Garrick, David (1717-1779)

An Essay on Acting

London

Printed for W. Bickerton

1744

"TRAGEDY and COMEDY; the first fixes her Empire on the Passions, and the more exalted Contractions and Dilations of the Heart; the last, tho' not inferior (quotidem Science) holds her Rule over the less enobled Qualities and Districts of human Nature, which are call'd the Humours."

THERE are Two different Kinds of Exhibitions, viz. TRAGEDY and COMEDY; the first fixes her Empire on the Passions, and the more exalted Contractions and Dilations of the Heart; the last, tho' not inferior (quotidem Science) holds her Rule over the less enobled Qualities and Districts of human Nature, which are call'd the Humours: Now in some Cases, Passions are Humours, and Humours Passions; for the Revenges of an Alexander and a Haberdasher, may have the same Fountain, and differ only in their Currents, and tho' the one (Alexander) cannot content himself but with the total Subversion of his Enemy's Kingdom, and the other (the Haberdasher) is satisfy'd with rolling his Antagonist in the Kennel; yet, still it is Revenge, the Mind of one is equally affected in Proportion to the other, and all the Difference lies in the different Ways of satisfying their common Passion. But now to the Application▪ and Design in Hand. If an Actor, and a favourite Actor, in assuming these different Characters with the same Passions, shall unskilfully differ only in Dress, and not in Execution; and supposing him right in One, and of Consequence absolutely ridiculous in the Other. Shall this Actor, I say, in Spite of Reason, Physicks, and common Observation, be caress'd, applauded, admir'd? But to illustrate it more by Example.--Suppose the Murder of Duncan, and the Breaking a Urinal shall affect the Player in the same Manner, and the only Difference is the blue Apron and lac'd Coat, shall we be chill'd at the Murderer, and roar at the Tobacconist? Fie for Shame!--As the One must be absolutely the Reverse of Right, I think the Publick, for so gross an Imposition, should drive both off the Stage. When Drugger becomes Macbeth, and Macbeth Drugger, I feel for the Manes of the Immortal Shakespear, and Inimitable Ben; I bemoan the Taste of my Country, and I would have the Buffoon sacrific'd to appease the Muses, and restore to us a true Dramatick Taste, by such an examplary Piece of Justice. I shall now, as relative to my my present Subject, describe in what Manner the two abovemention'd Characters ought to be mentally and corporeally Agitated, under the different Circumstances of the Dagger, and Urinal; and by that shall more fully delineate what is meant by Passions and Humours. When Abel Drugger has broke the Urinal, he is mentally absorb'd with the different Ideas of the invaluable Price of the Urinal, and the Punishment that may be inflicted in Consequence of a Curiosity, no way appertaining or belonging to the Business he came about. Now, if this, as it certainly is, the Situation of his Mind, How are the different Members of the Body to be agitated? Why Thus,--His Eyes must be revers'd from the Object he is most intimidated with, and by dropping his Lip at the some Time to the Object, it throws a trembling Languor upon every Muscle, and by declining the right Part of the Head towards the Urinal, it casts the most comic Terror and Shame over all the upper Part of the Body, that can be imagin'd; and to make the lower Part equally ridiculous, his Toes must be inverted from the Heel, and by holding his Breath, he will unavoidably give himself a Tremor in the Knees, and if his Fingers, at the same Time, seem convuls'd, it finishes the compleatest low Picture of Grotesque Terror that can be imagin'd by a Dutch Painter.--Let this be compar'd with the modern Copies, and then let the Town judge.--Now to Macbeth.--When the Murder of Duncan is committed, from an immediate Consciousness of the Fact, his Ambition is ingulph'd at that Instant, by the Horror of the Deed; his Faculties are intensely rivited to the Murder alone, without having the least Consolation of the consequential Advantages, to comfort him in that Exigency. He should at that Time, be a moving Statue, or indeed a petrify'd Man; his Eyes must Speak, and his Tongue be metaphorically Silent; his Ears must be sensible of imaginary Noises, and deaf to the present and audible Voice of his Wife; his Attitudes must be quick and permanent; his Voice articulately trembling, and confusedly intelligible; the Murderer should be seen in every Limb, and yet every Member, at that Instant, should seem separated from his Body, and his Body from his Soul: This is the Picture of a compleat Regicide, and as at that Time the Orb below should be hush as death; I hope I shall not be thought minutely circumstantial, if I should advise a real Genius to wear Cork Heels to his Shoes, as in this Scene he should seem to tread on Air, and I promise him he will soon discover the great Benefit of this (however seeming trifling) Piece of Advice.
(pp. 5-9)

Government::Empire Government::Rule and Subjection::Rule Over Passions Geography::Districts

Reading at Folger; text from ECCO-TCP.

1 entry in ESTC (1744).

An Essay on Acting: In Which Will Be Consider'd the Mimical Behaviour of a Certain Fashionable Faulty Actor, ... to Which Will Be Added, a Short Criticism on His Acting Macbeth. (London: Printed for W. Bickerton, 1744). <Link to ESTC> <Link to ECCO-TCP>

07/03/2014