STUDY XII. 29 



Be it as it may, the paffive tafte for ruin is uni- 

 Verfal. Our voluptuaries embellifli their gardens 

 with artificial ruins ; favages take delight in a me- 

 lancholy repofe by the brink of the Sea, efpecially 

 during a ftorm, or in the vicinity of a cafcade fur- 

 rounded by rocks. Magnificent defirudion pre- 

 fents new piifturefque effedis ; and it was the cu- 

 riofity of feeing this produced, combined with 

 cruelty, which impelled Nero to fet Rome on fire, 

 that he might enjoy the fpedacle of a vafi; confla- 

 gration. The fentiment of humanity out of the 

 queftion, thofe long ftreams of flame which, in the 

 middle of the night, lick the Heavens, to make 

 ufe of Firgirs expreflion, thofe torrents of red and 

 black fmoke, thofe clouds of fparks of all colours, 

 thofe fcarlet reverberations in the fl:reets, on the 

 fummit of towers, along the furface of the waters, 

 and on the difliant mountains, give us pleafureeven 

 in pidtures and in defcriptions. 



This kind of affcAion, which is by no means 

 connected with our phyfical wants, has induced 

 certain Philofophers to allege, that our foul, being 

 in a ftate of agitation, took pleafure in all extra- 

 ordinary emotions. This is the reafon, fay they, 

 that fuch crowds aflemble in the Place de Grève 

 to fee the execution of criminals. In fpedacles 

 of this fort, there is, in fad, no pidurefque effeâ: 

 whatever. But they have advanced their axiom as 



flightly 



