So in grief, if we attend to the same class of phenomena, we
shall be able to draw an exact picture. Let us imagine to ourselves
the overwhelming influence of grief on woman. The object
in her mind has absorbed all the powers of the frame, the body is
no more regarded, the spirits have left it, it reclines, and the limbs
gravitate; they are nerveless and relaxed, and she scarcely breathes;
but why comes at intervals the long drawn sigh ?—why are the neck
and throat convulsed ?—what causes the swelling and quivering of
the lips, and the deadly paleness of the face ?—or why is the hand
so pale and earthly cold?—and why,, at intervals, as the agony
returns, does the convulsion spread over the frame like a paroxysm
of suffocation ?
it must, I think, be acknowledged, when we come to arrange
these phenomena, these outward signs of the passions, that they
cannot be traced to the direct influence of the mind. However
strange it may sound to unaccustomed ears, it is to the heart and
lungs, and all the extended instrument of breathing, that we are to
trace these effects.
Over these motions of the body the mind has an unequal control.
By a strong effort the outward tokens may be restrained, at
least in regard to the general bearing of the body; but who, while
suffering, can retain the natural fulness of his features, or the
healthful colour of his cheek, the unembarrassed respiration and
clearness of the natural voice ? The villain may command his voice,
and mask his purpose with light and libertine words, or carry an
habitual sneer of contempt of all softer passions; but his unnatural
paleness, and the sinking of his features, will betray that he suffers.
Clarence says to his murderers, “ How deadly thou dost look!—
Speak! your eyes do menace me—Why look you pale ?”
The just feelings of mankind demand respect ; men will not
have the violence of grief obtruded on them. The actor, to preserve
the dignity of his character, must permit only those uncontrollable
signs of inward suffering to escape, betraying how much
he feels, and how much he restrains.
Even while asleep, these interior organs of feeling will prevail,
and betray the source of muscular expression. Has my reader seen
Mrs. Siddons in Queen Katherine during that solemn scene, while
the sad note is played which she named her knell ? Who taught
the crowd sitting at a play, an audience differing in age, habits, and
education, to believe those quivering motions, and that gentle smile,
and those slight convulsive twitchings, to be true to nature ? To
see every one hushed to the softest breathing of sympathy with the
silent expression of the actress, exhibits all mankind held together
by one universal feeling, and that feeling excited by expression so
deep laid in our nature, as to have influence without being obvious
to reason.
To illustrate this curious subject, I shall first explain the ex