This folution feems juft and convincing; but, perhaps, it wants fill fome new addition, in order to make it answer fully the phænomenon, which we here examine. All the pailions, excited by eloquence, are agreeable in the highest degree, as well as those which are moved by painting and the theatre. The epilogues of Cicero are, on this account chiefly, the delight of every reader of tafle; and it is difficult to read fome of them without the deepeft fympathy and forrow. His merit as an orator, no doubt, depends much on his fuccefs in this particular. When he had raised tears in his Judges and all his audience, they were then the most highly delighted, and expreffed the greatest fatisfaction with the pleader. The pathetic defcription of the butchery, made by Verres, of the Sicilian Captains is a mafter piece of this kind: But I believe none will affirm, that the being present at a melancholy scene of that nature would afford any entertain ment. Neither is the forrow, here, fortned by fiction; for the audience were convinced of the reality of every circumstance. What is it then, which in this cafe raifes a pleasure from the bofom of uneafinefs, fo to speak; and a pleasure which still retains all the fea tures and outward fymptoms of diftrefs and forrow?

I anfwer: This extraordinary effect proceeds from that very eloquence with which the melancholy fcene is reprefented. The genius required to paint objects in a lively manner, the art employed in collecting all the pathetic circumftances, the judgment difplayed in difpofing them; the exercife, I fay, of these noble talents, along with the force of expreffion, and beauty of oratorial numbers, diffufe the highest fatisfaction on the audience, and excite the most delightful movements. By this means, the uneafinefs of the melancholy paffions is not only overpowered and effaced by fomething stronger of an oppofite kind;

but the whole movement of those paflions is converted into pleafure, and fwells the delight, which the eloquence railes in us.

The fame force of oratory, employed on an uninterefling fubject, would not please himself half fo much, or rather would appear altogether ridiculous; and the mind, being left in abfolute calmness and indifference, would relish none of those beauties of imagination or expression, which, if joined to paffion, give it fuch exquifite entertainment. The impulfe or vehemence, arifing from forrow, compaflion, indignation, receives a new direction from the fentiments of beauty. The latter, being the predominant emotions, fcize the whole mind, and convert the former into themselves- or, at least, tincture them fo ftrongly, as totally to alter their nature; and the foul, being, at the fame time, roufed by paffion, and charmed by eloquence, feels on the whole a ftrong movement, which is altogether delightful.

The fame principle takes place in tragedy; along with this addition, that tragedy is an imitation, and imitation is always of itfelf agreeable. This circumftance ferves ftill farther to fmooth the motions of passion, and convert the whole feeling into one uniform and ftrong enjoyment. Objects of the greateft terror and diftreis please in painting, and pleafe more than the most beautiful objects, that appear calm and indifferent. The

affection,

direfs and forrow as well as any other paiPainters make no fcruple of reprefenting fion: Eut they feem uot to dwell to much on thefe melancholy affections as the poets, who, though they copy every emotion of the human ble fentiments. A painter reprefents only one breaft, yet país very quickly over the agreeainftant; and if that be paffionate enough, it is fure to affect and delight the fpectator: But nothing can furnish to the poet a variety of fcenes and incidents and fentiments. except diftrefs, terror, or anxiety. Compleat joy and fatisfaction is attended with fecurity, and leaves po farther room for action.

affection, roufing the mind, excites a Jarge ftock of fpirit and vehemence; which is all transformed into pleasure by the force of the prevailing movement. It is thus the fiction of tragedy foftens the paffion, by an infufion of a new feeling, not merely by weakening or diminishing the forrow. You may by degrees weaken a real forrow, till it totally difappears; yet in none of its gradations will it ever give pleafure; except, perhaps, by accident, to a man funk under lethargic indolence, whom it roufes from that languid state.

To confirm this theory, it will be fufficient to produce other inftances, where the fubordinate movement is converted into the predominant, and gives force to it, though of a different, and even fometimes though of a Contrary nature.

Novelty naturally excites the mind and attracts our attention; and the movements, which it caufes, are always converted into any paffion, belonging to the object, and join their force to it. Whether an event excites joy or forrow, pride or fhame, anger or good-will, it is fure to produce a fronger affection, when new and unufual. And, though novelty, of itfelf, be agreeable, it inforces the painful, as well as agreeable paffions.

