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of the perfons that fpeak. The ordinary method of making an hero, is to clap a huge plume of feathers upon his head, which rifes fo very high, that there is often a greater length from his chin to the top of his head, than to the fole of his foot. One would believe, that we thought a great man and a tall man the fame thing. This very much embarraffes the actor, who is forced to hold his neck extremely ftiff and steady all the while he speaks; and notwithstanding any anxieties which he pretends for his miftrefs, his country, or his friends, one may fee by his action, that his greatest care and concern is to keep the plume of feather from falling off his head. For my own part, when I fee a man uttering his complaints under fuch a mountain of feathers, I am apt to look upon him rather as an unfortunate lunatic, than a diftreffed hero. As thefe superfluous ornaments upon the head make a great man, a princefs generally receives her grandeur from thofe additional incumbrances that fall into her tail; I mean the broad fweeping train that follows her in all her motions, and finds conftant employment for a boy who ftands behind her to open and fpread it to advantage. I do not know how others are affected at this fight, but I must confefs, my eyes are wholly taken up with the page's part; and as for the queen, I am not fo attentive to any thing the peaks, as to the right adjufting of her train, left it should chance to trip up her heels, or incommode her, as the walks to and fro upon the ftage. It is, in my opinion, a very odd fpcctacle, to fee a queen venting her paffion in a difordered motion, and a little boy taking care all the while that they do not ruffle the tail of her gown. The parts that the two perfons act on the stage at the fame time, are very different; the princefs is afraid left he could incur the difpleafure of the king her father, or lofe the hero her lover, whilft her attendant is only concerned left the fhould entangle her feet in her petti

coat.

We are told, that an ancient tragic poet, to move the pity of his audience for his exiled kings and dif

3

treffed

treffed heroes, used to make the actors reprefent them in dreffes and clothes that were thread-bare and de-* cayed. This artifice for moving pity, feems as illcontrived as that we have been fpeaking of to infpire us with a great idea of the perfons introduced upon the ftage. In fhort, I would have our conceptions raised by the dignity of thought and fublimity of expreffion, rather than by a train of robes or a plume of feathers.

Another mechanical method of making great men, and adding dignity to kings and queens, is to accompany them with halberts and battle-axes. Two or three fhifters of fcenes, with the two candle-fnuffers, make up a complete body of guards upon the English ftage; and by the addition of a few porters dreffed in red coats, can reprefent above a dozen legions. I have fometimes feen a couple of armies drawn up together upon the ftage, when the poet has been difpofed to do honour to his generals. It is impoffible for the reader's imagination to multiply twenty men into fuch prodigious multitudes, or to fancy that two or three hundred thoufand foldiers are fighting in a room of forty or fifty yards in compafs. Incidents of fuch a nature fhould be told, not represented.

-Non tamen intùs

Digna geri promes in fcenam : multaque tolles
Ex oculis, que mox narret facundia præfens.
Yet there are things improper for a fcene,
Which men of judgment only will relate.

HOR.

ROSCOMMON.

I fhould therefore, in this particular, recommend to my countrymen the example of the French stage, where the kings and queens always appear unattended, and leave their guards behind the scenes. I fhould likewise be glad if we imitated the French in banishing from our ftage the noise of drums, trumpets, and huzza's; which is fometimes fo very great, that when there is a battle in

the

the Hay-Market theatre, one may hear it as far as Charing-Crofs.

I have here only touched upon thofe particulars which are made ufe of to raise and aggrandize the perfons of a tragedy; and fhall fhew in another paper the feveral expedients which are practifed by authors of a vulgar genius to move terror, pity, or admiration, in their hearers.

The taylor and the painter often contribute to the fuccefs of a tragedy more than the poet. Scenes affect ordinary minds as much as fpeeches; and our actors are very fenfible, that a well-dreffed play has fometimes brought them as full audiences, as a well-written one. The Italians have a very good phrase to express this art of impofing upon the fpectators by appearances: they call it the Fourberia della fcena, the knavery or trickish 'part of the drama.' But however the fhow and outside of the tragedy may work upon the vulgar, the more understanding part of the audience immediately fee through it and defpife it.

