Nugae literariae: prose and verse

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unshrinking bravery. Their magnificent apparet, their nobleaspeci, their silence, their firmness, caused the barbarians sor a long whilo to stand distantly and reverently, as though gagingiapon What was divine. At last the resentinent of a soldier srude curiosity, by Μarcus Papirius, ted to the merciless mas- sacre of ali these seindevoted senators, Who had attempted nono of that mystery whicli thoir bulchers had suspected, but Wereranged and attired according to the sanctity of their voW, undille droadness of their resolution. The disposition of the human minii to reseci itself in symbolf, and then in the patiating of symbolic actions, advances stili furthor in illustrative Celebrations. Herat dry not onlyengraved iis proud device and cogniZance, as on the shieliis of tho seven chiese against Thebes,-Sculpture not only Wroughtiis enigmatic ponderotis monumenis, iis SphinX, iis Colossus, but proceSSionS, moVementS, eXerciSeS, and imageS, Were madeto syllabis sonte historio tale, or memorabie transaction. The Olympic Games, and their commemorative character, have beenal ready discussed. The Apollinarian os Rome Wore litile morethan holidays and songs, in honour of Apollo, no part of the Grook Pontathlon being admitted. The festivo celebrations which I intenti are more scenic Tahe that of Adonis. Thoformer portion of the festivat was siled With the expressioris offrantic grief. While the statue of the youth was in imaginaryinterment, the lotadest lamentations siled tho air. Whon it began to be raised, the joy of the multitude brotio sortii into exclamations of joy, and acts of reVelry. Not only Were suci, spectacles exhibited in Phenician Bibliis, but in Phrygia. The Corybantes bowailsed the death of Atys, to Whom Cybele was attached. Indeed alternations of dejection and rapture distinguishod ait those festive rites Which Were classed underilis denomination of mysteries. of this kind were the orgios

pratse. It is probable that more of a continuod chronicio was contained in the Dithyrambics, than in any other mystic songs. Could We separate the dissolute nolse and ribaldry of tho Bacchanais, froni the trullis, historic anil morat, Whicli they

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obscured and discredited, old Dionysus might prove himself a benefactor, and the Thyrsus be tossed on high, an emblem ostemperance, Order, and Peace. Our best authority is the Tragedy of the Bacchae, by Euripides. It was probably acted

during the feast. It is evidently intended to censure the mad-ness of profligacy, the furor of vice, Whicli commonly prevalled, while yet the poet would defend the rite. Here are deposited the precious remaliis of that strange Worshil', Dom Whicli tra-gedy derives iis name, the goat being the animal commonlysacrificed to that deity. And this seems to bo ali that we knowrespecting the transition of tho sorious drama, froin the floor ostiis tumbrii and movoablo scas id, with iis recitations and chanis, to the nobio theatro of Athens, iis tosty embodyings and chorat OdeS. Horace speaks With great caution and dissidenco in relationto this subjeci. Thespis, it is said, invented a neW genitis of tragedy, and to have carried his pieces abolit in caris, Whicli his company, being sirst besmeared With the lees of Wine, sung and represented. Aster him A schylus, the author of the vigard and Dol,le robe, covered the stage With planks of a tolerable sige, and taught his actors to speah With majestic voice and to tres d withmeasured step. It was to the honour of this great tragedian thathe lovod lo consess his obligations. To Homer his Was ever

Tho previolis induction Will go far to simpli0 the originof the drama. Symbolic action Seems a natural and favolarite method os convoying knowledge and depicting sentiment. Μany circumstances, religious and political, have drawn sortii this tendency: untii at last Genius the most consummate found in ittho volticlo for iis inspirations.

The goat was also the prige of the tragic contests : Carmine qui tragico vilem certavit ob hircum ' mr: Ars mei: 228. Bentley quite scorns those WhO WOuli derive it DOm τρυγωδια, or τραχεια, ο δηhe calis the guesses absurd and ridiculous.' Dissortation on Phalaris.

