PART SECTION II. OF THE DEGREES OF THE DIFFERENT PASSIONS WHICH ARE CONSISTENT WITH PROPRIETY. THE INTRODUCTION. 'HE propriety of every paffion excited by objects peculiarly related to ourselves, the pitch which the fpectator can go along with, muft lie, it is evident, in a certain mediocrity. If the paffion is too high, or if it is too low, he cannot enter into it. Grief and refentment for private misfortunes and injuries may eafily, for example, be too high, and in the greater part of mankind they are fo. They may likewise, though this more rarely happens, be too low. We denominate the excefs, weakness and fury: and we call the defect ftupidity, infenfibility, and want of fpirit. We can enter into neither of them, but are aftonifhed and confounded to fee them. This mediocrity, however, in which the point of propriety confifts, is different in different paffions. It is high in fome, and low in others. There are fome paffions which it is indecent to exprefs very ftrongly, even upon thofe occafions, in which it is acknowledged that we cannot avoid feeling them in the highest degree. And there are others of which the strongest expreffions are upon many occafions extremely graceful, even though the paffions themselves do not, perhaps, II. arife fo neceffarily. The firft are thofe paffions 8 ECT. with which, for certain reafons, there is little or no fympathy: the fecond are those with which, for other reasons, there is the greatest. And if we confider all the different paffions of human nature, we shall find that they are regarded as decent, or indecent, juft in proportion as mankind are more or lefs difpofed to sympathize with them. CHAP. I. Of the Paffions which take their origin from the body. ∙IT 1.IT is indecent to express any strong degree of those paffions which arise from a certain fituation or difpofition of the body; because the company, not being in the fame difpofition, cannot be expected to fympathize with them, Violent hunger, for example, though upon many occafions not only natural, but unavoidable, is always indecent, and to eat voracioufly is univerfally regarded as a piece of ill manners. There is, however, fome degree of fympathy, even with hunger. It is agreeable to see our companions eat with a good appetite, and all expreffions of loathing are offenfive. The dif pofition of body which is habitual to a man in health, makes his ftomach easily keep time, if I PART may be allowed fo coarfe an expreffion, with I. the one, and not with the other. We can fympathize with the distress which exceffive hunger occafions when we read the description of it in the journal of a fiege, or of a fea voyage. We imagine ourselves in the fituation of the fufferers, and thence readily conceive the grief, the fear, and confternation, which muft neceffarily dif tract them. We feel, ourselves, fome degree of thofe paffions, and therefore fympathize with them but as we do not grow hungry by reading the description, we cannot properly, even in this cafe, be faid to fympathize with their hunger. It is the fame cafe with the paffion by which Nature unites the two fexes. Though naturally the most furious of all the paffions, all ftrong expreffions of it are upon every occafion indecent, even between perfons in whom its moft complete indulgence is acknowledged by all laws, both human and divine, to be perfectly innocent. There feems, however, to be fome degree of fympathy even with this paffion. To talk to a woman as we should to a man is improper: it is expected that their company fhould infpire us with more gaiety, more pleasantry, and more attention; and an intire infenfibility to the fair fex, renders a man contemptible in fome meafure even to the men. Such is our averfion for all the appetites which take their origin from the body; all ftrong expreffions of them are loathfome and difagreeable. According to fome' ancient philo fophers, II. fophers, these are the paffions which we share in S EC T. common with the brutes, and which, having no connexion with the characteristical qualities of human nature, are upon that account beneath its dignity. But there are many other paffions which we fhare in common with the brutes, fuch as refentment, natural affection, even gratitude, which do not, upon that account, appear to be fo brutal. The true caufe of the peculiar difguft which we conceive for the appetites of the body when we fee them in other men, is that we cannot enter into them. To the perfon himself who feels them, as foon as they are gratified, the object that excited them ceafes to be agreeable: even its prefence often becomes offenfive to him; he looks round to no purpose for the charm which tranfported him the moment before, and he can now as little enter into his own paffion as another perfon. When we have dined, we order the covers to be removed; and we should treat in the fame manner the objects of the most ardent and paffionate defires, if they were the objects of no other paffions but those which take their origin from the body. In the command of thofe appetites of the body confifts that virtue which is properly called temperance. To restrain them within those bounds, which regard to health and fortune prescribes, is the part of prudence. But to confine them within thofe limits, which grace, which propriety, which delicacy, and modefty, require, is the office of temperance. PART I. 2. It is for the fame reafon that to cry out with bodily pain, how intolerable foever, appears always unmanly and unbecoming. There is, however, a good deal of fympathy even with bodily pain. If, as has already been obferved, I fee a stroke aimed, and just ready to fall upon the leg, or arm, of another person, I naturally fhrink and draw back my own leg, or my own arm and when it does fall, I feel it in fome measure, and am hurt by it as well as the fufferer. My hurt, however, is, no doubt, exceffively flight, and, upon that account, if he makes any violent out-cry, as I cannot go along with him, I never fail to defpife him. cafe of all the paffions which from the body: they excite either no fympathy at all, or fuch a degree of it, as is altogether difproportioned to the violence of what is felt by the sufferer. And this is the take their origin It is quite otherwise with those paffions which take their origin from the imagination. The frame of my body can be but little affected by the alterations which are brought about upon that of my companion: but my imagination is more ductile, and more readily affumes, if I may fay fo, the shape and configuration of the imaginations of those with whom I am familiar. A disappointment in love, or ambition, will, upon this account, call forth more fympathy than the greatest bodily evil. Those paffions arife altogether from the imagination. The perfon who has loft his whole fortune, if he is in health, feels no |