314 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



pleafure. " The fight of the fhriveUing of ripe 

 " figs," fays he, ** the bufhy eye-brows of a lion, 

 " the foaming of an enraged wild-boar, the red- 

 " difli fcales which rife on the crufl of bread 

 " coming out of the oven, give pleafure." This 

 pleafure may be accounted for in various ways : 

 firfl, from the weaknefs of the human mind, 

 which, in contemplating any objed whatever, 

 fixes on fomc one principal point ; and then, 

 from the defign of Nature, who, likewife, in all 

 her works, prefents to us one fingle point of con- 

 formity, or of difcordancy, which is, as it were, 

 it's centre. The mind increafes it's afFeâ.ion, or 

 it's averfion, for this charaderiftic trait, the more 

 fimple that it is, and, in appearance, contemptible. 

 This is the reafon that, in eloquence, the fhorteft 

 expre fiions always convey the firongeft paflions ; 

 for all that is requifite, as we have hitherto feen, 

 in order to excite a fenfation of pleafure, or of 

 pain, is to determine a point of harmony, or of 

 difcord, between two contraries : now, when ihefe 

 two contraries are oppofites in nature, and are fo, 

 befides, in magnitude and in weaknefs, their op- 

 pofition redoubles, and confequently their effeâ:. 



The effed is farther heightened, if to this is 

 joined, efpecially, the furprize of feeing flriking 

 occafions of hope, or of fear, produced by objefts 

 of apparently fmajl imrportance ; for every phy- 



fical 



