C'eft elle qu'on adore, et non pas ta perfonne, Emilia enters, and behaves with the most infolent pride, undaunted affurance, and unfeeling ingratitude; and declares to Auguftus, that fo long as fhe is handsome enough to get lovers, he shall never want enemies. Auguftus ftill adheres to his plan of clemency, (for that too is plan, and the refult of prudent deliberation, not of generous magnanimity) he pardons Maximus, forgives Cinna in fpite of his unworthiness, and bestows upon him Emilia and the confulfhip. Emilia is at last mitigated, and modeftly tells Auguftus, that Heaven has ordained a change in the Commonwealth, fince it has changed her Heart. What is there in all this that can move either Pity or Terror? In what is it moral, in what is it interesting, where is it pathetic? It is a common error, in the plan of Corneille's tragedies, that the intereft of the piece turns upon fome unknown person, generally a haughty princess; fo that instead of the representation of an important event, and the characters of illuftrious perfons, the business of the drama is the love-intrigue of a termagant Lady, who, if she is a Roman, infults the Barbarians, if she is a Barbarian, braves the Romans, and even to her Lover is infolent and fierce. Were fuch a person to be produced on our theatre, fhe would be taken for a mad Poetess escaped from her keepers in Bedlam, who, fancying herself a Queen, was ranting, and delivering her mandates in rhyme upon the ftage. All the excufe that can be made for Corneille in fuch representations is, that characters like thefe, dignified indeed with nobler fentiments, were admired in the Romances, where the manners of chivalry are exaggerated. By the inftitutions of chivalry, every valiant knight profeffed a peculiar devotion 1 devotion to the fair fex, in whose cause, as the Champion of the defenceless, and Protector of the oppreffed, he was always ready to take arms. A lady's interest being often the object, and fometimes her person the prize of a combat, fhe was fuppofed to infpire his courage; and, as he was to be not lefs diftinguished for Politeness than Valour, he affected an air of fubmiffive obedience, while fhe, by the courtesy of Knighthood, was allowed to affume a ftile of fuperiority and command. To carry thefe manners into ancient Greece and Rome, and weave them into a conspiracy there, betrays want of judgment. This drama is carried on in the ftrain of Romance. The lady enjoins her Lover to kill Auguftus; that adventure atchieved, he is to hope for her hand; his glory is to be derived from her acknowledging him worthy of it; fhe is continually exhorting him to deferve, the honour of being beloved by her. The fate of Augustus, of the Roman empire, all the duties of the citizen and the friend, are to depend on her decifion. decifion. She fays to Auguftus, when he has discovered the confpiracy, as a fufficient vindication of her lover, con Oui, tout ce qu'il a fait, il l'a fait pour me plaire, Et j'en etois, feigneur, la caufe et le falaire. The author certainly intended to recommend Cinna to his fpectators merely as a loyal lover, according to the phrase of romance: in every other light he appears temptible, and indeed suffers himself to be used with the greatest contempt and indignity. As Shakespear laboured to shew that the motives of Brutus were untinctured by any bad paffion; every movement in the mind of Cinna has on the contrary the character of baseness, and whether he conspires or whether he repents of it, he is still, as he acknowledges himself to be, Un efprit malheureux, From this unhappy Wretch, who bafely conceives a generous defign, let us turn to Brutus. There we shall fee the different judgment e |
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