna.
Messala, Friend of Titus.
Proculus, A military Tribune.
Albinus, Confidant of Aruns.
Senators. Lictors.
SCENE Rome.
This tragedy was produced in 1730. It marks Voltaire's spirit of daring in treating a subject from which Shakespeare shrank as, perhaps, too painful for representation. When revived during the Revolution it was enthusiastically applauded.
The scene represents part of the house appointed for the consuls on the Tarpeian mount: at a distance is seen the temple of the capitol. The senators are assembled between the temple and the house, before the altar of Mars: the two consuls, Brutus and Valerius Publicola preside; the senators ranged in a semicircle, behind them the lictors with their fasces.
the senate, aruns, albinus.
[Aruns enters, preceded by two lictors, with Albinus, his friend; he passes by the consuls and senate, salutes them, and sits down on a seat prepared for him towards the front of the stage.
aruns, albinus.
[Supposed to have retired from the hall of audience into an apartment of Brutus' house.
aruns, messala, albinus.
End of the First Act.
The scene represents an apartment in the palace of the consuls.
titus, messala.
titus. aruns.
titus, messala.
brutus, messala.
End of the Second Act.
aruns, albinus, messala.
aruns, messala.
tullia, aruns, algina.
tullia, algina.
titus, tullia.
brutus, aruns, titus, tullia, messala, albinus, proculus, lictors.
titus, messala.
titus, messala, albinus.
End of the Third Act.
titus, aruns, messala.
titus, messala.
titus, messala, tullia, algina.
titus, messala.
brutus, titus, messala, lictors.
brutus, valerius, titus, messala.
brutus, valerius, proculus.
End of the Fourth Act.
brutus, senators, proculus, lictors. vindex (a Slave).
brutus, senators, aruns, lictors.
brutus, valerius, proculus, senators.
brutus, valerius, lictors, attendants.
brutus, proculus.
brutus, proculus, titus.
[At the farther end of the stage, guarded by Lictors.
brutus, proculus.
brutus, proculus, a senator.
This powerful work was read by Voltaire to Frederick of Prussia in 1740, to the king's great delight. The following correspondence has peculiar interest. In his "Life of Voltaire" James Parton says: "The great lesson of the play is that the founders of false religions at once despise and practise upon the docile credulity of men. When I remember that this powerful exhibition of executive force triumphing over credulity and weakness was vividly stamped upon the susceptible brain of Frederick by Voltaire's impassioned declamation, at the very time he was revolving his Silesian project, I am inclined to the conjecture that it may have been the deciding influence upon the king's mind." The play was withdrawn after the fourth representation, under pressure of Church authorities who professed to see in it a "bloody satire against the Christian religion." This letter preserves the original characteristics.
I am at present, like the pilgrims of Mecca, turning their eyes perpetually towards that city after leaving it, as I do mine towards the court of Prussia. My heart, deeply penetrated with the sense of your majesty's goodness, knows no grief but that which arises from my incapacity of being always Edition: current; Page: [6] with you. I have taken the liberty to send your majesty a fresh copy of "Mahomet," the sketch of which you have seen some time ago. This is a tribute which I pay to the lover of arts, the sensible critic, and above all, to the philosopher much more than to the sovereign. Your majesty knows by what motive I was inspired in the composition of that work. The love of mankind, and the hatred of fanaticism, two virtues that adorn your throne, guided my pen: I have ever been of opinion, that tragedy should correct, as well as move the heart. Of what consequence or importance to mankind are the passions or misfortunes of any of the heroes of antiquity, if they do not convey some instruction to us? It is universally acknowledged, that the comedy of "Tartuffe," a piece hitherto unequalled, did a great deal of good in the world, by showing hypocrisy in its proper light; and why therefore should we not endeavor in a tragedy to expose that species of imposture which sets to work the hypocrisy of some, and the madness of others? Why may we not go back to the histories of those ancient ruffians, the illustrious founders of superstition and fanaticism, who first carried the sword to the altar to sacrifice all those who refused to embrace their doctrines?
They who tell us that these days of wickedness are past, that we shall never see any more Barcochebas, Mahomets, Johns of Leyden, etc., and that the flames of religious war are totally extinguished, in my opinion, pay too high a compliment to human nature. The same poison still subsists, though it does not appear so openly—some symptoms of this plague break out from time to time—enough to infect the earth: have not we in our own age seen the Edition: current; Page: [7] prophets of Cévennes killing in the name of God those of their sect, who were not sufficiently pliant to their purposes?
