felf in Poetry. One might here mention a few Military Writers, who give great Entertainment to the Age, by reason that the Stupidity of their Heads is quickned by the Alacrity of their Hearts. This Conftitution in a dull Fellow, gives Vigour to Nonfenfe, and makes the Puddle boil, which would otherwife Stagnate. The British Prince, that Celebrated Poem, which was written in the Reign of King Charles the Second, and defervedly called by the Wits of that Age Incomparable, was the Effect of fuch an happy Genius as we are fpeaking of. From among many other Difticks no lefs to be quoted on this Account, I cannot but recite the two following Lines, A painted Veft Prince Voltager had on, which from a Naked Pi& his Grandfire won. HERE if the Poet had not been Vivacious, as well as Stupid, he could not, in the Warmth and Hurry of Nonfenfe, have been capable of forgetting that neither Prince Voltager, nor his Grandfather, could ftrip a Naked Man of his Doublet; but a Fool of a colder Constitution, would have stayed to have Flea'd the Pict, and madẹ Buff of his Skin, for the Wearing of the Conqueror. TO bring thefe Obfervations to fome ufeful Purpose of Life, what I would propofe fhould be, that we imitated those wife Nations, wherein every Man learns fome Handycraft Work. Would it not employ a Beau prettily enough, if inftead of eternally playing with a Snuff-Box, he spent fome part of his Time in making one? Such a Method as this would very much conduce to the Publick Emolument, by making every Man living good for fomething; for there would then be no one Member of Human Society, but would have some little Pretenfion for fome Degree in it; like him who came to Will's Coffee-houfe, upon the Merit of having writ a Pofie of a Ring. R Friday, Tu quid ego & populus mecum defideret audi. Hor. A MONG the feveral Artifices which are put in Pra ctice by the Poets to fill the Minds of an Audience with Terror, the firft Place is due to Thunder and Lightning, which are often made ufe of at the Defcending of a God, or the Rifing of a Ghoft, at the Vanishing of a Devil, or at the Death of a Tyrant. I have known a Bell introduced into feveral Tragedies with good Effect; and have seen the whole Affembly in a very great Alarm all the while it has been ringing. But there is nothing which delights and terrifies our English Theatre fo much as a Ghoft, especially when he appears in a bloody Shirt, A Spectre has very often faved a Play, though he has done nothing but ftalked across the Stage, or rofe through a Cleft of it, and funk again without fpeaking one Word. There may be a proper Seafon for thefe feveral Terrors; and when they only come in as Aids and Affiftances to the Poet, they are not only to be excufed, but to be applauded. Thus the founding of the Clock in Venice preJerved, makes the Hearts of the whole Audience quake, and conveys a ftronger Terror to the Mind, than it is poffible for Words to do. The Appearance of the Ghoft in Hamlet is a Master-Piece in its kind, and wrought up with all the Circumstances that can create either Attenti on or Horror. The Mind of the Reader is wonderfully prepared for his Reception by the Difcourfes that precede it: His Dumb Behaviour at his first Entrance, ftrikes the Imagination very ftrongly; but every Time he enters, he is ftill more terrifying. Who can read the Speech with which young Hamlet accofts him, without trembling? Hor. Look, my Lord, it comes! Ham. Angels and Minifters of Grace defend us! Be thy Events wicked or charitable; Thou com'ft in fuch a questionable Shape That I will speak to thee. I'll call thee Hamlet, Why thy canoniz'd Bones, hearfed in Death, Hath op'd his ponderous and marble Jaws I do not therefore find Fault with the Artifices abovementioned when they are introduced with Skill, and accompanied by proportionable Sentiments and Expreffions. in the Writing. FOR the moving of Pity, our principal Machine is the Handkerchief, and indeed in our common Tragedies, we fhould not know very often that the Perfons are in Diftrefs by any thing they fay, if they did not from time to time apply their Handkerchiefs to their Eyes. Far be it from me to think of banishing this Inftrument of Sorrow from the Stage; I know a Tragedy could not fubfift without it: All that I would contend for, is, to keep it from being mifapplied. In a Word, I would have the Actor's Tongue fympathize with his Eyes. A difconfolate Mother, with a Child in her Hand, has frequently drawn Compaffion from the Audience, and has therefore gained a Place in several Tragedies. A Modern Writer, that obferved how this had took in other Plays, being refolved to double the Diftrefs, and melt his Audience twice as much as those before him had done, brought a Princefs upon the Stage with a little Boy in one Hand