Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

go down with me, without examining the Weight of their Assertions. We can expect no more Decorum or Regularity in any Business, than the Nature of the thing will bear; now if the Stage cannot subsist without the Strength of Supposition, and Force of Fancy in the Audience; why shou'd a Poet fetter the Business of his Plot, and starve his Action, for the nicety of an Hour, or the Change of a Scene; since the Thought of Man can fly over a thousand Years with the same Ease, and in the same Instant of Time, that your Eye glances from the Figure of Six, to Seven, on the Dial-Plate; and can glide from the Cape of Good-Hope to the Bay of St. Nicholas, which is quite cross the World, with the same Quickness and Activity, as between Covent-Garden Church, and Will's Coffee-House. Then I must beg of these Gentlemen to let our old English Authors alone If they have left Vice unpunish'd, Vertue unrewarded, Folly unexpos'd, or Prudence unsuccessful, the Contrary of which is the Utile of Comedy, let them be lash'd to some purpose; if any part of their Plots have been independant of the rest; or any of their Characters forc'd or unnatural; which destroys the Dulce of Plays, let them be hiss'd off the Stage: But if by a true Decorum in these material Points, they have writ successfully, and answer'd the end of Dramatick Poetry in every Respect, let them rest in Peace, and their Memories enjoy the Encomiums due to their Merit, without any Reflection for waving those Niceties, which are neither instructive to the World, nor diverting to Mankind; but are like all the rest of Critical Learning, fit only to set People together by the Ears in rediculous Controversies, that are not one Jot material to the Good of the Publick, whether they be true or false.

And thus you see, Sir, I have concluded a very unnecessary Piece of Work, which is much too long, if you don't like it; but let it happen any way, be assur'd, that I intended to please you, which shou'd partly excuse,

SIR,

Your most humble Servant.

RICHARD STEELE

RICHARD STEELE

I. FROM THE TATLER, NUMBER LXVIII

1709

From Tuesday September 13. to Thursday September 15.

I have often reflected, that there is a great Similitude in the Motions of the Heart in Mirth and in Sorrow; and I think the usual Occasion of the latter, as well as the former, is something which is sudden and unexpected. The Mind has not a sufficient Time to recollect its Force, and immediately gushes into Tears before we can utter our selves by Speech or Complaint. The most notorious Causes of these Drops from our Eyes, are Pity, Sorrow, Joy, and Reconciliation.

The Fair Sex, who are made of Man, and not of Earth, have a more delicate Humanity than we have, and Pity is the most common Cause of their Tears: For as we are inwardly composed of an Aptitude to every Circumstance of Life, and every Thing that befals any one Person, might have happened to any other of humane Race; Self-Love, and a Sense of the Pain we our selves should suffer in the Circumstances of any whom we pity, is the Cause of that Compassion. Such a Reflection in the Breast of a Woman, immediately inclines her to Tears; but in a Man, it makes him think how such a one ought to act on that Occasion, suitably to the Dignity of his Nature. Thus a Woman is ever moved for those whom she hears lament, and a Man for those whom he

« ForrigeFortsett »