tvi
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EPI
fn Scotland, the principal Diflenters are the Epifcofa- lians. Lay Epifcopaliam enjoy all the fame Civil Prm- lcges with thofe of the Eftablifh'd Church. They are under no Reftriftions ; tied to no Tells; but are imploy'd in all Places of Trull, upon taking the Oaths to the Go- vernment. But the Epifiopal Miniflers are liable to feveral penal Laws ; the greatell part of 'em being Non- jurors. Chamberlain.
EPISCOPUS jueroram.
It was an ancient Cuflom for
fame L;
ay man,
about the Feaft of Epiphany, to plait his Hair^ that he might feem to have the Tonfure, and to put on the Epifiopal Garments ; and then to exercife a Shew of Turifdiclion, and do feveral ludicrous Actions : For which Reafon he was call'd the Ztifiop of the Soys. This Cuftom obtain'd among us, long after feveral Con- ftitutions were made to abolifh it.
EPISODE, is commonly conceiv'd to be a feparate Incident, Story, or Action, which an Hiftorian, or Poet, inferts and connects with his principal Action; to furnilh out the Work with a greater Diverfity of Events; tho', in Striflnefs, all the particular Incidents, whereof the Action or Narration is compofed, are call'd Epifodes.
From the Greek, ■&», and Wtf, Carmen, Vcrfe. '
Episode, Episodium, in dramatic Poetry, was the fecond part of the ancient Tragedy. See Tragedy.
The Origin and Life of Epfodes, is admirably defcri- bed by M. Hedelm, and Fa. Soffit. Tragedy, in its Ori- ginal, being only a Hymn fung in Honour of Bacchus, by feveral Perfons, who made a Kind of Chorus, or Con- fort of Mufic, with Dancing, and the like ; to diverfify the Reprefentation a little, and divert the Audience, they_ bethought themlelves at length to divide the Singing of the Chorus into feveral parts; and to have fomething rehears'd in the Intervals.
At firit, a fingle Perfon, or Actor, was introduced, then two, then more ; and what the Actors thus rehearfed, or entertain'd the Audience withal, being fomething foreign, or additional to, or befide, the Song of the Chorus, and no receffary part thereof, was call'd ExhotJW, Epifode.
And hence Tragedy came to conftft of four parts, the 'Prologue, Epifode, Exode, and Chorus.
The 'Prologue was all that preceded the firft Entrance of the Chorus. See Prologue.
The Efifode, all that was interpofed between the Singings of the Chorus.
The Exode, all that was rehearfed after the Chorus had done tinging. See Exodium.
And the Chorus, was the Grex, or Company that fung the H\mn. See Chorus.
And as this Recitation of the Actors was in feveral parts, and inferted in feveral places ; it might either be confi- der'd together, as a fingle Epifode, confifling of feveral parts ; or each part might be call'd a diftincl Epfode.
Thefe feveral Epifodes in the fame Tragedy, might either be taken from fo many different Subjects ; or from the fame, divided into a proper Number of Recitations, or Incidents.
To confider only the firft Occafion, and Institution, of thefe foreign, or additional pieces; it appears no ways ncccf- fary rhat they Ihou'd all be taken from one and the fame Subject : Three or four Recitations of different Actions, no-wife related, or connected to each other, wou'd eafe the Actors, and amufe the People, in the Intervals of the Chorus as well as if they were all fo many parts of the fame Action. By degrees, what was at firft only an Ad- dition to the Tragedy, became the principal part thereof. Then, the feveral Pieces, or Epfodes, began to be con- fider'd as one fingle Body, which were not to have parts, or Members of different Nature, and independent of each other.
The belt Poets took the Thing in this Light, and drew all their Epfodes from the fame Action ; which Practice was fo fully eftablilh'd in Ariftotle's Time, that he lays it down as a Rule. Thofe Tragedies wherein this Unity and Connection was not obferved, he calls Efifodic Pieces. See Episodic.
Episode in Epic Poetry. The Term Epfode, by being tranfplanted from the Stage to the Epopea, did not change its Nature. All the Difference Ariftotle makes between the Tragic and Epic Epifodes, is, that the latter are more ample than the former. See Epic.
Ariftotle ufes the Word in three different Scnfes : The firfl taken from the Enumeration already made, of the parts of the Tragedy, viz. Prologue, Chorus, Epifode, and Exode. Whence it follows, that in Tragedy, every Thing is Epifode, that is none of the other parts: So that as among us, there are Tragedies, without either 'Prologue, Chorus, or Epilogue, the Tragic Epifode includes the whole Tragedy: Confequently, rhe Epic Epifode mull be the whole Poem, in like manner. All there is «u retrench from it being the Propofition, and Invocation,
which Hand in lieu of the Prologue. In this Senfe, the Epopea and Tragedy, have each only one Epifode ; ' and if* the Parts, or Incidents, be ill connected together the Poem will be Epifodic and defective.
