found and energy of expreffion. Whether this defect in our tragedies may arife from want of genius, knowledge, or experience in the writers, or from their compliance with the vicious tatte of their readers, who are better judges of the language than of the fentiments, and confequently relish the one more than the other, I cannot determine. But I believe it might rectify the conduct both of the one and of the other, if the writer laid down the whole contexture of his dialogue in plain English, before he turned it into blank verfe; and if the reader, after the perufal of a fcene, would confider the naked thought of every fpeech in it, when divefted of all it's tragic ornaments. By this means, without being impofed upon by words,

we

may judge impartially of the thought, and confider whether it be natural or great enough for the perfon that utters it, whether it deferves to fhine in fuch a blaze of eloquence, or fhew itfelf in fuch a variety of lights as are generally made ufe of by the writers of our English tragedy.

I must in the next place obferve, that when our thoughts are great and juft, they are often obfcured by the founding phrafes, hard metaphors, and forced expreffions in which they are cloathed. Shakespeare is often. very faulty in this particular, There is a fine obfervation in Ariftotle to this purpofe, which I have never feen quoted. The expreffion,' fays he, ought to be very much laboured in the unactive parts of the fable, as in defcriptions, fimilitudes, narrations, and the like; in which the ⚫ opinions, manners, and paffions of imen are not reprefented; for thefe, namely the opinions, manners, and paffions, are apt to be obfcured by pompous phrafes and elaborate expreffions. Horace, who copied most of his criticifims after Ariftotle, feems to have had his eye on the foregoing rule, in the following verfes :

.

Et Tragicus plerumque delet fermone pedeftri:
Telephus et Peleus, cum pauper et exul uterque,
Prejicit ampullas et fefqu pedalia verba,
Si curat cor spectantis tetigiffe quereld.

ARS POET. VER. 95. Tragedians too lay by their ftate to grieve: Peleus and Telephus, exil'd and pour, Forgot their fwelling and gigantic words.

ROSCOMMON,

Among our modern English poets, here is none who was better turned for

tragedy than Lee; if, inftead of favouring the impetuofity of his genius, he had restrained it, and kept it within it's proper bounds. His thoughts are wonderfully fuited to tragedy, but frequently loft in fuch a cloud of words, that it is hard to fee the beauty of them; there is an infinite fire in his works, but fo involved in fmoke, that it does not appear in half it's luftre. He frequently fucceeds in the paffionare parts of the tragedy, but more particularly where he flackens his efforts, and cafes the tile of thofs epithets and metaphors, in which he fo much abounds. What can be more natural, more foft, or more paffionate, than that line in Statira's speech, where the defcribes the charms of Alexander's converfation?

Then he would talk-Good gods! how he would taik!

That unexpected break in the line, and turning the defcription of his manner of talking into an admiration of it, is inexpreffibly beautiful, and wonderfully fuited to the fond character of the perfon that speaks it. There is a fimplicity in the words, that outlines the utmoft pride of expreffion.

Otway has followed nature in the language of his tragedy, and therefore fhines in the paffionate parts more than any of our English poets. As there is fomething familiar and domestic in the fable of his tragedy, more than in thofe of any other poet, he has little pomp, but great force in his expreffions. For which reafon, though he has admirably fucceeded in the tender and melting part of his tragedies, he fometimes falls into too great a familiarity of phrafe in thofe parts, which, by Ariftotle's rule, ought to have been raifed and fupported by the dignity of expreffion.

It has been obferved by others, that this poet has founded his tragedy of Ve-. nice Preferved on fo wrong a plot, that the greateft, characters in it are thofe of rebels and traitors. Had the hero of his play difcovered the fame good qualities in the defence of his country, that he fhewed for it's ruin and fubverfion, the audience could not enough pity and adinire him; but as he is now reprefented, we can only fay of him what the Roman hiftorian fays of Catiline, that his fall would have been glorious (pre Patria fic concidiffet) had he fo fallen in the fervice of his country.

C

N° XL.

fince the starting of the above-mentioned criticism, have taken this turn: as the Mourning Bride, Tamerlane, Ulyes, Phaedra and Hippolitus, with meft of Mr. Dryden's. I muft alfo allow, that many of Shakefpeare's, and feveral of the celebrated tragedies of antiquity, are caft in the fame form. I do not therefore difpute against this way of writing tragedies, but against the criticifm that would eftablish this as the only method: and by that means would very much cramp the English tragedy, and perhaps give a wrong bent to the genius of our writers.

1

The tragi-comedy, which is the product of the English theatre, is one of the most monftrous inventions that ever entered into a poet's thoughts. An author might as well think of weaving the adventures of Æneas and Hudibras into one poem, as of writing fuch a motley piece of mirth and forrow. But the abfurdity of these performances is fo very vifible, that I fhall not infift upon it.

