Et Nothing can be contrived in language more averse to the tone of the paffion than this florid fpeech. I fhould imagine it more apt to provoke laughter than to inspire concern or pity. In a fourth class shall be given fpecimens of language too light or airy for a fevere paffion. The agony a mother must feel upon the favage murder of two hopeful fons, rejects all imagery and figurative expreffion, as difcordant in the highest degree. Therefore the following paffage is undoubtedly in a bad tafte: Queen. Ah, my poor princes! ah, my tender babes, My unblown flow'rs, new-appearing sweets! And And hear your mother's lamentationbert odwad Richard III alt 4. fc. 4. Again, K. Philip. You are as fond of grief as of your child. Conftance. Grief fills the room up of child, my abfent Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me, King John, at 3. Sc. 6. A thought that turns upon the expreffion instead of the subject, commonly called a play of words, being low and childish, is unworthy of any compofition, whether gay or ferious, that pretends to the fmalleft fhare of dignity. Thoughts of this kind make a fifth class. In the Aminta of Taffo* the lover falls into a mere play of words, demanding how At 1. fc. 3. he he who had loft himself, could find a miftrefs. And for the fame reason, the following paffage in Corneille has been generally condemned: magA Chimene. Mon pere est mort, Elvire, et la premiére épée Dont s'eft armé Rodrigue à fa trame coupée. Pleurez, pleurez, mes yeux, et fondez-vous en eau, I 3 La moitié de ma vie a mis l'autre au tombeau, To die is to be banish'd from myself: Two Gentlemen of Verona, act 3. fc. 3. Countess. I pray thee, Lady, have a better cheer: If thou ingroffeft all the griefs as thine, Thou robb'ft me of a moiety. All's well that ends well, act 3. fc. 3. K. Henry. O my poor kingdom, fick with civil blows! When that my care could not with-hold thy riots, What What wilt thou do when riot is thy care?oc don Second part, Henry IV. alt 4. fc. LL. Cruda Amarilli, che col nome ancora D'amar, ahi laffo, amaramente infegni. Paftor Fido, at 1, fc. 2. Antony, fpeaking of Julius Cæfar: Julius Cæfar, alt 3. fc. 3. Playing thus with the found of words, which is ftill worfe than a pun, is the meaneft of all conceits. But Shakespear, when he defcends to a play of words, is not always in the wrong; for it is done fometimes to denote a peculiar character; as is the following paffage. King Philip. What fay'ft thou, boy? look in the lady's face. Lewis. I do, my Lord, and in her eye I find A wonder, or a wond'rous miracle; The fhadow of myself form'd in her eye; A Which being but the fhadow of your fon, Till now infixed I beheld myself I Faulconbridge. Drawn in the flatt'ring table of her eye! Hang'd in the frowning wrinkle of her brow! In fuch a love fo vile a lout as he. King John, act. 2. ft. 5. A jingle of words is the loweft fpecies of this low wit; which is fcarce fufferable in any cafe, and leaft of all in an heroic poem. And yet Milton in fome instances has defcended to this puerility: And brought into the world a world of wo. - Begirt th' almighty throne Befeeching or befieging Which tempted our attempt. At one flight bound high overleap'd all bound. With a fhout Loud as from numbers without number. One |