Had you any intention to move a perfon extremely by the narration of any event, the best method of increafing its effect would be artfully to delay informing him of it, and first excite his curiofity and impatience before you let him into the fecret. This is the artifice, practifed by lago in the famous fcene of Shakespeare; and every fpectator is fenfible, that Othello's jealoufy acquires additional force from his preceding impatience, and that the fubordinate paflion is here readily transformed into the predomi

nant.

Difficulties increase paffions of every kind; and by routing our attention, and exciting our active powers, they produce an emotion, which nourishes the prevailing affection.

Parents commonly love that child moft, whofe fickly infirm frame of body has occafioned them the greatest pains, trouble, and anxiety in rearing him, The agreeable fentiment of affection here acquires force from fentiments of uneafinefs.

Nothing endears fo much a friend as forrow for his death. The pleafure of his company has not fo powerful an influence.

Jealoufy is a painful paflion, yet without fome fhare of it, the agreeable affection of love has difficulty to fubfift in its full force and violence. Abfence is alfo a great source of complaint amongft lovers, and gives them the greateft uneafinefs: Yet nothing is more favourable to their mutual paffion than fhort intervals of that kind. And, if long intervals be pernigious, it is only because, through time, men are accuftomed to them, and they ceafe to give uneafinefs. Jealoufy and abfence in love compole the dolce piccante of the Italians, which they fuppofe fo effential to all pleasure.

There is a fine obfervation of the elder Pliny, which illuftrates "the principles here infifted on. It is very remarkable, fays he, that the laft works of celebrated artists, which they left imperfect, are always the moft prized, fuch as the Iris of Ariftides, the Tyndarides of Nicomachus, the Medea of Timomachus, and the Venus of Appelles. Thefe are valued even above their finished productions: The broken lineaments of the piece and the half formed idea of the painter are carefully fu died; and our very grief for that curious hand, which had been stopped by death, is an additional increafe to our pleasure." Thefe

Illud vero perquam rarum ac memoria dignum, etiam fuprema opera artificum, imperfectafque tabulas, ficut, in Ariftidis, Tyndaridas Nichomachi, Medeam Timomachi, & quam diximus Venerem Apellis, in majori admiratione effe quam perfecta. Quippe in iis lineamente reliqua,ipfæque, cogitationes mendationis dolor eft manus, cum id ageret, artificum fpectantur, atque in lenocinio com

extincte, lib. xXXY. C. II,

Thefe inftances (and many more might be collected) are fufficient to afford us fome infight into the analogy of nature, and to thew us, that the pleasure which poets, orators, and musicians give us, by exciting grief, forrow, indignation, compaffion, is not fo extraordinary nor paradoxical as it may at first fight appear. The force of examination, the energy of expreflion, the power of numbers, the charms of imitation; all these are naturally, of themselves, delightful to the mind; and, when the object prefented lays alfo hold of fome affection the pleasure still rifes upon us, by the converfion of this fubordinate movement into that which is predominant. The paffion, though perhaps naturally, and when excited by the fimple appearance of a real object, it may be painful; yet is fo fmoothed, and foftened, and molified, when raifed by the finer arts, that it affords the highest entertainment.

To confirm this reafoning, we may obferve, that, it the movements of the imagination be not predominant above thofe of the pafhion, a contrary effect follows; and the former, being now fubordinate, is converted into the latter, and ftill farther increases the pain and affliction of the fufferer.

Who could ever think of it as a good expedient for comforting an afflicted parent, to exaggerate, with all the force of oratory, the irreparable lofs, which he has met with by the death of a favourite child? The more power of imagination and expreffion you here employ, the more you increase his defpair and afflicti

on.

The fhame, confufion, and terror of Verres, no doubt, rofe in proportion to the noble eloquence and vehemence of Cicero: So alfo did his pain and uneafinefs. Thefe for mer paffions were too strong for the pleasure arifing from the beauties of elocution; and operated, though

from the fame principle, yet in a contrary manner, to the fympathy, compaffion and indignation of the audience.

