ABSTRACT
Bedlam, Apr. 9, 1752. SIR,—I have been confined in this Place four Years; my Friends, that is, my Relations, but, as I call them, my Enemies, think me Mad, but to show you I am not, I’ll send you a Specimen of my Present State of Mind.—About a Week ago, a grave Gentleman came to the Grate of my Cell and threw me in a Pamphlet, written it seems by a Gent. of Cambridge. I read it over, and approve the Drama much, but I must send you some Thoughts that occur’d to me from Reading the Prefix’d Five Letters2-the Author it seems lives at PembrokeHall, in Cambridge, where Sophocles, Euripides, and Æschilus, have, I don’t doubt, been his darling Studies, not forgetting the abominable Rules of Aristotle, who indisputably wrote very properly concerning Dramatic Poetry at his Time of Day, but what a Figure wou’d a Modern Tragedy make with his three Unities!—if Shakespeare had observed them-he wou’d have flown like a Paper-Kite, not soar’d like an Eagle.—Again, Sir, as to his Chorus he is so fond of, why that did very well amongst the Greek Writers; but methinks this Mr. Chorus would be a very impertinent Fellow if he was to put in his Observations on any of Shakespeare’s interesting Scenes; as for Example, what do you think of this same Chorus, if he was to be upon the Stage when, in the Play of Othello, Iago is imprinting those exquisite Tints of Jealousy upon Othello’s Mind in the third Act; or suppose when Desdemona drops the fatal Handkerchief, the Chorus was to call after her to bid her take it up again, or tell the Audience what was to happen in Case she did not. Or suppose, Sir, this same Chorus was to stand by, and tell us Brutus and Cassius were going to differ, but that they would make it up again-would not this prevent the noble Anxiety this famous Scene in Julius Cœsar raises in the Minds of a sensible Audience? Another Use this ingenious Gentleman finds out for the Chorus, and that is, to explain the Characters and Sentiments of the several Personages in the Drama, to the Audience. Now, Sir, there is a Nation in the World which has found out a way of doing this very effectually without interrupting the Action-—and that is, the Chinese; these People always make the Characters of the Drama come upon the Stage before the Play begins, and tell who they are, as thus Sir.
