T.
Contents
Format enim Natura prius nos intus ad omnemFortunarum habitum; juvat, aut impellit ad iram,Aut ad humum mærore gravi deducit et angit;Post effert animi motus interprete Lingua.Hor.translation
My Friend the
Templar
, whom I have so often mentioned in these Writings, having determined to lay aside his Poetical Studies, in order to a closer Pursuit of the Law,
has
put together, as a Farewell Essay, some Thoughts concerning
PronunciationandAction,
1
which he has given me leave to communicate to the Publick. They are chiefly collected from his Favourite Author,
Cicero
, who is known to have been an intimate Friend of
Rostius
the Actor,
and
a good Judge of
Dramatick
2
Performances, as well as the most Eloquent Pleader of the Time in which he lived.
Cicero concludes his celebrated Books
de Oratore
with some Precepts for Pronunciation and Action, without which Part he affirms that the best Orator in the World can never succeed; and an indifferent one, who is Master of this, shall gain much greater Applause. What could make a stronger Impression, says he, than those Exclamations of
Gracchus
:
Whither shall I turn? Wretch that I am! To what Place betake my self? Shall I go to theCapitol?—Alas! it is overflowed with my Brother's Blood. Or shall I retire to my House? Yet there I behold my Mother plung'd in Misery, weeping and despairing!
These Breaks and Turns of Passion, it seems, were so enforced by the Eyes, Voice, and Gesture of the Speaker, that his very Enemies could not refrain from Tears. I insist, says
Tully
, upon this the rather, because our Orators, who are as it were Actors of the Truth it self, have quitted this manner of speaking; and the Players, who are but the Imitators of Truth, have taken it up.
I shall therefore pursue the Hint he has here given me, and for the Service of the
British Stage
I shall copy some of the Rules which this great
Roman
Master has laid down; yet, without confining my self wholly to his Thoughts or Words: and to adapt this Essay the more to the Purpose for which I intend it, instead of the Examples he has inserted in his Discourse, out of the ancient Tragedies, I shall make use of parallel Passages out of the most celebrated of our own.
The Design of Art is to assist Action as much as possible in the Representation of Nature; for the Appearance of Reality is that which moves us in all Representations, and these have always the greater Force, the nearer they approach to Nature, and the less they shew of Imitation.
Nature herself has assigned to every Emotion of the Soul, its peculiar Cast of the Countenance, Tone of Voice, and Manner of Gesture; and the whole Person, all the Features of the Face and Tones of the Voice, answer, like Strings upon musical Instruments, to the Impressions made on them by the Mind. Thus the Sounds of the Voice, according to the various Touches which raise them, form themselves into an Acute or Grave, Quick or Slow, Loud or Soft Tone. These too may be subdivided into various kinds of Tones, as the gentle, the rough, the contracted, the diffuse, the continued, the intermitted, the broken, abrupt, winding, softned, or elevated. Every one of these may be employed with Art and Judgment; and all supply the Actor, as Colours do the Painter, with an expressive Variety.
Anger exerts its peculiar Voice in an acute, raised, and hurrying sound. The passionate Character of
King Lear
, as it is admirably drawn by
Shakespear
, abounds with the strongest Instances of this kind.
—Death! Confusion!Fiery!—what Quality?—whyGloster! Gloster!I'd speak with the Duke ofCornwalland his Wife.Are they informed of this? My Breath and Blood!Fiery? the fiery Duke?—&c.
Sorrow and Complaint demand a Voice quite different, flexible, slow, interrupted, and modulated in a mournful Tone; as in that pathetical Soliloquy of Cardinal
Wolsey
on his Fall.
Farewel!—a long Farewel to all my Greatness!This is the State of Man!—to-day he puts forthThe tender Leaves of Hopes; to-morrow Blossoms,And bears his blushing Honours thick upon him,The third Day comes a Frost, a killing Frost,And when he thinks, good easie Man, full surelyHis Greatness is a ripening, nips his Root,And then he falls as I do.
We have likewise a fine Example of this in the whole Part of
Andromache
in the
Distrest-Mother
, particularly in these Lines.
I'll go, and in the Anguish of my HeartWeep o'er my Child—If he must die, my LifeIs wrapt in his, I shall not long survive.'Tis for his sake that I have suffer'd Life,Groan'd in Captivity, and out-liv'd Hector.Yes, myAstyanax,we'll go together!Together to the Realms of Night we'll go;There to thy ravish'd Eyes thySire I'll show,And point him out among the Shades below.
