stop be
put to it,' is clearly true, on this occasion. The Soul, being moved with
the Characters and Fortunes of those Imaginary Persons, continues going of
its own accord; and we are no more weary to hear what becomes of them,
when they are not on the Stage, than we are to listen to the news of an
absent mistress.

"But it is objected, 'That if one part of the Play may be related; then,
why not all?'

"I answer. Some parts of the Action are more fit to be Represented; some,
to be Related. CORNEILLE says judiciously, 'That the Poet is not obliged
to expose to view all particular actions, which conduce to the principal.
He ought to select such of them to be Seen, which will appear with the
greatest beauty, either by the magnificence of the shew, or the vehemence
of the passions which they produce, or some other charm which they have in
them: and let the rest arrive to the audience, by Narration.'

"'Tis a great mistake in us, to believe the French present no part of the
Action upon the Stage. Every alteration, or crossing of a Design; every
new sprung passion, and turn of it, is a part of the Action, and much the
noblest: except we conceive nothing to be Action, till they come to blows;
as if the painting of the Hero's Mind were not more properly the Poet's
work, than, the strength of his Body.

"Nor does this anything contradict the opinion of HORACE, where he tells
us

"_Segnius irritant animos demissa per aurem
Quam quae sunt occulis subjecta fidelibus._

"For he says, immediately after,

"_Non tamen intus
Digna, geri promes in scenam, Multaque tolles
Ex occulis, quae mox narret facundia praesens._

"Among which 'many,' he recounts some,

"_Nec pueros coram populo MEDEA trucidet,
Aut in avem PROGNE mutetur, CADMUS in anguem, &c._

"that is, 'Those actions, which, by reason of their cruelty, will cause
aversion in us; or (by reason of their impossibility) unbelief [pp. 496,
545], ought either wholly to be avoided by a Poet, or only delivered by
Narration.' To which, we may have leave to add, such as 'to avoid
tumult,' as was before hinted [pp. 535, 544]; or 'to reduce the Plot into
a more reasonable compass of time,' or 'for defect of beauty in them,' are
rather to be Related than presented to the eye.

"Examples of all these kinds, are frequent; not only among all the
Ancients, but in the best received of our English poets.

"We find BEN. JOHNSON using them in his _Magnetic