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masters of the classic sera, and of the sWeetest Song,-sor WhomWe Can accepi no Seconit seat in the choir of ali ancient anil alimodern bariis. I need not voice the nauis of Shal speare lIt may be permitte i me to say, that disapproving of the

that incredulous os iis susceptibility of any decided improvoment, that convinced that the ideat anil vision of poeiry ars injured by the proiadest imitations of the histrionic ari, notaunt caii lie against me because Ι enthusiasticatly lovo thodramatio litorature of the olden modet. It is a solid substitute and compensation to me for ali my loss of the pleasure whichothers derivo froin theatrical ShoW, mechanism, and illusion. I

orchestra, their vivid description patriis, illumes, and shises my SCenery,-their SummonS croWds my Stage With kingly pre-Senee, Striag ing Viriue, aWful incantation, and tho Voluti in speculum ' I can assord to forego, When they bid their creations rise up Without a medium, and Speah Without an interpretersor thom solves. In discussing the Tragic clatins of Shal spes re, it Seems proper to compare him With tho Greek writers of this StamP, or to oppose him to them. In education, and in Siluation of lila, they Were incompar ly his superiors. AEschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, were rhetoricians and philosophers. The srst was tho brother of thoclites navat commandor in the batile of Salamis, the second was the associato of Pericles, the third Was the pupil of Socratos and Anaxagoras. The Athenians Were not the peopte to Whose

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os scholarshil , though no Writer of the Eligabethan age employsthe classic vocabulary With greater propriety, and his native longuo With purer force. He did not finii a language, richlyattuned, criticatly moulded, as did the Greelis When they wrotetheir Attic: ho greatly contributed to forin the language in which he wrote. Like Archilocus, he invented his own iambic.

these are the vici ous interpolations os transcribers of his dramas for the stage; or that they are the vile impertinences of clowns Speuking much more than Was set down sor them. ' It is plain that he is onon indignant With his restrainis. He can commendthat which pleases not the million, Whicli is cavlar to the generat. Eut whatever the license of his age, Whatever his superior morality to coetaneous dramatisis, Whatever the fabrications

Disted into his texi, I cannot hide it froni myself, nor obstinatelyconceat it, that a generat defence of his Wri tings is impossibio against this charge,-that a coarse impurity is too osten found in plot, as Weli as phrase, for Which he is Wholly responsible,- that there are lament te proose of a complacency Wantoning in the scenes vlong Which he, Who has the choice of his sabie,should not have sus red himself to rusti, even With averted eye

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mus varies Doni that of Horace: and that his French would littio stirink Doni the dialogue of Aloliere. Aline impressionis, that he had an ordinary education, read much of the extant history os former and of his oWn times, Was rather caret eSsthan ignorant of tho unities of the dramatio rute, had nodream of the immortali ty to Whicli ho is destined, With unconsciolis effori lavished his nobi e riches, know nothing of the limae labor et mora, the persectum castigavit ad unguem, ' that, in stiori, he Wrote for the relies of his teeming sancy, and for the supply of his datly bread. Farmess Essay maybe consulted on this subjeci, and the disserent Profaces of his commentators. Μilton can be no mean authority in gua gingsuch a mind. Ηρ draWs the distinction belween Ben Jonson si earned laste, and Shakspeare's uni, ampored riot of intellect:

It by no means sollows that his mind was strange to highaspirations. These are the mocking hopes of genius, and belongio iis yearnings. Destres might pant Nithin him, whicli stili in sobriely he Would not indulge. The modesty, Whicli ever accompanies true greatness, Would render him patient When his mortis Were overtooked: and frequent disappotniment Would constrain him to adopi an estimate of his poWers, sar less exalted thanyouthfui imagination had ventured to embrace

Those disparities heing duly considered, We may noW Pur- sue a trian os remarks on the meriis of the Grecian Tragedians, and on Whateuer parallelism, perchance tranScendenCe, We may discovor in the Poet of our own. The Roman authors of this cla88, is any exist, are unknown to me, eXcept Seneca, and his compositions are, though osten elegant, professed and certainly

