THE EXPRESSION OF THE PASSIOMis. 



491 



position of his sturdy head, waiting the due moment to strike his antago- 

 nist to the ground. But of all quadrupeds, not perhaps excepting the Hon, 

 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. Allow me to quote it somewhat more correct to the original 

 than the rendering in our common version, which is nevertheless, in the 

 main, unexceptionable : — 



Hast THOU bestowed on the horse mettle ? 



Hast thou clothed his neck with the thunder-flash ? 



Hast thou given him to launch forth as an arrow? 



Terrible is the pomp of his nostrils : 



He paweth in the valley, and exulteth ; 



Boldly he advanceth against the clashing host ; 



He mocketh at fear, and trembleth not ; 



Nor turneth he back from the sword. 



Against him rattleth the quiver, 



The glittering spear, and the shield ; 



With rage and fury he devoureth the ground, 



And is impatient when the trumpet soundeth. 



He e:pclaimeth among the trumpets " aha!" 



And scenteth the battle afar off. 



The thunder of the chieftains, and the shouting. 



Jealous5^: is a fitful, unsteady passion : but still the muscles are constantly 

 more or less on the stretch ; ''the eyelid is fully lifted, and the eyebrows 

 strongly knit, so that the eyelid almost entirely disappears, and the eye- 

 ball glares from under the bushy eyebrow. There is a general tension on 

 the muscles, which concentrate round the mouth ; and the lips are drawn 

 so as to show the teeth, as in great pain or fury. Much of the character 

 of the passion, however, consists in rapid vicissitudes from love to hate ; 

 now absent, moody, and distracted ; now courting love ; now ferocious and 

 revengeful. It is hence difficult to represent it in painting. In poetry 

 alone can it be truly represented in the vivid colours of nature ; and even 

 of poets, Shakspeare, perhaps, is the only one who has shown himself quite 

 equal to the task."* It is thus he describes the workings of Othello's 

 heart, on his first crediting the slander of the seduction of Desdemona bv 

 Cassio : — 



O that the slave had forty thousand lives ! 

 One is too pool*, too weak, for my revenge. 

 Now do I see, 'tis true : — look here, lago, — 

 All my fond love — thus do I blow to heaven.— 

 'Tis gone. 



Arise, black Vengeance, from the hollow hell ! 

 Yield up, O Love ! thy crown and hearted throne 

 To tyrannous Hate ! — swell, bosom, with thy fraught. 

 For 'tis of aspics' tongues. 



The general expression and features of fear, Mr. Burke has compared 

 to those of severe pain. Mr. Charles Bell objects to this ; but Mr. Burke 

 does not mean simple fear, but terror ; which, as we observed in a former 

 lecture, is fear united to an active imagination ; and in this sense of the 

 passion. Homer has frequently employed it : witness the emotion of Priam 

 open the first tidings of the death of Hector : — t 



Terror and consternation at the sound 

 Thrill'd through all Priam's soul : erect his hair. 

 Bristled his limbs, and with amaze he stood, 

 Mute and all motionless. 



- Bell, ut supra, p. 137. 



t IK lib. xxii. 405, 



