pofing them: the exercife, I fay, of thefe noble talents, together with the force of expreffion, and beauty of oratorial numbers, diffufe the highest fatisfaction on the audience, and excite the moft delightful movements, By this means, the uneafinefs of the melancholy paffions is not only overpowered and effaced by something stronger of an oppofite kind; but the whole impulse of those paffions is converted into pleasure, and fwells the delight which the eloquence raises in us. The fame force of oratory, employed on an uninterefting fubject, would not please half so much, or rather would appear altogether ridiculous; and the mind, being left in abfolute calmnefs and indifference, would relish none of thofe beauties of imagination or expreffion, which, if joined to paffion, give it fuch exquifite entertainment. The impulfe or vehemence, arifing from forrow, compaffion, indignation, receives a new direction from the fentiments of beauty. The latter, being the predominant emotion, seize the whole mind, and convert the former into themselves, at least tincture them fo ftrongly as totally to alter their nature. And the foul, being, at the fame time, rouzed by paffion, and charmed by eloquence, feels on the whole a ftrong movement, which is altogether delightful,

The fame principle takes place in tragedy; with this addition, that tragedy is an imitation; and imitation is always of itself agreeable. This circumftance ferves ftill farther to smooth the motions of paffion, and convert the whole feeling into one uniform and ftrong enjoyment. Objects of the greatest terror and distress please in painting, and please more than the moft beautiful objects, that appear calm and indifferent *. The affection, rouzing the mind, excites a large ftock of fpirit and vehemence; which is all transformed into pleasure by * See NOTE [N].

the

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 disappears; yet in none of its gradations will it ever give pleafure; except, perhaps, by accident, to a man funk under lethargic indolence, whom it rouzes from that languid ftate,

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 rouzes the mind, and attracts our attention; and the movements, which it causes, are always converted into any paffion belonging to the object, and join their force to it. Whether an event excite joy or forrow, pride or fhame, anger or good-will, it is fure to produce a ftronger affection, when new or unusual. And though novelty of itself be agreeable, it fortifies the painful, as well as agreeable paffions.

Had you any intention to move a perfon extremely by the narration of any event, the beft method of encreafing its effect would be artfully to delay informing him of it, and first to excite his curiofity and impatience before you let him into the fecret. This is the artifice practised by IAGO 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 paffion is here readily transformed into the predominant one.

Difficulties encrease paffions of every kind; and by royzing our attention, and exciting our active powers,

they

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 sentiment of affection here acquires force from fentiments of uneafinefs.

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

Jealoufy is a painful paffion; yet without fome share of it, the agreeable affection of love has difficulty to subfift in its full force and violence. Absence is also a great fource of complaint among lovers, and gives them the greatest uneafinefs: Yet nothing is more favourable to their mutual paffion than fhort intervals of that kind. And if long intervals often prove fatal, it is only because, through time, men are accustomed to them, and they cease to give uneafiness. Jealoufy and abfence in love compose the dolce peccante of the ITALIANS, which they fuppofe fo effential to all pleasure.

There is a fine obfervation of the elder PLINY, which illuftrates the principle here infifted on. It is very re- ! markable, says he, that the last works of celebrated artists, which they left imperfect, are always the most prized, such as the IRIS of ARISTIDES, the TYNDARIDES of NICOMACHUS, the MEDEA of TIMOMACHUS, and the VENUS of APELLES. These are valued even above their finished productions: The broken lineaments of the piece, and the halfformed idea of the painter are carefully studied; and our very grief for that curious hand, which had been stopped by death, is an additional encrease to our pleasure *

Thefe

*Illud vero perquam rarum ac memoria dignum, etiam fuprema opera artificum, imperfectafque tabulas, ficut, IR IN ARISTIDIS, TYNDARIDAS NICOMACHI,

Thefe inftances (and many more might be collected) are fufficient to afford us some insight into the analogy of nature, and to fhow us, that the pleasure, which poets, orators, and musicians give us, by exciting grief, forrow, indignation, compaffion, is not so extraordinary or paradoxical, as it may at firft fight appear. The force of imagination, the energy of expreffion, the power of numbers, the charms of imitation; all these are naturally, of themselves, delightful to the raind: And when the object presented lays also hold of fome affection, the pleasure ftill 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 painful; yet is fo fmoothed, and softened, and mollified, when raised by the finer arts, that it affords the highest

entertainment.

be

To confirm this reafoning, we may obferve, that if the movements of the imagination be not predominant above thofe of the paffion, a contrary effect follows; and the former, being now fubordinate, is converted into the latter, and still farther encreases the pain and affliction of the sufferer.

Who could ever think of it as a good expedient for comforting an afflicted parent, to exaggerate, with all the force of elocution, 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 encrease his defpair and affliction.

NICOMACHI, MEDEAM TIMOMACHI, & quam diximus VENEREM APELLIS, in majori admiratione effe quam perfecta. Quippe in iis lineamenta reliqua, ipfæque cogitationes artificum fpectantur, atque in leno cinio commendationis dolor eft manus, cum id ageret, extin&ae. Lib. xxxv. cip. II.

The

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. These former paffions were too strong for the pleat fure arising from the beauties of elocution; and operated, though from the fame principle, yet in a contrary manner, to the sympathy, compaffion, and indignation of the audience.

Lord CLARENDON, when he approaches towards the catastrophe of the royal party, fuppofes, that his narration must then become infinitely disagreeable; and he hurries over the king's death, without giving us one circumftance of it. He confiders it as too horrid a scene 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 concerned in the events, and felt a pain from fubjects, which an historian and a reader of another age would regard as the most pathetic and most interesting, and, by consequence, 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 defcriptions of that nature, ferves only to augment our uneafinefs. Such is that action represented in the Ambiticus Stepmother, where a venerable old man, raifed to the height of fury and defpair, rushes against a pillar, and striking his head upon it, befmears it all over with mingled brains and gore. The ENGLISH theatre abounds too much with fuch fhocking 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 fuf