Fear expresses it self in a low, hesitating and abject Sound. If the Reader considers the following Speech of
Lady Macbeth
, while her husband is about the Murder of
Duncan
and his Grooms, he will imagine her even affrighted with the Sound of her own Voice, while she is speaking it.
Alas! I am afraid they have awak'd,And 'tis not done; th' Attempt, and not the Deed,Confounds us—Hark!—I laid the Daggers ready,He could not miss them. Had he not resembledMy Father as he slept, I had done it.
Courage
assumes
a louder tone, as in that Speech of Don
Sebastian
3
.
Here satiate all your Fury:Let Fortune empty her whole Quiver on me,I have a Soul that like an ample ShieldCan take in all, and Verge enough for more.
Pleasure
dissolves
into a luxurious, mild, tender, and joyous Modulation; as in the following Lines in
Caius Marius
4
.
Lavinia!O there's Musick in the Name,That softning me to infant Tenderness,Makes my Heart spring, like the first Leaps of Life.
And Perplexity is different from all these; grave, but not bemoaning, with an earnest uniform Sound of Voice; as in that celebrated Speech of
Hamlet
.
To be, or not to be?—that is the Question:Whether 'tis nobler in the Mind to sufferThe Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,Or to take Arms against a Sea of Troubles,And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep;No more; and by a Sleep to say we endThe Heart-ach, and the thousand natural ShocksThat Flesh is Heir to; 'tis a ConsummationDevoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep—To sleep; perchance to dream! Ay, there's the Rub.For in that sleep of Death what Dreams may come,When we have shuffled off this Mortal Coil,Must give us pause—There's the RespectThat makes Calamity of so long Life;For who would bear the Whips and Scorns of Time,Th' Oppressor's Wrongs, the proud Man's contumely,The Pangs of despis'd Love, the Law's Delay,The Insolence of Office, and the SpurnsThat patient Merit of th' unworthy takes,When he himself might his Quietus makeWith a bare Bodkin? Who would Fardles bear,To groan and sweat under a weary Life?But that the Dread of something after Death,The undiscover'd Country, from whose BournNo Traveller returns, puzzles the Will,And makes us rather chuse those Ills we have,Than fly to others that—we know not of.
As all these Varieties of Voice are to be directed by the Sense, so the Action is to be directed by the Voice, and with a beautiful Propriety, as it were to enforce it. The Arm, which by a strong Figure
Tully
calls
The Orator's Weapon
, is to be sometimes raised and extended; and the Hand, by its Motion, sometimes to lead, and sometimes to follow the Words, as they are uttered. The Stamping of the Foot too has its proper Expression in Contention, Anger, or absolute Command. But the Face is the Epitome of the whole Man, and the Eyes are as it were the Epitome of the Face; for which Reason, he says, the best Judges among the
Romans
were not extremely pleased, even with
Roscius
himself in his Masque. No Part of the Body, besides the Face, is capable of as many Changes as there are different Emotions in the Mind, and of expressing them all by those Changes. Nor is this to be done without the Freedom of the Eyes; therefore
Theophrastus
call'd one, who barely rehearsed his Speech with his Eyes fix'd, an
absent Actor
.
As the Countenance admits of so great Variety, it requires also great Judgment to govern it. Not that the Form of the Face is to be shifted on every Occasion, lest it turn to Farce and Buffoonery; but it is certain that the Eyes have a wonderful Power of marking the Emotions of the Mind, sometimes by a stedfast Look, sometimes by a careless one, now by a sudden Regard, then by a joyful Sparkling, as the Sense of the Words is diversified: for Action is, as it were, the Speech of the Features and Limbs, and must therefore conform itself always to the Sentiments of the Soul. And it may be observed, that in all which relates to the Gesture, there is a wonderful Force implanted by Nature, since the Vulgar, the Unskilful, and even the most Barbarous are chiefly affected by this. None are moved by the Sound of Words, but those who understand the Language; and the Sense of many things is lost upon Men of a dull Apprehension: but Action is a kind of Universal Tongue; all Men are subject to the same Passions, and consequently know the same Marks of them in others, by which they themselves express them.
Perhaps some of my Readers may be of Opinion, that the Hints I have here made use of, out of
Cicero
, are somewhat too refined for the Players on our Theatre: In answer to which, I venture to lay it down as a Maxim, that without Good Sense no one can be a good Player, and that he is very unfit to personate the Dignity of a
Roman
Hero, who cannot enter into the Rules for Pronunciation and Gesture delivered by a
Roman
Orator.
