paffion, one would rather think it proceeded from an inveterate hatred, than an exceffive love, as it never fails to disturb the breaft where it is foftered with the utmost pain and anxiety. But the great unhappiness of his paffon is, that it naturally tends to alienate the affections, which it is fo folicitous to engage, and that for two reasons, because it lays too great a conftraint on the words and actions of the perfon fufpected, and at the fame time fhews you have no honourable opinion of her; both of which are very strong motives of averfion. Nor is this the worst effect of jealoufy, for it often draws after it a more fatal train of confequences, and makes the perfon you suspect guilty of the very crimes you are so much afraid of; as the woman who fuffers wrongfully in a man's opinion, has nothing to forfeit in his esteem, and therefore refolves to give him reasons for his fufpicions, and to enjoy the pleasure of the crime, fince the muft undergo the ignominy.-Therefore, Where this paffion is predomimant, or has any influence on the conduct of the man, it is certain there cannot be a more miferable being, or a perfon on whom fo much cenfure is caft by his neighbours; as it not only tends to make him unhappy, but is a fure means to caufe the perfon on whom his jealoufy is exercised, to be wretched too: but it should be a matter of our enquiry, before we accufe ourfelves with this dreadful paffion, to know whether we are the only people fubject to it, or more extempt from it than any other nation.—It is plain, from frequent obfervations, that it is no northern paffion, but rages moft in those nations that lay neareft the fun. It is a misfortune for a woman to be born between the tropics, for there lie the hotteft regions of jealoufy, which as you come northwards cools all along with the climate, till you scarce meet with any thing like it in the polar circle, In confequence thereof, our own nation is very temperately fituated in this refpect; and if we meet with fome few difordered with the violence of this paffion, they are not the proper growth of the country, but are many degrees nearer the fun in their constitution than in their climate. Having entered into a fpeculative difquifition on the nature of jealousy, and pointed out the perfons who are moft fubject to it, I must now apply myfelf to your fair correfpondents who defire to live well with a jealous husband, and to ease its mind of its fufpicions. ano- The first rule I fhall offer to their confideration, and earneftly intreat them to obferve, is, that they never feem to diflike in another what the jealous man is himfelf guilty of, or to admire any thing in which he himself does not excell. A jealous man is very quick in his applications, he knows how to find a double edge in an invective, and to draw a fatire on himself out of a penegyrick on another. He does not trouble himself to confider the perfon, but to direct the character; and is fecretly pleafed or confounded as he finds more or lefs of himself in it. The commendation of any thing in another, which he himself wants, inflames him more, as it fhews that, in fome refpects you prefer others before him. The jealous man is not indeed angry if you diflike ther; but if you find those faults which are to be found in his own character, you discover not only a dislike of another, but of himself. In short, he is fo defirous of engroffing all your love, that he is grieved at the want of any charm which he believes has power to raise it; and if he finds by your cenfures on others, that he is not fo agreeable in your opinion as he might be, he naturally concludes you should love him better if he had other qualifications, and that by confequence your affection does not rife fo high as he thinks it ought. If therefore his temper be grave or fullen, you must not be too much pleased with a jeft, or tranfported with any thing that is gay and diverting. If his beauty be none of the best, you must be a profeffed admirer of prudence, or any other quality he is mafter of, or at least vain enough to think he is. In the next place, you must be fure to be free and open in your converfation with him, and to let in light upon your actions, to unravel all your defigns, and difcover every fecret however trifling and indifferent. A jealous husband has a particular averfion to winks and whifpers, and if he does not fee to the bottom of every thing, will be fure to go beyond it in his fears and fufpicions. He will will always expect to be your confidant, and where he finds himself kept out of a fecret, will believe there is more in it than there fhould be. And here it is of great concern, that you preferve the character of your fincerity uniform and of a piece: for if he once finds a glofs put upon any fingle action, he quickly fufpects all the reft; his working imagination immediately takes a falfe hint, and runs off with it into feveral remote confequences, till he has proved very ingenious in working out his own mifery. If both these methods fail, the best way will be to let him see you are much cast down and afflicted for the ill opinion he entertains of you, and the disquietudes he himself fuffers for your fake. There are many who take a kind of barbarous pleasure in the jealousy of those who love them, that infult over an aching heart, and triumph in their charms which are able to excite fo much uneafinefs. But these often carry the humour fo far, till their affected coldness and indifference quite kills all the fondness of a lover, and are then fure to meet in their turn with all the contempt and fcorn that is due to fo infolent a behaviour. On the contrary, it is very probable a melancholy, dejected carriage, the ufual effects of injured innocence, may foften the jealous husband into pity, make him fenfible of the wrong he does you, and work out of his mind all those fears and fufpicions that make you both unhappy at least it will have this good effect, that he will keep his jealoufy to himself, and repine in private, either because he is fenfible it is a weakness, and will therefore hide it from your