then recoils with great violence
when the word 'started' is expressed; and when he comes to 'trembling
dropp'd it on the ground,' he throws all his limbs into a tremulous
motion, and shakes the imaginary paper from his hand. The latter part
of the description is carried on with the same minute gesticulation,
while he says:--
Pale and aghast awhile my victim stood,
Disguis'd a sigh or two, and puff'd them from him;
Then rubb'd his brow, and took it up again.
The player's countenance assumes a wild stare, he sighs twice most
piteously, as if he were on the point of suffocation, scrubs his
forehead, and, bending his body, apes the action of snatching an
object from the floor. Nor is this dexterity of dumb-show omitted,
when he concludes his imitation in these three lines:--
At first he look'd as if he meant to read it;
But check'd by rising fears, he crushed it thus,
And thrust it, like an adder, in his bosom.
"Here the judicious performer imitates the confusion and concern
of Alonzo, seems to cast his eyes upon something, from which they
are immediately withdrawn with horror and precipitation then shutting
his fist with a violent squeeze, as if he intended to make immediate
application to Isabella's nose, he rams it in his own bosom, with
all the horror and agitation of a thief taken in the manner.
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