Lord Clarendon, when he approaches the cataftrophe of the royal party, fuppofes, that his narration must then become infinitely dif agreeable; and he hurries over the King's death, without giving us one circumftance of it. He confiders it as too horrid a fcene to be contemplated with any fatisfaction, or even without the utmost pain and averfion. He himself, as well as the readers of that age, were too deeply interested in the events, and felt a pain from subjects, which an hiftorian and a reader of another age would regard as the most pathetic and moft interefting, and, by confequence, the most agreeable.

An action, reprefented in tragedy, may be too bloody and atrocious. It may excite fuch movements of horror as will not foften into pleasure; and the greatest energy of expreffion beftowed on descriptions of that nature, ferves only to augment our uneafinefs. Such is that action reprefented in the Ambitious Stepmother, where a venerable old man, raised to the height of fury and defpair, ruthes against a pillar, and, ftriking his head upon it, befmears it all over with mingled brains and gore. The English theatre abounds too much with fuch images.

Even the common fentiments, of compaffion require to be foftened by fome agreeable affection, in order to give a thorough fatisfaction to the audience. The mere fuffering of plain. tive virtue, under the triumphant ty ranny and oppreflion of vice, forms a difagreeable fpectacle, and is carefully avoided by all mafters of the theatre. In order to difmifs the audience with intire fatisfaction and contentment, the virtue must either convert itself into a noble courageous despair, or the vice receive its pro per punishment.

Mo

Moft painters appear in this light to have been very unhappy in their fubjects. As they wrought for churches and convents, they have chiefly reprefented fuch horrible fubjects as crucifixions and martyrdoms, where nothing appears but tortures, wounds, executions, and paffive fuffering, without any action or affection. When they turned their pencil from this ghaftly mythology, thay had recourfe commonly to Ovid, whofe fictions, though paffionate and agreeable, are fcarce natural or probable enough for painting,

The fame inverfion of that principle, which is here infifted on, difplays itself in common life as in the effects of oratory and poetry. Raife fo the fubordinate paffion that it becomes the predominant, it fwallows up that affection, which it before nourished and increased. Too much jealoufy extinguishes love: Too much difficulty renders us indifferent: Too much fickness and infirmity difgufts a selfish and unkind parent.

What fo difagreeable as the difinal, gloomy, difaftrous ftories, with which melancholy people entertain their companions? The uneafy paffion, being there raised alone, unaccompanied with any fpirit, genius, or eloquence, conveys a pure uneafinefs, and is attended with nothing that can foften it into pleasure or fatisfaction.

A Copy of a Letter wrote by Dr. Hough, late Bishop of Worcester, to a Nobleman in his Neighbourhood, in the 90th Year of his Age.

MY LORD,

Think myfelf much obliged to

report, and opportunity of informing myfelf in many particulars relating to your noble houfe and the good family at ; which I hear with the uncommon pleasure of one, who has been no ftranger to them. Mr. is remarkably bleffed in his children, all whofe fons are not only deferving but profperous, and I am glad to fee one of them devoted to the fervice of God. He may not perhaps have chofen the moft likely employment to thrive by, but he depends on a mafter, who never fails to recompence those who thruft in him``above their hopes. The young gen tleman will account to your lordfhip for Hartlebury, but I fancy, you will expect me to fay fomewhat of myfelf, and therefore I prefume to tell you, that my hearing has long failed; I am weak and forgetful, having as little inclination to bufinefs as ability to perform it: In other refpects I have eafe, if it may not more properly be called indolence, to a degree beyond what I durft have thought on, when years began to multiply upon me. I wait contentedly for a deliverance out of this life into a better, in humble confidence, that by the mercy of God thro' the merits of his fon, I fhall ftand at the refurrection at his right hand. And when you, my Lord, have ended thofe days, that are to come, (which I pray may be many and comfortable) as innocently and exemplary as thofe that are paffed, I doubt not of our meeting in that state, where the joys are unspeakable, and will always endure, &c.

I am, &c.

was warden

whereby I have a more authentick account of your lordship's health, than is ufually brought to me by