The action I have described is terrible; I do not know whether horror was ever carried farther on any stage. A young man born with virtuous inclinations, seduced by fanaticism, assassinates an old man who loves him; and whilst he imagines he is serving God, is, without knowing it, guilty of parricide: the murder is committed by the order of an impostor, who promises him a reward, which proves to be incest. This, I acknowledge, is full of horror; but your majesty is thoroughly sensible, that tragedy should not consist merely of love, jealousy, and marriage: even our histories abound in actions much more horrible than that which I have invented. Seid does not know that the person whom he assassinates is his father, and when he has committed the crime, feels the deepest remorse for it; but Mézeray tells us, that at Milan a father killed his son with his own hand on account of religion, and was not in the least sorry for it. The story of the two brothers Diaz is well known; one of them was at Rome and the other in Germany, in the beginning of the commotions raised by Luther: Bartholomew Diaz, hearing that his brother embraced the opinion of Luther at Frankfort, left Rome on purpose to assassinate him, and accordingly did so. Herrera, a Spanish author, tells us, that Bartholomew Diaz ran a great hazard in doing this, but nothing intimidates a man of honor guided by honesty. Herrera, we see, brought up in that holy religion which is an enemy to cruelty, a religion which teaches long-suffering and not revenge, was persuaded that honesty might make a man an assassin and a parricide: Edition: current; Page: [8] ought we not to rise up on all sides against such infernal maxims? These put the poniard into the hand of that monster who deprived France of Henry the Great: these placed the picture of James Clement on the altar, and his name amongst the saints: these took away the life of William, prince of Orange, founder of the liberty and prosperity of his country. Salcede shot at and wounded him in the forehead with a pistol; and Strada tells us, that Salcede would not dare to undertake that enterprise till he had purified his soul by confession at the feet of a Dominican, and fortified it by the holy sacrament. Herrera has something more horrible, and more ridiculous concerning it. "He stood firm," says he, "after the example of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, and His saints." Balthasar Girard, who afterwards took away the life of that great man, behaved in the same manner as Salcede.
I have remarked, that all those who voluntarily committed such crimes were young men like Seid. Balthasar Girard was about twenty years old, and the four Spaniards who had bound themselves by oath with him to kill the prince, were of the same age. The monster who killed Henry III., was but four-and-twenty, and Poltrot, who assassinated the great Duke of Guise only twenty-five: this is the age of seduction and madness. In England I was once a witness to how far the power of fanaticism could work on a weak and youthful imagination: a boy of sixteen, whose name was Shepherd, engaged to assassinate King George I., your majesty's grandfather by the mother's side. What could prompt him to such madness? the only reason to be assigned was, that Shepherd was not of the same religion with the king. They took pity on his youth, offered him his Edition: current; Page: [9] pardon, and for a long time endeavored to bring him to repentance; but he always persisted in saying, it was better to obey God than man; and if they let him go, the first use he made of his liberty should be to kill the king: so that they were obliged at last to execute him as a monster, whom they despaired of bringing to any sense of reason.
I will venture to affirm that all who have seen anything of mankind must have remarked how easily nature is sometimes sacrificed to superstition: how many fathers have detested and disinherited their children! how many brothers have persecuted brothers on this destructive principle! I have myself seen instances of it in more than one family.
If superstition does not always signalize itself in those glaring crimes which history transmits to us, in society it does every day all the mischief it possibly can: disunites friends, separates kindred and relations, destroys the wise and worthy by the hands of fools and enthusiasts: it does not indeed every day poison a Socrates, but it banishes Descartes from a city which ought to be the asylum of liberty, and gives Jurieu, who acted the part of a prophet, credit enough to impoverish the wise philosopher Bayle: it banished the successor of the great Leibnitz, and deprives a noble assembly of young men that crowded to his lectures, of pleasure and improvement: and to re-establish him heaven must raise up amongst us a royal philosopher, that true miracle which is so rarely to be seen. In vain does human reason advance towards perfection, by means of that philosophy which of late has made so great a progress in Europe: in vain do you, most noble prince, both inspire and practise this humane philosophy: whilst in the same age wherein reason Edition: current; Page: [10] raises her throne on one side, the most absurd fanaticism adorns her altars on the other.
It may perhaps be objected to me, that, out of my too abundant zeal, I have made Mahomet in this tragedy guilty of a crime which in reality he was not capable of committing. The count de Boulainvilliers, some time since, wrote the life of this prophet, whom he endeavored to represent as a great man, appointed by Providence to punish the Christian world, and change the face of at least one-half of the globe. Mr. Sale likewise, who has given us an excellent translation of the Koran into English, would persuade us to look upon Mahomet as a Numa or a Theseus. I will readily acknowledge, that we ought to respect him, if born a legitimate prince, or called to government by the voice of the people, he had instituted useful and peaceful laws like Numa, or like Theseus defended his countrymen: but for a driver of camels to stir up a faction in his village; to associate himself with a set of wretched Koreish, and persuade them that he had an interview with the angel Gabriel; to boast that he was carried up to heaven, and there received part of that unintelligible book which contradicts common sense in every page; that in order to procure respect for this ridiculous performance he should carry fire and sword into his country, murder fathers, and ravish their daughters, and after all give those whom he conquered the choice of his religion or death; this is surely what no man will pretend to vindicate, unless he was born a Turk, and superstition had totally extinguished in him the light of nature.
