But, taking note of thy abhorred aspect, Mad'st it no conscience to destroy a prince. SHAKSPEARE'S King John. 15. DESPAIR. DESPAIR, as in a condemned criminal, or one who has lost all hope of salvation, bends the eyebrows downwards, clouds the forehead, rolls the eyes frightfully, opens the mouth horizontally, bites the lips, widens the nostrils, and gnashes the teeth. The arms are sometimes bent at the elbows, the fists clinched hard, the veins and muscles swelled, the skin livid, the whole body strained and violently agitated; while groans of inward torture are more frequently uttered than words. If any words, they are few, and expressed with a sullen eager bitterness, the tone of the voice often loud and furious, and sometimes in the same note for a considerable time. EXAMPLE. K. Hen. How fares my lord? speak, Beaufort, to thy sovereign. Car. If thou be'st Death, I'll give thee England's treasure, Enough to purchase such another island, So thou wilt let me live and feel no pain. K. Hen. Ah, what a sign it is of evil life, Where death's approach is seen so terrible! War. Beaufort, it is thy sovereign speaks to thee. Died he not in his bed? where should he die? War. See, how the pangs of death do make him grin. Lord Cardinal, if thou think'st on heaven's bliss, SHAKSPEARE'S Henry VI. 2d Part. 16.-SURPRISE. SURPRISE, wonder, or amazement, opens the eyes, and makes them appear very prominent. It sometimes raises them to the skies, but more frequently fixes them on the object; the mouth is open, and the hands are held up nearly in the attitude of fear; the voice is at first low, but so emphatical, that every word is pronounced slowly and with energy; when, by the discovery of something excellent in the object of wonder, the emotion may be called admiration; the eyes are raised, the hands lifted up, or clapped together, and the voice elated with expressions of rapture. EXAMPLE. GONE to be married! gone to swear a peace! False blood to false blood joined! Gone to be friends! Be well advised, tell o'er thy tale again: It cannot be: thou dost but say 'tis so. What dost thou mean by shaking of thy head? What means that hand upon that breast of thine? SHAKSPEARE'S King John. 1 17.-PRIDE. PRIDE assumes a lofty look, bordering upon the aspect and attitude of anger. The eyes full open, but with the eyebrows considerably drawn down, the mouth pouting, mostly shut, and the lips contracted. The words are uttered with a slow, stiff, bombastic affectation of importance; the hands sometimes rest on the hips, with the elbows brought forward in the position called a-kimbo; the legs at a distance from each other, the steps large and stately. EXAMPLE. YOUR grace shall pardon me, I will not back; Or useful serving-man and instrument After young Arthur, claim this land for mine; Because that John hath made his peace with Rome? Am I Rome's slave? What penny hath Rome borne, To under-prop this action? Is 't not I Sweat in this business, and maintain this war? SHAKSPEARE'S King John. IN confidence and courage, the head is erect, the breast projected, the countenance clear and open, the accents are strong, round, and not too rapid; the voice firm and even. Boasting exaggerates these appearances by loudness, blustering, and what is not unaptly called swaggering; the arms are placed a-kimbo, the foot stamped on the ground, the head drawn back with pride, the legs take large strides, and the voice swells into bombast. EXAMPLE. Captain Bobadil's Method of Defeating an Army.—I will tell you, Sir, by way of private and under seal, I am a gentleman; and live here obscure, and to myself: but, were I known to his Majesty and the Lords, observe me, I would undertake, upon this poor head and life, for the public benefit of the state, not only to spare the entire lives of his subjects in general, but to save the one-half, nay three-fourths of his yearly charge in holding war, and against what enemy soever. And how would I do it, think you?-Why thus, Sir:-I would select nineteen more to myself, throughout the land: gentlemen they should be; of good spirit, strong and able constitution. I would choose them by an instinct that I have. And I would teach these nineteen the special rules; as, your Punto, your Reverso, your Stoccata, your Imbroccata, your Passada, your Montonto, till they could all play very near, or altogether, as well as myself. This done, say the enemy were forty thousand strong. We twenty would come into the field, the tenth of March or thereabout, and we would challenge twenty of the enemy; they could not, in their honour, refuse us. Well-we would kill them: challenge twenty more-kill them: twenty more-kill them: twenty more-kill them too. And thus would we kill every man his ten a-day -ten a-day-that's ten score: ten score-that's two hundred: two hundred a-day-five days, a thousand: forty thousand-forty times five -five times forty-two hundred days, kill them all up by computation. And this I will venture my poor gentleman-like carcass to perform (provided there be no treason practised upon us) by fair and discreet manhood; that is, civilly-by the sword. Every Man in his Humour. 19. PERPLEXITY. PERPLEXITY, irresolution, or anxiety, collects the body together as if for thoughtful consideration; the eyebrows are contracted, the head hanging on the breast, the eyes cast downwards, the mouth shut, the lips pursed together. Suddenly the whole body alters its aspect, as having discovered something, then falls into contemplation as before; the motions of the body are restless and unequal, sometimes moving quick, and sometimes slow; the pauses in speaking are long, the tone of the voice uneven, the sentences broken and unfinished. EXAMPLE. YES; 't is Emilia :-by and by.--She's dead. If she come in, she'll sure speak to my wife. SHAKSPEARE's Othello. 20.-MALICE. TIS hateful disposition sets the jaws, or gnashes the teeth, sends blasting flashes from the eyes, stretches the mouth ho rizontally, clinches both the fists, and bends the elbows in a straining manner to the body. The tone of voice and expression are much the same as in anger, but not so loud. EXAMPLE. How like a fawning publican he looks! I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him. SHAKSPEARE'S Merchant of Venice. 21.-JEALOUSY. JEALOUSY shows itself by restlessness, peevishness, thoughtfulness, anxiety, and absence of mind. Sometimes it bursts out into piteous complaint and weeping; then a gleam of hope, that all is yet well, lights up the countenance into a momentary smile. Immediately the face, clouded with a general gloom, shows the mind overcast again with horrid suspicions and frightful imaginations. EXAMPLE. How blessed am I In my just censure!-in my true opinion!— The abhorred ingredient to his eye, make known FINIS. Printed by Oliver & Boyd, Tweeddale Court, High Street, Edinburgh. |