When asked how he felt upon the ill success of his tragedy, he replied, 'Like the Monument[1];' meaning that he continued firm and unmoved as that column. And let it be remembered, as an admonition to the genus irritabile[2] of dramatick writers, that this great man, instead of peevishly complaining of the bad taste of the town, submitted to its decision without a murmur. He had, indeed, upon all
- ↑ Johnson wrote of Milton:—'I cannot but conceive him calm and confident, little disappointed, not at all dejected, relying on his own merit with steady consciousness, and waiting without impatience the vicissitudes of opinion, and the impartiality of a future generation.' Johnson's Works, vii. 108.
- ↑
language than a representation of natural affections, or of any state probable or possible in human life. . . . The events are expected without solicitude, and are remembered without joy or sorrow. . . . Its success has introduced or confirmed among us the use of dialogue too declamatory, of unaffecting elegance and chill philosophy.' Works, vii. 456. 'Johnson thought Cato the best model of tragedy we had; yet he used to say, of all things the most ridiculous would be to see a girl cry at the representation of it.' Johnson's Works (1787) xi. 207. Cato, if neglected, has added at least eight 'habitual quotations' to the language (see Thackeray's English Humourists, p. 98). Irene has perhaps not added a single one. It has nevertheless some quotable lines, such as—
| 'Crowds that hide a monarch from himself.' | Act i. sc. 4. |
| 'To cant . . . of reason to a lover.' | Act iii. sc. 1. |
| 'When e'en as love was breaking off from wonder, And tender accents quiver'd on my lips.' |
Ib. |
| 'And fate lies crowded in a narrow space.' Act iii. sc. 6. | |
| 'Reflect that life and death, affecting sounds, Are only varied modes of endless being.' |
Act iii. sc. 8. |
| 'Directs the planets with a careless nod.' | Ib. |
| 'Far as futurity's untravell'd waste.' | Act iv. sc. 1. |
| 'And wake from ignorance the western world.' | Act iv. sc. 2. |
| 'Through hissing ages a proverbial coward. The tale of women, and the scorn of fools.' |
Act iv. sc. 3. |
| 'No records but the records of the sky.' | Ib. |
| ' . . . thou art sunk beneath reproach.' | Act v. sc. 2. |
| 'Oh hide me from myself.' | Act v. sc. 3. |
