She is a delicate Dab chick! I must have her. Act 4. Scen. 2.
As for Tragedies, those are the most perfect ones in which there are Peripeties, that is, Revolutions, Changes of Fortune, and Remembrances, as in the Oedipus of Sophocles, the first Tragedy of all Antiquity, where in the 3d Scene of the 4th Act, the Peripetie, or Change of one Fortune into another, is contrary to what was expected, in the Man that comes from Corinth to acquaint Oedipus of the Death of King Polybius. I shall not take Notice of the Duration of the Representation of a Play, which ought not to exceed the Space of a natural Day; but observe, that the Sect of the Peripateticks believing neither Providence nor fatal Necessity, but imputes all Accidents to Chance, the antient tragick Poets chose rather to follow the Opinion of the Stoicks, who acknowledge a Providence and fatal Necessity; as very well perceiving, that that was the only Means to preserve the Theatre, those wonderful Surprizes, which are produc’d by Accidents that seem fortuitous, and yet nevertheless have Causes assign’d to them, which are certain. Again, it is to be noted, that the Prologue should be plac’d before the Play; but Plautus hath took the Liberty of the Greeks, in placing the Prologue in the Play, as particularly in the first Act of his Miles gloriosus, and after the first Act in Cistellaria; however, as I hint above, this Custom ought not to be follow’d by any prudent and regular Poet; and therefore Terence hath took Care not to be guilty of so great a Fault. The Catastrophe of a Play must be happy or fatal; but Euripides has made his Pieces to have a miserable one, wherefore he appears to be the most tragical of all the Poets. Now the Use of Machines, which makes the Gods and Goddesses appear upon the Stage, is founded on the generally received Opinion of the Ethnichs, who suppose the Gods can see all things, and take Care of Men; for if there were none but Epicureans in the World, the Machines would be ridiculous, or not suffer’d, because they would directly thwart their Opinion, in affirming the Gods lead a quiet Life, free from all Sorts of Care, and if Nature sometimes doth those Things which seem miraculous, the Gods take no Notice of it, and don’t interrupt their Pleasure. By the Way also I must note, that the Imitation of Lightning and Thunder may be put into the Number of the Machines, and also that furious Storm, which makes the unravelling of the second Oedipus in Sophocles; for altho’ Jupiter doth not appear, yet ’tis he who sends that Tempest, during which Oedipus is buried: And from hence I infer, that Machines may be employ’d, not only out of, but also in the Action of Tragedy, provided there be an absolute Necessity for them.
But many of our modern Dramatists have not exactly observ’d the aforesaid Discourse, or kept themselves strictly to the Unity of Action, Time, and Place. For Shakespear in his Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, makes the Duration of what he represents to be above 3 Weeks or a Month; I think the Representation of his Play begins in Italy, whence his black General went to Cyprus, an Island on the Coast of Syria, and to which he could not well arrive under a Fortnight, according as the Storm he met with held longer or shorter. The Absurdities and Blunders of this illiterate Poetaster being so many, that whatever he writ was not worth acting in Bartholomew Fair, I shall only take Notice of the little Knowledge he had in Astronomy, when in Act 1. Scen. 2. he says,
For do but stand upon the foaming Shore,
The chiding Billows seem to pelt the Clouds,
The Wind shake Surge, with high and monst’rous Main,
Seems to cast Water on the burning Bear,
And quench the Guards of the ever-fired Pole.
In these Lines I reckon he hath given a false Epithet to the Bear, which ought to have been lesser instead of burning, by talking of the Guards presently after, which are the two foremost Stars in Ursa minor, whereof that which is in the Shoulder of this Constellation, hath Longitude 128 Degrees, 23 Minutes, and North Latitude 72 Degrees, 40 Minutes, insomuch that being nearest of all the Northern Constellations to the North Pole, I wonder how there can be any extraordinary Heat within the frigid Zone. Also in the same Play he supposes the Soul to be the Production of some mortal Substance, according to these Words of Emilia, Act 5. Scen. 1.
If he say so, may his pernicious Soul