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external figns, yet we wish, that he had examined the subject ftill more minutely, and taken into confideration fome exceptions to the general principles he endeavours to establish. We agree with him, that "Man is provided by nature with a fenfe or faculty which lays open to him every paffion by means of its external expreffions." But with respect to

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the permanent figns which ferve to denote the difpofition or temper," how frequently do they mislead us? How often do rigid features and a fullen brow indicate a character to be auftere and morofe, which, upon more intimate acquaintance, we find to be placid and benevolent? On the contrary, how frequently does a natural openness and benignity of afpect ferve to difguife a rancorous and malevolent difpofition? In short, the permanent figns, indicative of character, frequently deceive the niceft phyfiognomist.

In treating of fentiments, in the enfuing chapter, his Lordship obferves, that the knowledge of the fentiments peculiar to each paffion, confidered abstractedly, will not alone enable an artist to make a juft reprefentation of nature. He ought alfo to be acquainted with the various appearances of the fame paffion in different perfons. A paffion therefore fhould be adjusted to the character, the fentiments to the pasfion, and the language to the fentiments. The learned Writer obferves, that an ordinary genius, inftead of expreffing a paffion like one who is under its power, contents himself with defcribing it like a spectator: and he gives examples of fentiments that appear the legitimate offspring of passion; to which he opposes others that are defcriptive only, and illegitimate. For the firft, he quotes Shakespeare's King Lear; and cites Corneille's Cinna to illuftrate the latter. He then proceeds to a more particular and curious analyfis. Paffions, he obferves, are feldom uniform for any confiderable time; they generally fluctuate, fwelling and fubfiding by turns, often in a quick fucceffion. A climax therefore never fhews better than in expreffing a fwelling paffion."

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The wildness of the waves and rocks to this,
That thus relenting, they have given thee back
To earth, to light and life, to love and me?

As things are best illustrated by their contraries, his Lordfhip proceeds to collect faulty fentiments of various kinds, from claffical authors. And the first inftance he produces, is, of fuch as are faulty by being above the tone of the pafLion.

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Othello.

O my foul's joy!

If after every tempeft come fuch calms,

May the winds blow till they have waken'd death:
And let the labouring bark climb hills of feas
Clympus high, and duck again as low

As hell's from heaven!

"This fentiment, fays our Author, is too ftrong to be fuggefted by fo flight a joy as that of meeting after a storm at fea." Here his Lordfhip will pardon us if we cannot fubfcribe to the juftice of his criticism. For we cannot conceive that a meeting after a ftorm at sea, even between indifferent perfons, can, with any propriety, be termed a flight joy. But his Lordship's cenfure appears the more exceptionable, when we confider the vehemence and enthukafm of Othello's character; and that the meeting was between him and his beloved Defdemona, his new-married bride, who had escaped a dreadful tempeft, and whom he did not expect to find on fhore; for in the opening of the speech he says,

It gives me wonder, great as my content,

To fee you here before me.

My foul's joy, &c.

Surely if fuch high-flown expreffion as Shakespeare has put in his mouth, is at any time juftifiable, it must be on fuch an occafion!

The fecond inftance his Lordship produces is of fentiments below the tone of paffion. The next, of fuch as agree not with that tone; as, where the fentiments are too gay ferious paffion

Heav'n firft taught letters for fome wretch's aid,
Some banish'd lover, or fome captive maid;

They Eve, they fpeak, they breathe what love infpires,
Warm from the foul, and faithful to its fires;

The virgin's with without her fears impart,
Excufe the blush, and pour forth all the heart;
Speed the foft intercourfe from foul to foul,
And waft a figh from Indus to the pole.

for a

"Thefe thoughts, our Author remarks, are pretty; they fuit Pope extremely; but not Eloifa." It may be a question, however, whether his Lordship's criticifm is not rather too refined. Perhaps thefe amorous and glowing fentiments are not altogether unfuitable to the warm imagination and exquifite fenfibility of Eloifa, who, deprived of all intercourfe between her and the object of her love, but by epiftolary correfpondence, dwells and expatiates on that only comfort.

The

The next inftance, is, of fentiments too artificial for a ferious paffion. Fanciful or finical fentiments, which degenerate into point or conceit, are cenfured in the next place.

Give me your drops, ye foft-defcending rains, -
Give me your streams, ye never reafing springs,
That my fad eyes may fill fup, my duty,
And feed an everlasting flood or forrow.

His Lordship proceeds to point out other inftances of faulty fentiments in the beft writers. His remarks are frequently keen and fagacious; and even where he mistakes, his errors are the errors of genius.

