Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/318

308 the ſon into a brother. Poetical juſtice is carefully diſtributed; Phædra and Lycon are juſtly made the ſufferers, while Hippolitus and Iſmena eſcape the vengeance of Theſeus. The play is not deſtitute of the pathetic, tho’ much more regard is paid to the purity and elegance of the language, than a poet more acquainted with the workings of the heart would have done. We ſhall give an example to illuſtrate this obſervation. When Theſeus reproaches Hippolitus for his love to Iſmena, and at the ſame time dooms him as the victim of his revenge and jealouſy, he uſes theſe words,

We cannot ſuppoſe that a man wrought up to fury, by the flame of jealouſy, and a ſenſe of afronted dignity, could be ſo particular in giving his ſon directions how to behave in hell, and to whom he ſhould relate the ſtory of his fate. When any paſſion violently overwhelms the ſoul, the perſon who feels it, always ſpeaks ſententiouſly, avoids repetitions, and is not capable of much recollection, at leaſt of making a minute detail of circumſtances. In how few words, and with greater force would Shakeſpear have conduced this ſpeech of Theſeus. An example will prove it: when Othello is informed that Caſſio is ſlain, he replies, Had