TR A 
was assigned by the ancients to the pro. 
logue ; with tlie moderns it is compreliended 
in the first act. Tliis act should form the 
basis of tlie rest, both with regard to the 
main action, and to the episodes, so that no 
actor sliould enter in the subsequent acts, 
who has not been introduced or mentioned 
in the first. 
By the intrigue is meant that concatena- 
tion of facts or incidents, whose perplexity 
arrests for a time the progress of the action. 
Thus, the difficulties attending a principal 
personage in the tragedy, constitute what 
is properly called the intrigue; and it is 
this which keeps the spectator in suspense, 
and gradually raises his curiosity to the 
highest pitch by the variety of emotions, in- 
terests, and passions which it involves. For 
instance, in the tragedy of “ Othello,” the 
circumstances attending the Moor's jealousy 
strengthen his suspicions by degrees, and 
render him “ perplexed in the extreme.’" 
Here lies the intrigue of the piece. 
The denouement is the unravelling of the 
intrigue. It ought to arise naturally from 
what precedes, and should be quite unfore- 
seen, because all interest is sustained by the 
uncertainty of the mind, between fear and 
hope. There are instances, however, where 
the denouementy although foreseen, is ne- 
vertheless interesting. With regard to what 
is called poetical justice, we may observe, 
that although it may be most grateful to be- 
hold virtue triumphant and vice disgraced, 
yet the drama, to be a picture of human 
life, must sometimes exhibit the reverse ; 
in these cases it will not be without its use, 
if it direct our view to “ souietbiug after 
death.” 
The division into acts is purely arbitrary, 
and seems to have been unknown on the 
Grecian stage. Aristotle makes no such 
distinction; he speaks only of the duration 
of the piece, which has naturally only three 
parts, a beginning, a middle, and an end. 
Horace insists, that there sliall be neither 
more nor less than five acts ; and to this 
rule most of the moderns have adhered. 
Of the style best adapted to tragedy, it 
were tiite to say, that it should be appro- 
priate to the characters. It may be lofty, 
it may be elegant, but it must always ap- 
peal directly to the heart. The most pa- 
thetic scenes of our tragic poets are written 
in language very little elevated above the 
dialogue of real life, and to this language 
Shakspeare has, by a combination and a 
phraseology peculiar to himself, imparted 
TRA 
I 
new powers, for he has expressed in it some 
of the sublimest conceptions of human ge. 
nius. 
TRAGIA, in botany, so named in me- 
mory of Hieronymus Tragus, a genus of 
tlie Monoecia Triandria class and ordej- 
Natural order of Tricoccaj. F-upliorbise, 
Jussieu. Essential character : male, calyx 
three-parted ; corolla none ; female, calyx 
five-parted ; corolla none ; style trifid ; cap- 
sule tricoccous, three-celled ; seeds solitary. 
There are eight species, natives of the East 
and West Indies. 
TRAGOPOGON, in botany, goafs-fteard, 
a genus ot the Syngenesia Polygamia 
AHqualis class and order. Natural order of 
Composit'* Semiflosculosae. Ciclioraceae, 
Jussieu. Essential character: calyx sim- 
pie; down feathered; receptacle naked. 
There are fourteen species. 
TRAJECTORY of a comet, is its path or 
orbit, or the line it describes in its motion. 
This path is supposed, by Hevelius, to be 
nearly a right line. Dr. Halley assumes it 
to be a very eccentric ellipse ; but says, it 
may often be computed on the suppositioit 
of its being a parabola. Sir Isaac Newton 
shows how to determine the trajecfoi'y of a 
comet from three observations. See “ Prin- 
cipia,” book 3, Prop. 41. 
TRAIN, tiie attendance of a great per- 
son, or the trail of a gown, or robe of state. 
In falconry, it denotes the tail of a hawk. 
Train is likewise used for the number 
of beats which a watch makes in an hour, 
or any other certain time. 
Train is also used for a line of gunpow- 
der, laid to give fire to a quantity thereof, 
in order to do execution by blowing up 
earth, works, buildings, &c. 
Train, or Trails of artillery, includes 
the great guns, and other pieces of ord- 
nance, belonging to an army in the field. 
See Cannon- 
Train oil, the oil procured from the 
blubber of a whale by boiling. See the ar- 
tides Oil. 
Train bands, or Trained bands, a name 
given to the militia of England. 
TRAINING, or Tracing, in mineralo- 
gy, a term used by the miners, to express 
the tracing up the mineral appearances on 
the surface of the earth to their head, or 
original place, and there finding a mine of 
the metal they contain. 
TRAMEL, an instrument, or device, 
sometimes of leather, more usually of rope, 
fitted to a horse’s legs, to regulate bis mo- 