There is another thing which my Author does not think too minute to insist on, though it is purely mechanical: and that is the right
pitching
of the Voice. On this occasion he tells the Story of
Gracchus
, who employed a Servant with a little Ivory Pipe to stand behind him, and give him the right Pitch, as often as he wandered too far from the proper
Modulation
. Every Voice, says
Tully
5
, has its particular Medium and Compass, and the Sweetness of Speech consists in leading it through all the Variety of Tones naturally, and without touching any Extreme. Therefore, says he,
Leave the Pipe at home, but carry the Sense of this Custom with you.
Footnote 1:
ActionandPronunciation
return to footnote mark
Footnote 2:
Dramatical
, and in first reprint.
return
Footnote 3:
Dryden's.
return
Footnote 4:
Otway's.
return
Footnote 5:
Near the end of the
De Oratore.
return
Contents
Et sibi præferri se gaudet.Ovid.translation
When I have been present in Assemblies where my Paper has been talked of, I have been very well pleased to hear those who would detract from the Author of it observe, that the Letters which are sent to the
Spectator
are as good, if not better than any of his Works. Upon this Occasion many Letters of Mirth are usually mentioned, which some think the
Spectator
writ to himself, and which others commend because they fancy he received them from his Correspondents: Such are those from the
Valetudinarian;
the Inspector of the Sign-Posts; the Master of the Fan-Exercise: with that of the Hoop'd Petticoat; that of
Nicholas Hart
the annual Sleeper; that from
Sir
John Envill;
that upon the
London
Cries; with multitudes of the same nature. As I love nothing more than to mortify the Ill-natured, that I may do it effectually, I must acquaint them, they have very often praised me when they did not design it, and that they have approved my Writings when they thought they had derogated from them. I have heard several of these unhappy Gentlemen proving, by undeniable Arguments, that I was not able to pen a Letter which I had written the Day before. Nay, I have heard some of them throwing out ambiguous Expressions, and giving the Company reason to suspect that they themselves did me the Honour to send me such or such a particular Epistle, which happened to be talked of with the Esteem or Approbation of those who were present. These rigid Criticks are so afraid of allowing me any thing which does not belong to me, that they will not be positive whether the Lion, the wild Boar, and the Flower-pots in the Play-house, did not actually write those Letters which came to me in their Names. I must therefore inform these Gentlemen, that I often chuse this way of casting my Thoughts into a Letter, for the following Reasons; First, out of the Policy of those who try their Jest upon another, before they own it themselves. Secondly, because I would extort a little Praise from such who will never applaud any thing whose Author is known and certain. Thirdly, because it gave me an Opportunity of introducing a great variety of Characters into my Work, which could not have been done, had I always written in the Person of the
Spectator
. Fourthly, because the Dignity Spectatorial would have suffered, had I published as from my self those several ludicrous Compositions which I have ascribed to fictitious Names and Characters. And lastly, because they often serve to bring in, more naturally, such additional Reflections as have been placed at the End of them.
There are others who have likewise done me a very particular Honour, though undesignedly. These are such who will needs have it, that I have translated or borrowed many of my Thoughts out of Books which are written in other Languages. I have heard of a Person, who is more famous for his Library than his Learning, that has asserted this more than once in his private Conversation. Were it true, I am sure he could not speak it from his own Knowledge; but had he read the Books which he has collected, he would find this Accusation to be wholly groundless. Those who are truly learned will acquit me in this Point, in which I have been so far from offending, that I have been scrupulous perhaps to a Fault in quoting the Authors of several Passages which I might have made my own. But as this Assertion is in reality an Encomium on what I have published, I ought rather to glory in it, than endeavour to confute it.
Some are so very willing to alienate from me that small Reputation which might accrue to me from any of these my Speculations, that they attribute some of the best of them to those imaginary Manuscripts with which I have introduced them. There are others, I must confess, whose Objections have given me a greater Concern, as they seem to reflect, under this Head, rather on my Morality than on my Invention. These are they who say an Author is guilty of Falshood, when he talks to the Publick of Manuscripts which he never saw, or describes Scenes of Action or Discourse in which he was never engaged. But these Gentlemen would do well to consider, there is not a Fable or Parable which ever was made use of, that is not liable to this Exception; since nothing; according to this Notion, can be related innocently, which was not once Matter of Fact. Besides, I think the most ordinary Reader may be able to discover, by my way of writing, what I deliver in these Occurrences as Truth, and what as Fiction.
