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difficulty here occurs in reality, as in fiction. Every awful and terrific scene, from an eruption of Etna, or an attack on Gibraltar, to a street-fire or a boxing-match, is gazed at by assembled multitudes. In histories, is it not the page of battles, “ treasons and murders,” on which we dwell with most avidity ? I do not hesitate to assert, that we never behold with pleasure in fictitious representation, what we should not have viewed with a similar sensation in real action- The truth is, that many of the tragic distresses are so blended with loftv and heroic sentiments, that the impression of sorrow for the sufferer is lost in applause and admiration.When Cato groans, who does not wish to bleed? And when this is not the case, but pure misery is painted without the alleviations of glory and conscious virtue, the effects on the beholder are invariably pain and disgust. We are, indeed, by the strong impulse of curiosity, led to such representations, as the crowd are to fights and executions;' but what man of nice feelings would go a second time to see Fatal Curiosity, or the butchery of a Damien ?With respect to the principle which renders a degree of dramatic unity necessary, it seems not difficult to be ascertained. Conruitv
Newspaper Details
London Free Mason Magazine
London, Middlesex, GB
Sun, Sep 01, 1793
Page 13
Full Page
Clipped by
David L.
WI, USA 15 Jun 2017
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