But further, as all that was fung in the Tragedy, was call'd the Chorus, in the lingular Number ; yet this Singu- larity did by no means prevent every Part or Diviuon of the fame from being call'd a Chorus, without making feveral Chorus's: So 'twas with the Epifode: Each Incident, and patt of the Fable and Action, is not only a part of the Epifode, but an Epifode it felf.
The Term Epifode, therefore, in this Senfe, fignifies every part of the Action exprefs'd in the Plan, or firft Draught of the Fable ; as the Absence and Wanderings of Ulyff'es, the Diforders in his Family, and his Prefence which retriev'd every Thing.
Ariftotle furnifhes us with a third Kind of Epifode ; in Ihewing, that what is contain'd and exprefs'd in the firft Plan of the Fable is proper, and that all the reft is Epifode.
By proper, he means what is abfolutely neceffary ; and by Epfodes, whar in one Senfe are neceffary, and in ano- ther not; fo that the Poet is at Liberty to ufe, or let 'em alone.
Thus, Homer, having made the firft Draught of the Fable of his Odyffee, was not at Liberty to make Ulyff'es abfent from his Country, or not. His Abfence was efien- tial; and therefore Ariftotle ranks it among the Things he calls proper. But he does not bellow that Appellation on the Adventures of Antiphale, Circe, the Syrens, Scylla, Carybdis, &c. The Poet was at Liberty to have left thefe alone, and chofen others in their Room; fo that they are Epifodes, diftincl from the firft Action, to which they are not immediately neceffary. Indeed, in one Senfe, they may be faid to be neceifary : For Ulyffes's Abfence being neceffary, it follows, that not being in his own Country, he mutt be fomewhere effe. If therefore the Poet was at Liberty, not to have ufed thofe particular Adventures above m^ntion'd; yet he was not at Liberty not to have ufed any : But if he had omitted thofe, he mult neceffarily have fubilituted others in their Room. Otherwife, he wou'd have omitted a parr of the Matter contain'd in his Plan, and his Poem had been defective.
This third Senfe, therefore, of the Word Epifode, comes to the fecond : All the Difference between them, is, that what we call Epijode, in the fecond Senfe, is the Ground, or Plan of the Epifode in the third: And that the third adds to the fecond, certain Circumftances which are only probable, and not neceflliry ; as the Places, Princes, and People, among whom Ulyffes was call by Neptune.
It mull be added, that in an Epifode in the third Senfe, the Incident, or Epifode in the firft Senfe, whereon it is grounded, is to be extended and amplified ; other- wife, an effential part of the Action and Fable, does not become an Epifode. Laftly, 'tis in this third Senfe that we are to underftand that Precept of Ariftotle, not to make the Epifodes, till after the Names of the Perfons have been cho r en. Homer wou'd not have fpoke of the Fleet and Ships as he has done; if, in lieu of the Names of Achilles, Agamemnon, and [Had, he had chofe thofe of Aaraftus, Capaneus, and Thebaid. See Fable.
Upon the whole, the Term Elifode, in the Epic Poem, as ufed by the Father of the Criticks, Ariftotle, does not fignifie any foreign, or accidental Adventure ; but the whole Narration of the Poet, or a neceffary and effential part of the Action and Subject, amplified with probable Circumftances.
Thus, Ariftotle enjoins, that the Epifode be not added to the Action, or fetch'd from elfewhere ; but be a part of the Action ; and never u"es the Word adding, in {peaking of Epifodes, tho' it occurr'd fo naturally to his Interpreters that they have generally ufed it in their Tranflations and Comments. He does not fay, that after laying the Plan, and chufing the Names, the Poet is to add the Epifodes; but ufes a Derivative of the Word Epifode, streia><Pvnj as if in Englijli we fliou'd fay, Epi- fodify his Action.
Add, that to fhew the different Extenfion of the Tra- gedy and Epopea, that is, how the one becomes longer than the other; he does not fay, that there is but little Epifode in Tragedy ; but more accurately, that the Epi- fodes of Tragedy are ftiort and concife ; ^ whereas the Epopea is lengthen'd out and extended by 'em. In one Word, the taking Vengeance of the wicked People in Ulyffis's Court, as exprefs'd in a few Words by Ariftotle, in his Plan of the Odyffee, is a fimple proper Action, ne- ceffary to the Subject. It is no Epifode, but the bafts, and, as it were, ft amen of an Epifode. And this fame Punifhment explain'd and open'd, with all the Circum- ftances of Time, Place, and Perfons, is no fimple and
pro-
