we have been so satiated with such bloody events, that they scarcely excite any more emotion, than the news of a birth or a wedding. It is to the actual tyranny of Robespierre, however, that this change is owing, and not to the representations of that of King Richard, or Macbeth ;* who had been continually uttering their atrocities, and committing their murders, upon the stage, for two centuries together; during the whole of which, manners, both public and private, had been rapidly and invariably growing milder.

29. When Horace, in the passage above cited, speaks of a dramatic poet filling his breast with false terrors, I conclude that he means terrors arising from false, or unreal causes for terror is not a problem or a syllogism, that can, in itself, be true or false; but a passion, which is either felt or not; and which, if not felt, does not exist. Terror, therefore, if felt at all, must be real terror; and consequently the person, who feels it, must, at the time of feeling it, suppose the cause, which excites it, to be real and adequate; that is, real danger to himself, or some one else; otherwise, what he feels cannot be called terror, or any thing of the kind.

* γαιης εκ Γαλατων,

ανθρωποις ολέτειραι εριννύες εβλάστησαν.

CHAP.

I.

Of the Sublime and Pathetic.

Pison. Epigr.

CHAP.

I.

Of the Sublime and Pathetic.

so. This, however, is what no person ever does suppose at a theatrical representation; and even if it were possible for any man in his senses to suffer, for a moment, the sort of delu sion, which Don Quixote suffers at the puppetshow, it could only be at the first representation of the piece, and before he had read it: for afterwards, he must foresee all the incidents, which are to come; and, therefore, can feel no fear or apprehension, lest they may take place; or hope, that they may not. We all know, from the first drawing up of the curtain, that Othello is to kill his amiable and innocent wife, and afterwards to kill himself: but we know likewise that Othello is an actor, and Desdemona an actress; and that neither are in danger of receiving any hurt: wherefore it is impossible that we should feel any apprehensions of such events being to happen, or pity, when they do happen. What we do feel, are the sentiments of heroic magnanimity, of warm and generous, but rash and impetuous affection, which the poet has put into the mouth of the one; and those of innocent simplicity, mild resignation, and passive fortitude and fidelity, which he has attributed to the other. On the stage, we hear these sentiments uttered with all the appropriate accompaniments of action, and gesture, and all the impressive graces of modulation of voice, and expression of countenance;

whence they excite a degree of sympathy in us, so much beyond that which is felt from reading them in the closet.

31. It is by this kind of sympathy only, that pity can properly be said to melt the mind to love for the pity, which we feel in contemplating the wants or miseries of a mendicant, or a maniac, how much soever it may affect us, does not, I believe, ever engender love of any kind, either towards its object, or any other. Even the tears of beauty only make it more lovely, when they seem to proceed from the pressure of real and serious distress; and distress too, which is not only felt with the delicate sensibility of a tender mind, but endured with the mild and tranquil resignation of a firm one: for if the grief of the fair sufferer explode in rant and vociferation; we may pity her, indeed, in a double sense; but our pity will never melt the mind to love. If, too, her silent tears flow from any inadequate cause, such as being deprived of any frivolous gratification of vanity or dissipation, which does sometimes excite fair ladies' tears, they will certainly not enhance the effect of her own beauty, nor tend to conciliate the affections of beholders; although pity may be felt for her weakness, as sincere as that which is felt for any other misery; for

to be weak is miserable

Doing or suffering

CHAP.

1.

Of the Su

blime and Pathetic.

CHAP. 1.

Of the Su

32. It will, therefore, be found, I believe, that pity no further disposes the mind to love, blime and than the distresses, which occasion it, display Pathetic. symptoms of such qualities, as we conceive to

be amiable, estimable, or respectable; that is, of such energies of mind, whether active or passive, as appear suitable to the character, circumstances, and situation of the sufferer : for it is with these energies, that we sympathize; and it is our sympathy, and not our pity, that melts the mind to love.

33. The mild sensibility of passive courage naturally becomes the weaker sex : and, therefore, patience, gentleness, and meekness in suffering contribute to make women appear more lovely in the eyes of men: but the bold enterprise of active courage becomes the stronger; and is, therefore, that which wins the affections of women: Dido and Desdemona are, in this respect, images of the whole sex-" ferrum est quod amant:" their minds are roused by admiration, and not melted by pity into love, but still it is equally a display of energy, that excites love in both; though of those different kinds of energy, which are suited by nature to the respective characters of each. The elegant moralist, who expresses his wonder at our fighting plays being such favourite entertainments of the tender sex, shows but little knowledge of that sex *.

* Lord Shaftesbury, Adv. to an Author, p. ii. s, iii.

34. Hence, in spite of all that the author of the Inquiry into the Sublime and Beautiful has said*, no real weaknesses, either of mind or body, ever excite love; but always either commiseration or contempt; which, considered in the abstract, are nearly allied, and, on these occasions, generally mixed. In the human race, indeed, nature has formed the female weaker than the male; and consequently a comparative degree of weakness is a general characteristic of the sex; and, of course, one criterion of individual perfection: for, in such cases, we can only judge of particular perfections by their conformity to general characteristics. But that ever any individual woman appeared more amiable or more beautiful for appearing peculiarly weak, either in mind or body, is so far from being true, that the almost unanimous suffrage of the other sex will attest the direct contrary; and proclaim activity, as well as health of body, to be one of the first incentives to desire; and vigour, as well as sensibility of mind (which are both energies) to be one of the first incentives to esteem and mental affection. It is true, that the temporary caprices of fashion do occasionally pervert natural taste, in every thing; and, I believe, a certain degree of false delicacy and affected timidity prevailed at the time when the treatise * P. III. f. xvi.

CHAP.

I.

Of the Su

blime and Pathetic.