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The contrast, which soon after follows, is wonderfully striking. How could Dr. Johnson be such an apathist as o slight this first Monody in our language!-TICKELL, in his verses on the death of ADDISON, and Lord LYTTELTON, in his truly elegiac Monody, have not forgotten to introduce the effect of scenes once frequented, and employments once pursued, by the "dear lost companion.'

It gratifies MODERATE GRIEF to shew, speak of, admire, and prize any thing which may have been left by the deceased, whether it be a work of the departed person's own ingenuity, or a garment, or other relick, which the lamented relation or friend once frequently used. There is no where a more beautiful or pathetic instance of this than in the fact recorded by St. Luke, in the Acts, C. ix. 39. Παρέτησαν αυτω πασαι &ι χηραι κλαίεσαι, και επιδεικνυμεναι χιτώνας και ἱματια ὅσα εποιει μετ' αυτίων εσα ἡ Δορκάς. A poet or painter, who would wish to interest the attention and gain the heart, must be careful to select, and place in proper point of view, the LITTLE circumstances of REAL life.

Among all the aggravations of grief, there is no one more powerful than the sight of things worn by the deceased. It added to the sorrow, and heightened the rage, of ELECTRA, that she saw EGYSTHUS wearing the very garments. of AGA

MEMNON:

Έπειτα ποιας ημερας δικοῖς μ' αγαν,
Όταν θρόνοις Αιγισθος ενθακεντ' ιδω
Τοισιν απατρώοις ; οισίδω δ' εσθήματα
Pogurt” exeson saula;

Soph Elect

On the latter words the scholiast remarks, αχ όμοια βασιλικά, αλλα τα εκειγο πανν γας τότε περιπαθείς και τις υπομνησιν αγον την μέσα ρακα το πατρος.

It is well imagined by Virgil, to make Dido dwell some few moments on the sight of the Trojan robes, which had been received from Eneas:

-ILIACAS VESTES, notumque cubile

Conspexit, paullum lachrymis et mente morata.

Æn. IV.

The circumstance of the "Notum Cubile," and the affecting speech, "Dulces Exuviæ," &c. are manifestly imitations of Euripides, in his ALCESTIS, and of SOPHOCLES, in his TRACHINIE.

The belt, which PALLAS had once worn, was no sooner accidentally observed by ENEAS, than the humanity, which

had bugun to incline the Trojan hero to compassion, was converted into rage, mixed with sorrow, for the death of that brave youth:

Et jam jamque magis cunctantem flectere sermo
Coperat; INFELIX humero cum apparuit alto
BALTEUS, et NOTIS fulserunt cingula 'BULLIS
Pallantis Pueri; victum quem vulnere TURNUS
Straverat, atque humeris inimicum insigne gerebat.
Ille, oculis postquam SEVI monumenta DOLORIS
Exuviasque hausit, furiis accensus, et ira
Terribilis, &c.

En. XII.

That these remarks on the manner in which the more gloomy passions gratify themselves, may be turned to some end more useful than barren speculation, let it be considered, that the DEITY has abundantly furnished the human mind with sources of happiness. If MELANCHOLY, DESPAIR, and GRIEF, can find a peculiar pleasure in self-indulgence, and can delight in seeking objects congenial with their immediate feelings, then are men, who apparently to spectators are plunged into the deepest distress, not in reality so miserable as inexperienced judges may imagine. GOD of his mercy hath provided a remedy which may alleviate the pangs of sorrow; he hath ordained that the very passion, which "harrows the soul," should have in it some ingredi ents not altogether unpleasant to the subject which that passion affects. It is thus the Almighty vouchsafes to consult for the GOOD of MAN; amidst clouds and darkness there yet shineth a light; amidst storms and tempests there is still a saving plank; amidst affliction and woe there is even a "sad luxury" in giving way to tears, and in reviewing again and again objects which tend to aggravate our distress of mind.

1787, April.

II. I. C.

XCVI. Strictures on the use of the Interjection on!

MR. URBAN,

I RECOLLECT that many years ago, on reading in Dr. Johnson's criticisms upon Pope's epitaphs, this assertion, "the particle O! used at the beginning of a sentence, always offends," several instances suggested themselves to

me which prevented my acquiescence in the justness of the remark. I have since seen it, however, adopted by other writers of reputation; and enforced by general observations on the bad effects of exclamatory sentences, which are represented as the poor artificers of frigid and tasteless rhetoricians, inconsistent with true chastity of style, and unauthorized by the best models of antiquity. But, upon examining these positions, I could not discover any other foundation for them, than that bad writers most commonly expose themselves by an injudicious imitation of beauties; and that every attempt to produce extraordinary efforts should be employed sparingly, and only upon suitable

occasions.