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ali their subjecis : Μedea, Hippolytus, indipus, Thebais, Aga

memnon, HercUles, FurenS and intaeus. But he, forgettingtheir judgment in only just referring to the horribie banquet served by Atreus to Thyestes, With taste, almost as horribie, pursues it, While his chorus descanis ut large Upon the phenomenon-Whicli is v grand tradition whon simply told-that thosiin, test it should seo the frightful preparations, sed backWard

That play upon Words, Whicli is So common to the age of Shakspeare, and whicli throws an occasional air of levity overtiis Works, is not unknown in the Grecian Tragedy, as in the Aias Alastigophorus : -the exhibitions of the horribie, as inour Poet s description of Glouceste 's eyes, are anticipaled by indipus learing out his oWn eyes besere the assembled thou

he lays the foundation of Overy play in Human Nature. Thisis his sold, his theatro. He never overstrai S iis Common elements. His heroes are as much men us his Peasanis. Passions may be excited to uncommon Strength, biat they are common Passions. Fires may Shoot hom the heari raging and blasting, but their native sparsis alWays smouldered there. I et the sphereto whicli his characters are ratSed, let the Strange circumstances in Whicli they are called to move, be What they may,-man readS his colanterpari and sees his imago. The sceptrod pali of his tragody,V-his ideatity of range, is poWer of combination,- his command of allusion and illustration, as is ali things were tollim as a loan and paWn, is magic, his Sorcery, his spectraldead,-never tempt him aWay Dom the intimacies of the humant,reast. Iis depilis he haunis and explores only. From it ho evolies his spiriis. His supernatural is but the sublimation ofoiar nature. Portenis, Visions, the WiZard, the ghost, only sendback iapon us the reflection of ourselves. Like the harvest of

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Cadmus, the warriors, though armed and Dantic, are but men.

But this is not generalty true of the graver Aluse of Greece. Self-promptings, natural impulses, the Workings of the heari,are oVerborne by stern inexorabie Fate. Maia is driven on by an Unrelenting poWer. He is a machine by Whicli the gods displaytheir caprice or spite. Ho is defended by one and persecuted

by another. He is no longer the creature of liberty. Benevolence is punished. Truth is scorned. The man is tost in theltero or victim. For example, let Us eXamine the Προμηθευς of Eschylus, the Prometheus Bound . We are hurriedat onee to the crags of Caucasus, Where ali is Wild and haggard.

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196 ΟΝ ΤΗΕ TRAGIC GENIUS OF SI ARSPEARE.

os consciolis suffcience. We Walch the horrid process of man cling the hapless susserer, and seem to hear euch hammer-strokewhicli mortices his chains into the roch. Even Vulcan sostens,

and is constrained to pity: While Strengili scosts and threatens such relenting. There is inimitabie skill in this personiscation. Bruto strengili is opposed to knowledge: Prometheus is thoteacher of ari and wisdom to men. Strongili dolighis in his punishment. Vulcan, hoWeVer, has a natural sympathy With crastand invention: he theresere is assected by the sentenco whichhe executes. These ministers of Wrath having lese Prometheus, he, Who Would not ulter a groan Within their hearing, venis hisioud complaints. We begin to commiserate the man, When Welisten to his Wallings, when we learn that he naturalty distilisseVery intrusion on his misery, even preferring to have sufferedin the caverns os Tartarus. But then his fierce desiance, his thirst os reverage, his foresight, check our selloW- eling. The interest Wo took in him for the salis of his first declaration,--that

race, s interrupted by his confossion that he assisted Jovo against Saturn. Our pity is Well-nigh steeled,-and, theresere, this sublime author noW brings to the base of the aWful precipice, Oceanus, as is We need should Dei is the sea, so uniameabie,so pitii ess, can Del. But knowing that the passion could not bolong sustianed, sor Prometheus disdatiis his intercession sor any restes, a neW objeci appears to direct it. Ιo Wanders into sight.

