In this fituation, what means are there by which an actor and an actress can transform themselves, according to our defires or expectations, or according to the neceffity the author has laid them under, into a pair of lovers, who believe that they fee in the object of their adoration every thing that nature has created perfect or amiable in the fex. Independently of what the players, in the latter part of their lives, want in the warmth of their hearts and inclinations, befide that they neither fee with the fame eyes, nor are capable of being affected in the fame fenfible manner that they would have been while younger, they ought to remember, that they will affuredly be in the fame fort of aukward perplexity in performing on the ftage the characters of amorous people, that they would be in,if what they are pretending were a reality. They will fpeak the language of love to a fuppos'd miftrefs fo much the more faintly, as they are fenfible they fhould do it were they in real life, and repeating the courtship of their younger days. They cannot but be fenfible that they fhould not in the latter cafe be able to perfwade; and they will never find it poffible to take up, in the former, the deportment and tone of voice, and the thousand niceties of fenfation and expreffion, by means of which they might have hoped to fucceed in a more proper time of life.

SECT.

SECTION the SECOND.

Of thofe Qualifications which, when they fall to the Share of that Class of Actors Spoken of in the Second Book, peculiarly intereft the Senfes of an Audience.

СНАР. I.

That Sort of Voice which may be very adequate to certain Characters, may be by no means fufficient for the Actor, in Parts by which we are to be peculiarly moved and affected.

WE

"E fhould not fail to think it an abfurd and ridiculous attempt in any man who fhould bring himself before us on the ftage, be it in tragedy or in comedy, without adequate organs for the performance of what we expect from every one who comes there, who fhould perfwade himself, that he could be understood without being heard; and that an audience would patiently open their ears to hear the dumb fpeak, or fit down to fee thofe fcenes, into which they know the author has thrown every ornament that wit, fpirit and genius could give them, fink in the reprefentation into the cold ftupidity of pantomimes. Provided, however, that the actors in comedy do but take care to exprefs themfelves fo diftinctly, and articulately, that they do not let us lofe a fyllable of what the author puts into their mouths, we, in many cafes, very readily pass over the want of a fine tone, or the elegancies of a good voice.

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Perhaps it may be even establish'd as a rule, that it is not to the advantage of the Actor in comedy to have too full and fonorous a voice. The ufe of this in tragedy, all the world is acquainted with; but as whatever the voice gains in fullnefs, it lofes in swiftnefs; and as to speak quick, yet articulately, is the great merit, in many cafes, in comedy; a fwift and manageable voice, ready for every turn of expreffion, is the most of all to be wifh'd for, in the actor who has thefe parts affign'd him. The perfons who would fucceed in tragedy, on the contrary, have occafion for a voice that is ftrong, majeftic, and pathetic. Comedy, even when the author means that we fhould be touch'd by it fomewhat in the manner of tragedy, is yet intended to give us but a flight fenfation of this kind; and therefore it requires but little of this affiftant energy: We expect, on the other hand, from tragedy, the most strong and violent emotions; and to produce thefe, we always require fonorous voices in the principal characters engag'd in scenes where there is room to raise them. It is abfolutely neceffary, therefore, to the fuccefs of tragedy, that the voice of the perfons who perform the capital parts in it be proper, at the fame time to command the attention, to imprefs a fort of reverence on the audience, and to raise the greatest emotions in their hearts; that it be fuch as can give all the ftrength and vigour to the vehemence of the paffions, that the author could with in them; all the noble majesty that he intended in the expreffion of his moft elevated fentiments; and where an affecting forrow is to be delivered, that it have all that eloquent energy that is neceffary to ftrike, to feize upon, to penetrate the

very hearts of an audience. It is not enough, on these occafions, that it raise our paflions, it muft tranfport and ravish us: it is not enough that it impofe, it must subdue and work us entirely to the author's purpose: 'tis not enough that it touch the heart, it must pierce it to the utmost depth.

Where an actress, to whom nature has given but a feeble voice, plays the character of a Statira, or an Hermione, we are apt to fancy, that we hear the utmost thunder of a full chorus of an Oratorio play'd upon a dancing-mafter's kit. What contempt mult fo unnatural a scene inspire us with; and, on the other hand, what an impreffion do we feel from a part of this kind, work'd up by the author's art so as to move the paffions of an audience in the utmost degree; and, to this, play'd by an actress in the bloom of life, and pride of voice and beauty, whofe victorious accents might have made it natural in a Lothario to become conftant, or in an Altamontto be unfaithful ?

Thofe actors who, in comedy, are to reprefent even people of rank and condition, are not indeed under a neceffity of having a majestic voice; but it is requifite that they have an eafy and a graceful one. It is in regard to the voice, juft as it is with the figure of perfons of quality and confequence, when reprefented. on the ftage. There is a fort of voice, by the modulations of which we are able to judge, if we hear a perfon fpeak, tho' we do not fee him, that he is above the common rank of mankind : this ought to be a diftinction always preferv'd to us upon the stage. Unqueftionably, in the real world, nature deals with the people of birth and

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fashion no better than with thofe who want thefe accidental preeminences; and perfons of the greatest quality are no more fure of always having a better voice, than a better figure than other people but when the poet proposes to himself to represent such persons on the ftage, he is to take the best models he can find to form his refemblances from; and the players are to act in concert with him in this, and to give us copies of fuch original sonly, as are in every respect the best form'd by nature for the rank they are plac'd in.

The voice of the comedian ought to be noble, when he plays the part of a person of rank and quality; and it ought to be interefting and affecting, when he performs in character of a lover. The force which a tender fentiment receives from a judicious modulation of voice, or an expreffive accent, is more ftriking than all that it can have from the ftrongeft expreffion, or the utmost energy. Difcourfe makes nò impreffion on the heart, otherwife than by means of the understanding; but there is fomething in an elegant command of the voice which ftrikes immediately, and of itself, nor waits for the heart's receiving any notice from the fenfe of what it delivers. There are fome people whofe organs. of voice are fo favour'd by nature in their conftruction, that they have a fecret power of moving our affections, even when we are not able to adapt any determinate idea at all to the founds. that proceed from them; and we are, in real life, often more affected by the complaints of a perfon who delivers them in a language wholly unknown to us, than we should have been by any thing he would have been able to fay to us,

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