“Dear Patmore,—I shall be glad if I am able to accomplish a letter to you to-day, even a short one; but as there is no post to-morrow, though I am more worried by very different matters than I can explain to you, I do not like to lose another day in telling you how much I have been struck with Evadne.
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lacking a framework constructed after those “fashionable” models which even such writers as the Bulwers, D’Israelis, and the author of “Tremaine” himself, felt themselves at that day called upon to adopt, in order to secure attention to their lucubrations. * The high panegyrics in this letter apply almost exclusively to the original scenes of “The Maid’s Tragedy,” of which the story is only a prose version. |
| R. PLUMER WARD. | 175 |
“By the way, it has occurred to me that that would be a more terse and striking title than the ‘Faithful and Faithless;’ and the superior interests and wonders that belong to the lady seem to demand it. But this for your better judgment.
“Well, but the lady herself! She is really superb; heroically wicked, absorbing, commanding! One of the very best drawn characters, and placed in almost the situation of most burning interest, I ever encountered in play or story.
“The meeting in the bridal chamber; the terrific announcements; its effects; the contests it produces; the dreadful state of her husband; his partial and temporary recovery in a delicious scene of nature and innocence, so deliriously painted; the consequent interview and struggle with Melantius; the communication of the dreadful secret, and the vengeful resolve that follows; all this, I do assure you, fixed me as much as anything I ever read, and would rank with anything short of the very best parts of Shakspeare.
“Can I say more? Yes! that it gives me
| 176 | R. PLUMER WARD. |
“Aspasia is, what she is meant to be, interesting, though thrown into shade by Evadne. She is, however, necessary for the action; and I would wish to canvass her, as she at present stands, chiefly on account of the bursts of blank verse which with her first appear. The lines are in themselves so touching, that here again you show a new instance of your qualifications for stage writing.* I would, therefore, wish to preserve
* The lines of verse above referred to are adopted literally from the original drama by Beaumont and Fletcher. Mr. Ward did not know this at the time he wrote the above and what immediately follows. |
| R. PLUMER WARD. | 177 |
“Johnson blames the introduction of rhyming in Comus, in the midst of blank verse, and this is somewhat of that nature. But I know not that he was right; and if a fault, its beauty in Comus makes us forget it, and so we may here.
“You talk of some precedents in the old dramatists; but then, they were dramatists. Were this a play, and Aspasia actually mad (she is almost so), I should not have a scruple.
“Pray think about it. Perhaps, if in your arrangement the story is to be supposed to be recounted in very ancient times, it may be sooner admitted. As it is, I rather tremble for the keeping. If any one could talk blank verse in a prose tale, it would be Flora McIvor. But how would it have looked?
“After all, the tale would not suffer by disarranging the syllables, and making them return to
prose, without losing much either of their force or sweetness, which, under
your management, might, I think, be easily
| 178 | R. PLUMER WARD. |
“I am not here afraid of your answer, whatever it may be; I am as to another question of far more consequence. What will you say to me if I propose to you to alter the dénouement, and make the king die by the hand of Melantius, instead of Evadne? For, not to mention that Evadne’s sudden conversion and remorse—(the arguments producing which are not brought forward, and which, if they were, ought to fail, in order to be in keeping with her grand character)—not to say that this is not natural, what a noble scene might you work out, and in what noble language, by making Melantius put forth all his high energies, like Junius Brutus or Virginius of old, and produce revolt against a profligate king, the destroyer of his honour!
“It. seems to me that this would be far grander, and more in unison with the more exalted parts of his character, than to let him be the mere instigator of his sister to murder the man whom, with her whole soul, both from love and ambition, she idolized.
“The difficulty and improbability of this is
| R. PLUMER WARD. | 179 |
“I assure you I am very serious in this, and long to see how you will manage such a revolt, and such a death for Evadne, with whom remorse and penitence, and, above all, love for Amintor, can have nothing to do. Like the high-souled Satan, she should be inexorable in her ambition.
“I know not what to say of the death of Aspasia. I would spare her if I could; and the
higher interest of the tale, in all that
| 180 | R. PLUMER WARD. |
“I own her bold disguise and bold bearing in beating Amintor into a combat, in order that he may kill her, do not seem to accord with her soft and feminine character, however she might wish to die on his sword.
“There is also something in the management of the scene of her death, which wants correction. We know not why or how she can lie so long neglected after her mortal wound, even though Evadne’s entrance diverts Amintor from her. But if my hint as to Evadne and Melantius is taken, there will be no necessity for this, and at any rate it may be easily rectified, though I would rather the whole scene of the combat should be avoided by her dying, if she must die, in some other way.
| R. PLUMER WARD. | 181 |
“I see no reason, if you adopt my hint, why Amintor may not be made a strenuous ally of Melantius, in avenging his wrongs (which are almost still more Amintor’s wrongs) on the king. This, too, would give him some of the elevation of character he wants, and by making him more worthy of Aspasia than he is, dispose of them both with more poetical justice, and pleasanter feelings to the reader, than as at present arranged.
“The wind-up, however, in describing the fate and character of Amintor, is extremely fine; and there are touches of pathos in Aspasia which I would not, and, I think, need not, lose. ‘’Tis but my poor body, my heart died long ago’ absolutely electrified me. But this might be preserved, although her fate be changed.
“Such are the feelings inspired by your tale, which, as it is, is rich and glowing, but, I think, might be rendered still more so, if you approve and will work upon my hint. I really long for it, and till I hear how you take it, need say no more. So good bye.
“You shall hear again upon the other MS., and in
answer to your important letters,
| 182 | R. PLUMER WARD. |
“I am better, however, and my daughter too, your kind occupation with whose case I have never forgotten.