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he struggled against a superior might, that he saW and braved the consequences of the unequat competition, that it is a contest Which we cannot arbitrate of supernat energies, we littie yieldoursei Ves to mourn him, When he reveais that the provocation is

at last resented, that the bolt has fallen, and wo boliold thocliss yawn, and the tempest bursi, and the e te sWoop and gorge itself on his vitais. Shakspeare contenis himself With more ordinary facts thanthe ancient stage admitted. Love Was ulmoSt a stranger to theiragedy of the Greelis. All Was disproportioned to the commonbusiness and tenour of iiD. But he found a ballad, a tradition, and Dom iis sperm he caused to groW his gorgeous trunks and luxuriant fruits. The familiar tale was west onough for hisgoiden tissue. He so far regards the tragic rute, that he generalty borrows the legend whicli has some connection With couris and nobies. Perhaps in this he is right. Μany a domestichorror and desolation does occur, but tragedy demands somethingos notoriety and distinction. It is not that regat susserings are in themselves the greater, ut the palace, the diadem, the richpatrimony, the heraldic name, mark more Strongly the vicissitude, force our pity by our surprise, and We feel that needs must we weep with them so fallen Dom their high estate. Words-Worth has tried to liti up the simplicities of common life to thispoint os interest, to discard ali that is fortuitous, to leave sor-row in iis unaided pensiveness, despair in iis unattended gran- deur. Exquisite as is his beauty, deep as is his poWer, I cannot but regard his machinery of poetry as a fallure. Shakspeare could not have redeemed the error himself. Indeed he neverhagarded it. But it is very astonishing how many litile incidonis he can retain, and hoW he can adhere to the adopted story, without impatring the generat effeci. What business James Gurney has in King Johia, it mere hard to say: the eXchange of

servant, Good leave, good Philip ;V and that the contrivancobolongs to the Danish Tale. Unlike this unpretending use os common incident and legend, the Greek Writers seige upon tho

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not only to one genus of SubjectS, but almost to one series of history. This is remarhable in the Tritogies, as they have been called, of CSchyluS: Προμηθευς Πυρφορος, Προμηδευς Δεςμωτης, IIρομηθευς Eξαιρεομενος,-only one of Whicli is preserved. It is likowiso carried out in his Agamemnon, Choephoroi, and Eum nides. These Were called the Oresteia, to Which was appendedas the burtesque, Proteus Satyricus. This is most singular, a kind of farce Was commonly added to this series os tragedies,

turning the whole into burtesque t How much does Sophoclesowo of his indipus Tyrannus and his indipus in Colonus, of his Antigono and Electra, to Eschylus in his Seven Champion sagainst Thebes, and his Choephoroi: hoW much is Euripides indobtod to his prodecessors for his Lindred thenios, the Electra, tho Iphigenia in Aulis and in Tauris, and tho Orestes t In the

Phoenissae, indipus re-appears ; in the Supplicanis Wo have themothers of the unburied chiesi Who nil besore tho Walis of Thebes. An ambition os such subjecis has insected Some modern Writers. Cornoillo has selected Μedea and indipus ; Racine,-Iphigenia and Hippolytus, under the name os Phaedra; Voltaire, indipus and Orestes; Alfieri,-OreStes, Agamemnon, Polynices, and Antigone. ΗΟW incompar ly greater is the pur-viow of Shakspearet He draWs around him no narrow circlei Tho spiriis he calis to him are of no one ordor i And his mindirisornis thom ali, dilates their faculties, employs their organsmonarch and hind, Sage and graVe-digger, eis and goblin, bel- danis and fiend. Ηe invests them Hl With appropriate character, and teaches them appropriate Utterance. Nothing is too meanfor him to raise: nothing is so raised that it overpoWers him. With giant-ease he disposes of his plan and his agency: thereis no strain Dor eXpenditure of strength.

There is a marked prodilection in the ancient tragedians fortite horribie in vice, whether that vice be voluntary, Or the Con-