Brak. Had you such leisure in the time of death, Clar. Methought I had; and often did I strive I passed, methought, the melancholy flood, The first that there did greet my stranger soul, Seize on him, furies, take him to your torments!" Clar. O, Brakenbury, I have done these things, That now give evidence against my soul, For Edward's sake; and see how he requites me! My soul is heavy, and I fain would sleep. Brak. I will, my lord. [Clarence reposes himself on a chair. Sorrow breaks seasons and reposing hours, Makes the night morning, and the noontide night. Princes have but their titles for their glories, An outward honor for an inward toil: And, for unfelt imaginations, They often feel a world of restless cares; There's nothing differs but the outward fame. This dialogue, in which Clarence relates to Brakenbury his sublime and terrible dream, occurs in Shakspeare's tragedy of King Richard III. It is one of the best pieces in our language, for a rhetorical exercise. The phrases in italic should be given with great power, and those in small capitals on a still higher key. Some individuals say they think dialogues are theatrical, and consequently immoral. A dialogue is merely an interchange of sentiment,-a colloquy between two or more persons. Socrates conversed with Cebes and his other friends, during the last day and moments of his life, with a view of convincing them that the soul is immortal. That sublime and solemn dialogue is published in Plato's Phedon. The interviews which the apostles had with those to whom they taught the gospel, with each other, and with our Savior himself, may, with propriety, be called dialogues. Conversation is but another word for dialogue. Dialogues, like single pieces, are rendered good or bad, by the sentiments embodied in them. But even if they were neither good nor bad, in a moral point of view, they would aid the student, very much, in his efforts to become excellently skilled in reading and oratory. In some dialogues, serious characters appear; in others, ludicrous; and this is according to nature. In conversation or dialogues, the intonations and inflections of the voice, are more likely to be correct, than in reading or declaiming single pieces. Gesticulation, too, is generally better. The writer both admits and contends, that the influence of the unnatural manner in which actors sometimes exhibit the passions, the dresses of some female performers,-the intoxicating drinks used in theatres, and the bad women that frequent them, is to corrupt morals. As a substitute for the "unlawful pleasures," if indeed they can be called pleasures, to be found at badly conducted theatres; he would recommend those "innocent ones," which may be derived from reading pieces, or exhibiting dialogues, plays, and tragedies "of chaste wit, as well as of pathos, beauty, and sublimity." 86. VIRGINIUS AND LUCIUS.-James Sheridan Knowles Lucius. 'Tis well you're found, Virginius! Siccius Dentatus, that true son of Rome, On whose white locks the mother looked more proudly Most hopeful sons, is nothing but this, The sign and token of himself! Look, comrades, Our father has been murdered. We'll revenge him Luc. Virginius! Vir. I did not mind thee, Lucius! Uncommon things make common things forgot. Luc. You are wanted Vir. How! is it something can't be told Luc. He is both safe and well. Vir. What then? What then? Tell me the matter, Lucius, Luc. I have said It shall be told you. Vir. Shall! I stay not for That shall, unless it be so close at hand Virginius. Hear me then with patience. I am patient. Luc. Your Virginia Vir. Stop, my Lucius! I am cold in every member of my frame! [Going. [Returns. If 'tis prophetic, Lucius, of thy news, Give me such token as her tomb would, Lucius, Luc. You are still Vir. I thank thee, Jupiter! I am still a father! Vir. What, is she sick? Luc. No. Vir. Neither dead nor sick! All well! No harm! Nothing amiss! Each guarded quarter safe, That fear may lay him down and sleep, and yet This sounding the alarm! I swear thou tell'st A story strangely.-Out with't! I have patience For any thing, since my Virginia lives, That pander! Ha! Virginia! you appear To couple them. What makes my fair Virginia Beside lasciviousness! His suit! What suit? Luc. He has claimed Virginia. Vir. Claimed her! Claimed her! On what pretence? Luc. He says she is the child Of a slave of his, who sold her to thy wife. Vir. Go on;-you see I'm calm. Luc. He seized her in The school, and dragged her to the forum, where Appius was giving judgment. Vir. Dragg'd her to The forum! Well! I told you, Lucius, I would be patient. Luc. Vir. Numitorious there confronted him! True, true, I know it was in presence of The decemvir-O! had I confronted him! And light upon the issue! Where is she? Luc. I was despatched to fetch thee, ere I could learn. That lowers before, moves only in subservience With its own mischief break it and disperse it, The "Tragedy of Virginius," from which this dialogue is taken, is founded on historical facts. We learn from "Ferguson's Rome," that " Appius Claudius, one of the usurpers, being captivated with the beauty of Virginia, the child of an honorable family, and already betrothed to a person of her own condition, endeavored to make himself master of her person, by depriving her at once of her parentage and of her liberty. For this purpose, under pretence that she had been born in servitude, and that she had been stolen away in her infancy, he suborned a person to claim her as his slave. The decemvir himself being judge in this iniquitous suit, gave judgment against the helpless party, and ordered her to be removed to the house of the person by whom he was claimed. In this affecting scene, the father, under pretence of bidding a last farewell to his child, came forward to embrace her; and, in the presence of the multitude, having then no other means to preserve her honor, he availed himself of the prerogative of a Roman father, and stabbed her to the heart with a knife. The indignation which arose from this piteous sight, reëstablished a patrician administration." When Virginius tells Lucius,- You see I'm calm "....." O, I'll be patient"-he was greatly agitated; and, of course, those phrases, and other similar ones, are ironical. His deepest indignation was naturally aroused against the lascivious tyrant. |