In a message dated 6/5/08 3:01:54 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> No artist ever quit because he or
> she was too successful or too highly ranked, or too
> famous, although more than a few thought they must be
> doing something wrong when their careers took off.
>
If we're to believe Volaire, one sorry exception to this was William
Congreve. (THE WAY OF THE WORLD, THE MOURNING BRIDE -- from which we still
have
b" "Music has charms to soothe a savage breast," spoken by Almeria
in Act I, Scene 1.
b" "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury
like a woman scorned,")
Born in 1670, he quit writing in 1700, after being attacked for being too
bawdy, and he lived on till 1728, spending his last decades "Mixing with the
quality". When Voltaire visited Congreve late in the playwright's life,
Congreve
annoyed the Frenchman when he said that he didnbt wish to be treated as a
famous author, just a plain and simple gentleman. Voltaire describes his
reaction
in Letters Concerning the English Nation: b I answered that had he been so
unfortunate as to be a mere gentleman, I should never have come to see
him.b
**************
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