My wife! my wife! What wife! I have no wife; Othello, at 5. fc. 7. A fourth obfervation is, That nature, which gave us paffions, and made them extremely beneficial when moderate, intended undoubtedly that they fhould be fubjected to the government of reafon and confcience.* It is therefore against the order of nature, that paffion in any cafe fhould take the lead in contradiction to reafon and confcience: fuch a ftate of mind is a fort of anarchy, which every one is afhamed of, and endeavours to hide or diffemble. Even love, however laudable, is attended with a confcious fhame when it becomes immoderate: it is covered from the world, and disclosed only to the beloved object : Et que l'amour fouvent de remors combattu Boileau, L'art poet. chant. 3. 1. 101. O, they love leaft that let men know their love. Hence a capital rule in the reprefentation of immoderate paflions, that they ought to be hid or diffembled as much as poflible. And this holds in an especial manner with refpect to criminal paflions: one never counfels the commiffion of a crime in plain terms guilt muft not appear in its native colours, even in thought the propofal muft be made by hints, and by representing the action in fome favourable light. Of the propriety of fentiment upon fuch an occafion, Shakefpear, in the Tempest, has given us a beautiful example, in a fpeech by the * See chap. 2. part 7. ufurping ufurping Duke of Milan, advifing Sebaftian to murder his brother the King of Naples : Antonio. -What might, Worthy Sebaftian,-O, what might-no more. And yet methinks, I fee it in thy face, What thou thouldt be: th' occasion speaks thee, and Act 2. fc. 1. There never was drawn a more complete picture of this kind, than that of King John foliciting Hubert to murder the young Prince Arthur: K. John. Come hither, Hubert. O my gentle Hubert, We owe thee much; within this wall of fleth There is a foul counts thee her creditor, And with advantage means to pay thy love. And, my good friend, thy voluntary oath, Lives in this bofom, dearly cherished. Give me thy hand, I had a thing to fay But I will fit it with fome better time. By heav'n, Hubert, I'm almost afham'd To fay what good refpect I have of thee. Hubert. I am much bounden to your Majefty. King John. Good friend, thou haft no caufe to fay fo But thou shalt have-and creep time ne'er fo flow, I had a thing to fay--but let it go; Hau bak'd thy blood, and made it heavy-thick, Which elfe runs tickling up and down the veins, Or if that thou couldt fee me without eyes, K. John. Do not I know thou wouldst? Good Hubert, Hubert, Hubert, throw thine eye And, wherefoe'er this toot of mine doth tread, As things are beft illuftrated by their contraries, I proceed to faulty fentiments, difdaining to be indebted for examples to any but the most approved authors. The firft clafs fhall confift of fentiments that accord not with the paffion; or, in other words, fentiments that the paflion does not naturally fuggeft. In the fecond clafs, fhall be ranged fentiments that may belong to an ordinary paffion, but unfuitable to it as tinctured by a fingular character. Thoughts that properly are not fentiments, but rather defcriptions, make a third. Sentiments that belong to the paffion represented, but are faulty as being introduced too early or too late, make a fourth. Vicious fentiments expofed in their native dress, instead of being concealed or disguised, make a fifth. And in the laft clafs, fhall be collected fentiments fuited to no character nor paffion, and therefore unnatural. The The first class contains faulty fentiments of various kinds, which I fhall endeavour to diftinguish from each other; beginning with fentiments that are faulty by being above the tone of the paffion: Othello. O my foul's joy! If after every tempeft come fuch calms, May the winds blow till they have waken'd death! Olympus high, and duck again as low As hell's from heaven! Othello, act 2. fc. 6. This fentiment may be fuggefted by violent and inflamed paffion, but is not fuited to the calm fatiffaction that one feels upon escaping danger. Philafter. Place me fome god, upon a pyramid Philafter of Beaumont and Fletcher, act 4. Second. Sentiments below the tone of the paffion. Ptolemy, by putting Pompey to death, having incurred the difpleafure of Cæfar was in the utmost dread of being dethroned: in that agitating fituation, Corneille makes him utter a fpeech full of cool reflection, that is in no degree expreffive of the paffion. Ah! fi je t'avois crû, je n'aurois pas de maitre, Cette Cette fauffe clarté dont il les eblouit, Le plonge dans une gouffre, et puis s'evanouit. La morte de Pompée, act̃ 4. fc. 1. In Les Freres ennemies of Racine, the fecond act is opened with a love fcene: Hemon talks to his mif tress of the torments of abfence, of the luftre of her eyes, that he ought to die no where but at her feet, and that one moment of abfence is a thoufand years. Antigone on her part acts the coquette; pretends the must be gone to wait on her mother and brother, and cannot ftay to liften to his courtship. This is odious French gallantry, below the dignity of the paffion of love it would fcarce be excufable in painting modern French manners; and is infufferable where the ancients are brought upon the stage. The manners painted in the Alexandre of the fame author are not more juft: French gallantry prevails there throughout. : Third. Sentiments that agree not with the tone of the paffion; as where a pleafant fentiment is grafted upon a painful paffion, or the contrary. In the following inftances the fentiments are too gay for a ferious paffion: No happier task thefe faded eyes purfue; Again, Heav'n first taught letters for fome wretch's aid, They live, they fpeak, they breathe what love infpires, Elaija to Abelard, 1. 5t. |