Since I am unawares engaged in answering the several Objections which have been made against these my Works, I must take Notice that there are some who affirm a Paper of this Nature should always turn upon diverting Subjects, and others who find Fault with every one of them that hath not an immediate Tendency to the Advancement of Religion or Learning. I shall leave these Gentlemen to dispute it out among themselves; since I see one half of my Conduct patronized by each side. Were I serious on an improper Subject, or trifling in a serious one, I should deservedly draw upon me the Censure of my Readers; or were I conscious of any thing in my Writings that is not innocent at least, or that the greatest part of them were not sincerely designed to discountenance Vice and Ignorance, and support the Interest of true Wisdom and Virtue, I should be more severe upon my self than the Publick is disposed to be. In the mean while I de
Sir
e my Reader to consider every particular Paper or Discourse as a distinct Tract by itself, and independent of every thing that goes before or after it.
I shall end this Paper with the following Letter, which was really sent me, as some others have been which I have published, and for which I must own my self indebted to their respective Writers.
Sir,I was this Morning in a Company of your Well-wishers, when we read over, with great Satisfaction,Tully'sObservations on Action adapted to theBritishTheatre: Though, by the way, we were very sorry to find that you have disposed of another Member of your Club. PoorSirRogeris dead, and the worthy Clergyman dying. CaptainSentryhas taken Possession of a fair Estate;Will. Honeycombhas married a Farmer's Daughter; and theTemplarwithdraws himself into the Business of his own Profession. What will all this end in? We are afraid it portends no Good to the Publick. Unless you very speedily fix a Day for the Election of new Members, we are under Apprehensions of losing theBritish Spectator. I hear of a Party of Ladies who intend to address you on this Subject, and question not, if you do not give us the Slip very suddenly, that you will receive Addresses from all Parts of the Kingdom to continue so useful a Work. Pray deliver us out of this Perplexity, and among the Multitude of your Readers you will particularly obligeYour most Sincere Friend and Servant,Philo-Spec.
O.
Contents
—Facies non omnibus unaNec diversa tamen—Ov.translation
Those who were skillful in Anatomy among the Ancients, concluded from the outward and inward Make of an Human Body, that it was the Work of a Being transcendently Wise and Powerful. As the World grew more enlightened in this Art, their Discoveries gave them fresh Opportunities of admiring the Conduct of Providence in the Formation of an Human Body.
Galen
was converted by his Dissections, and could not but own a Supreme Being upon a Survey of this his Handy-work. There were, indeed, many Parts of which the old Anatomists did not know the certain Use; but as they saw that most of those which they examined were adapted with admirable Art to their several Functions, they did not question but those, whose Uses they could not determine, were contrived with the same Wisdom for respective Ends and Purposes. Since the Circulation of the Blood has been found out, and many other great Discoveries have been made by our modern Anatomists, we see new Wonders in the Human Frame, and discern several important Uses for those Parts, which Uses the Ancients knew nothing of. In short, the Body of Man is such a Subject as stands the utmost Test of Examination. Though it appears formed with the nicest Wisdom, upon the most superficial Survey of it, it still mends upon the Search, and produces our Surprize and Amazement in proportion as we pry into it. What I have here said of an Human Body, may be applied to the Body of every Animal which has been the Subject of Anatomical Observations.
The Body of an Animal is an Object adequate to our Senses. It is a particular System of Providence, that lies in a narrow Compass. The Eye is able to command it, and by successive Enquiries can search into all its Parts. Could the Body of the whole Earth, or indeed the whole Universe, be thus submitted to the Examination of our Senses, were it not too big and disproportioned for our Enquiries, too unwieldy for the Management of the Eye and Hand, there is no question but it would appear to us as curious and well-contrived a Frame as that of an Human Body. We should see the same Concatenation and Subserviency, the same Necessity and Usefulness, the same Beauty and Harmony in all and every of its Parts, as what we discover in the Body of every single Animal.
The more extended our Reason is, and the more able to grapple with immense Objects, the greater still are those Discoveries which it makes of Wisdom and Providence in the Work of the Creation. A
Sir
Isaac Newton
, who stands up as the Miracle of the Present Age, can look through a whole Planetary System; consider it in its Weight, Number, and Measure; and draw from it as many Demonstrations of infinite Power and Wisdom, as a more confined Understanding is able to deduce from the System of an Human Body.