Mahomet, I know, did not actually commit that particular crime which is the subject of this tragedy: Edition: current; Page: [11] history only informs us, that he took away the wife of Seid, one of his followers, and persecuted Abusophan, whom I call Zopir; but what is not that man capable of, who, in the name of God, makes war against his country? It was not my design merely to represent a real fact, but real manners and characters, to make men think as they naturally must in their circumstances; but above all it was my intention to show the horrid schemes which villainy can invent, and fanaticism put in practice. Mahomet is here no more than Tartuffe in arms.
Upon the whole I shall think myself amply rewarded for my labor, if any one of those weak mortals, who are ever ready to receive the impressions of a madness foreign to their nature, should learn from this piece to guard themselves against such fatal delusions; if, after being shocked at the dreadful consequences of Seid's obedience, he should say to himself, why must I blindly follow the blind who cry out to me, hate, persecute all who are rash enough not to be of the same opinion with ourselves, even in things and matters we do not understand? what infinite service would it be to mankind to eradicate such false sentiments! A spirit of indulgence would make us all brothers; a spirit of persecution can create nothing but monsters. This I know is your majesty's opinion: to live with such a prince, and such a philosopher, would be my greatest happiness; my sincere attachment can only be equalled by my regret; but if other duties draw me away, they can never blot out the respect I owe to a prince, who talks and thinks like a man, who despises that specious gravity which is always a cover for meanness and ignorance: a prince who converses with freedom, because he is not afraid of Edition: current; Page: [12] being known; who is still eager to be instructed, and at the same time capable himself of instructing the most learned and the most sagacious.
I shall, whilst I have life, remain with the most profound respect, and deepest sense of gratitude, your majesty's,
Your holiness will pardon the liberty taken by one of the lowest of the faithful, though a zealous admirer of virtue, of submitting to the head of the true religion this performance, written in opposition to the founder of a false and barbarous sect. To whom could I with more propriety inscribe a satire on the cruelty and errors of a false prophet, than to the vicar and representative of a God of truth and mercy? Your holiness will therefore give me leave to lay at your feet both the piece and the author of it, and humbly to request your protection of the one, and your benediction upon the other; in hopes of which, with the profoundest reverence, I kiss your sacred feet.
This day sevennight I was favored with your Edition: current; Page: [13] excellent tragedy of Mahomet, which I have read with great pleasure: Cardinal Passionei has likewise presented me with your fine poem of Fontenoy. Signor Leprotti this day repeated to me your distich made on my retreat. Yesterday morning Cardinal Valenti gave me your letter of the 17th of August. Many are the obligations which you have conferred on me, for which I am greatly indebted to you, for all and every one of them; and I assure you that I have the highest esteem for your merit, which is so universally acknowledged.
The distich has been published at Rome, and objected to by one of the literati, who, in a public conversation, affirmed that there was a mistake in it with regard to the word hic, which is made short, whereas it ought to be always long. To which I replied, that it may be either long or short; Virgil having made it short in this verse,
Solus hic inflexit sensus, animumque labantem.
And long in another,
Hic finis Priami fatorum, hic exitus illum.
The answer I think was pretty full and convincing, considering that I have not looked into Virgil these fifty years. The cause, however, is properly yours; to your honor and sincerity, therefore, of which I have the highest opinion, I shall leave it to be defended against your opposers and mine, and here give you my apostolical benediction. Datum Romæ apud sanctam Mariam majorem die 19 Sept. Pontificatus nostri anno sexto.
The features of your excellency are not better Edition: current; Page: [14] expressed on the medal you were so kind as to send me, than are the features of your mind in the letter which you honored me with: permit me to lay at your feet my sincerest acknowledgments: in points of literature, as well as in matters of more importance, your infallibility is not to be disputed: your excellency is much better versed in the Latin tongue than the Frenchman whom you condescended to correct: I am indeed astonished how you could so readily appeal to Virgil: the popes were always ranked amongst the most learned sovereigns, but amongst them I believe there never was one in whom so much learning and taste united.
Agnosco rerum dominos, gentemque togatam.
If the Frenchman who found fault with the word hic had known as much of Virgil as your excellency, he might have recollected a verse where hic is both long and short.
Hic vir hic est tibi quem promitti sæpius audis.
I cannot help considering this verse as a happy presage of the favors conferred on me by your excellency. Thus might Rome cry out when Benedict XIV. was raised to the papacy: with the utmost respect and gratitude I kiss your sacred feet, etc.