A good poet will give the reader a more lively idea of an army or a battle in a defcription, than if he actually faw them drawn up in fquadrons and battalions, or engaged in the confusion of a fight. Our minds fhould be opened to great conceptions, and inflamed with glorious fentiments, by what the actor fpeaks, more than by what he appears. Can all the trappings or equipage of a king or hero give Brutus half that pomp and majefty which he receives from a few lines in Shakespear?

C.

No. XLIII.

No. XLIII. THURSDAY, APRIL 19.

Hæ tibi erunt artes; pacifque imponere morem,
Parcere fubjectis, & debellare fuperbos.

Be these thy arts; to bid contention cease,
Chain up ftern war, and give the nations peace;
O'er fubject lands extend thy gentle fway,
And teach with iron rod the haughty to obey.

VIRG.

THERE are crowds of men, whofe great misfortune it is that they were not bound to mechanic arts or trades; it being abfolutely neceffary for them to be led by fome continual task or employment. These are fuch as we commonly call dull fellows; perfons, who for want of fomething to do, out of a certain vacancy of thought, rather than curiofity, are ever meddling with things for which they are unfit. I cannot give you a notion of them better than by prefenting you with a letter from a gentleman, who belongs to a fociety of this order of men, refiding at Oxford."

< Sir,

IN

Oxford, April 13, 1711. • Four o'clock in the morning. fome of your late fpeculations, I find fome sketches towards an history of clubs: but you seem to me to ' fhew them in fomewhat too ludicrous a light. I have 'well weighed that matter, and think that the moft important negotiations may beft be carried on in fuch affemblies. I fhall, therefore, for the good of mankind (which, I truft, you and I are equally concerned for) propofe an inftitution of that nature for example fake. I must confefs the defign and tranfactions of too many clubs are trifling, and manifeftly of no confequence to the nation or public weal: thofe I'll give you up. But you must do me then the juftice to own, that nothing can be more ufeful or laudable, than the fcheme we go upon. To avoid nicknames and witticifms, we call ourfelves The Hebdomadal Meeting: our Prefident continues for a year at leaft, and fome

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times four or five: we are all grave, ferious, defigning men, in our way: we think it our duty, as far as in " us lies, to take care the conftitution receives no harmNe quid detrimenti Res capiat publica-To cenfure doctrines or facts, perfons or things, which we don't like; to fettle the nation at home, and to carry on the war abroad, where and in what manner we see fit. If other people are not of our opinion, we cannot help that. "Twere better they were. Moreover, we now and then condefcend to direct, in fome measure, the little affairs of our own Univerfity.

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Verily, Mr. Spectator, we are much offended at the act for importing French wines: a bottle or two of good folid edifying port at honeft George's made a night chearful, and threw off referve. But this pla$ guy French claret will not only cost us more money, but do us lefs good: had we been aware of it, before it had gone too far, I muft tell you, we would have petitioned to be heard upon that fubject. But let that pafs.

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I muft let you know likewife, good Sir, that we look upon a certain northern prince's march, in conjunction with infidels, to be palpably againft our good-will and ( liking, and, for all Monfieur Palmquist, a moft dangerous innovation; and we are by no means yet fure, that fome people are not at the bottom on it. At least, my own private letters leave room for a politician, well verfed in matters of this nature, to fufpect as much, as a penetrating friend of mine tells me.

We think we have at laft done the bufinefs with the • malecontents in Hungary, and fhall clap up a peace

'there.

What the neutrality army is to do, or what the army in Flanders, and what two or three other princes, is not yet fully determined among us: and we wait im• patiently for the coming-in of the next Dyer, who, you must know, is our authentic intelligence, our Ariftotle in politics. And it is indeed but fit there fhould be fome dernier refort, the abfolute decider of all controverfies.

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