THIRD LECTURE.

138

at Lyftra, Paul on the areopagus, will furnifh us withconclufions for the remainder.

In the cartoon of Ananias , at the firfl glance, andeven before we are made acquainted with the particu-lars of the fubjedl, we become partners of the fcene.The difpofition is amphitheatric, the fcenery a fpacioushall, the heart of the adlion is the centre, the wingsafiift, elucidate, connect it with the ends. The apo-pledtic figure before us is evidently the vidfim of aSupernatural Power infpiring the apoftolic figure, whoon the raifed platform with threatening arm pronounced,and with the word enforced his doom. The terrouroccafioned by the fudden ftroke, is beft exprefled by thefeatures of youth and middle age on each fide of thefufferer; it is inftantaneous, becaufe its fhock has notyet fpread beyond them, and this is done not to interruptthe dignity due to the facred fcene, and to damp thecharacter of devout attention on the affembly: whatpreceded and what followed is equally implied in theiroccupation, and the figure of a matron, entering andabforbed in counting money, whilft fhe approaches thefatal centre, and whom we may fuppofe to be Sapphira,the accomplice and the wife of Ananias , and thedevoted partner of his fate ; in this compofition, of nearthirty figures, none can be pointed out as a figure of

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