The interjection O, common to so many languages, seems applicable to exactly the same purposes in all. It is a sort of intonation, by which some extraordinary energy or emotion of the mind is expressed. The propriety of its use, therefore, depends entirely upon the correspondence of the subject and accompanying words with the affection thus denoted; and may be compared with the connection of sound and sense in musical compositions. If Dr. Johnson's observation of its ungraceful effect at the beginning of a sentence have any foundation, it is, that the mind not being yet sufficiently prepared, it cannot at once strike into the sentiment of which this interjection is the mark or note. And this is really the case, where the immediately subsequent words are not clearly expressive of the occasion which is to excite the emotion. Thus, in the particular passage which leads him to the remark.

O born to arms! O worth in youth approved!
O soft humanity in age belov'd!

These clauses are not at all indicatory of the sorrowful event to which the exclamation is directed. The first of them, especially, has no obvious connection whatever with pathetic emotion. But where the proper cause of the mental affection immediately appears, the whole readily coalesces into one effect, and the mind, without difficulty, follows the impression first raised.

Dr. Johnson asserts, "that exclamation seldom succeeds in our language." Yet its use is just the same in ours as in any other: we employ it abundantly in common conversation; and it is to us, as to other people, the natural vent of strong emotion. Perhaps, indeed, our feelings may be more cold and sluggish than those of the southern nations; or a stern philosophy may have made us unyielding to attempts to

move us; so that we do not readily give ourselves up to the writer who would excite our sympathy. That this was the case with the critic in question, is sufficiently apparent from some of his observations on the English poets; but men so constituted should reflect, that their incapacity of fo.owing the ardent expressions of a feeling mind only renders them unfit judges of such expressions, and is no evidence that they are faulty or improper.

I shall now proceed, by a few examples, selected from an infinite number which may easily be found, first, to show how familiarly, and with what happiness, this mode of speech was used by the best Latin writers; and, then, to establish an appeal to the reader's taste, from Dr. Johnson's judgment of its disagreeable effect in English.

The greatest of the Roman orators, in one of his finest efforts, the peroration of the speech for Milo, thus redoubles his exclamations:

O frustra, inquit, suscepti mei labores! o spes fallaces! o cogitationes inanes meæ al-O me miserum, o infelicem! -O terram illam beatam, quæ hunc virum exceperit!

And, even in his cooler philosophical works, we have such sentences as these;

O vite philosophia dux! O virtutis indagatrix, expultrixque vitiorum! O præclarum diem, cum ad illud divinum animorum concilium cœtumque proficiscar!

The philosophical poet, Lucretius, breaks out, near the beginning of one of his books, in the following manner;

O miseras hominum mentes, o pectora cæca! And Ovid thus nobly introduces a long passage of united poetry and philosophy:

O genus attonitum gelidæ formidine mortis!

Virgil begins his beautiful praises of a country life with O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint,

Agricolas!

which Thomson imitates (as far as I can see, without any bad effect) by

O knew he but his happiness; of men.
The happiest he!

Indeed, were all the preceding passages translated, I cannot discover why the obnoxious interjection might not be retained with advantage, at least in the greater part.

To come to our own authorities, I shall begin with some drawn from the common version of the Scriptures; the stile of which will scarcely, I suppose, be charged with affectation. Who would alter any of the following exclamatory strains of devotional ardor?

O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good!-0 sing unto the Lord a new song!-O magnify the Lord with me! -O fear the Lord, all ye his saints!--O how I love thy law! -O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

The language of the drama, from its impassioned subjects, abounds with similar expressions. It will be sufficient, in order to judge of their effect, to read these lines from Hamlet:

Oh what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
Oh what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!
Oh my offence is rank, it smells to heaven!
Oh wretched state! oh bosom, black as death!
Oh limed soul!

Milton, whose stile and manner were rigorously formed on the ancient models, very often prefixes the interjection to his speeches:

O prince, O chief of many throned powers!
O myriads of immortal spirits! O powers
Matchless, but with th' Almighty!

O progeny of heaven, empyreal thrones!
And he begins one of his books with

O for that warning voice!

Lastly, the author who has given occasion to Dr. Johnson's censure, in the most eloquent piece of poetry perhaps extant, his Epistle of Eloisa to Abelard, has multiplied this form of exclamation, in such lines as, I think, Johnson himself could not have condemned or improved.

Oh name, for ever sad! for ever dear!

Oh happy state! where souls each other draw.
O curst, dear horrors of all-conscious night!
O death, all eloquent!

Oh may we never love as these have lov'd!

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