infant audience with her tales,
Breathing astonishment! of witching rhymes,
And evil spirits; of the death-bed call
Of him who robbed the widow, and devour'd
The orphan's portion; of the unquiet souls
Ris'n from the grave to ease the heavy guilt
Of deeds in life concealed; of shapes that walk
At dead of night, and clank their chains, and wave
The torch of hell around the murd'rer's bed.
At every solemn pause the crowd recoil,
Gazing each other speechless, and congeal'd
With shiv'ring sighs; till, eager for th' event,
Around the beldam all erect they hang,
Each trembling heart with grateful terrors quell'd."[65]

No prudent mother will ever imitate this eloquent village matron, nor
will she permit any beldam in the nursery to conjure up these sublime
shapes, and to quell the hearts of her children with these grateful
terrors. We were once present when a group of speechless children sat
listening to the story of Blue-beard, "breathing astonishment." A
gentleman who saw the charm beginning to operate, resolved to
counteract its dangerous influence. Just at the critical moment, when
the fatal key drops from the trembling hands of the imprudent wife,
the gentleman interrupted the awful pause of silence that ensued, and
requested permission to relate the remainder of the story.
Tragi-comedy does not offend the taste of young, so much as of old
critics; the transition from grave to gay was happily managed.
Blue-beard's wife afforded much diversion, and lost all sympathy the
moment she was represented as a curious, tattling, timid, ridiculous
woman. The terrors of Blue-beard himself subsided when he was properly
introduced to the company; and the denouement of the piece was managed
much to the entertainment of the audience; the catastrophe, instead of
freezing their young blood, produced general laughter. Ludicrous
images, thus presented to the mind which has been prepared for horror,
have an instantaneous effect upon the risible muscles: it seems better
to use these means of counteracting the terrors of the imagination,
than to reason upon the subject whilst the fit is on; reason should be
used between the fits.[66] Those who study the minds of children know
the nice touches which affect their imagination, and they can, by a
few words, change their feelings by the power of association.

Ferdinand Duke of Tuscany was once struck with the picture of a child
crying: the pai