and a Girl in the other. This too had a very good Effect. A third Poet being refolved to out-write all his Predeceffors, a few Years ago introduced three Children, with great Succefs: And, as I am informed, a young Gentleman, who is fully determined to break the moft obdurate Hearts, has a Tragedy by him, where the first Person that appears upon the Stage is an afflicted 2 Widow Widow in her Mourning-Weeds, with half a Dozen fatherless Children attending her, like thofe that ufually hang about the Figure of Charity. Thus feveral Incidents that are beautiful in a good Writer, become ridiculous by falling into the Hands of a bad one. BUT among all our Methods of moving Pity or Terror, there is none so abfurd and barbarous, and what more expofes us to the Contempt and Ridicule of our Neighbours, than that dreadful butchering of one another, which is fo very frequent upon the English Stage. To delight in feeing Men stabbed, poyfoned, racked, or impaled, is certainly the Sign of a cruel Temper: And as this is often practifed before the British Audience, feveral French Criticks, who think these are grateful Spectacles to us, take Occafion from them to reprefent us a People that delight in Blood. It is indeed very odd, to fee our Stage ftrowed with Carcaffes in the laft Scene of a Tragedy; and to obferve in the Ward-robe of the Play-houfe feveral Daggers, Poniards, Wheels, Bowls for Poison, and many other Inftruments of Death. Murders and Executions are always tranfacted behind the Scenes in the French Theatre; which in general is very agreeable to the Manners of a polite and civilized People: But as there are no Exceptions to this Rule on the French Stage, it leads them into Abfurdities almost as ridiculous as that which falls under our prefent Cenfure. I remember in the famous Play of Corneille, written upon the Subject of the Horatii and Curiatii; the fierce young Hero who had overcome the Curiatii one after another, (instead of being congratu lated by his Sifter for his Victory, being upbraided by her for having flain her Lover) in the Height of his Paffion and Refentment kills her. If any thing could extenuate fo brutal an Action, it would be the doing of it on a fudden, before the Sentiments of Nature, Reafon, or Manhood could take Place in him. However, to avoid publick Bloodfhed, as foon as his Paffion is wrought to its Height, he follows his Sifter the whole length of the Stage, and forbears killing her till they are both withdrawn behind the Scenes. I must confefs, had he murder'd her before the Audience, the Indecency might have been greater; but as it is, it appears very unnatural, and looks like killing in cold Blood. To give my Opinion upon this Cafe, the H-3 Fact Fact ought not to have been reprefented, but to have been told, if there was any Occafion for it. IT may not be unacceptable to the Reader to fee how Sophocles has conducted a Tragedy under the like delicate Circumftances. Oreftes was in the fame Condition with Hamlet in Shakespear, his Mother having murdered his Father, and taken Poffeffion of his Kingdom in Confpiracy with her Adulterer. That young Prince therefore, being determined to revenge his Father's Death upon those who filled his Throne, conveys himself by a beautiful Stratagem into his Mother's Apartment, with a Refolution to kill her. But because such a Spectacle would have been too fhocking to the Audience, this dreadful Refolution is executed behind the Scenes: The Mother is heard calling out to her Son for Mercy; and the Son answering her, · that the fhewed no Mercy to his Father: After which she fhrieks out that she is wounded, and by what follows we find that he is flain. I do not remember that in any of our Plays there are Speeches made behind the Scenes, though there are other Inftances of this Nature to be met with in thofe of the Ancients: And I believe my Reader will agree with me, that there is fomething infinitely more affecting in this dreadful Dialogue between the Mother and her Son behind the Scenes, than could have been in any thing transacted before the Audience. Oreftes immediately after meets the Ufurper at the Entrance of his Palace; and by a very happy Thought of the Poet avoids killing him before the Audience, by telling him that he fhould live fome Time in his prefent Bitternefs of Soul before he would difpach him, and by ordering him to retire into that part of the Palace where he had flain his Father, whofe Murther he would revenge in the very fame Place where it was committed. By this Means the Poet obferves that Decency, which Horace afterwards eftablished by a Rule, of forbearing to commit Parricides or unnatural Murthers before the Audience. Nec coram populo natos Medea trucidet. The French have therefore refined too much upon Horace's from |