CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



Sac. Oh, what a rascal ! Now I see the tricks he 

 used to play me. 

 [To sEschylus, who if shewing signs of indignation 



by various contortions^ 

 What makes you writhe and wince about ? 



Eu. Because he feels my censures. 

 Then having dragged and drawled along, half-way to 



the conclusion, 



He foisted in a dozen words of noisy, boisterous accent, 

 With lofty plumes, and shaggy brows, mere bugbears 



of the language, 



That no man ever heard before. 

 JEs. Alas ! alas ! 



Bac. [To ^Eschylus."] Have done there. 

 Eu. He never used a simple word. 

 Bac. [To jEschylus^ Don't grind your teeth so 



strangely. 

 Eu. But bulwarks, and samanders, and hippogriffs, 



and gorgons, 

 ' On burnished shields embossed in brass ' bloody 



remorseless phrases, 

 Which nobody could understand. 



Bac. Well, I confess, for my part, 

 I used to keep awake at night with guesses and conjec- 

 tures 



To think what kind of foreign bird he meant by griffin- 

 horses. 

 jEs. A figure on the heads of ships : you goose, you 



must have seen them. 

 Bac. Well, from the likeness, I declare I took it for 



Eruxis. 

 Eu. So figures on the heads of ships are fit for tragic 



diction ! 

 js. Well, then, thou paltry wretch, explain what 



were your own devices ? 

 Eu. Not stories about flying stags, like yours, and 



griffin-horses ; 

 Nor terms nor images derived from tapestry, Persian 



hangings. 

 When I received the muse from you, I found her puffed 



and pampered 

 With pompous sentences and terms a cumbrous, huge 



virago. 

 My first attention was applied to make her look 



genteelly ; 



And bring her to a slighter shape by dint of lighter diet : 

 I fed her with plain household phrase, and cool familiar 



salad, 



With water-gruel episode, with sentimental jelly, 

 With moral mince-meat ; till at length I brought her 



into compass : 

 Cephisophon, who was my cook, contrived to make 



them relish. 

 I kept my plots distinct and clear, and to prevent 



confusion, 



My leading characters rehearsed their pedigrees for 

 prologues.' 



THE 



OF EMOTION, 

 powerfully moved 



VENTING 



When the mind is powerfully moved with 

 passion or emotion, the bodily organs are indis- 

 pensably engaged, along with what is considered 

 the more peculiarly mental part of our organisa- 

 tion, in sustaining the current of feeling. Whatever 

 power of expression, natural or artificial, belongs 

 to man, is called into play when a strong stimulus 

 stirs up his being ; and the more completely the 

 various organs and impulses are made to harmo- 

 nise with each other, the more are painful impres- 



T53 



sions relieved, and the excess of joy moderated. 

 Many compositions owe their origin to this neces- 

 sity of giving an outward vent to inward emotion. 

 The poet writes an ode or a sonnet ; the religious 

 man utters a prayer ; the man in general addresses 

 his friend, or contents himself with a soliloquy, or an 

 apostrophe to the universe in general. Exclama- 

 tions, ejaculations, oaths, and such-like outpour- 

 ings, are among the forms of language employed 

 to lighten the pressure of calamity, or calm the 

 torrent of excitement The more highly culti- 

 vated, and the more artistic and exquisite the 

 language at command, the more effectually does 

 it answer this end. The poetic genius can con- 

 vert an occasion of grief into a mild and soothing 

 sorrow which does not refuse to be comforted ; 

 and in the high outbursts of joyous elation, the 

 same genius can transform a tumultuous stream 

 into a gentle current of luxurious and prolonged 

 satisfaction. To give an intellectual form to 

 emotional excitement of every kind is a great 

 advance in refinement as well as in human happi- 

 ness ; and to convert the inarticulate howl of the 

 savage into the tranquil stream of melodious 

 numbers and touching images, is a vast stride in 

 human civilisation. To have, therefore, a lan- 

 guage and a form for expressing all the various 

 feelings that may swell the human breast, is one 

 of the essentials of a community. The poetic 

 literature of each nation generally contains ex- 

 amples of this among its other products ; and we 

 have many exquisite specimens of the express 

 effort of venting emotions in appropriate language, 

 without especially addressing any other person. 

 The sonnets of Shakspeare seem to have purely 

 this character. 



But as, in addressing fellow-beings, the expres- 

 sion of individual feeling is one of the leading 

 subjects of the communication, it happens that in 

 the drama, and in many other modes of poetical 

 and prose composition, there are abundant ex- 

 amples of the embodiment of feeling, for the 

 purpose of relieving or gratifying the individual 

 emotions and inward longings. How immeasur- 

 able the interval between the wail of savage grief 

 at the prospect of death, and the embodiment of 

 the feeling in the lines of Shakspeare ! 



'Ay, but to die to go we know not where ; 

 To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot : 

 This sensible warm motion to become 

 A kneaded clod ; and the delighted spirit 

 To bathe hi fiery floods, or to reside 

 In thrilling regions of thick -ribbed ice : 

 To be imprisoned in the viewless winds, 

 And blown with restless violence round about 

 The pendent world ; or to be worse than worst 

 Of those that lawless and uncertain thoughts 

 Imagine howling ! 'Tis too horrible ! 

 The weariest and most loathed worldly life 

 That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment 

 Can lay on nature, is a paradise 

 To what we fear of death.' 



An expression of this character helps to raise 

 humanity above the terrors of evil, and to conquer 

 misery by the grandeur of intellect. 



