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or to delight in scenes of anguish and distress ; but because adversity and distress call forth blime and those energies of the human mind, in which its Patheuc. superiority over all other terrestrial beings

seemed principally to consist; and of which the full exertion might render it an object worthy of the attention, and even of the admiration of higher orders of intelligences.

13. But, how much soever the calm energies of virtue, called forth by exertions of passive fortitude, may interest the philosophical and contemplative mind, its more active and violent efforts, displayed in feats of strength, courage, and dexterity; in the tumultuous battle, or deadly combat; are always far more interesting to the vulgar. When the Abbé du Bos, therefore, asserts that the Romans, by prohibiting human sacrifices, indirectly condemned their taste for the fights of gladiators, he confounds two things, which are extremely different; and thence attributes to those sanguinary destroyers of mankind, an inconsis tency, which only existed in his own ideas. A lover of cock-fighting would think it very strange to be told that he condemned his own taste for so heroic a diversion, by expressing a dislike to see cocks killed in a poulterer's yard; and the frequenters of bull-baiting in England, or of bull-feasts in Spain, would by po means allow that a butcher's slaughter

house could afford them equal, or similar

amusement.

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Pathetic.

To render such spectacles inte-, resting, there must be a display of courage, blimé and vigour, and address: for it is by sympathizing with the energetic passions, that the spectators are amused or delighted: and though the energies of passive fortitude might have been displayed by the victims of superstition, as well as by those of justice, or injustice; they must, nevertheless, have been very flat and insipid, compared with those, which shone forth in the varied and animated contests of the amphitheatre; where the contention was equal, and life and honour the prize contended for. Our boxing matches are contests of the same kind upon a lower scale; and the frequenters of them would probably feel as much horror and disgust as any other persons, were they to see men deprived of the power of resistance, or, opposed to very unequal force, beaten as the several combatants beat each other but the display of manly intrepidity, firmness, gallantry, activity, strength, and presence of mind, which these contests call forth, is an honour to the English nation, and such as no man needs be ashamed of viewing with interest, pride and delight: and we may safely predict, that if the magistrates, through a mistaken notion of preserving the public peace, succeed in suppressing them, there will be an

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end of that sense of honour and spirit of galOf the Su- lantry, which distinguishes the common people blime and of this country from that of all others; and Pathetic. which is not only the best guardian of their

morals, but perhaps the only security now left either for our civil liberty or political independence. If men are restrained from fighting occasionally for prizes and honorary distinctions, they will soon cease to fight at all; and decide their private quarrels with daggers instead of fists; in which case, the lower order will become a base rabble of cowards and assassins, ready at any time to sacrifice the higher to the avarice and ambition of a foreign tyrant.

14. It is observed, by the great father of philosophical criticism, that the radical difference between tragedy and comedy is that the one exhibits the characters of men supe. rior, and the other, inferior to those of ordinary nature; that is, tragedy displays the energies, and comedy, the weaknesses of humanity for, in tragedy, it is not the actual distress; but the motives, for which it is endured; the exertions, which it calls forth; and the sentiments of heroism, fortitude, constancy, or tenderness, which it, in consequence, displays, that produce the interest; and awaken all the

Aristot. Poet. f. iv.

exquisite and delightful thrills of sympathy. The distress of a miser, for the loss of his mo

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blime and Pathetic.

ney, is as real, and as great, as that of a lover of the Sufor the loss of his mistress; or of a hero for the loss of his honour: but, nevertheless, as it is purely selfish, it awakens no sympathy; nor is it ever employed except to excite ridicule or aversion. The pains of natural, or accidental disease, are as distressing to the sufferer, as the punishments inflicted by a tyrant, and are equally subjects of sympathy to his friends: but, as they appertain solely to himself; and are the result of accident, intemperance, or physical necessity, they neither display any voluntary exertions of disinterested fortitude; nor call forth any enthusiastic effusions of generosity, or tenderness: wherefore no writer has ever thought of heightening the distress of his tragedy, by giving his hero a fit of the gout, the stone, or the colic; though these, perhaps, may be more real and serious evils, than any, which he makes him endure.

15. All the distress of dramatic fiction is known and felt, at the time of its exhibition, to be merely fiction: but the sentiments, excited by it, are really expressed; and expressed, too, with all the truth and energy, which real feelings could inspire; accompanied with all the graces of emphasis, tone, and gesture; which can convey those feelings to the soul of

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the spectator, with the full force, and vivid freshness of real nature. The sympathies, blime and therefore, which they excite, are real and comPathetic. plete; and much more strong and effective,

than if they were produced by scenes of real distress for in that case, the sufferings, which we beheld, would excite such a painful degree of sympathy, as would overpower and suppress the pleasant feelings, excited by the noble, tender, or generous sentiments, which we heard uttered. The natural feeling of every sensible and benevolent mind, on beholding real calamity or distress, is a wish to relieve it; and only the obdurate heart of the savage can attend sufficiently to the exertions of heroism, patience, or fortitude, which it may excite, to sympathize with them: but in fictitious distress, our attention is not turned aside, or interrupted by any calls of humanity; so that our sympathies are indulged freely, without hindrance or obstruction. In some persons, indeed, the degree of nervous sensibility is so excessive, that the expressions of distress, which they know to be fictitious, excite painful emotions: but this is a sort of morbid sensibility; or else it arises from a morbid imagination; which, like that of the Knight of La Mancha, confounds, in some degree, the representation with the reality*.

Don Quixote, P. ii. b. ii. c. ix.