Zopir, Sheik of Mecca.
|{ General and second in command to Mahomet.
|Slaves to Mahomet.
Phanor, Senator of Mecca.
Company of Meccans.
Company of Mussulmans.
Scene, Mecca.
zopir, phanor.
zopir, palmira.
zopir, palmira, phanor.
zopir, omar, phanor, Attendants.
End of the First Act.
seid, palmira.
palmira, seid, omar.
mahomet, omar, hercides, seid, palmira, Attendants.
mahomet, omar.
zopir, mahomet.
mahomet, omar.
End of the Second Act.
seid, palmira.
mahomet, palmira.
mahomet, omar.
mahomet, omar, seid.
zopir, seid.
zopir, seid, omar.
zopir, phanor.
End of the Third Act.
mahomet, omar.
mahomet, omar, retired to one side of the stage; seid at the farther end.
[To Omar.
seid, palmira.
seid, palmira, on one side; zopir, standing near the altar.
[Aside to Palmira.
[Aside to Seid.
[Returns looking wildly around.
[Comes forward leaning on Palmira.
zopir, seid, palmira, phanor.
zopir, seid, palmira, omar, Attendants.


text:
Using ACPI & MythTV to run other applications
I don't yet know how to do this, and this page is therefore not complete, but I believe it is possible.
My goal is to set up my system to wake the computer and run a backup program at a time that I am unlikely to be using the computer myself, and mythTV is unlikely to be recording anything.
I'd like to use cron to schedule the external event and have the following scripts extract the relevant info from cron to determine when to power on or off the PC.
My starting point will be the desktop ACPI wakeup setup so I will copy that here so it can be modified:
ACPI setup for a desktop system
- mythtv-setup settings for your script
Block shutdown: (checked, if you run frontend and backend on 1 machine. Do not check if you do not automatically start the front end, and want the system to shut down after an automatic recording.)
Idle shutdown timeout (secs): 1200 (if you set this to 0, it will disable auto shutdown)
Max. wait for recording (min): 120
Startup before rec. (secs): 900 (If you have not disabled the occasional disk check on boot, make this time long enough to complete the boot & disk check before the recording should start. On my system the disk check can take as long as 15 minutes)
Wakeup time format: time_t
Command to set Wakeup Time: sudo sh -c "/usr/bin/setwakeup.sh $time"
Server halt command: sudo shutdown -h now
Pre Shutdown check-command: checklogin.sh
- Write the startup script
#!/bin/sh # WARNING!!! This has not yet been tested! #$1 is the first argument to the script. It is the time in seconds since 1970 #this is defined in mythtv-setup with the time_t argument #I don't know how to ask MythTV for this value, so it is duplicated here. This is ugly. startbeforerecord=900 #Calculate time_t format time for next non MythTV event userevent=$(date -d 3:00AM +%s) userevent=$(($userevent - $startbeforerecord)) currenttime=$(date +%s) if test $userevent -lt $currenttime # If event time has already occurred today then userevent=$(($userevent + 86400)) # change it to tomorrow fi # Set wake time to the earliest of MythTVs wake time and userevent if test $userevent -lt $1 then waketime=$userevent else waketime=$1 fi echo 0 > /sys/class/rtc/rtc0/wakealarm #this clears your alarm. echo $waketime > /sys/class/rtc/rtc0/wakealarm #this writes your alarm
Change the permissions of the file so that it can execute
sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/setwakeup.sh
Add the following line to your /etc/sudoers by running "sudo visudo" and pasting the line at the end of the file.
%mythtv ALL = NOPASSWD: /sbin/shutdown, /bin/sh, /usr/bin/setwakeup.sh
- Write the pre-shutdown script
Create the following script to prevent myth from shutting down when someone is logged in.
This needs to be modified to check if an external event is pending in less than "max wait for recording" seconds, it also needs to check if an external event is running to prevent inappropriate shutdowns.
# Check to see if anyone is currently logged in. Return zero if not and 1 if so. # Echoed text appears in log file. It can be removed and --quiet added to the # grep command once you are satisfied that mythTV is working properly #WARNING!!!! This script is unfinished DO NOT USE!!! if # The leading space is important! w | grep " 0 users" then echo Noone is logged in. Check to see if User Event is near. #I don't know how to ask MythTV for these values, so I must duplicate them here. This is ugly idleshutdown=1200 maxwait=7200 #Calculate time_t format time for next non MythTV event userevent=$(date -d 3:00AM +%s) currenttime=$(date +%s) if test $(($userevent+$idleshutdown)) -lt $currenttime # If event time has already occurred today then userevent=$(($userevent + 86400)) # change it to tomorrow fi #if there is plenty of time before event, allow shutdown if test $currenttime -lt $(($userevent-$maxwait)) then exit 0 fi #if event has passed and idle shutdown has passed, allow shutdown if test else echo Someone is still logged in, don\'t shut down! exit 1 fi
Change its attributes to executable
sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/checklogin.sh
You must remember to log out rather than shut down when you are done with your session, allowing the mythTV backend to shut off the computer when it is idle. This is because the mythTV shutdown sequence writes the wakealarm time to the BIOS just before shutting down the system. If, instead, you shut the system down, the mythTV backend is not able to update the BIOS with the correct wakealarm time. Failure to follow this procedure could interrupt a recording, or prevent the system from powering on for a later recording.