But to return to our Speculations on Anatomy. I shall here consider the Fabrick and Texture of the Bodies of Animals in one particular View; which, in my Opinion, shews the Hand of a thinking and all-wise Being in their Formation, with the Evidence of a thousand Demonstrations. I think we may lay this down as an incontested Principle, that Chance never acts in a perpetual Uniformity and Consistence with it self. If one should always fling the same number with ten thousand Dice, or see every Throw just five times less, or five times more in Number than the Throw which immediately preceded it, who would not imagine there is some invisible Power which directs the Cast? This is the Proceeding which we find in the Operations of Nature. Every kind of Animal is diversified by different Magnitudes, each of which gives rise to a different Species. Let a Man trace the Dog or Lion-Kind, and he will observe how many of the Works of Nature are published, if I may use the Expression, in a variety of Editions. If we look into the Reptile World, or into those different Kinds of Animals that fill the Element of Water, we meet with the same Repetitions among several Species, that differ very little from one another, but in Size and Bulk. You find the same Creature that is drawn at large, copied out in several Proportions, and ending in Miniature. It would be tedious to produce Instances of this regular Conduct in Providence, as it would be superfluous to those who are versed in the natural History of Animals. The magnificent Harmony of the Universe is such, that we may observe innumerable
Divisions
running upon the same
Ground
. I might also extend this Speculation to the dead Parts of Nature, in which we may find Matter disposed into many
similar
Systems, as well in our Survey of Stars and Planets, as of Stones, Vegetables, and other sublunary Parts of the Creation. In a Word, Providence has shewn the Richness of its Goodness and Wisdom, not only in the Production of many Original Species, but in the Multiplicity of Descants which it has made on every Original Species in particular.
But to pursue this Thought still farther; Every living Creature, considered in it self, has many very complicated Parts, that are exact copies of some other Parts which it possesses, and which are complicated in the same Manner. One
Eye
would have been sufficient for the Subsistence and Preservation of an Animal; but in order to better his Condition, we see another placed with a Mathematical Exactness in the same most advantageous Situation, and in every particular of the same Size and Texture. Is it possible for Chance to be thus delicate and uniform in her Operations? Should a Million of Dice turn up twice together the same Number, the Wonder would be nothing in comparison with this. But when we see this Similitude and Resemblance in the Arm, the Hand, the Fingers; when we see one half of the Body entirely correspond with the other in all those minute Strokes, without which a Man might have very well subsisted; nay, when we often see a single Part repeated an hundred times in the same Body, notwithstanding it consists of the most intricate weaving of numberless Fibres, and these Parts differing still in Magnitude, as the Convenience of their particular Situation requires; sure a Man must have a strange Cast of Understanding, who does not discover the Finger of God in so wonderful a Work. These Duplicates in those Parts of the Body, without which a Man might have very well subsisted, though not so well as with them, are a plain Demonstration of an all-wise Contriver; as those more numerous Copyings, which are found among the Vessels of the same Body, are evident Demonstrations that they could not be the Work of Chance. This Argument receives additional Strength, if we apply it to every Animal and Insect within our Knowledge, as well as to those numberless living Creatures that are Objects too minute for a Human Eye; and if we consider how the several Species in this whole World of Life resemble one another in very many Particulars, so far as is convenient for their respective States of Existence; it is much more probable that an hundred Million of Dice should be casually thrown a hundred Million of Times in the same number, than that the Body of any single Animal should be produced by the fortuitous Concourse of Matter. And that the like Chance should arise in innumerable Instances, requires a degree of Credulity that is not under the direction of Common Sense.
We may carry this Consideration yet further, if we reflect on the two Sexes in every living Species, with their Resemblances to each other, and those particular Distinctions that were necessary for the keeping up of this great World of Life.
There are many more Demonstrations of a Supreme Being, and of his transcendent Wisdom, Power, and Goodness in the Formation of the Body of a living Creature,
for
which I refer my Reader to other Writings, particularly to the Sixth Book of the Poem, entitled
Creation
1
, where the Anatomy of the human Body is described with great Perspicuity and Elegance. I have been particular on the Thought which runs through this Speculation, because I have not seen it enlarged upon by others.
O.
Footnote 1:
Blackmore's.
return to footnote mark