voltaire, 1733 "letters concerning the english nation": he created theatre. he had a genius full of strength and fertility, natural and without any spark of good taste and any knowledge of the rules. i'll tell you something hazardous but true: the merit of this author has lost the english theatre; there are such beautiful scenes, such great and at the same time so terrible pieces widespread in his monstrous farces which go by the name of tragedies; these plays have always been performed with great success. the time, which alone makes the reputation of men, at the end made their faults respectable. the most gigantic and bizarre ideas of this author have earned, after two hundred years, the right to be considered sublime.