Note that the Idle Timeout time is the time you have to type your username and password when logging in. It would be a good idea to make it long enough to log in before the system can shut itself off.
In the BIOS, set your system to power on when power is restored. This will allow the system to recover after a power outage. Some systems will disable the wakealarm after a power outage, but even if it doesn't, if the power is off at the programmed wake time, the wakealarm could be missed. Powering up after a power outage allows mythTV to reset the wakealarm so that future recordings are not missed.
Things that still need to be resolved
I am assuming that I will use cron to initiate the external event, and the MythTV ACPI stuff to ensure that the computer is on at the time the external event needs to start. I'd like to make this setup generalized so that one can just add something to cron and have the computer power up at the correct time to execute the event. This means there must be some means of asking cron what the next events are, and somehow flagging the ones that need to have the computer turned on. Also once an external event is initiated, I must be able to tell when external event is completed so that the system knows when it is safe to shut itself down.
To distinguish between cron tasks that the computer should power on for, I'm thinking of defining a user. Cron has a crontab file for each user. Within that file there would be no way to distinguish tasks that need to have the computer powered on from those that don't, so by defining a user whose sole purpose is owning these tasks, I can use that username to identify which tasks I need to pay attention to.
I can see that implementing this is going to be messy since I will have to duplicate the parsing that cron does so I can identify the next task and when it needs to be executed. Also I'm not sure how to know when a task completes. The simple idea is to see if any tasks owned by this single purpose user are running, but some tasks, like a system backup must run as root.
I took a peek at the source code to cron. Seems rather inefficient to poll once a minute when the default ubuntu setup (and probably most other distributions) use cron only for once weekly or monthly events.
I'm beginning to believe I need to do a from scratch scheduler. There are three types of events it must handle:
1: normal scheduled events like cron does now.
2: scheduled events that need to guarantee the computer is running. The scheduler needs to keep track of these tasks once started to make sure it does not shut down the system until they are complete.
3: daemons that run all the time, but need to guarantee the computer is on at a particular time. Not yet sure how to handle these to know when it is safe to shut the system down.
Editorial content
It is my belief that the ACPI power control should be separated from MythTV, and incorporated into cron. This would allow people who don't use mythTV schedule stuff like automated backups & running sprinkler systems without having to leave their computers on all the time. Implementing this change would be non-trivial, so it does not appear that this is likely to happen, and I don't yet have the skill to do this myself. I might have enough skill to make the above scripting stuff work, so I'm going to attempt it.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
3850 days away
Dominic Ford, Editor
From the Moon feed
The Moon will reach full phase. At this time in its monthly cycle of phases, the Moon lies almost directly opposite the Sun in the sky, placing it high above the horizon for much of the night.
The sequence of full moons through the year are often assigned names according to the seasons in which they fall. This month's will be the second to fall in spring 2031 – the Milk Moon.
Over the nights following 6 May, the Moon will rise around an hour later each day, becoming prominent later in the night. Within a few days, it will only be visible in the pre-dawn and early-morning sky. By the time it reaches last quarter, a week after full moon, it will rise at around midnight and set at around noon.
At the exact moment when the Moon reaches full phase, it will lie at a declination of -17°38' in the constellation Libra , and so will appear highest in the southern hemisphere. It will be visible from all latitudes north of 62°N. Its distance from the Earth will be 366,000 km.
The exact position of the Moon at the time it reaches full phase will be:
|Right Ascension
|Angular Size
|The Moon
The coordinates above are given in J2000.0.
|The sky on 20 October 2020
4 days old
All times shown in PDT.
The circumstances of this event were computed using the DE405 planetary ephemeris published by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
This event was automatically generated by searching the ephemeris for planetary alignments which are of interest to amateur astronomers, and the text above was generated based on an estimate of your location.
Related news
|06 May 2031
|– Full Moon
|08 May 2031
|– The Moon at aphelion
|09 May 2031
|– The Moon at perigee
|13 May 2031
|– Moon at Last Quarter
Image credit
None available.


text:
James Gandolfini was a lot more than Tony Soprano (COLUMN)
Does anybody have a problem with how James Gandolfini humanized the mobster for, probably, forevermore?
