DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.48956#0144
138 LANGUAGE OF PASSION. Ch. XVII.
by the most delicate propriety os sentiment and ex-
pression
I return to my subjeft from a digression I can-
not repent os. That perfect harmony which
ought to subsift among all the constituent parts of
a dialogue, is a beauty, no less rare than conspi-
cuous : as to expression in particular, were I to
give inssances, where, in one or other of the re-
spefts above mentioned , it corresponds not pre-
cisely to the charafters , passlons, and sentiments,
I might from disserent authors collcft volumes.
Following therefore the method laid down in the
chapter of sentiments, I shall confine my quota-
tions to the grosser errors, which every writer
ought to avoid.
And, first, of passion expressed in words flowing
in an equal course without interruption.
In the chapter above cited, Corneille is censu-
red sor the impropriety os his sentiments ; and
here, for the sake os truth , lam obliged to attack
7 Tlie critics seem not preseclly to comprehend the
genius of Shakspearc. His plays are desective in the me-
chanical part ; which is less the work of genius than of
experience, and is not otherwise brought to perfection
but by diligently observing the errors of sormer composi-
tions. Shakspeare excels all the ancients and moderns,
in knowledge of human nature, and m unfolding even
the moil obscure and refined emotions. This is a rare
faculty, and of the greatest importance in a dramatic au-
thor ; and it is that faculty which makes him surpass ail
other writers in the comic as well as tragic vein.
by the most delicate propriety os sentiment and ex-
pression
I return to my subjeft from a digression I can-
not repent os. That perfect harmony which
ought to subsift among all the constituent parts of
a dialogue, is a beauty, no less rare than conspi-
cuous : as to expression in particular, were I to
give inssances, where, in one or other of the re-
spefts above mentioned , it corresponds not pre-
cisely to the charafters , passlons, and sentiments,
I might from disserent authors collcft volumes.
Following therefore the method laid down in the
chapter of sentiments, I shall confine my quota-
tions to the grosser errors, which every writer
ought to avoid.
And, first, of passion expressed in words flowing
in an equal course without interruption.
In the chapter above cited, Corneille is censu-
red sor the impropriety os his sentiments ; and
here, for the sake os truth , lam obliged to attack
7 Tlie critics seem not preseclly to comprehend the
genius of Shakspearc. His plays are desective in the me-
chanical part ; which is less the work of genius than of
experience, and is not otherwise brought to perfection
but by diligently observing the errors of sormer composi-
tions. Shakspeare excels all the ancients and moderns,
in knowledge of human nature, and m unfolding even
the moil obscure and refined emotions. This is a rare
faculty, and of the greatest importance in a dramatic au-
thor ; and it is that faculty which makes him surpass ail
other writers in the comic as well as tragic vein.