His old Words are all true English, and Numbers exquifite; and fince of Words there is the Multa Renafcentur, fince they are all proper, fuch a Poem fhould not ⚫ (any more than Milton's) fubfist all of it of common or⚫dinary Words. See Inftances of Descriptions. Cauflefs Jealoufy in Britomartis, V. 6, 14. in its Reft leffness. Like as a wayward Child whofe founder Sleep But kicks, and fqualls, and shrieks for fell Defpight Curiofity occafion'd by Jealoufy, upon Occafion of her Then as he looked long, at laft fhe Spy'd And where is he, thy Lord, and how far hence? Care and his House are describ'd thus, IV. 6. 33, 34, 35 Not far away, not meet for any Guest, They Spy'd a little Cottage, like fome poor Man's Neft. 34. There entring in, they found the Good-man's felf, Full bufily unto his Work ybent, Who was fo weel a wretched wearish Elf, BIB With With hollow Eyes and raw-bone Cheeks for spent, Full black and griefly did his Face appear, Befmear'd with Smoke that nigh his Eye-fight blent, 35. Rude was his Garment, and to Rags all rent HOME R's Epithets were much admired by Anti quity: See what great Juftnefs and Variety there is in thefe Epithets of the Trees in the Foreft, where the Redcrofs Knight lost Truth, B. 1. Cant. 1. Stan. 8, 9. The failing Pine, the Cedar proud and tall, 9. The Laurel, Meed of mighty Conquerors, The Birch for Shafts, the Sallow for the Mill; me ISHALL trouble you no more, but defire you to let conclude with these Verfes, tho' I think they have already been quoted by you: They are Directions to young Ladies oppreft with Calumny. VI. 6, 14. The The best (faid he) that I can you advise, For when the Caufe whence Evil doth arife T No. 541. Thursday, November 20. Format enim Natura prias nos intus ad omnem MY Hor. Y Friend the TEMPLER, whom I have fo often mention'd in thefe Writings, having determined to lay afide his Poetical Studies, in order to a clofer Pursuit of the Law, has put together as a Farewel Effay, fome Thoughts concerning Pronunciation and Action, which he has given me leave to communicate to the Publick. They are chiefly collected from his Favourite Author, Cicero, who is known to have been an intimate Friend of Rofcius the Actor, and a good Judge of Dramatick Performances, as well as the most eloquent Pleader of the Time in which he lived.. CICERO concludes his celebrated Books de Oratore with fome Precepts for Pronunciation and Action, without which Part he affirms that the best Orator in the World can never fucceed; and an indifferent one, who is Master of this, fhall gain much greater Applaufe. What could make a stronger Impreffion, fays he, than those Exclamations of Gracchus -Whither all I turn? Wretch that I am! to what Place betake myself? Shall I go to the Ca Alas! it is overflowed with my Brother's Blood. pitol? Or fhall I retire to my Houfe? Yet there I behold my Mother plung'd in Mifery, weeping and defpairing! These Breaks and turns of Paffion, it feems, were fo enforced by the Eyes, Voice and Gefture of the Speaker, that his very Enemies could not restrain from Tears. I infift, fays Tully, upon this the rather, because our Orators, who are as it were Actors of the Truth itself, have quitted this manner of speaking; and the Players, who are but the Imitators of Truth, have taken it up. I fhall therefore purfue the Hint he has here given me, and for the Service of the British Stage I' fhall copy fome of the Rules which this great Roman Mafter has laid down; yet, without confining myfelf wholly to his Thoughts or Words and to adapt this Effay the more to the Purpose for which I intend it, inftead of the Examples he has inferted in his Discourse, out of the ancient Tragedies, I fhall make ufe of parallel Paffages out of the most celebrated of our own. THE Defign of Art is to affift Action as much as poffible in the Representation of Nature; for the Appearance of Reality is that which moves us in all Représentations, and thefe have always the greater Force, the nearer they approach to Nature, and the lefs they fhew of Imitation. NATURE herself has affign'd, to every Emotion of the Soul, its peculiar Caft of the Countenance, Tone of Voice, and Manner of Gesture; thro' the whole Person all the Features of the. Face and Tones of the Voice anfwer, like Strings upon mufical Inftruments, to the Impreffions made on them by the Mind. Thus the Sounds of the Voice, according to the various Touches which raise them, form themselves into an acute or grave, quick or flow, loud or soft Tone. These too may be subdivided into various Kinds of Tones, as the gentle, the rough, the contracted, the diffuse, the continued, the intermitted, the broken, abrupt, winding, foftened, or elevated. Every one of these may be employed with Art and Judgment; and all fupply the Actor, as Colours do the Painter with an expreffive Variety. ANGER exerts its peculiar Voice in an acute, raised, and hurrying Sound. The paffionate Character of King Lear Lear, as it is admirably drawn by Shakespear, abounds with the strongest Inftances of this kind. Fiery! Death! Confufion! what Quality? why Glofter! Glofter! I'd fpeak with the Duke of Cornwall and his Wife. Are they inform'd of this? My Breath and Blood! Fiery? the fiery Duke? &c. SORROW and Complaint demand a Voice quite different, flexible, flow, interrupted, and modulated in a mournful Tone; as in that pathetick Soliloquy of Cardinal Wolfey on his Fall. Farewel! a long Farewel to all my Greatness! WE have likowife, a fine Example of this in the whole Part of Andromache in the Diftreft-Mother, particularly in these Lines. T'll go, and in the Anguish of my Heart FEAR expreffes itself in a low hesitating and abject Sound. If the Reader confiders the following Speech of the Lady Macbeth, while her Husband is about the Murder of Duncan and his Grooms, he will imagine hor |