The Mirror Author:Henry Mackenzie Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: precautions to introduce the thought in a familiar and eafy manner, he is aware of her difpleafure. Here, therefore, as in the former .part of the fcene, he muft... more » depend on his command of temper, and, on the fame means, of artfully irritating her emotion till it entirely fubfides. Accordingly, perfifting in his adulation, he incenfes her anger to its utmoft extreme : and, finally, by varying the attitude of his flatteries, by affuming an humble and fuppliant addrefs, he fabdues her foul to the dominion of guilty vanity In the clofe of the dialogue, we may trace diftinctly the decline of her ,emotion. It follows the fame courfe as the paffiou fhe exprefles at the, beginning of the fcene. She is at firft violent; becomes more violent; her paffion fubfides ; yet fome ideas of propriety wandering acrofs her mind, lhe makes an effort to recal her refentment ; the effort is feeble ; it amounts to no more than to exprds contempt in her afpect ; it is baffled by a new attitude of adulation ; and, by a pretended indirect appeal to her com- paffion, fhe is totally vanquimed. Through the whole of this fcene, our abhorrence, our difguft and contempt, excited by cruelty, falfehood, meannefs, and infignfficance of mind, are fo counterbalanced by the feelings that arife on the view of ability, felf-pofleffion, knowledge of character, and the maflerly difplay of human nature, as that, inftead of impairing, they rather contribute force to the general fenfation of pleafure. The conduct of Richard towards a character of more determined virtue, or.of more ftubborn paffi- ons, would have been abfurd : towards Lady Anne it was natural, and attended with that fuccefs, which it was calculated to obtain. No. 67. Tuesday, December aS, 1779. To the Author of tie Mirror. S I R, YOUR predece...« less