RHETORIC AND BELLES-LETTRES. 



expression and behaviour of men in trying circum- 

 stances. Dialogue is the main tissue of the com- 

 position ; and the predominating interest ought 

 to lie in the action and reaction of the personages 

 on one another. Other points of interest are intro- 

 duced in subordination to the proper dramatic 

 encounter : there is generally some plot, as in the 

 epic ; the thought and sentiment throughout re- 

 quire to be poetic and striking ; the characters 

 must be attractive and well sustained ; and the 

 drift and moral of the piece should not shock our 

 sentiments of truth or propriety. In order to 

 bring out the grandest and most powerful aspects 

 and displays of humanity, it is found that conflict, 

 disaster, and calamity are better adapted than 

 positions of prosperity or good-fortune are for this 

 purpose ; hence tragedy is the most exciting of 

 dramatic writings. 



The pleasure derived by all nations from tragic 

 compositions, which delight in setting forth events 

 of direst misery and ruin, has been one of the 

 most puzzling questions that rhetoricians have 

 had to resolve. It seems very strange that human 

 beings, who are so intensely repelled by any pain 

 or suffering that approaches themselves, should 

 crowd with eagerness to see representations of 

 agony and irretrievable calamity, where no crime 

 has been committed. But if we search deep 

 enough among the fountains of human emotion, 

 we shall find that there is a spring in our nature 

 that leads to this paradoxical conduct, and that 

 the love of tragedy is not the only way that it 

 shews itself. 



If we once extricate ourselves from the narrow 

 notion, that the things commonly meant by plea- 

 sure and pain express all that attract or repel us, 

 we shall be so much nearer the understanding 

 of this question. There are many things that 

 attract, interest, engross, arrest, and fascinate the 

 human mind, that can hardly be said to be 

 ' pleasing,' as the word is commonly understood. 

 There are objects and emotions that have an 

 irresistible interest and fascination, and yet are 

 such as to tear and agonise the human breast. 

 The gloomy, the awful, the terrible, the mysterious, 

 are capable of arresting and engrossing men's 

 thoughts, without conferring any addition to their 

 happiness. The spectacle of punishments, execu- 

 tions, or death-agonies, takes a deep hold of the 

 mind, and is sometimes with difficulty prevented 

 from becoming a taste : in uncultivated minds, such 

 things are often a positive recreation. The huge 

 car of Juggernaut crushes the bones of living men, 

 hurried by fascination to throw themselves in its 

 way ; and we have often heard of self-destruction 

 becoming a rage with a certain class of minds. 

 It is superfluous to adduce any more facts to 

 shew that there is a tragic emotion in human 

 nature, which gives an interest to things tragic, 

 although we are possessed of other and more 

 healthy impulses which tend to repel such ob- 

 jects. 



If to this susceptibility to the tragic we add the 

 multitude of other points of interest created by 

 the genius of the poet, we shall have no difficulty 

 in understanding the popularity of tragedy, both 

 in the drama and in the religion of a people. 

 There is no man living that is not occasionally 

 arrested and enthralled by the great fact of 

 DEATH ; and the most gross and reckless of man- 

 kind have been wakened to seriousness by the 



presence of the Destroyer. But the interest 

 inspired by tragic consequences is infinitely 

 heightened, as well as made more rich and 

 mellow, by high displays of character and con- 

 duct, by manfulness and noble bearing, by intel- 

 lect and soul, and all the high qualities that are 

 brought out in great and gifted minds engaged in 

 a mortal struggle. Moreover, tragedy is a truth, 

 a fact of our daily existence, which we have to 

 learn how to encounter. Human life is partly 

 based on the more pleasant epic result of virtue 

 triumphant, and partly on the tragic model of 

 disaster and ruin, which no human power can 

 avert, and where there is nothing left to man but 

 to act a heroic part. 



Comedy is the light and mirthful form of the 

 drama. It sets the fear of Heaven and the solem- 

 nity of life on the left hand, and enjoys all the 

 encounters of wit and soul that are at once pictur- 

 esque and exhilarating. Dialogue, both in the 

 letter and in the spirit, is essential to true 

 comedy; monologue or autobiography is the 

 very antithesis of every form of the drama. The 

 interesting and exciting flashes of address and 

 retort, the agreeable complications of mixed in- 

 terests, plots and counter-plots, misunderstand- 

 ing and side-play, are the materials of genuine 

 comedy. Both the tragedy and the comedy, as 

 well as the epic, require the seasoning of a love- 

 tale, which is as essential in the world of fiction 

 as in the world we live in. 



The following extract from one of the comedies 

 of Aristophanes is an example of the genuine 

 dramatic style, where the effect lies in the action 

 and reaction of the characters. Bacchus had gone 

 down to the Shades in search of a dramatic poet, 

 and on his arrival found a dispute commencing 

 between ^schylus and Euripides as to who 

 should possess the tragic throne. Bacchus acts 

 as umpire : 



' Bacchus. Come, now, begin dispute away ; but 



first I give you notice 

 That every phrase in your discourse must be refined, 



avoiding 



Vulgar absurd .comparisons, and awkward silly joking*. 

 Euripides. At the first outset I forbear to state my 



own pretensions : -. 



Hereafter I shall mention them, when his have been 



refuted ; 

 After I shall have fairly shewn how he befooled and 



cheated 

 The rustic audience that he found, which Phrynicms 



bequeathed him : 

 He planted first upon the stage a figure veiled and 



muffled 

 An Achilles, or a Niobe, that never shewed their 



faces ; 



But kept a tragic attitude, without a word to otter. 

 Bat. No more they did ; 'til very true. 

 Eu. In the meanwhile the chorus 

 Strung on ten strophes right-on-end ; bat they remained 



in silence. 



Bac. I liked that silence well enough : as well per- 

 haps or better 

 Than those new talking characters. 



Eu. That's from your want of judgment, 

 Believe me. 



Bac. Why, perhaps it is but what was his inten- 

 tion? 

 Eu. Why, mere conceit and insolence ; to keep the 



people waiting 



Till Niobe should deign to speak to dnve his drama 

 forward. 