I didn't think so. And keep your mouth shut if you do.
"The Sopranos" star, who died unexpectedly at the age of 51 Wednesday in Italy, led his TV mafia family to a very high perch of American culture. Not only did he make the East Coast gangster staple of thousands of shows psychologically relatable like never before, he spearheaded the transformation of U.S. television from highly censored, commercial-dependent broadcast to the freer and finer dominance of cable networks that we enjoy today.
Quite the accomplishment for a chubby Jersey guy, but Gandolfini did a lot more than make Tony Soprano a pop criminal icon on a par with the Corleones and Scorsese's worst/best. The man was quite simply a brilliant actor all around, and what made that even better was that he was so humble and generous in sharing his talents in projects that never had a chance of gaining the spotlight "Sopranos" did. The TV fame was enough for him; otherwise, he did what a good actor should but rarely does, sought roles for no other reason than that he could really do something with them.
Last year alone, Gandolfini made riveting, wildly different supporting turns in three fascinating movies: as a dissolute hit man in the far-grungier-than-"The-Sopranos" crime thriller "Killing Them Softly," as "Zero Dark Thirty's" sardonic CIA director and, most poignantly, as an old-school dad not adjusting at all well to the changes of the 1960s in "Not Fade Away," "Sopranos" creator David Chase's beautifully observed, criminally underseen feature directing debut.
His other post-"Sopranos" work was consistently great, whether the projects it appeared in also were ("In the Loop," "Where the Wild Things Are," "Cinema Verite") or weren't so much ("Welcome to the Rileys," "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone").
Just a few weeks ago I saw a dreadful thing about fashion-obsessed young female assassins called "Violet & Daisy" -- dreadful, that is, until Gandolfini entered the picture with authentic reserves of fatherly concern and self-sacrificing fatalism. Can't say I was glad I saw that movie, but now I'm grateful that I got to see him.
Needless to say, he was great on stage, too, in everything from "A Streetcar Named Desire" to "God of Carnage." Not casting Gandolfini in his film version of the latter will probably go down as the second-biggest mistake of Roman Polanski's life.
Gandolfini was one of those actors we could tell didn't like to talk about themselves, but when you did interview him he turned on just enough charm to overcome his shyness, and spoke with real enthusiasm and intelligence about the work he loved. Celebrated as "The Sopranos" rightfully made him, this guy just wasn't ever, ever going to be a celebrity. And we liked that about him, too.
As mentioned, most of Gandolfini's non-"Sopranos" work was in very small, underseen movies. Of course he died too young, but he left a marvelous filmed legacy that I urge you to start checking out after your memorial re-viewings of all those "Sopranos" box sets.
Trust me: You won't have a problem with that.


text:
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Take the next step with us – with Industry 4.0 made by Erhardt+Leimer.


text:
My name is Christian Hoggard and I am an AHRC funded PhD student at the Centre for the Archaeology of Human Origins (CAHO), within the University of Southampton. Last year I was swamped by Masters research to be able to produce a DoA post; it is an amazing project and I just hope I can write to the standard that they deserve!
Today is not a typical day. Today is a day working from home as I have just returned from the biennial Palaeolithic-related field trip with some of my colleagues from CAHO. Over the space of eight days we mini-bused over 1950km throughout northern and south-western France visiting sites including Pincevent in Seine-et-Marne, and many other infamous sites such as Le Moustier, La Micoque, Abri Pataud and others within the Vézère Valley. Photos and a blog will shortly follow!
The typical days, however, are not as exotic. I would get into the John Wymer Laboratory at around 9 am and balance my time (until 5ish) accordingly. At the moment, I am balancing between reading, chapter drafting and writing, and other CV-related aspects. We all know that a PhD does not offer you the dream job (or any job really!) these days and it is the extra-PhD activities (i.e. teaching, outreach, outside research) alongside the PhD which can persuade or sway the interviewers to give you the job you've always wanted (or the only one which got you an interview for). In undertaking such I often feel that I am neglecting your research (the stuff that I am actually paid to do!) and hindering its progress. I just hope I can get the correct balance between what is needed, what I wish to give, what actually is created and what I've done alongside! Time will tell.
In terms of my PhD I am currently finishing off one of my first two chapter drafts ready for interrogation by my supervisor. My research is focused on Neanderthal behaviour and specifically why different technological strategies or flintknapping techniques are used concurrently. Through morphometric, technological and (hopefully!) practical examination the relationship between elongated Levallois and Laminar strategies will be investigated. Are they both used because each has their own benefit? or is it just an alternate means to an end? So far I have looked at two sites in Britain (Baker's Hole and Crayford) and two in Belgium (Mesvin and Rocourt); a revisit to these are essential and many more sites are needed!
