Imatges de pàgina
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tells Oroonoko he pities him, Oroonoko an

fwers,

-Do pity me;

Pity's akin to love, and ev'ry thought
Of that foft kind is welcome to my foul.

Oroonoko, Act ii. And Dryden, in his Alexander's Feaft, after defcribing the power of Timotheus in exciting his hero's pity for the fad fate of Darius, fays, The mighty mafter fmil'd to fee, That love was in the next degree; 'Twas but a kindred found to move,

For pity melts the foul to love.

And Julia, in the Two Gentlemen of Verona, fays of Proteus,

Because he loves her he despises me;

Because I love him, I must pity him. A&t iv.

Poets, who, where the paffions are concerned, are generally the best philofophers, conftantly defcribe love and pity as melting the foul: but how does this agree with the intense muscles with which Hill marks the expreffion of both thefe paffions? And how, according to this writer, can the mufcles be intenfe and the eye languid at the fame time, as he has defcribed them in pity; or is it conceivable that the eye can express an emotion directly contrary to the feelings of the whole frame? The diftinction, therefore, of braced and unbraced muscles, upon which his whole fyftem turns, feems at best but a doubtful hypothefis; and much too hidden and uncertain for the direction of fo important a matter as the expreffion of the paffions.

In the difplay of the paffions which I have

adopted, nothing farther is intended, than fuch a defcription of them as may serve to give an idea of their external appearance, and fuch examples of their operations on the foul as may tend to awaken an original feeling of them in the breaft of the reader. But it cannot be too carefully noted, that, if poffible, the expreffion of every paffion ought to commence within, The imagination ought to be strongly impressed with the idea of an object which naturally excites it, before the body is brought to correfpond to it by fuitable gefture, This order ought never to be reverfed, except when the mind is too cold and languid to imbibe the paffion firft; and in this cafe, an adaptation of the body to an expreffion of the paffion, will either help to excite the paffion we wish to feel, or in fome measure supply the absence of it.

The two circumftances that most strongly mark the expreffion of paffion, are the tone of the voice, and the external appearance of countenance and gefture; these we fhall endeavour to describe, and to each description fubjoin an example for practice.

In the following explanation and defcription of the paffions, I have been greatly indebted to a very ingenious performance called the Art of Speaking; this work, though not without its imperfections, is on a plan the most ufeful that has hitherto been adopted. The paffions are firft defcribed, then paffages are produced which contain the feveral paffions, and these paffions are marked in the margin as they promifcuously occur in the paffage. This plan I have adopted, and I hope not without fome degree of improvement. For after the

defcription of the feveral paffions, in which I have frequently departed widely from this author, I have fubjoined examples to each paffion and emotion, which contain fcarcely any paffion or emotion but that defcribed; and by thus keeping one paffion in view at a time, it is prefumed the pupil will more easily acquire the imitation of it, than by paffing fuddenly to those paffages where they are scattered promifcuously in small portions. But though this affociation of the fimilar paffions is certainly an advantage, the greatest merit is due to the author above mentioned; who, by the divifion of a paffage into its several paffions, and marking thefe paffions as they occur, has done real fervice to the art of speaking, and rendered his book one of the moft ufeful that has been hitherto published.

THE PASSIONS:

THE firft picture of the paffions (if it may

be called fo) is

TRANQUILLITY.

Tranquillity appears by the composure of the countenance, and general repofe of the whole body, without the exertion of any one muscle. The countenance open, the forehead smooth, the eyebrows arched, the mouth just not shut, and the eyes paffing with an easy motion from object to object, but not dwelling long upon any one. To diftinguish it, however, from infenfibility, it seems neceffary to give it that caft of happiness which borders on chearfulnefs.

CHEARFULNESS.

When joy is fettled into a habit, or flows from a placid temper of mind, defiring to please and be pleased, it is called gaiety, goodhumour, or chearfulness.

Chearfulness adds a smile to tranquillity, and opens the mouth a little more.

Chearfulness in Retirement.

Now my co-mates, and brothers in exile,
Hath not old cuftom made this life more sweet
Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods
More free from peril than the envious court?
Here feel we but the penalty of Adam,
The feafon's difference; as the icy fang
And churlish chiding of the winter's wind,
Which, when it bites and blows upon my body
Evʼn till I shrink with cold, I smile and fay,

This is no flattery: these are counsellors
That feelingly perfuade me what I am.
Sweet are the uses of adverfity,

That like a toad, ugly and venemous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in its head;
And this our life exempt from public haunts,

Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,

Sermons in ftones, and good in every thing.

Shakespeare's As You Like It.

MIRTH.

When joy arifes from ludicrous or fugitive amusements in which others fhare with us, it is called merriment or mirth.

Mirth, or laughter, opens the mouth horizontally, raises the checks high, leffens the aperture of the eyes, and, when violent, fhakes and convulfes the whole frame, fills the eyes with tears, and occafions holding the fides from the pain the convulfive laughter gives them.

Invocation of the Goddess of Mirth.

But come, thou goddefs, fair and free,
In heav'n y'clep'd Euphrosyne,
And of men heart-eafing Mirth;
Whom lovely Venus at a birth,
With two fifter graces more,
To ivy-crowned Bacchus bore.

Come, thou nymph, and bring with thee

Mirth and youthful Jolity;

Quips, and cranks, and wanton wiles;

Nods, and becks, and wreathed smiles;

Such as hang on Hebe's cheek,

And love to live in dimples fleek:

Sport, that wrinkled Care derides,
And Laughter holding both his fides a
Come and trip it as ye go,
On the light fantastic toe;

And in thy right hand bring with thee
The mountain nymph, fweet Liberty.

Milton's Comus.

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