knowledge, or because he will be apt to fear fome ill effect it may produce, in cooling your love towards him, or diverting it to another. There is ftill another fecret that can never fail, if you can once get it believed, and which is often practised by women of greater cunning than virtue: this is to change fides for a while with the jealous man, and to turn his own paffion upon himself; to take fome occafion of growing jealous of him, and to follow the example he himself hath fet you. This conterfeited jealousy will bring him a great deal of pleasure, if he thinks it real; for he knows experi mentally how much love goes along with this paffion, and will befides feel fomething like the fatisfaction of revenge, in feeing you undergo all his own tortures. But this indeed is an artifice fo difficult, and at the fame time fo difingenuous, that it ought never to be put in practice, but by fuch as have skill enough to cover the deceit, and innocence to make it excufable. A woman of virtue ought to consider herself as united with a man who embarks with her in the fame focial and civil concerns, and therefore ought not to make use of counterfeit thoughts or actions, or put on an outfide hypocrify to win the esteem of her husband; and though she would not be at so much pains to wear the appearance of virtue, if she did not know it was the most effectual means to gain the love and good opinion of her partner: yet this kind of itratagem ought never to be fixed upon as the method to retrieve your character; for if it fhould happen to miscarry, you forfeit in a much greater degree the opinion he had of your virtue, and give him an excellent opportunity to upbraid you for infincerity, and will befides find it extremely difficult to make him think well of you for the future. I fhall conclude these remarks with obferving to your fair readers, that, as in them centre all the charms with which the men are captivated, fo likewife should lay all the qualifications neceffary to make the captive pass away his life in contentment and quiet; for if a woman has all the engaging allurements that beauty, birth, wit and youth can raise, yet these are not fufficient to make eafy the marriage ftate, or fecure the affection of her husband; but she must diligently strive to avoid all appearances of attatchment to any object which may tend to raise the leaft doubt of her fincerity, or on which he may hinge the remoteft fufpicions of inconftancy. I mult now intreat the ladies to confider this matter candidly, and beg that they will take every step effential towards paffing the union agreeably. "Own marriage fweet, but owning "add this fting, "When mixed with jealoufy, 'tis "deadly too." Elay Efay on Poetry and Romances: With an THE fimpleft apprehenfion that we can form of poetry is, an overflowing of the foul; a defcription of external objects or internal fenfations, in a language above the tone of common life. This may be done either with, or without measure, but most perfectly with it; as the harmonious difpofition of the words, when in concord with the fentiment, affects the mind more ftongly with the images prefented to its view. Hence the praise of gods, heroes, and women, has always been the province of verfe; and hence the Greeks and Romans affigned to it the empire of fable. But tafte has taken a different direction among the moderns. Verse is now in poffeffion of little more than the tragic fable; while every fiction of great er extent, and many of lefs, are delivered in profe. A variety of reafons may be affigned for fuch a practice; but the principal feem to be the unfkilfulness of our first poets, and the harflinefs of modern languages: for in Italy, where the language is more harmonious, and, perhaps, the fancy more lively than in France or England, we find few profe fables, and in Germany almost none in verfe. The origin of any cuftom, however, fignifies little; its eligibility is of more importance: and, in this refpect, profe fable must be allowed to have its advantages. If it is lefs calculated to difplay the atchievements of romantic heroism, to which it was first applied, it is better adapted to the scenes of domestic life, where fome of the most interesting of human fituations are to be found. It admits of more minute particulars, moral reflections, and polite notices, but it is certainly much inferior to verfe in vigorous description; in communicating the emotions of love, of rage, of joy, or forrow, unless it degenerates altogether from its character, and becomes what is not improperly termed profe run mad: and even then, however ftrongly it may paint, it wants the native energy of poetry, while it difplays a monster in compofition. I was led into these reflections by reading a bold attempt to retrieve the dignity of modern fable, The perforMay, 1774, mance I mean is JULIA, a Poetical Romance. But before I speak of this novelty in literature, it will be neceffary to say something more of romances in general,, The romances of chivalry, as has been obferved, were our first profe fables; to these fucceeded the mock romance; to the mock romance, the heroic; and to the heroic, the fatirical, which has ftill great hold of the public tafte: but in the mean time, the genuine charms of nature and paffion were not allowed to pafs unnoticed; they were painted firft in fhort stories, or novels, and afterwards at greater length, with much truth and propriety, particularly in France by Marivaux. The ferious romance, however, ftill wore its historical form: it wanted the compacted fable of the epopee, and the animated dialogue of the drama. Richardfon faw its imperfections, and in a great measure remedied both: he fubftituted letters inftead of narration, which gave the whole the air of dialogue, and kept the author entirely out of fight; nor was he wanting in attention to the fable, introducing every event by the most natural and happy circumstances, but with out that general dependance which is neceffary to please a claffic tafte, or that unity of defign which is effential to conftitute what the critics call a perfec whole, and