The fame objections which are made to tragi-comedy, may in fome measure be applied to all tragedies that have a double plot in them; which are likewife more frequent upon the English tage than upon any other; for though the grief of the audience, in fuch perform ances, be changed into another paffion, as in tragi-comedies; it is diverted upon another object, which weakens their concern for the principal action, and breaks the tide of forrow, by throwing it into different channels. This inconvenience, however, may in a great meafure be cured, if not wholly removed, by the ikilful choice of an under-plot, which may bear fuch a near relation to the principal defign, as to contribute towards the completion of it, and be concluded by the fame catastrophe.

There is also another particular, which may be reckoned among the blemishes, or rather the falfe beauties, of our English tragedy: I mean those particular fpeeches which are commonly known by the name of rants. The warm and paffionate parts of a tragedy are always the moft taking with the au dience; for which reafon we often fee the players pronouncing, in all the vioJence of action, feveral parts of the tragedy which the author writ with great temper, and defigned that they should

have been fo acted. I have feen Powell very often raise himself a loud clap by this artifice. The poets that were acquainted with this fecret, have given frequent occafion for fuch emotions in the actor, by adding vehemence to words where there was no paffion, or inflaming a real paffion into fuftian. This hath filled the mouths of our heroes with bombaft; and given them fuch fentiments, as proceed rather from a fwelling than a greatnefs of mind. Unnatural exclamations, curfes, vows, blafphemies, a defiance of mankind, and an outraging of the gods, frequently pass upon the audience for towering thoughts, and have accordingly met with infinite applaufe.

I fhall here add a remark, which I am afraid our tragic writers may make an ill ufe of. As our heroes are generally lovers, their fwelling and bluftering upon the ftage very much recommends them to the fair part of their audience. The ladies are wonderfully pleafed to fee a man infulting kings, or affronting the gods in one fcene, and throwing himself at the feet of his miftrefs in another. Let him behave himfelf infolently towards the men, and abjectly towards the fair-one, and it is ten to one but he proves a favourite of the boxes. Dryden and Lee, in feveral of their tragedies, have practifed this fecret with good fuccefs.

But to fhew how a rant pleafes beyond the moft just and natural thought that is not proncunced with vehemence, I would defire the reader, when he fees the tragedy of Oedipus, to obferve how quietly the hero is difmiffed at the end of the third act, after having pronounced the following lines, in which the thought is very natural, and apt to move compaffion:

Το

Or clear my virtues, or my crimes reveal. you, good gods, I make my laft appeal;

If in the maze of fate I blindly run,
And backward tread thofe paths I fought to
fhun;

Impute my errors to your own decree:
My hands are guilty, but my heart is free.

Let us then obferve with what thunderclaps of applaufe he leaves the ftage, after the impieties and execrations at the end of the fourth act; and you will wonder to fee an audience fo curfed and fo pleafed at the fame time:

O that

that as oft I have at Athens feen
[Where, by the way, there was no
ftage till many years after Oedi-
pus.]

The stage arife, and the big clouds defcend;
So now, in very deed I might behold
This pond'rous globe, and all yon marble roof,
Meet, like the hands of Jove, and crush man-
'kind.

For all the elements, &c.

COM

ADVERTISEMENT.

HAVING fpoken of Mr. Powell, as fometimes raifing himself applaufe from the ill taste of an audience; I must do him the juftice to own, that he is excellently formed for a tragedian, and, when he pleases, deferves the admiration of the best judges; as I doubt not but he will in the Conqueft of Mexico, which is acted for his own benefit tomorrow night. &

OMPASSION for the gentleman who writes the following letter, fhould not prevail upon me to fall upon the fair-fex, if it were not that I find they are frequently fairer than they ought to be. Such impoftures are not to be tolerated in civil society; and I think his misfortune ought to be made public, as a warning for other men always to examine into what they admire.

SUPPOSING you to be a perfon of general knowledge, I make my application to you on a very particular occafion. I have a great mind to be rid of my wife, and hope, when you confider my cafe, you will be of opinion I have very just pretenfions to a divorce. I am a mere man of the town, and have very little improvement, but what I have got from plays. I remember in The Silent Woman, the learned Dr. Cutberd, or Dr. Otter, I forget which, makes one of the causes of feparation to be Error Perfone, when a man marries a woman, and finds her not to be the fame woman whom he intended to marry, but another. If that be law, it is, I prefume, exactly my cafe. For you are to know, Mr. Spectator, that there are women who do not let their hufbands fee their faces till they are married.