The chapter concerning the language of paffion is curious and entertaining. Shakespeare, our Author obferves, is fuperior to all other writers in delincating paffion. He impofes not upon his reader, general declamation, and the falfe coin of unmeaning words, which the bulk of writers deal in. His fentiments are adjusted with the greatest propriety to the peculiar character and circumftances of the fpeaker; and the propriety is not lefs perfect betwixt his fentiments and his diction. Corneille, he remarks, is faulty in paffing upon us his own thoughts as a fpectator, inftead of the genuine fentiments of paffion. Racine, according to him, is lefs incorrect than Corneille, though many degrees inferior to the English Author. His Lordship particularly takes notice of Shakespeare's fuperiority with regard to his foliloquies, which are accurate copies of nature. He exhibits two beautiful models from the tragedy of Hamlet and the comedy of the Merry Wives of Windfor: and then felects inftances, wherein the French writers, Corneille and Racine, are faulty in this refpect. This chapter concludes with examples taken from the best writers, wherein the language is not adapted to the tone of fentiment.

Lastly, his Lordship treats of the beauty of language, which he confiders, 1. With refpect to found. 2. With refpect to fignification. 3. From the refemblance between found and fignification: and the fourth fection treats of verfification. Under the first head, he confiders the founds of the different letters.-Thefe founds as united in fyllables.Syllables united in words.-Words united in a period.-And, in the last place, periods united in a difcourfe. This fection, though to many it will appear abftruse and dry, is replete with curious obfervations.

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Under the fecond head, the learned Writer obferves, that where a refemblance betwixt two objects is described, the writer ought to ftudy a refemblance betwixt the two members of the period, that express these objects: and, amongst others, he gives the ollowing examples of deviations from this rule. "I have obferved of la e, the style of fome great minifters very much to exceed that of any other productions."

Letter to the Lord High Treafurer. Swift.

This, instead of studying the refemblance of words in a period that exprelles a comparifon, is going out of one's road to avoid it. inftead of productions, which refembles not minifters great or fmall, the proper word is writers or authors.

"If men of eminence are expofed to cenfure on the one hand, they are as much liable to flattery on the other. If they receive reproaches which are not due to them, they likewife receive praifes which they do not deserve." Specia or.

Here the fubject plainly demands uniformity in expreffion inftead of variety; and therefore it is fubmitted whether the period would not do better in the following manner;

"If men of eminence be expofed to cenfure on the one hand, they are as much expofed to flattery on the other. If they receive reproaches which are not due, they likewife receive praises which are not due,"

As to his Lordship's emendation of the paffage cited from Swift, iti unexceptionable: but we are far from thinking that he has improved the paragraph taken from the Spectator. The period, as turned by his Lordship, is quite fat, and the refemblance is too affected to be pleafing. As it ftands in the Spectator, the period is full and round, without offending the ear by a difagreeable re-iteration; and the refemblance is as entire as if it had been extended even to the words. In fhort, wherever the refemblance between the objects can be preferved without extending it to the words, it' is beft, in our judgment, to avoid it; because it favours of affectation, which is always difguftful.

We agree with his Lordfhip, however, that, in many cafes, uniformity is preferable to variety; as in the following instance:

The wife man is happy when he gains his own approbation; the fool, when he recommends himself to the applaufe of thofe about him. Spectator, Numb. 73.

Better

Better thus:

The wife man is happy when he gains his own approbation; the fool when he gains that of others.

It seems difficult, however, to establish any certain rule in this refpect. Perhaps the nature of the fubject is the best guide to direct us whether uniformity or variety ought to be confulted. In oratory, for inftance, and all weighty compofitions, uniformity feems moft fuitable, as it renders the periods more close, pointed, and nervous: but in familiar effays, and flighter compofitions, variety may be thought preferable, as it gives a more eafy, loofe, and unaffected turn to the periods.

In the third fection, his Lordship felects inftances of the resemblance between the found and fignification of certain words; as the found of felling trees in a wood.

Loud founds the ax, redoubling ftrokes on ftrokes ;

On all fides round the foreft hurls her oaks

Headlong. Deep-echoing groan the thickets brown,
Then rustling, crackling, crafting, thunder down.

No perfon can be at a lofs about the cause of this beauty. It is obviously that of imitation. The ingenious Writer very acutely obferves, that, to complete the refemblance betwixt found and fenfe, artful pronunciation contributes not a little; and he clofes this fection with fome very fhrewd and pertinent obfervations on this branch of the subject.

In the last fection concerning verfification, his Lordship obferves, that the diftinction between verfe and profe depends not on modulation merely, but arifes from the difference of modulation. The difference between verfe and profe refembles the difference in mufic, properly fo called, between the fong and the recitative. A recitative, in its movements, approaches fometimes to the liveliness of a fong, which, on the other hand, degenerates fometimes toward a plain recitative. Nothing is more distinguishable from profe than the bulk of Virgil's hexameters; many of thofe compofed by Horace are very little removed from profe. Sapphic verfe has a very fenfible modulation; that, on the other hand, of an Iambic, is extremely faint. Hence his Lordship takes occafion to make fome very ingenious remarks on Latin or Greek hexameters, which are the fame, and which he confiders under the heads of number, arrangement, pause, and accent. What he obferves concerning the paufe is too curious to be omitted: "At the end of every hexameter line, no car, fays he, but

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