Puslapio vaizdai
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In fuch a night as this! O Regan, Gonerill,
Your old kind father, whose frank heart

gave

O! that way madness lies; let me shun that;
No more of that.

Kent. Good, my Lord, enter here.

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Lear. Pr'ythee, go in thyfelf, feek thine own eafe, This tempeft will not give me leave to ponder

On things would hurt me more — but I'll go in ;

In, boy, go first.

You houseless poverty

Nay, get thee in;

I'll pray, and then I'll fleep

Poor naked wretches, wherefoe'er you are,

That bide the pelting of this pitilefs ftorm!
How shall your houseless heads, and unfed fides,
Your loop'd and window'd raggednefs, defend you
From seasons fuch as these? OI have ta'en

Too little care of this! take phyfic, Pomp;

Expofe thyself to feel what wretches feel,

That thou may'st shake the superflux to them,
And fhow the heavens more juft.

King Lear, at 3. fc. 5.

I give another example of the fame kind, expreffing fentiments arifing from remorse and despair:

Othello. Lo! I have a weapon :

A better never did itself fuftain

Upon a foldier's thigh. I've feen the day,
That with this little arm, and this good fword,
I've made my way through more impediments
Than twenty times your ftop. But, oh vain boaft!
Who can controul his fate? 'tis not so now.
Be not afraid, though you do fee me weapon'd;
Here is my journey's end, here is my butt,

The very fea-mark of my out-most sail.

Do

Do you go back dismay'd? 'tis a loft fear.
Man but a rush against Othello's breaft,
And he retires. Where fhould Othello go?

Now-how doft thou look now? Oh ill-ftarr'd wench!
Pale as thy fmock! when we fhall meet at compt,
This look of thine will hurl my foul from heav'n,
And fiends will fnatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl;

Ev'n like thy chaftity. O curfed flave!
Whip me, ye devils,

From the poffeffion of this heav'nly fight;

Blow me about in winds, roaft me in fulphur,

Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire —
Oh, Defdemona! Defdemona! dead! deal! oh, oh!
Othello, at 5. fc. 9.

The fentiments here difplay'd flow fo naturally from the paffions reprefented, that we cannot conceive any imitation more perfect.

With regard to the French author, truth obliges me to acknowledge, that he defcribes in the style of a spectator, instead of expreffing paffion like one who feels it; which naturally betrays him into a tiresome monotony, and a pompous declamatory style *. It is fcarce neceffary to give

examples,

* This criticism reaches the French dramatic writers in general, with very few exceptions: their tragedies are moftly, if not totally, defcriptive. Corneille led the way; and later writers imitating his manner, have accustomed the French ear to a ftyle, formal, pompous, declamatory, which fuits not with any paffion. Hence to burlesk a French tragedy, is not more difficult than to burlesk a ftiff folemn fop. The facility of the operation has in Paris intro duced a fingular amufement, which is, to burlefk the more fuc

cessful

1

examples, for he never varies from this tone. I fhalb however take two passages at a venture, in order to be confronted with thofe tranfcribed above. In the tragedy of Cinna, Æmilia, after the confpiracy was difcovered, having nothing in view but racks and death to herself and her lover, re

ceives

cessful tragedies in a fort of farce, called a parody. La Motte, who himself appears to have been forely galled by fome of these productions, acknowledges, that no more is necessary to give them currency but barely to vary the dramatis perfonæ, and instead of kings and heroes, queens and princeffes, to fubftitute tinkers and tailors, milkmaids and feamftreffes. The declamatory ftyle, fo different from the genuine expreffion of paffion, paffes in fome measure unobserved, when great perfonages are the speakers; but in the mouths of the vulgar, the impropriety, with regard to the speaker as well as to the paffion represented, is so remarkable as to become ridiculous A tragedy, where every paffion is made to speak in its natural tone, is not liable to be thus burlesked: the fame paffion is by all men expreffed nearly in the fame manner; and, therefore, the genuine expreffions of a passion, cannot be ridiculous in the mouth of any man who is fufceptible of the passion.

It is a well-known fact, that to an English ear, the French actors appear to pronounce with too great rapidity; a complaint much infifted on by Cibber in particular, who had frequently heard the famous Baron upon the French stage. This may in fome measure be attributed to our want of facility in the French language; as foreigners generally imagine, that every language is pronounced too quick by natives. But that it is not the fole cause, will be probable from a fact directly oppofite, that the French are not a little difgufted with the languidnefs, as they term it, of the English pronunciation. May not this difference of tafte be derived from what is obferved above? The pronunciation of the genuine language of a paffion, is neceffarily directed by the nature of the paffion, parti-` cularly by the flownefs or celerity of its progrefs: plaintive paf

ceives a pardon from Auguftus, attended with the brightest circumstances of magnanimity and tenderness This is a lucky fituation, for reprefenting the paffions of furprise and gratitude in their different stages, which feem naturally to be what follow. These paffions, raised at once to the utmost pitch, and being at first too big for utterance, muft, for fome moments, be expreffed by violent geftures only: fo foon as there is vent for words, the firft expreffions are naturally broken and interrupted: at laft we ought to expect a tide of intermingled fentiments, occafioned by the fluctuation of the mind between the two paffions. Æmilia is made to behave in a vedifferent manner: with extreme coolness fhe defcribes her own fituation, as if fhe were merely a fpectator; or rather the poet takes the task off her hands:

ry

Et je me rens, Seigneur, à ces hautes bontés,
Je recouvre la vûe auprés de leurs clartés,
Je connois mon forfait qui me fembloit justice,
que n'avoit pû la terreur du fupplice,

Et ce

fions, which are the most frequent in tragedy, having a flow mo tion, dictate a flow pronunciation: in declamation, on the contra. ry, the fpeaker warms gradually; and as he warms, he naturally accelerates his pronunciation. But as the French have formed their tone of pronunciation upon Corneille's declamatory tragedies, and the English upon the more natural language of Shakespear, it is not surprising that custom fhould produce fuch difference of tafte in the two nations.

Je

Je fens naitre en mon ame un repentir puiffant;
Et mon cœur en fecret me dit, qu'il y confent.
Le ciel a réfolu votre grandeur fuprême,

Et pour preuve, Seigneur, je n'en veux que moi même
J'ofe avec vanité me donner cet éclat,

Puifqu'il change mon cœur, qu'il veut changer l'état.
Ma haine va mourir que j'ai crue immortelle,
Elle eft morte, et ce cœur devient fujet fidéle,
Et prenant déformais cette haine en horreur
L'ardeur de vous fervir fuccede à fa fureur.

Act 5. Sc. 3.

In the tragedy of Sertorius, the Queen, furprifed with the news that her lover was affaffinated, instead of venting any paffion, degenerates into a cool spectator, and is pleased to instruct the byftanders how a queen ought to behave on fuch an occafion :

Viriate. Il m'en fait voir enfemble, et l'auteur, et la caufe.

Par cet affaffinat c'eft de moi qu'on difpofe,

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C'est mon trône, c'eft moi qu'on pretend conquerir,
Et c'est mon jufte choix qui seul l'a fait perir.
Madame, aprés fa perte, et parmi ces alarmes,
N'attendez point de moi de foupirs, ni de larmes
Ce font amusemens que dédaigne aisement
Le prompt et noble orgueil d'un vif reffentiment,
Qui pleure, l'affoiblit, qui foupire, l'exhale,
Il faut plus de fierté dans une ame royale;
Et ma douleur foumife aux foins de le venger, &c.

Act 5. Sc. 3.

So much in general upon the genuine fenti

ments

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