Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 5, BUR-CHI

C H A [ 395 ] C H A
Lara&er, /Eneas, tnildnefs : but as thefe ebara^ers cannet be
aracter- al0ne, they mull be accompanied with others to em-
lltic- , belliib them, as far as they are capable, either by
lv'”’y hiding their defers, as in the anger of Achilles, which
is palliated by extraordinary valour •, or by making
them centre in fome folid virtue, as in Ulyffes, whole
dillimulation makes a part of his prudence ; and in
/Eneas, whole mildnefs is employed in a fubmiffion to
the will of the gods. In the making up of which
union, it is to be obferved, the poets have joined to¬
gether fuch qualities as are by nature the moil; com¬
patible ; valour with anger, piety with mildnefs, and
prudence with diflimulation. The fable required pru¬
dence in Ulyffes, and piety in /Eneas ‘, in this, there¬
fore, the poets were not left to their choice : but Ho¬
mer might have made Achilles a coward without a-
bating any thing from the jultnefs of his fable j fo that
it was the neceffity of adorning his chara&er, that
obliged him to make him valiant: the character, then,
of a hero in the epic poem, is compounded of three
forts of qualities: the firll; effential to the fable ; the
fecond, embellilhments of the firft j and valour, which
fultains the other two, makes the third.
Unity of charader is as neceffary as the unity of
the fable. For this purpofe a perfon Ihould be the
fame from the beginning to the end : not that he is
always to betray the fame fentiments, or one paflion j
but that he Ihould never fpeak nor ad ineonfiftently
with his fundamental charader. lor inftance, the
weak may fometimes Tally into a Avarmth, and the
brealt of the paflaonate be calm, a change which often
introduces in the drama a very affeding variety : but
if the natural difpofxtion of the former Avas to be repre-
fented as boifterous, and that of the latter mild and
loft, they w’ould both ad out of charader, and contra-
did their perfons.
True charaders are fuch as Ave truly and really fee
in men, or may exift without any contradidion to
nature : no man queftions but there hare been men
as generous and as good as /Eneas, as paffionate and
as violent as Achilles, as prudent and Avife as Ulyffes,
as impious and atheiftical as Mezentius, and as amo¬
rous and paffionate as Dido } all thefe charaders,
therefore, are true, and nothing but juft imitations
of nature. On the contrary, a charader is falfe when
an author fo feigns it, that one can fee nothing like
it in the order of nature Avherein he defigns it ftiall
ftand : thefe charaders ftiould be Avholly excluded from
a poem, becaufe tranfgreffing the bounds of probabili¬
ty and reafon, they meet Avith no belief from the read¬
ers ; they are fidions of the poet’s brain, not imita¬
tions of nature j and yet all poetry confifts of an imita¬
tion of nature.
Character is alfo ufed for certain viftble qualities,
Avhich claim refped or reverence to thofe veiled there-
Avith.—The majefty of kings gives them a charader
which procures refped from the people. A bilhop
Ihould fuftain his charader by learning and folid piety,
rather than by Avorldly luftre, &c. Fhe laAV of na¬
tions fecurcs the charader of an ambaffador from all
infults.
Character, among naturalifts, is fynonymous Avith
the definition of the genera of animals, plants, &c.
CHARACTERISTIC, in general, is that Ayhich
charuderizes a thing or peribn, i. e. conftitutes
See CHA- Chai'aco:
iltic,
its charader, Avhereby it is diftinguilhed.
RACTER.
Characteristic, is peculiarly ufed in grammar,
for the principal letter of a Avord : Avhich is preferved
in moll of its tenfes and moods, its derivatives and
compounds.
CHARACTERISTIC of a Logarithm, is its index or ex¬
ponent. See Logarithm.
CHARACTERISTIC Triang/e of a Curve, in the higher
geometry, is a redilinear right-angled triangle, whofe
bypothenufe makes a part of the curve, not lenlibly
different from a right line. It is lo called, becauio
curve lines are ufed to be dilfinguiihed hereby. See
Curve.
CHARADE, the name of a neAv fpecies of compo-
fttim or literary amufement. It owes its name to the
idler Avho invented it. Its fubjed mull be a word of
tAvo fyllables, each forming a ditlind Avord : and thefe
tAvo fyllables are to be concealed in an enigmatical
defeription, firit feparately, and then together. The
exercife of charades, if not greatly inftrudive, is at
leal! innocent and amuling. At all events, as it has
made its way into every falhionable circle, and has
employed even Garrick, it Avill fcarcely be deemed un-
Avorthy of attention. The fillinefs indeed of moll that
have appeared in the papers under this title, are not
only dellitute of all pleafantry in the Hating, but are
formed in general of words utterly unfit for the pur¬
pofe. They have therefore been treated Avith the con¬
tempt they deferved. In trifles of this nature, inac¬
curacy is Avithout excufe. The following examples
therefore are at leaft free from this blemilh.
I.
Charade.
My frf, hoAvever here abufed,
Defigns the fex alone j
In Cambria, fuch is cuftom’s poAv’r,
’Tis Jenkin, John, or Joan.
My fecond oft is loudly call’d,
When men prepare to fift it:
Its name delights the female car ;
Its force, may none refift it:
It binds the Aveak, it binds the ftrong.
The Avealthy and the poor 5
Still ’tis to joy a paffport deem’d,
For fullied fame a cure.
It may enfure an age of blifs,
Yet mis’ries oft attend it;
To fingers, ears, and nofes too,
Its Ararious lords commend it.
My whole may chance to make one drink,
Though vended in a fifli fhop $
’Tis noAv the monarch of the feas,
And has been an archbifhop. Her-ring.
II.
My firf, when a Frenchman is learning Engiifl:,
ferves him to fwear by. My fecotid, is either hay or
corn. My whole, is the delight of the prefent age j
and Avill be the admiration of pofterity. Gar-rick.
HE
My frf, is plowed for various reafons, and grain is
frequently buried in it to little purpofe. My fecond,
is neither riches nor honours; yet the former Avould
generally be given for it, and the latter is often tafte*
lefs Avithout it. My whole applies equally to fpring,
fummer, autumn, and Avinter : and both fiih and flelh,
3 D 2 praifo