A Critical Essay on Characteristic-Writings - From his translation of The Moral Characters of Theophrastus (1725) by Henry Gally
page 28 of 53 (52%)
page 28 of 53 (52%)
|
The original Design of Characteristic-Writings is to give us real Images of Life. An exact Imitation of Nature is the chief Art which is to be usâd. The Imagination, I own, may be allowâd to work in Pieces of this Kind, provided it keeps within the Degrees of Probability; But Mr. _de la Bruyere_ gives us Characters of Men, who are not to be found in Nature; and, out of a false Affectation of the Wonderful, he carries almost every thing to Excess; represents the Irregularities of Life as downright Madness, and by his false Colours converts Men into Monsters. [I]_Troilus_ is a very supercilious Man: And âtis no ways inconsistent with this Character to suppose, that he may entertain a natural Antipathy against an ugly Face, or a bad Voice; but our Author represents him as labourirg under this Distemper to such a Degree of Excess, as, I believe, has never been observâd in any Man. I do not know by what Name it may be callâd. _Troilus_ conceives an immediate Aversion against a Person that enters the Room where he is; he shuns him, flies from him, and will throw himself out at the Window, rather than suffer himself to be accosted by one, whose Face and Voice he does not like.--Is this Humour, or, rather, are not these the genuine Symptoms of Madness and Phrenzy? And if _Troilus_ does really act after this manner, is he not rather an Object of Pity, than a Subject for Humour and Ridicule? [I: De la Societè & de la Conversation. Ad init.] The Character of _Cleanthes_, in the same [K]Chapter, is a Misrepresentation of Nature.--â_Cleanthes_ is a very honest Man; he has chosen a Wife, who is the best and the most reasonable Woman in |
|