Not to keep you in fufpenfe, I mean plainly that part of the fex who paint. They are fome of them fo exquifitely skilful this way, that give them but a tolerable pair of eyes to fet up with, and they will make bofom, lips, cheeks, and eyebrows, by their own induftry. As

OVID. MET. I. 654. ADDISON.

for my dear, never man was fo enamoured as I was of her fair forehead, neck, and arms, as well as the bright jet of her hair; but to my great aftonishment I find they were all the effects of art; her skin is fo tarnished with this practice, that when the first wakes in a morning, fhe scarce feems young enough to be the mother of her whom I carried to bed the night before. I fhall take the liberty to part with her by the first opportunity, unlefs her father will make her portion fuitable to her real, not her affumed, countenance. This I thought fit to let him and her know by your means. I am, Sir,

Your most obedient, humble
fervant.

I cannot tell what the law, or the parents of the lady, will do for this injured gentleman, but must allow he has very much juftice on his fide. I have indeed very long obferved this evil, and diftinguifhed thofe of our women who wear their own, from thofe in borrowed complexions, by the Picts and the British. There does not need any great difcernment to judge which are which. The British have a lively animated afpect; the Pits, though never fo beautiful, have dead uninformed countenances. The mufcles of a real face fometimes fwell with foft paffion, fudden furprife, and are flushed with agreeable confufions, according as the objects before them, or the ideas prefented to them, affect their imagination. But the Picts behold all things with the fame air, whether they are joyful or fad; the fame fixed infenfibility appears upon all eccafions.

L 2

occafions. A Pict, though he takes all that pains to invite the approach of lovers, is obliged to keep them at a certain dittance; a figh in a languishing lover, if fetched too near her, would diffolve a feature; and a kifs fnatched by a forward one, might transfer the complexion of the miftrefs to the admirer. It is hard to fpeak of thefe falfe fair ones, without faying fomething uncomplaifant, but I would only recommend to them to confider how they like coming into a room new-painted; they may affure themfelves, the near approach of a lady who uses this practice is much more offenfive.

Will Honeycomb told us, one day, an adventure he once had with a Pict. This lady had wit, as well as beauty, at will; and made it her bufinefs to gain hearts, for no other reafon but to railly the torments of her lovers. She would make great advances to infnare men, but without any manner of fcruple break off when there was no provocation. Her ill-nature and vanity made my friend very eafily proof against the charms of her wit and converfation; but her beauteous form, instead of being blemished by her falfhood and inconftancy, every day increafed upon him, and the had new attractions every time he faw her. When the obferved Will irrevocably her flave, she began to use him as such, and after many iteps towards fuch a cruelty, the at laft utterly banished him. The unhappy lover ftrove in vain, by fervile epiftles, to revoke his doom; till at length he was forced to the laft refuge, a round fum of money to her maid. This corrupt attendant placed him early in the morning behind the hangings in her mistress's dreffing-room. He stood very conveniently to obferve, without being feen. The Pict begins the face The defigned to wear that day, and I have heard him proteft the had worked a full half hour before he knew her to be the fame woman. As foon as he faw the dawn of that complexion, for which he had fo long languifhed, he thought fit to break from his concealment, repeating that of Cowley

Th' adorning thee with fo much art,
Is but a barb'rons fkill:
'Tis like the pois'ning of a dart,
Too apt before to kill.

The Pit ftood before him in the utmolt confufion, with the prettiest fmirk aginable on the finished fide of her

face, pale as afhes on the other. Heneycomb feized all her gallypots and wafhes, and carried off his handkerchief full of brushes, fcraps of Spanish wool, and phials of unguents. The lady went into the country, the lover was cured.

It is certain no faith ought to be kept with cheats, and an oath made to a Pict is of itself void. I would therefore exhort all the British ladies to fingle therm out; nor do I know any but Lindamira who fhould be exempt from difcovery; for her own complexion is fo delicate, that the ought to be allowed the covering it with paint, as a punishment for chufing to be the worst piece of art extant, instead of the masterpiece of nature.

As for my part, who have no expectations from women, and confider them only as they are part of the fpecies, I do not half fo much fear offending a beauty as a woman of fenfe; I fhall therefore produce feveral faces which have been in public this many years, and never appeared. It will be a very pretty entertainment in the play-house, when I have abolished this custom, to fee fo many ladies, when they first lay it down, incog. in their own faces.

In the mean time, as a pattern for improving their charms, let the fex study the agreeable Statira. Her features are enlivened with the chearfulness of her mind, and good-humour gives an alacrity to her eyes. She is graceful with out affecting an air, and unconcerned without appearing carelefs. Her having no manner of art in her mind, makes her want none in her perfon.

How like is this lady, and how unlike is a Pict, to that defcription Dr. Donne gives of his mikrefs!

Her pure and eloquent blood Spoke in her cheeks, and fo diftinctly wrought, That one would almost fay her body thought.