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Page 11
These are the likeliest Copies, which are drawn
By the Original of human Life.
Ld. _Roscommon_.
[M: Horat. in Art. Poet. _v._ 317, &c.]
The Strokes which compose a Character must be bold, but not
extravagant. Nature must not be distorted, to excite either Ridicule
or Admiration. Reason must hold the Reins of the Imagination: Judgment
must direct the Fancy; otherwise we shall be apt to miscarry, and
connect inconsistent Ideas, at the very Time, when we think we hit the
Point of Humour to the Life.
The only Thing that can be said to excuse Mr. _de la Bruyere_ on this
Head, is what the Abbot _Fleury_ has alledg'd to his Praise; namely,
[N]that his Characters are sometimes loaded, on purpose that they
might not too nearly resemble the Persons design'd.
[N: On trouve dans ses Characteres une severe Critique, des
Expressions vives, des Tours ingenieux, des Peintures quelquefois
charge�s expr�s, pour ne les pas faire trop ressemblantes.
_Discours prononc� dans l'Academie Fran�aise._ 1696.]
'Tis very dangerous, I confess, to make free with the Characters of
particular Persons; for there are some Men in the World, who, tho'
they are not asham'd of the Impropriety of their own
Manners, yet are they easily offended at the public Notice which is
taken of 'em. But tho' Mr. _de la Bruyere_ might have very good
prudential Reasons for not making his Characters too particular, yet
those Reasons cannot be urg'd, as a just Plea for his transgressing
the Bounds of Characteristic-Justice, by making his Images unnatural.
In every Kind of Writing there is something of an establish'd Nature
which is essential to it. To deviate from this, is to deviate from
Nature it self. Mr. _de la Bruyere_ is not the only _French_ Man who
is guilty in this Point. Others of his Country-Men have committed much
the same Fault in Pastoral and Comedy. Out of a vain Affectation of
saying something very extraordinary and remarkable, they have departed
from the nature of Things: They have given to the Simplicity of the
Country, the Airs of the Town and Court, introduced upon the Stage
Buffoonry and Farce instead of Humour; and by misrepresenting the real
Manners of Men, they have turn'd Nature into Grimace.
The main Beauty of _Characteristic-Writings_ consists in a certain
Life and Spirit, which the Writer ought to endeavour to keep up, by
all the Arts which he is Master of. Nothing will contribute to this
more, than the Observance of a strict Unity in the very Conception of
a Character: For Characters are Descriptions of Persons and Things, as
they are such: And, as [O]Mr. _Budgell_ has very judiciously observ'd,
"If the Reader is diverted in the midst of a Character, and his
Attention call'd off to any thing foreign to it, the lively Impression
it shou'd have made is quite broken, and it loses more than half its
Force." But if this Doctrine be applied to the Practice of Mr. _de la
Bruyere_, it will find him Guilty. He sometimes runs his Characters
to so great a Length, and mixes in 'em so many Particulars and
unnecessary Circumstances, that they justly deserve the Name, rather
of Histories than Characters.--Such is the [P]Article concerning
_Emira_. 'Tis an artful Description of a Woman's Vanity, in pretending
to be insensible to the Power of Love, merely because she has never
been exposed to the Charms of a lovely Person; and there is nothing in
this Character, but what is agreeable to Nature, and carried on with a
great deal of Humour. But the many Particulars which Mr. _de la
Bruyere_ has drawn into the Composition of it, and which, in Truth,
are not essential to the main Design, have quite chang'd the Nature of
the Character, and converted it into a History, or rather a little
Romance.--'Tis true, Histories are Pictures as well as Characters; but
yet there will ever be as wide a Difference between 'em, as there is
between a Picture at full Length, and one in Miniature.
[O: Preface to _Theophrastus_.]
[P: C. des Femmes. ad fin.]
The [Q]Characters of _Giton_ and _Phebon_ are humorous enough. And
they are allow'd to be kept within the just Bounds of Probability. But
Mr. _de la Bruyere_ has heap'd up so many Particulars and unnecessary
Circumstances, which do not convey any new Ideas, that the Characters
grow languid and tedious.--_Giton_ is respected; every thing that he
says or does is approved of. _Phebon_ is despis'd; no Notice is taken
of what he says or does. The Reason of this Difference is not so
mysterious, but that it may be told in less than two or three Pages.
_Giton_ is rich, and _Phebon_ is poor.
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