That with this little arm, and this good fword, Now-how doft thou look now? Oh ill-ftarr'd wench! Whip me, ye devils, From the poffeffion of this heav'nly fight; The fentiments here difplayed 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 declamatory ftyle *. It is fcarce neceffary to give examples, for he never varies from that tone. I fhall, however, take two paffages at a venture, in order to be confronted with those transcribed above. In the tragedy of Cinna, Emilia, *This criticism reaches the French dramatic writers in general, with very few exceptions: their tragedies, excepting those of Racine, are mostly, 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 suits. not with any paffion. Hence, to burlesque a French tragedy, is not more difficult than to burlesque a stiff folemn fop. The facility of the operation has in Paris introduced a fingular amusement, which is, to burlesque the more fuccefsful 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 neceffary 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 style, so different from the genuine expreffion of paffion, paffes in fome measure unobferved, when great perfonages are the speakers; but in the mouths of the vulga the impropriety with regard to the speaker as well as to the paffion reprefented, is fo remarkable as to become ridiculous. A tragedy, where every paffion is made to speak in its natural tone, is not liable to be thus burlesqued: the fame paffion is by all men expresfed nearly in the fame manner; and, therefore, the genuine expreffions of a paffion cannot be ridiculous in the mouth of any man who is susceptible of the paffion. It [CH. 16. Æmilia, after the confpiracy was difcovered, having nothing in view but racks and death to herself and her lover, receives a pardon from Auguftus, attended with the brightest circumftances 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, raifed at once to the utmost pitch, and being It is a well known fact, that to an English ear, the French actors appear to pronounce with too great rapidity a complaint much infisted on by Cibber in particular, who had frequently heard the famous Baron upon the French stage. This may in some measure be attributed to our want of facility in the French tongue; as foreigners generally imagine that every language is pronounced too quick by natives. But that it is not the fole caufe, 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, particularly by the flowness or celerity of its progrefs: plaintive paffions, which are the moft frequent in tragedy, having a flow motion, dictate a flow pronunciation: in declamation, on the contrary, the speaker 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 Shakespeare, it is not furprifing that custom should produce fuch difference of tafte in the two nations. being at first too big for utterance, muft, for fome moments be expreffed by violent geftures only as foon as there is vent for words, the firft expreffions are 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. Emilia is made to behave in a very different manner: with extreme coolness fhe defcribes her own fituation, as if he were merely a fpectator, or rather the poet takes the task off her hands: Et je me rens, Seigneur, à ces hautes bontés : Et pour preuve, Seigneur, je n'en veux que moi-même. Puifqu'il change mon cœur, qu'il veut changer l'état, A&t v. Sc. 3. In the tragedy of Sertorius, the Queen, furprised with the news that her lover was affaffinated, inftead of venting any paffion, degenerates into a cool fpectator, and undertakes to inftruct the by ftanders ftanders how a queen ought to behave on fuch an occafion : Viriate. Il m'en fait voir ensemble, et l'auteur, et la cause. Par cet affaffinat c'eft de moi qu'on difpofe, C'est mon trône, c'est moi qu'on pretend conquerir; Et ma douleur foumise aux foins de le venger, &c.. So much in general upon the genuine fentiments of paffion. I proceed to particular obfervations. And, firft, paffions feldom continue uniform any confiderable time: they generally fluctuate, fwelling and fubfiding by turns, often in a quick fucceffion*; and the fentiments cannot be just unless they correfpond to fuch fluctuation. Accordingly, climax never fhows better than in expreffing a fwelling paffion: the following paffages may fuffice for an illuftration. Oroonoko.Can you raise the dead? And * See Chap. 2. Part 3. |