ut into words;[7] or
what connexion that absolute mastery over the heart and soul of man,
which a great dramatic poet possesses, has with those low tricks upon
the eye and ear, which a player by observing a few general effects,
which some common passion, as grief, anger, &c. usually has upon the
gestures and exterior, can so easily compass. To know the internal
workings and movements of a great mind, of an Othello or a Hamlet for
instance, the _when_ and the _why_ and the _how far_ they should be
moved; to what pitch a passion is becoming; to give the reins and to
pull in the curb exactly at the moment when the drawing in or the
slackening is most graceful; seems to demand a reach of intellect of a
vastly different extent from that which is employed upon the bare
imitation of the signs of these passions in the countenance or
gesture, which signs are usually observed to be most lively and
emphatic in the weaker sort of minds, and which signs can after all
but indicate some passion, as I said before, anger, or grief,
generally; but of the motives and grounds of the passion, wherein it
differs from the same passion in low and vulgar natures, of these the
actor can give no more idea by his face or gesture than the eye
(without a metaphor) can speak, or the muscles utter intelligible
sounds. But such is the instantaneous nature of the impressions which
we take in at the eye and ear at a playhouse, compared with the slow
apprehension oftentimes of the understanding in reading, that we are
apt not only to sink the play-writer in the consideration which we pay
to the actor, but even to identify in our minds in a perverse manner,
the actor with the character which he represents. It is difficult for
a frequent playgoer to disembarrass the idea of Hamlet from the person
and voice of Mr. K. We speak of Lady Macbeth, while we are in reality
thinking of Mrs. S. Nor is this confusion incidental alone to
unlettered persons, who, not possessing the advantage of reading, are
necessarily dependent upon the stage-player for all the pleasure which
they can receive from the drama, and to whom the very idea of _what an
author is_ cannot be made comprehensible without some pain and
perplexity of mind: the error is one from which persons otherwise not
meanly lettered, find it almost impossible to extricate themselves.

[7] It is observable that we fall into this confusion only in
_dramatic_ recitations. We never dream that the gentleman