to those emotions, which would naturally and neceffarily arife if he was rightly inform'd. The action of the player, who performs the character of Telemachus, will therefore be true, if he expreffes only a mixture of aftonishment and refpect at what his father fays, and puts on an air of indetermination, during the moment that interferes before a perfon whofe fidelity he is perfectly convinc'd of, affures him, that he fees his father and his king.

These and many other examples of a like kind, abundantly prove how very different the true action requir'd in a great character under particular circumstances, may be from that which may first prefent itself to the imagination of the player.

It is plain alfo from the laft inftance, that he is not to fuppofe it fufficient in all cafes to study the truth of the action, with which he is to accompany the words the author has put into his mouth; in many circumstances the filence of a player, may be as eloquent as the finest form of words cou'd be; nay, there is often more beauty, as well as more difficulty, in the being properly filent, than in the delivering the most founding line a poet can put into the part of the highest character.

It is not long fince, to borrow one more inftance from our neighbours, that a French actress immortaliz'd her reputation in the character of Penelope, in the play we have juft mentioned; and we may affure the world that a judicious and well-conducted filence, had no little fhare in the acquiring her those applauses she receiv'd in it. The discovery of her husband who had been fo long abfent, had never struck the fpectators in that amazing manner, had there

been

been no merit in her fhare of the fcene, befide the repeating the words of her part. What

charm'd every body, was the deportment of the actress, the infenfible gradations by which the turn'd herfelf toward the pretended ftranger, as fhe more and more affur'd herself, that the voice of the perfon who spoke to her, was that of the husband fhe had fo long lamented; this had infinitely more effect than any thing fhe faid, or cou'd have faid on the occafion.

The difficulty of obferving every circumftance on which the truth of action depends, is greatest of all in thofe peculiar fituations of the character, under which the performer is obliged to play as it were two parts at the fame time.

We have an inftance of this kind in a fscene in the Old Batchelor, in which the dotard, his wife, and the gallant, under the difguife of Mr. Spintext, are on the ftage together.

The lady has here the jealousy of a husband to deceive, and the ardour of a favourite lover to return at the fame time. She embraces the gallant by a pretended mistake inftead of the husband; fhe cajoles the dotard with fond expreffions, while the makes figns over his head to the lover, and addreffes her difcourfe to the one while fhe pretends to speak to the other. The actress who wou'd fucceed in this character, ought to be extremely upon her guard, that the audience may not find her either too little upon the watch as to her husband's jealousy, or wanting in that tenderness which the ought to fhew to her lover.

These fort of incidents are abundantly difficult to perform to fatisfaction; but there are yet fome others in which there requires ftill more addrefs

and

and management. There are those in which the performer, has three inftead of two parts to play at the fame time; where there are two people to be deceived by two different stories at the fame inftant, and the performer is all the while to exprefs alfo to the audience a fenfe of the difficulty of what is doing, and a continual dread of being discovered by one or other of the perfons deceived. We have an eminent inftance of this kind in one of our farces, where an intriguing maid-servant finds it neceflary for the good of her young mafter to delude his father, and the aunt of the lady he courts, into an opinion of one another, as perfons out of their fenfes. While the actress is here conftruing e very look and gefture of Mr. Goodall into mad.. nefs to Mrs. Highmore, and every glance and accent of that lady into frenzy to him; fhe is expreffing to the audience all the while the utmoft terror in the world, left one or the other of them fhou'd difcover her: Nay, fhe even adds to the neceffary perplexity of the part she has to act, by blending with her very terror the pert felf-fufficiency, that marks out the reft of her character; and gives us one of the strongest modern examples it is poffible to quote, of the application of the rule deliver'd in the laft chapter, that the fame paffions are to be exprefs'd very differently, as acting upon different characters. The perfon who understands this merit in Mrs. Clive's playing this fhort character, will not wonder if it appear very infipid when perform'd by any body else.

There is no conceiving, but by an attentive examination, into the peculiar merits of the performer, how much many of those characters.

which we are apt to admire the author for drawing, owe to the manner in which they are reprefented: And on the other hand, the plays of Moliere in France, and thofe of Beaumont and Fletcher with us, abound in characters which are scarce ever play'd with juftice. We are not therefore to wonder that thefe do not always bring full houfes, and of confequence, that they are feldom perform'd. The managers may depend on it, they wou'd fee no empty benches on the nights fuch pieces were play'd, if they wou'd employ as many of their principal performers in them as are neceffary; and allot the characters of confequence to fuch perfons as are able to give them all the force and expreffion they require. They tell us they don't play thefe, because the town is more fond of novelty: Let them do what we are recommending to them, and they will give us one of the greatest and moft acceptable kinds of novelty in their power.

CHA P. III.

Obfervations on the two principal Things effential to the Truth of Action.

S action and recitation compofe the effence of what we call expreffion in the player; fo the judicious changes in the countenance, and thofe in the attitude and gefture form the truth of action. That the changes of the actor's countenance may appear just, and sufficiently expreffive to an audience, it is not enough that the paffion which he is to defcribe to them barely difcover itself in his eyes; it must be feen there with an uncommon force and vivacity. The

face

face that can mark a paffion but weakly on the ftage, is to be rank'd with those which cannot mark it at all: That very degree of expreffion in the countenance, which is capable of affecting us elsewhere, is not enough to ftrike us in the player.

The paintings expos'd upon the stage, are seen at a certain distance by the greater number of the audience: they must therefore have a strength in the touches fomewhat too bold for a near view; but yet fo moderated, that it may be overlook'd by those who have that fituation, in confideration of the neceffities of the rest.

The paffions must all fhew themselves with life and spirit in the countenance of the player; yet they are not to distort or disfigure it. It is the misfortune of one of the best actreffes of the prefent or perhaps of any age, that a too great fenfibility in fcenes of diftrefs throws her features out of all form, and excites our diftaste instead of our compaffion; and 'tis the peculiar advantage of another of the modern favourites of that fex, to acquire a beauty in the height of forrow, which she wants at other times. We cannot but regret the fortune of one of these ladies, as much as we admire that of the other; but we are not to expect that we fhall find in others fo fingular a charm in a face of forrow, as we difcover in the latter of them. It is not the good fortune of every tragedy princefs to have a face that mifery fits well upon; much lefs to have fuch an one as we adore in the heroine of another house, for charming us equally under all the difguifes the poet for the night chooses to fhew it in. We have at least a right, however, to expect that anger is not reprefented to us by convul