The Mississippi Creole. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1841-1851, 1841-05-29

GA auHeFC0CG W WHICH VIII guarantee
that any gentleman Of moderate abilities
will be enabled after six lessons-pav-
ment to be made in advance-to draw
tears from the heart of stone!
Pathos is distinguished from Bathos by
the difference of its initial consonant
Its object is to excite grief, sympathy,
compassion, tenderness, or regret. An
other ofits objects is to present the author
before the eye of his reader as a man cl
the most tender and susceptible feelings
/. a creatureofthe most delicate sentiments
and, above all things, melancholy and
gentlemanlike.
Our first rule therefore is-that the
author shall, as preliminary step lei
Their in the preface or in the very first
chapter), give the public a sort of insight
INTO his olcn character and appearance.
1t adds greatly to the pleasure we derive
from any work to have an idea of the au-
thor. A chivaIrous or heroic lamenta-
ton, which would be pathetic from an
author Of twenty-five, six feethigh. with
dark flowing ringIets, would be ridicu-
lous coming from a little, fusty old fell
low OF tiity-seven, with his natural red
locks replaced by q light brown wig.
Now, though Nature is capricious in these
matters, and sometimes lodges a mighty
soul IN very contemplate looking bo-
dy, that is no reason why the author him
self should be restricted in his choice Of
appearance. In print-if not in reality
-itlsp possible for all men TO be ApoIlos;
and IN pathetic composition it is highly
necessary that the author either should
have been in his youth, or remain at pre-
sent--pre-cminentIy handsome. The Sc
cond rule, therefore, we would lay down
ls-be handsome. The hero, you will
understand, is generally considered an
adumbration Of yourself, and you are a.
ware that nobody cares a single halfpen-
my for anugly hero fist Leon and Cy-
ril Thornton had been a couple of SQUAD,
Dutch-built, Aat-nosed, widc-mouthed,
commonplace looking individuals, who
the deuce would be interested in the sligh-
test degree by The lathos Of their I'M
.seemly scars? There is no pathos. we
say again and again in the most aDpal-
y
ed @E2iXtura ofearlh's monld,"
As 1t has been agreed upon by all phi
losophers thnt man is an initiative ami
NAL, and, according to the proyerb, is
more easily led by example than procepG
our third rule is, "be melancholy your
self" This IS perhaps the most indispen-
sable Of ali the accessories 10 the pathet-
ic. If a fellow with a great round laugh
lug face begins telling q tale Of wo, the
thing appears ridiculous OF once You
might as well expect a book on cookery
from the living skeleton. And here we
have again an unspeakable advantage o.
yer Naturel inasmuch as wa have it in
our power to paint oursevesin as sombre
colors as we like. There should be no
want ton the authors part Of the drops Of
sympathetic emotion, and you may de-
pend upon it when readers see a man
and here it will be useful TO describe
yourselfas a veteran Of a hundred fights
when the reader, we say, sees a gal
liant officer continually crying, he will in
time suspect that there must be aston
ishing pathos in the narrative, and in all
probability will weep with thee tear for
tear.''
These regulations, it will be seen, re-
fer only to the author, and not to the sub
iect or conduct Of his compositions What
has been said, however, Of the personal
requisites of the writer, applies with e.
quail force, in some styles ofthe pathct-
ic, to the hero Of the story. There are
certain classes of melancholy compost
ton that require quite another species of
hero-such as the simple--the humble
or the natural. Ia this style, the more
gentle, unassuming, and meek you make
your hero, or still better, your heroine,
the greater chance you have Of success.
This, however, is too dangerous a a.y lie
to venture on, as you must trust to the
workings Of nature, and not to the die
tGtes Of art. With this, therefore, we
shall have nothing to do just now, farth-
er than to say, that Sterne's Maria and
lie Fevre-Margaret Lindsay-the Man
OF Feeling--Paul and [irginia-end sim
liar works, do not come within our cafe
-Jry Of tn pathetic, an4 Sc m as ifthey
had been ritten in direct contradiction
to our rules. One Of the great criteri-
ons Of the reality Of grief is its not wait
ing for the fttest places for display.
True sorrow, we know, is rrepressible,
and incapable Of being hid. Il is, there
tore, proper tointroduce the most distress
sing thoughts or incidents at all times
and seasons. When your heroine goes
TO christening, let her sigh over the
mlserIes Of life, and the gayest company
you can imagine, let her get into a cor
ner Of the dimly lighted hal--where ev-
cry now and then she hears the swelt oi
joyous music fronsthe dancing- room-anG
there let her look utofthe window up ID
the starless sky, and weep a much as
she can. We have known this to have
very powerful effect, and we can an
Syver for II that r3at one raadar IL, ta, xt,i