fcription. Again, Thenrogues flighted! "me into the river with as little remorfe, ST 6c as they would have drown'd a bitch's "blind puppies, fifteen i' th' litter Old Lady. You would not be a queen? Anne. No not for all the riches under heaven. Old Lady. 'Tis frange: a three-pence bow'd would hire me, old as I am, to queen it.ow M Henry VIII. a 2. fc. 5. In the following paffage, the action, with all its material circumstances, is represented so much to the life, that it could not be better conceived by a real fpectator; and it is this manner of description which contributes greatly to the fublimity of the paffage. erustetaves diw fut ad f He spake; and to confirm his words, out flew Millions of flaming fwords, drawn from the thighs Of mighty cherubim: the fudden blaze sta Far round illumin'd hell: highly they rag'd limit Against the Higheft, and fierce with grafped arms, * Merry Wives of Windfor, act 3. fc. 15. VOL. III. Z dpke My Clafh'd Clafh'd on their founding fhields the din of war, Hurling defiance toward the vault of heav'n.. Milton, b. L. A paffage I am to cite from Shakespear, falls not much fhort of that now mentioned in particularity of defcription: you hard hearts! you cruel men of Rome! Knew you not Pompey? Many a time and oft Have you climb'd up to walls and battlements, To towers and windows, yea, to chimney tops, Your infants in your arms; and there have fat The live-long day with patient expectation To fee great Pompey pass the streets of Rome. And when faw his chariot but appear, you Have you not made an univerfal fhout, 2 Julius Cæfar, act 1. sc. 1. The Henriade of Voltaire errs greatly against the foregoing rule: every thing is touched in a fummary way, without ever defcending to the circumftances of an event, This manner is good in a general history, the the purpose of which is to record important tranfactions: but in a fable, which hath a very different aim, it is cold and uninteresting; because it is impracticable to form diftinct images of perfons or things reprefented in a manner fo fuperficial. It is obferved above, that every ufelefs circumftance ought to be fuppreffed. To deal in fuch circumftances, is a fault, on the one hand, not lefs to be avoided, than the conciseness for which Voltaire is blamed, on the other. In the Eneid*, Barce, the nurfe of Sichæus, whom we never hear of before or after, is introduced for a purpose not more important than to call Anna to her fifter Dido. And that it might not be thought unjust in Dido, even in this trivial incident, to prefer her husband's nurfe before her own, the poet takes care to inform his reader, that Dido's nurfe was dead. To this I muft oppofe a beautiful paffage in the fame book, where, after Dido's laft fpeech, the poet, fuppofing her * Lib. 4. 1. 632. dead, Z 2 Dixerat: atque illam media inter talia ferro As an appendix to the foregoing rule, I add the following obfervation, That to raife a fudden and strong impreffion, fome fingle circumftance happily felected, felected, has more power than the most laboured defcription. Macbeth, mentioning to his lady fome voices he heard while he was murdering the King, fays, There's one did laugh in's fleep, and one cry'd Murder! They wak'd each other; and I ftood and heard them; But they did fay their prayers, and addrefs them Lady. There are two lodg'd together. A Macbeth. Macbeth One cry'd, God bless us! and, Amen! the other; As they had feen me with these hangman's hands. Listening their fear, I could not fay, Amen, G When they did fay, God bless us. Lady. Confider it not fo deeply. Macbeth. But wherefore could not I pronounce, Amen? I had moft need of bleffing, and Amen Stuck in my throat. Lady. Thefe deeds must not be thought After these ways; fo, it will make us mad. Macbeth. Methought, I heard a voice cry, Sleep no more! Macbeth doth murder sleep, &. Defcribing Prince Henry กา Act 2. fc.3. Mariselvi I faw young Harry, with his beaver on, And witch the world with noble horsemanship. King |