“ The forerunner should not be forgotten in the greatness of his successors, and in drama Delavigne is as important as either to the continuity of historic development. He stands between Beaumarchais and Emile Augier, almost the sole talented representative of dignified comedy, and while his dramatic work, taken chronologically, represents almost every phase of the conversion of a strict Classicist into a moderate Romanticist, his merits of prudent eclecticism are in danger of being obscured by the glories of his successors. ”