-
Articles/Ads
Article THE MIRROR OF THE SPIS. ← Page 2 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Mirror Of The Spis.
the same ; the latter consisting of nothing more than a pair of fugitive lovers , who elude the vigilance of the lady ' s relatives , and render the schemes for her recovery abortive , by means of a wooden lath . But . if the poverty of invention displayed in pantomimes render them con ^ - teinptible , what shall we say to their unmeaning extravagances ? when , as witches mutter their incantations or Harlequin waves his sword
, , the most wonderful events take place—lions roar , and dragons vomit flames ; _ cottages are transformed into palaces , mountains are removed , and cities razed to their foundations ; heaven descends , and hell opens ; and all this merely because a pretty girl , falls in love with a ^ black fellow , drest in a party-coloured jacket , whose only merit consists in the lightness of his heels . But she is oonosed in her
inrlrnations by a decrepit ! old man , an effeminate fop , and a fool ; and it is for the purpose of crowning such an amiable passion with success , and overcoming such a formidable trio , that the recesses of the forest are ransacked for its wild inhabitants , and ocean made to disgorge its monsters , that the chimeras of a deranged fancy are realized , a mob . -ofgods , devils , and human beings , collected together , and all created
existence reduced to its ori ginal chaos . Disgraceful to the public taste as such a partiality for nonsensical extravagance may prove , it may be partly accounted for in a manner that can be little suspected by one who takes but a cursory view of the matter : you will , perhaps , Sir , be startled if I assert that it arises in some degree from a misapplication of the noblest faculties of the mind . Whoever examine themselves with attention will find that
, the soul possesses capacities for enjoyments of a more exalted and delightful kind than can ever be gratified in this state of existence . If we be placed in situations the mostfelicitous , and be enraptured with pleasures the most acute and the most refined that this terrene abode is capable of affording , the soul at those happy moments , disencumbered from the affliftive- clogs by which she is usually enchained
within her mortal tenement , springs out , upborne on the wings of fancy , into the airy regions of fiftion , and then becomes peculiarly sensible of the . exalted happiness she is capable of attaining . If we hear anair which affects our finest sensibilities by its deli ghtfully plaintive strains , we easily form an idea of some heavenly being " tunino- his lyre to notes of celestial melody , and feel how much we are capable of being ravished , could we hear those seraphic sounds which were never yet permitted to enter a mortal ear . If we be pleased with the
agreeable scenery ot nature , and enjoy the delights with which she innocentl y gratifies the senses , a refined imagination leads us to wander * n an elysium of her own creation , where the streams flow in more beautiful meanders , where the flowers expand their charms in more variegated and luxuriant tints , and the balmy gale murmurs impreo--. 'inted with more odoriferous scents . It is true , a mind animated . byvirtue and sublimed by devotionaspires to a more exalted felicity
, , than even the blameless gratifications of the senses can produce : if seeks to attain that state of existence where the social affections can e xert themselves with a more energetic and expansive vigour , and piet y flame with a more sublime ardour , than while thcr- soul is
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Mirror Of The Spis.
the same ; the latter consisting of nothing more than a pair of fugitive lovers , who elude the vigilance of the lady ' s relatives , and render the schemes for her recovery abortive , by means of a wooden lath . But . if the poverty of invention displayed in pantomimes render them con ^ - teinptible , what shall we say to their unmeaning extravagances ? when , as witches mutter their incantations or Harlequin waves his sword
, , the most wonderful events take place—lions roar , and dragons vomit flames ; _ cottages are transformed into palaces , mountains are removed , and cities razed to their foundations ; heaven descends , and hell opens ; and all this merely because a pretty girl , falls in love with a ^ black fellow , drest in a party-coloured jacket , whose only merit consists in the lightness of his heels . But she is oonosed in her
inrlrnations by a decrepit ! old man , an effeminate fop , and a fool ; and it is for the purpose of crowning such an amiable passion with success , and overcoming such a formidable trio , that the recesses of the forest are ransacked for its wild inhabitants , and ocean made to disgorge its monsters , that the chimeras of a deranged fancy are realized , a mob . -ofgods , devils , and human beings , collected together , and all created
existence reduced to its ori ginal chaos . Disgraceful to the public taste as such a partiality for nonsensical extravagance may prove , it may be partly accounted for in a manner that can be little suspected by one who takes but a cursory view of the matter : you will , perhaps , Sir , be startled if I assert that it arises in some degree from a misapplication of the noblest faculties of the mind . Whoever examine themselves with attention will find that
, the soul possesses capacities for enjoyments of a more exalted and delightful kind than can ever be gratified in this state of existence . If we be placed in situations the mostfelicitous , and be enraptured with pleasures the most acute and the most refined that this terrene abode is capable of affording , the soul at those happy moments , disencumbered from the affliftive- clogs by which she is usually enchained
within her mortal tenement , springs out , upborne on the wings of fancy , into the airy regions of fiftion , and then becomes peculiarly sensible of the . exalted happiness she is capable of attaining . If we hear anair which affects our finest sensibilities by its deli ghtfully plaintive strains , we easily form an idea of some heavenly being " tunino- his lyre to notes of celestial melody , and feel how much we are capable of being ravished , could we hear those seraphic sounds which were never yet permitted to enter a mortal ear . If we be pleased with the
agreeable scenery ot nature , and enjoy the delights with which she innocentl y gratifies the senses , a refined imagination leads us to wander * n an elysium of her own creation , where the streams flow in more beautiful meanders , where the flowers expand their charms in more variegated and luxuriant tints , and the balmy gale murmurs impreo--. 'inted with more odoriferous scents . It is true , a mind animated . byvirtue and sublimed by devotionaspires to a more exalted felicity
, , than even the blameless gratifications of the senses can produce : if seeks to attain that state of existence where the social affections can e xert themselves with a more energetic and expansive vigour , and piet y flame with a more sublime ardour , than while thcr- soul is