The day will then finish at 5pm and I will try my best to treat it as a job; no PhD (with the exception of some emails) will be undertaken for the rest of my evening. I am trying to be a "work at work" kinda person, again that balance is essential.
So why did I include luck in my title? Well, I have been incredibly lucky to get where I am now. I am fortunate to get both my MA and PhD funded through the AHRC, I am fortunate to get a PhD position at Southampton (and also at Cambridge), and I am fortunate for the current situation. I got these opportunities not because I am more intelligent than other applicants, or because my research will cure cancer (which it won't), but because the series of events just played out in my favour. I have seen many people, close friends of mine, who have far more amazing ideas, not get funding for PhD. This is not a game of intellect, but a game of chance, whether this includes luck or not. A level of intellect just helps this.
If luck does exist. I must acknowledge that luck runs out, and prepare like mad for its inevitability. The American journalist Hunter Thompson once said that "Luck is a very thin wire between survival and disaster, and not many people can keep their balance on it". Again we are back to balance. I know that I will lose my balance, it's inevitable. All people fall. All we can do is make sure that we don't land too hard.
Now get up on the tightrope and enjoy the view.


text:
The Phoenix Suns pulled the trigger on a five-player deal last night, that sends Raja Bell and Boris Diaw to Charlotte in exchange for human hang glider Jason Richardson. The move gives the Bobcats some defensive help and another point guard, while it brings the Suns a new scoring threat and also makes Steve Nash sad.
Nash was already hurt and confused by new coach Terry Porter and his repeal of former coach Mike D'Antoni's liberal "let Steve Nash run wild" policy. Now he has to find a way to cope with the loss of Bell, who was obviously his super special backcourt friend.
"All I can say is that he's my best buddy and my best friend," Nash said after the short-handed Suns lost to the Lakers. "The guys loved him, and Boris, too. It's hard you know. I have a hard time committing to this as a business. I take this personally.'
"I take my career home with me and I care about my teammates," Nash said. "When you lose two of your best friends on the team, it's hard. We're not only recreating chemistry, we're changing our style. But we've got lots of time to build."
Doesn't that just tear you up inside? I'm sure he'll write, and Steve and Raja can still go to the same summer camp next year and it will be just like the old times. Chin up, pal!
P.S. The Suns are doomed.
Nash upset as Suns trade Bell, Diaw for Richardson [AP/Yahoo]


text:
Here at Cloudberry Living we have a brought together a selection of Scandinavian inspired modern and contemporary tableware, dinnerware and accessories. Not only are all of our dinnerware and glassware ranges beautiful and functional items in their own right but work perfectly in combination with each other.
With the modern day advent of the open plan kitchen / diner being the hub of the home, what we put into this area has become increasingly important to us all. Gone are the days of having your best china locked away in the cabinet for special occasions, every day contemporary dinnerware, glassware and textiles are what is wanted on a day to day basis. Simple, stylish modern designs with accent splashes of colour and pattern, bring to life these living areas and high quality is a must for your chosen designer kitchenware and accessories. We specialise in contemporary dinnerware from Scandinavian design brands like Iittala and Marimekko, both of these brands produce some of the best designs from modern to classic and timeless. It is not unusual to find some of their products in design museums, such as the modern classic Teema dinnerware range by Iittala.
There is certainly something special about setting your table for a special occasion with our ranges or for buying them for a Christmas or birthday present, even to start off a collection as a wedding gift. Our selection of all our other kitchen goodies are great for presents the year round, they will all be well appreciated by family and friends.


text:
With the United Kingdom leaving the European Union on 31 January, an 11-month transition period commences during which we hope that both the United Kingdom and the European Union succeed in negotiating a comprehensive trade agreement, as described in the political declaration.
During the current transition phase, Deutsche Post DHL Group's cross-border business continues as usual.
Through its global activity, Deutsche Post DHL Group is used to adapting to changing trade conditions and whilst Brexit is presenting all companies with exceptional challenges, we continue to work closely with our customers and remain fully committed to supporting their cross-border trade post Brexit.
What You Can Do to Get Prepared
During the following months of transition, the negotiations between the UK and the EU will continue, but a worst case scenario for businesses is still a no deal Brexit. This would result in the UK becoming a third country with respect to its trade with the EU. Such countries have no trade agreement with the EU and their merchandise trade becomes subject to customs procedures and to a tariff schedule defined under the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Also, the EU VAT scheme will no longer be valid after a no deal Brexit. This means that VAT has to be paid in the UK when exporting from the EU. VAT will be levied together with any customs duties and a customs clearance process will be necessary also if only VAT is due.
