TRA 
pics, wliicli, off at sea, is found to blow all 
day long from east to west. 
TRADESCANTIA, in botany, spider- 
wort, a genus of the Hexandria Monogynia 
class and older. Natural order of Ensatas. 
Juuci, Jussieu. Essential character : calyx 
three leaved ; petals three ; filaments equal 
with jointed hairs ; capsule three-celled. 
There are nineteen species. 
TRAGACANTH. See Gum. 
TRAGEDY, a drama which represents 
some grand and serious action, and which 
has frequently a fatal issue or end. Its ge- 
nuine object is to purify and moderate the 
passions, by exhibiting them in their excess, 
and to hold forth such a picture of the 
crimes and miseries of mankind as may 
teach us, by fear, to be prudent, for our 
own sake ; and, by compassion, to be cha- 
ritable, for the sake of others. To pro- 
duce this effect, three principles are essen- 
tial to tragedy : first, it should represent 
our fellow- creatures in peril and misfortune ; 
secondly, the peril should inspire us with 
alarm and dread, and the misfortune should 
interest and affect us ; and, thirdly, the imi- 
tation should be conformable to nature and 
truth ; that, while it engages our attention, 
it may render even the emotions of sorrow 
pleasing to ns. On these principles are 
founded all the rules which relate to the 
choice of a subject, to the delineation of 
characters, and to the composition of the 
fable, dialogue, and action. 1 
All events and circumstances which se- 
riously influence mankind, and excite the 
stronger passions, are fit subjects for tra- 
gedy. Such, in tlie language of our great 
poet, are ^ 
“ The whips and scorns o’th’ time ; 
Th’ oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s 
contumely. 
The pangs of despis’d love, the law’s de- 
lay, 
The insolence of office, and the spurns 
That patientmerit of fh’ unworthy takes.” 
To these ills men in all conditions are lia- 
ble, but it is seldom that the poet confines 
himself to a representation of them in com- 
mon life, because the vieissitudes incident 
to greatness afford him wider scope to dis- 
play them. Hence tragedy, as was before 
observed, is frequently the imitation of a 
grand action, involving some important 
state concern, the fall of a chief, or the ac- 
quisition of a crown. Such events naturally 
rouse the passions of ambition, love, hatred, 
T R A 
and revenge ; and are calculated more 
deeply to affect the heart with sentiments 
of terror and pity. Bnt whatever be the 
subject, the actual representation of tragic 
scenes ought never to be carried to excess. 
Murder and suicide should be banished from 
the stage, or admitted only in extreme 
cases, because the terror and the pity which 
such sights inspire are mingled with a feel- 
ing of horror, at which human nature re- 
volts. 
Of the rules for the composition of tra- 
gedy, the most important are those of the 
unities. (See Drama.) By the unities of 
time and place, it is meant, that the story 
should comprehend no longer a period of 
time than the representation, or, at most, 
that it should not exceed four and twenty 
hours ; and that the place of action should 
never be supposed to change. These rules 
are insisted on, as necessary to preserve the 
illusion of the scene ; but in many cases 
they must obviously tend to destroy it. In 
order to contrive the incidents of a fable to 
pass within the time prescribed, many im- 
portant scenes must be related, instead of 
being represented ; and to bring all the per- 
sons concerned in the drama to one spot, 
during that time, many violations of proba- 
bility must be made. Hence it is, that the 
regular tragedies of the French school are 
so barren of incident, and so replete with 
tedious declamation. The choice of a sub- 
ject is there controlled by the laws of time 
and place ; whereas the observance of those 
laws should be regulated by the nature of 
the subject. Perhaps there is not a more 
genuine tragedy than Shakspeare’s “Lear;” 
yet how vain would be the attempt to new- 
model it by the rules, and render it equally 
sublime and affecting. The powers of the 
immortal author himself would be inade- 
quate to such a task. 
The unity of action alone is in all cases 
indispensable. A tragedy is something more 
than a history ; it is a tissue of events not 
merely succeeding each other, but arising 
out of each other. It is one whole and en- 
tire action developed by a series of inci- 
dents which sustain it to the end, and which 
concur all to the same point. If an episode 
or under plot is introduced, it must be 
rendered auxiliary to the main story, so as 
not to be suppressed witliout injury to it ; 
otherwise it must necessarily constitute an 
independent action of itself, and the unity 
of the subject would be broken. 
The exposition, or opening of the fable 
