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Andromache and this her fon were mine, Were mine by lot, and who fhall wreft them from me?

There is here no pomp of language to fupport the player, no dignity but what is in the fentiment; yet we hardly fee an inftance on the flage in which the player is more the Monarch than Mr. Quin is in this; and 'tis evident that he gives, by his manner of delivering the words, a majefty to the fpeech, which none but a very Judicious reader will find in the closet. If any thing can add to the idea of true greatnefs, which we conceive of the character of Pyrrhus from this fpeech, it is that noble, that haughty refentment with which this player makes him receive the fecret threatning couched under fmooth words by the ambafiador, of the Greeks joining against him in cafe of a refufal. With what majefty, as well as warmth, two things not eafily combin'd, except,by this excellent actor, does he answer,

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No, let them come, fince I was born to wage Eternal wars; let them now turn their rage On him who conquer'd for them; let them come, And in Epirus feek another Troy.

'Twas thus they recompens'd my godlike father, Thus was Achilles thank'd-But,prince, remember Their black ingratitude then coft them dear.

Tho' the lower part of an audience have not generally that readiness of apprehenfion which people accuftom'd to the height of poetry have brought themfelves to, they have all, however, the feeds of it in them, and wait only to have them warm'd and enliven'd by the actor's

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eloquence, to bring them to unfold themfelves. The player, who, while performing in the character of fome great man, perceives himself full of that celeftial fire with which he, while living and tranfacting the things he is reprefenting was alfo animated, will find no difficulty in diffufing the facred flame all about him; his audience will meet it as it breaks from him, and the very meanest foul will find fenfibility enough to catch some spark of it. The player thus qualify'd and thus exerting himself, converts the moft timid and pufillanimous heart into a bold and noble one, and every individual of his audience, at leaft for the moment while he is delivering the noble sentiments of his part, becomes a heroe. People are in a manner perfuaded that themselves only want opportunities to aftonifh the world with their magnanimity, and that if they were placed in the very fituation of the heroe whom they fee the player perfonating, they should come up to all the noble heights he arrives at, and perhaps excell him. At every elevated fentiment the poet has thrown into the character, they fancy to themselves that they are only entertained with the noble thoughts of their own hearts. They contemplate in the great man they are admiring, what they firmly believe themselves capable of being; and admire and reverence in his virtues the imaginary greatness of foul to which they fancy themfelves fhou'd have afpir'd, if fortune had been favourable enough to them to have given them occafions of exerting it.

We hear much of the amazing power of the antient orators, and are apt to wonder at the accounts we receive of the additional force which

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they gave in fpeaking to thofe pieces of theirs which are left us: Something like this enthusiasm we are defcribing, gave them the energy they are fo highly celebrated for; and if we wou'd form a true idea of the effects it had on their auditors, the best method we can take, is to be attentive to a good tragedy, in which a confiderable part falls to the fhare of Mr. Quin.

CHA P. III.

As all Players have occafion for the great Quality of Senfibility; thofe in a particular manner who propofe to themselves to fucceed in drawing Tears from us, have more Neceffity than any others, for that peculiar kind of it, which we fometimes exprefs by the Word Tenderness, tho' more Strongly by the appropriated Term Feeling.

Tis a maxim as old as the days of Horace;

If you was'd have me shed tears, you must weep your felf first. That excellent author addrefs'd this doctrine to orators; but it is ftill more applicable to actors.

Would the tragedian ftrongly imprefs the illufion of his performance upon us, he must first imprefs it as ftrongly upon himself; he must fecl every thing ftrongly, that he would have his audience feel: In order to his utmost fuccefs, it is neceffary that he imagine himself to be, nay that he for the time really is the perfon he reprefents, and that a happy frenzy perfwades him that he is himself in his own perfon betray'd, perfecuted, and expofed to all the unmerited injuries, for which we are to pity him. Nay it is neceffary that this voluntary error pafs from his imagi

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imagination to his heart, and on many occafions that a pretended diftrefs produce from him real tears: In this cafe we no longer perceive in him the cold player, who by his ftudied tones and forc'd geftures, is labouring to intereft our hearts in imaginary adventures; he is to us the perfon he reprefents, and if some unfurmountable accident does not oppofe the effect he ought to produce, he is fure to work all the wonders that can be perform'd by his profeffion. The players of this masterly kind are the only abfolute fovereigns of the world: They command in an irrefiftible manner the heart, the very foul itfelf. They are the only enchanters who know how to give feeling to the most lifelefs, and naturally infenfible beings.

Such as this is the power of forrow when well exprefs'd This tender affection of the foul is a kind of epidemic malady, the progress of which among an audience is amazing; it fpreads itself every way at once, and infects the moft remote fpectators with a rapidity fcarce to be conceiv'd. Contrary to the nature of all other infections, this propagates itself only by the eyes and ears; but it paffes through both these fo regularly and fo certainly, that it is fufficient if we see a perfon in real and undeferv'd affiction; nay, if we only hear of it, we are fure, whether we will or not, to join in it.

The utmost effects of the other paffions are by no means fo contagious: A man gives himfelf up in our company to all the extravagant emotions of rage and fury; yet we remain in perfect, undisturb'd tranquility; another is elevated to the clouds with a tranfport of joy, yet we, tho' prefent at the whole fcene, continue feF 6 rious

rious and unmov'd; but tears and the figns of distress, even in a perfon ever fo indifferent to us, have almost always the power to affect us, to touch our hearts, and make us fympathize: Born as we are to pain, to fufferings and misfortune, we read with a feeling forrow our own fate in that of the unhappy wherever we meet them; and the wretchedness of others is a fort of mirror to us, in which we fee and cannot but contemplate with bitterness and forrow the miferies which we know are attach'd to our own condition.

It is not difficult to affign the reafon of our finding it thus eafy to afflict and mortify ourfelves: We fhall understand it pretty readily, if we enquire of our hearts what is truly and exactly the nature of that pleasure which we receive from feeing a tragedy perform'd: Our feeling ourfelves affected is not always a proof of the fuperior merit of the piece; we often go thither on purpose to pick up fome impreffions which we know we ought to have, but cannot find that we really are poflefs'd of; or to throw off fome others which difpleafe, and feem not fo agreeable as they ought to be, to the circumftances of our bearts.

What is most of all furprizing is, that there appears to be a fort of joy in the expreffing our forrow; and we often go to fuch a reprefentation on purpose to indulge a melancholy, and give ourfelves an opportunity of fhedding tears. Every man may affure himself, from the remembrance of fome part or other of his life, that this odd inclination is natural; and many reafons fpecious enough may be affign'd for it. The difficulty is not to affign fome one caufe for it, but to deter

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