The fourth clafs is of fentiments introduced too early or too late.

Some examples mentioned above belong to this class. Add the following from Venice preferv'd, act 5. at the close of the fcene betwixt Belvidera and her father Priuli. The account given by Belvidera of the danger she was in, and of her husband's threatening to murder her, ought naturally to have alarmed her relenting father, and to have made him exprefs the most perturbed fentiments. Inftead of which he diffolves into tenderness and love for his daughter, as if he had already delivered her from danger, and as if there were a perfect tranquillity.

Canft thou forgive me all my follies past?
I'll henceforth be indeed a father; never,
Never more thus expofe, but cherish thee,
Dear as the vital warmth that feeds my life,
Dear as thefe eyes that weep in fondnefs o'er

thee:

Peace to thy heart.

Immoral sentiments exposed in their na

tive

&

tive colours, instead of being concealed or disguised, compofe the fifth clafs.

The Lady Macbeth projecting the death of the King, has the following foliloquy:

-The raven himfelf's not hoarfe

That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come all you fpirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to th' toe, top-full
Of direct cruelty; make thick my blood,
Stop up th' accefs and paffage to remorse
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose.

Macbeth, at 1. Sc. 7.

This fpeech is not natural. Murder under trust was never perpetrated even by the moft hardened mifcreant without compunction. And that the lady here must have been in horrible agitation appears, from her invoking the infernal fpirits to fill her with cruelty, and to stop up all avenues to remorfe. But in this ftate of mind, it is a never-failing device of felf-deceit, to draw the thickest veil over the wicked action, and to extenuate it by all circumftances that ima

gination

gination can fuggeft. And if the crime cannot bear difguife, the next attempt is, to thrust it out of mind altogether, and to rush on to action without thought. This laft was the husband's method.

Strange things I have in head, that will to hand; Which must be acted, ere they must be scann'd. At 3. fc. 5.

The lady follows neither of these courses, but in a deliberate manner endeavours to fortify her heart in the commiffion of an execrable crime, without even attempting a difguife. This I think is not natural. I hope there is no such wretch to be found, as is here represented. In the Pompey of Corneille *, Photine counfels a wicked action in the plainest terms without disguise.

Seigneur, n'attirez point le tonnerre en ces lieux,
Rangez-vous du parti des destins et des dieux,
Et fans les accufer d'injuftice, ou d'outrage,
Puis qu'ils font les heureux, adorez leur ouvrage ;

A& 1. fc. I.

Quels

Quels que foient leurs decrets, déclarez-vouz pour

Et

eux,

pour
leur obéir, perdez le malheureux.
Prefsé de toutes parts des coléres celestes,

Il en vient deffus vous faire fondre les reftes;
Et la tête qu'à peine il a pû dérober,
Tout prête de choir, cherche avec qui tomber.
Sa retraite chez vous en effet n'est qu'un crime;
Elle marque fa haine, et non pas fon eftime
Il ne vient que vous perdre en venant prendre port,
Et vous pouvez douter s'il eft digne de mort!
Il devoit mieux remplir nos vœux et notre attente,
Faire voir fur fes nefs la victoire flotante;

Il n'eût ici trouvé que joye et que feftins,

Mais puifqu'il eft vaincu, qu'il s'en prenne aux deftins.

J'en veux à fa difgrace et non à fa perfonne,
J'exécute à regret ce que le ciel ordonne,
Et du même poignard, pour Céfar destiné,
Je perce en foupirant son cœur infortuné.
Vouz ne pouvez enfin qu'aux dépens de fa tête
Mettre à l'abri la vôtre, et parer la tempête.
Laiffez nommer fa mort un injufte attentat,
La juftice n'est pas une vertu d'etat.

Le choix des actions, ou mauvaises, ou bonnes,
Ne fait qu'anéantir la force des couronnes;
Le droit des rois confiste à ne rien épargner;
La timide équité détruit l'art de regner,

Quand

Quand on craint d'être injufte on a toûjours à

craindre,

Et qui veut tout pouvoir doit ofer tout enfraindre, Fuir comme un defhonneur la vertu qui le pert, Et voler fans fcrupule au crime qui lui fert.

In the tragedy of Efther*, Haman acknowledges, without difguife, his cruelty, infolence, and pride. And there is another example of the fame kind in the Agamemnon of Seneca +. In the tragedy of Athalie, Mathan, in cool blood, relates to his friend many black crimes he had been guilty of to fatisfy his ambition.

In Congreve's Double-dealer, Mafkwell, inftead of difguifing or colouring his crimes, values himself upon them in a foliloquy :

Cynthia, let thy beauty gild my crimes; and whatsoever I commit of treachery or deceit, fhall be imputed to me as a merit.Treachery! what treachery? Love cancels all the bonds of friendfhip, and fets men right upon their firft founda