THE EXPRESSION OF THE PASSIONS. 



433 



I have said, that under the repulsive passions the muscles and features are 

 for ever on the stretch ; though the tension is often irregular, and alternately 

 softens and stiffens. This general remark will apply to grief, pain, and agony; 

 rage, suspicion, and jealousy; horror, despair, and madness; though, as I 

 have formerlj? observed, this last affection cannot with strict propriety be in- 

 troduced among the passions, being a mental disease rather than a mental 

 emotion. 



Let me justify this remark by a few illustrations. " A man in great pain," 

 observes Mr. Burke, " has his teeth set; his eyebrows are violently contracted; 

 his forehead is wrinkled ; his eyes are dragged inwards, and rolled with great 

 vehemence ; his hair stands on end ; his voice is forced out in short shrieks 

 and groans ; and the whole fabric totters."* 



In GRIEF, there is still more violence and tension, though the tension is 

 irregular and alternating. Where the grief is of long continuance, and deeply 

 rooted, it gives a pale and melancholy cast to the countenance ; an air of re- 

 serve to the manner; and an emaciation to the entire form; as though the 

 s^d sufferer were fondly nursing the viper passion that devours his bosom. 

 Such is the exquisite description of Viola, as given of herself in the Twelfth 

 Night 



She never told her love, 

 But let concealment, Hke a worm i' th' bud, 

 Feed on her damask cheek. She pined in thought ; 

 And, with a greeo and yellow melancholy, 

 She sat, like patience on a monument, 

 Smiling at grief. 



At other times, the passion is characterized by a mingled tumult of agitation, 

 restlessness, and bitter bewailing. Such is the general picture of Constance, 

 in King John ; who thus, among other exclamations, weeps over the ill-fated 

 Prince Arthur :— 



Grief fills the room up of my absent child ; 

 Lies on his bed ; walks up and down with me ; 

 Puts on his pretty looks ; repeats his words ; 

 Remembers me of all his gracious parts ; 

 Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form : — 

 Then have I reason to be fond of grief. 



In RAGE, there is the same tension, but the same irregular agitation of the 

 muscles. " The features," as Mr. Bell justly observes, " are unsteady ; the 

 eyeballs are seen largely ; they roll, and are inflated. The front is alter- 

 nately knit and raised in furrows, by the motion of the eyebrows ; the 

 nostrils are inflated to the utmost ; the lips are swelled, and, being drawn, 

 open the corners of the mouth ;t the muscles are strongly marked. The 

 whole visage is sometimes pale, sometimes inflated, dark, and almost livid ; 

 the words are delivered strongly through the fixed teeth ; the hair is fixed on 

 end, like one distracted; and every joint should seem to curse and ban." 

 Perhaps the finest picture of this mighty passion ever presented to the world 

 is to be found in Tasso's description of the combat between Tancred and 

 Argante : but it is too long for quotation, and would lose half its spirit if given 

 in any other language than the original. 



It is in the features of rage that the higher kinds of quadrupeds make'the 

 nearest approach to this form of expression in man. The bull terribly de- 

 notes it, by his inflamed eye, wide and breathing nostrils, and the prone posi- 

 tion of his sturdy head, waiting the due moment to strike his antagonist to 

 the ground. But of all quadrupeds, not perhaps excepting the lion, the war- 

 horse exhibits the loftiest and most imposing character. The noblest and 

 truest description of him that has ever been painted is in the book of Job. 



symptomg or characters have a strict resemblance. These are not the organs of breathing merely, butof 

 natural and articulate language also, and adapted to the expression of sentiment, in the workings of tb«» 

 countenance and of the breast ; that is, by signs as well as by words." 



* Sublime and Beautiful, part iv. sec. 3. Cause of Pain and Fear. 



t Anatomy of Painting, p. 139. 



Ee 