of which every intelligent reader will feel the force, however much a stranger to Aristotle, Horace, or Boffu. Richardfon has been followed in his epiftolary manner, by a variety of writers, but by none fo fuccefsfully as Rouffeau, whofe new Eloifa may juftly be confidered as one of the greatest works of genius. This performance the author of Julia has chofen as the foundation of his poem; but he has very much altered its conftruction; and, in my opinion, every alteration is for the better, while every circumftance is heightened by a fine glow of poetical fancy. Instead of retailing things at fecond hand, as is commonly practifed by Richardfon and others, he has brought every material fentiment and circumstance to view, in a warm and animated corref pondence between the lovers: nor has he, like Rouffeau, made his heroine happy in the arms of one man, after the M m has has granted favours to, and ftill continues to love another; and he has taken care not to destroy the unity of his fable by a dull fyftem of domestic œconomy, after the tranfports of love, the tears of repentance, and the firug les of duty. But an analysis of this performance only can do juftice to its merit. Lord Palmerston, an English nobleman, has committed the education of his only daughter, Julia, to Emilius, a young man, educated by his bounty, and depending upon his patronage: Emilius is fmitten with the beauty of his fair pupil; and notwithstanding the conbined motives of interest and gratitude, he is unable to reftrain his paffion, and at last reveals it to Julia. With this declaration the first book commences. One would think it impoffible to say any thing new in a declaration of love; the following lines, however, have nothing in them that is familiar to me, and yet they are perfectly natural. "Oft have I fondly thought, as in our years, "And in our tafte fimilitude appears, "A tender fympathy may likewife tie "Our virgin-hearts in chords of harmony. 64 Unfway'd by cuftom, unfeduc'd by pride, "Our inclinations fweetly coincide: "Our general feelings are fo much alike, "That every object feems our fouls to ftrike "With one emotion; and why not fuppofe "That warm affection in our bofoms glows?" "With horror now my danger I forefee; "Nor afk indulgence-but restraint from thee.' Julia makes no answer to this letter, nor to a fecond; but when Emilius bids her a folemn adieu in a third, being refolved to leave the family, rather than give her uneafinefs, the reveals with trembling her fecret flame, as she has no hopes of being able to gratify it with honour. The fears of innocence, and the folicitude of virtue, are finely marked in the following elegant lines. "Am L, eternal powers! reduc'd fo low ! Kneeling I write, and bathe my words with woe. "To thee, Emilius, I this homage pay; "To thee, upon my knees, I trembling pray: "Should't thou now hear me, what may'st thou not claim For refcued reason, and protected fame? "How sweet the union of two fouls combin'd By virtuous tenderness and love refin'd! "With no defires, but what to faints are given, "We should anticipate the joys of heaven." Emilius filences Julia's fears by a letter pregnant with love, virtue, and poetry. She takes, however, the precaution to invite her friend Conftantia to be her guardian, and with Conftantia's friendly anfwer the first book ends. The fecond book opens with a letter What follows is highly pathetic for from Emilius, which begins thus: the subject. "O, Julia, what a mystery is love! "How full of caprice!-tho' now rais'd above "My highest hopes, I pine with difcontent; [fighs I vent! "Thy breaft I fhare-and yet new "This reftless heart ftill higher would afpire, [defire: Although it does not-dare not more Imaginations ftrange diftra&t my brain, And wifhes wild turn happiness to pain!" her lover, and invites him to return to fome place in the neighbourhood, that fhe may visit him-" at least in thought," as the expreffes it; for fhe is ftill afraid to truft herself with him. With this invitation the third book ends. The fourth book commences with Emilius's return to the oppofite bank of the Severn, whence he is fupposed to view her father's house, and where he writes a letter to her, full of all the tranfports of love, and the madness of defpair. It concludes thus: "Another word of her that I adore. "Julia has heard of fam'd Leucatia's fhore: "It was the refuge of the flighted maid; "And there his vows the hopeless lover paid. “This place, and my distress'd condition bear [near. "To that, alas! refemblance but too The third book begins with a letter "The rock is rugged, and the flood is from Julia, in which she says, "And of the bluflies of my virgin fhame, "That sweeter are the favours love beftows, deep; "Where may a lover in despair not leap?" Julia, in distraction of mind, grants him an interview, and is overcome. This, as we learn in a letter to Conftan "Than what proud man to interceffion tia, was partly owing to her father's owes." All that the grants him, however, is only a kifs; which, trifling as it may seem to fome people, has so violent an effect upon him, that he exclaims, O Julia! Julia!-though thy frown were fate, [thy hate! "That I must rifque-nay, I must risque "I muft-that kifs has fet my foul on fire “Or at thy feet, or-on thy breast expire!" She is, therefore, obliged to banish him; and as he had formerly intimated an intention of making the tour of Wales, fhe makes that her pretence. He complains grievously, but departs. In the mean time her father returns from Spa in renewed health, which is the fubject of joy to both; and Emilius, refigned to his lot, fends her a defcription of Wales; but all these are infufficient to relieve her mind, the languishes for threatening to marry her to another. The raptures of Emilius, and the remorfe of Julia, make up the rest of this book, and are delineated with a force of colouring that does honour to English poetry. Emilius cries, "O let us diet my fweet, my gentle friend! "My best belov'd let us our beings end; "Let us to heaven restore that life it lent, "Since we its pleafures have already fpent. |