In case of a no deal Brexit, companies exporting from the EU to the UK (and vice versa), will need to have an EORI number (Economic Operators' Registration and Identification number). You currently only need an EORI number when trading with countries outside the EU, as its required to release goods from Customs. Post-Brexit you will need this to trade with the UK too. In addition, UK-issued EORI numbers will not be accepted by EU countries post-Brexit, so you will need to register for EU issued EORI number if you want to seamlessly continue trading between the EU and UK. If you currently have an EORI number issued by a different EU Member State than UK, you'll need to obtain a UK EORI number for post-Brexit UK imports and exports.
You can get UK EORI number via www.gov.uk/eoriUK EORI number. You will get your EORI number by email, usually within 3 working days.
You can register for EU EORI number hereEU EORI Number.
If you are importing into the UK, it is advised to confirm VAT number and open a deferment account to make use of postponed VAT accounting and defer payment of duties. Further details on VAT system rules and processes in a no deal Brexit can be found at the following:
UK Government - Paying Vat When You Sell Digital Services to EU Customers After Brexit
UK Government - Claiming Vat Refunds From EU Countries After Brexit
From 31 Dec 2020 it is expected the UK-EU trading relationship will change. In preparation, your business needs to be clear about some key documents needed when trading internationally (e.g. commercial invoice), and some of the data you need to complete customs declarations (e.g. value of the goods, HS codes).
You can find more support in identifying how your goods are classified via HM Revenue & CustomsHMRC advice on classifying goods or European CommissionEU product classification system resources.
Does Brexit impact imports into UK from non-EU countries?
The procedures and processes for imports from outside the EU27 will remain largely unchanged in the UK.
Will the EORI numbers previously issued by the UK Customs Authorities still be valid for trading with EU Member States or an EU EORI number is needed?
No. In the event of the UK leaving without a trade deal after the transition period is over, the UK will become and be treated as a 3rd country. Therefore UK issued EORIs, and other authorizations will no longer be valid as the UK will not be a 'competent authority'. Further details on this are available via the European CommissionEuropean Commission Brexit preparedness.
If a company has EU EORI number and wants to continue to ship to the UK, is there any requirement for a UK EORI number?
Yes, a UK EORI number (starting with GB) is needed. This means cross European traders might end up with two EORIs, one EU and one UK. Further information on how to prepare for Brexit from the UK government is available here.UK Gov Website
Does the EORI cover both importing and exporting goods?
EORI number applies for both imports and exports.
What if goods are imported into UK from non-European countries travelling through Europe e.g. from China?
In this case it should be considered how to clear goods. There is a possibility that the trader would be charged duty upon entry into the EU and then again when goods arrive in the UK. Shippers may wish to explore using transit to move goods under customs control through the EU.
Preparing for Brexit
UK Government - The Transition PeriodUK Government Import, Export & Customs for Businesses
EU Preparedness Notices for BrexitEU Preparedness Notices for Brexit
National Brexit Information for EU Member StatesNational Brexit Information for EU Member States
Customs, Taxes, EORI
EU Member States National Customs InformationEU Member States National Customs Information
HM Revenue & Customs Advice for Classifying GoodsHM Revenue & Customs Advice for Classifying Goods
EU Product Classification SystemEU Product Classification System


text:
It's good to have a unified interface for audio.
But why are all the proprietary codecs present.
(mp3, wmv, aac, h264, …)
While there is no sign of the FOSS-codec.
Because of the way they are managed, they should deserve some attention from khronos.
Why aren't they included in the first place?
(Could someone answer this question please.)
ogg: http://www.xiph.org/
matroska container: http://www.matroska.org/
[u]flac container:[/u]
flac codec
[u]ogg container:[/u]
flac codec
vorbis codec
theora codec
speex codec
dirac codec
[u]mkv container[/u]
with already added codec


text:
Consumer Alert
Free Credit Reports for Alaskans
The Consumer Protection Unit recommends that you take advantage of a recent change in the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) that allows you to obtain free copies of your credit reports each year. Alaskans and residents of other western states have been eligible to order their free reports since December 1, 2004; residents of other states will be able to obtain their free reports at later dates.
Credit reports contain information on where you live, how you pay your bills, and whether you've been sued, arrested, or filed for bankruptcy. There are three nationwide companies that compile this information and sell it to creditors, insurers, employers, and others. These companies are Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union. You can obtain a free report from each company once every 12 months.
By regularly reviewing your credit report, you can check to make sure the information in it is correct and complete. Having an accurate report is important when you apply for a loan for a house or car, buy insurance, or apply for certain jobs. And reviewing your credit report will also help guard against identity theft. Identity theft happens when an identity thief uses your personal information such as your name, Social Security Number, or credit card number to open a new credit card account or obtain a loan or take other action pretending to be you. When the thief becomes delinquent on an account or fails to make a loan payment, it gets reported on your credit report.
For more information about obtaining your free credit report and your rights under the FCRA, go to Free Credit Reports.
Consumer Protection Unit
December 2004