grandfather, could ftrip a naked man of his doublet; but a fool of a colder conftitution would have ftaid to have flead the Pict, and made buff of his fkin, for the wearing of the conqueror.

To bring thefe obfervations to fome ufeful purpose of life, what I would propose should be, that we imitated those wife nations, wherein every man learns fome handicraft- work.— Would it not employ a beau prettily enough, if instead of eternally playing with a snuff-box, he fpent fome part of his time in making one? Such a method as this would very much conduce to the public emolument, by making every man living good for fomething; for there would then be no one member of human fociety, but would have fome little pretenfion for fome degree in it; like him who came to Will's coffeehouse, upon the merit of having writ a pofy of a ring.

44. Friday, April 20, 1711.

N° 44•

Tu quid ego & populus mecum defideret audi.

R*.

HOR. Ars Poet. ver. 153.

Now hear what ev'ry auditor expects.

A

ROSCOMMON.

MONG the feveral artifices which are put in practice by the poets to fill the minds of an audience with terror, the first place is due

By STEELE. See final Notes to N°6; and N° 324, on STEELE'S Signatures, R. and T. See N° 536, Let. 1. Employment for Beaus.

to

to thunder and lightning, which are often made ufe of at the defcending of a god, or the rifing of a ghost, at the vanishing of a devil, or at the death of a tyrant. I have known a bell introduced into feveral tragedies with good effect; and have seen the whole affembly in a very great alarm all the while it has been ringing. But there is nothing which delights and terrifies our English theatre fo much as a ghost, especially when he appears in a bloody fhirt. A spectre has very often faved a play, though he has done nothing but stalked across the stage, or rofe through a cleft of it, and funk again without fpeaking one word. There may be a proper feafon for these several terrors; and when they only come in as aids and affiftances to the poet, they are not only to be excufed, but to be applauded. Thus the founding of the clock in Venice Preferved, makes the hearts of the whole audience quake; and conveys a stronger terror to the mind than it is poffible for words to do. The appearance of the ghoft in Hamlet is a mafter-piece in its kind, and wrought up with all the circumftances that can create either attention or horror. The mind of the reader is wonderfully prepared for his reception by the difcourfes that precede it. His dumb behaviour at his first entrance, ftrikes the imagination very ftrongly; but every time he enters, he is ftill more terrifying. Who can read the speech with which young Hamlet accofts him without trembling?

" Hor.

"Hor. Look, my Lord, it comes!

"Ham. Angels and minifters of grace defend us! "Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damn'd; "Bring with thee airs from heav'n, or blafts from «hell;

"Be thy events* wicked or charitable;

"Thou com'ft in fuch a questionable shape "That I will speak to thee. I'll call thee Hamlet, "King, Father, Royal DANE. Oh! answer me, "Let me not burst in ignorance; but tell "Why thy canoniz'd bones, hearfed in death, "Have burft their cearments? Why the fepulchre, "Wherein we faw thee quietly inurn'd, "Hath op'd his ponderous and marble jaws "To caft thee up again? What may this mean? "That thou dead corfe again in complete steel "Revifit'ft thus the glimpfes of the moon, "Making night hideous ?"

I do not therefore find fault with the artifices above-mentioned, when they are introduced with skill, and accompanied by proportionable fentiments and expreffions in the writing.

For the moving of pity, our principal machine is the handkerchief; and indeed in our common tragedies, we fhould not know very often that the perfons are in diftrefs by any thing they fay, if they did not from time to time apply their handkerchiefs to their eyes. Far be it from me to think of banishing this inftrument of forrow from the ftage; I know a tragedy could not fubfift without it: all that I would contend for, is to keep it from being mifapplied.

* Events for advents, comings or visits. We read in other copies intents,

In a word, I would have the actor's tongue fympathize with his eyes.

A difconfolate mother, with a child in her hand, has frequently drawn compaflion from the audience, and has therefore gained a place in feveral tragedies. A modern writer, that obferved how this had took in other plays, being refolved to double the diftrefs, and melt his audience twice as much as those before him had done, brought a princess upon the stage with a little boy in one hand, and a girl in the other. This too had a very good effect. A third poet being resolved to outwrite all his predeceffors, a few years ago introduced three children with great fuccefs: and as I am informed, a young gentleman, who is fully determined to break the most obdurate hearts, has a tragedy by him, where the first person that appears upon the ftage is an afflicted widow in her mourning weeds, with half a dozen fatherlefs children attending her, like those that usually hang about the figure of Charity. Thus feveral incidents that are beautiful in a good writer, become ridiculous by falling into the hands of a bad one.

But among all our methods of moving pity or terror, there is none fo abfurd and barbarous, and what more expofes us to the contempt and ridicule of our neighbours, than that dreadful butchering of one another, which is very frequent upon the English ftage. To delight in feeing men ftabbed, poifoned, racked, or impaled, is certainly the fign of a cruel temper : and as this is often practifed before the British

audience,

audience, feveral French critics, who think these are grateful fpectacles to us, take occafion from them to represent us as a people that delight in blood. It is indeed very odd, to fee our stage ftrewed with carcaffes in 'the last scenes of a tragedy; and to obferve in the wardrobe of the play-house feveral daggers, poniards, wheels, bowls for poifon, and many other inftruments of death. Murders and executions are always tranfacted behind the fcenes in the French THEATRE; which in general is very agreeable to the manners of a polite and civilized people: but as there are no exceptions to this rule on the French Stage, it leads them into abfurdities almoft as ridiculous as that which falls under our prefent cenfure. I remember in the famous play of Corneille, written upon the subject of the Horatii and Curiatii; the fierce young hero who had overcome the Curiatii one after another, (instead of being congratulated by his fifter for his victory, being upbraided by her for having flain her lover) in the height of his paffion and refentment kills her. If any thing could extenuate fo brutal an action, it would be the doing of it on a fudden, before the fentiments of nature, reason, or manhood could take place in him. However, to avoid public bloodshed, as foon as his paffion is wrought to its height, he follows his fifter the whole length of the ftage, and forbears killing her till they are both withdrawn behind the fcenes. I must confeis, had he murdered her before the audience, the indecency might have been greater; but as it is, it appears