232 THEORT of the 



joice, and weep with thofe that weep. This we muft all have 

 feen, and to a certain degree felt, even in common converfa- 

 tion. We can often obferve, that one very cheerful, or one 

 very melancholy perfon quickly communicates his ftate of 

 mind to a whole company. We feel the fame to a ftill greater 

 degree in fcenes of real diftrefs, or of violent emotions of any 

 kind, and often to a very high degree from exquifite theatrical 

 reprefentation. The fame principle extends to the fpreading of 

 the military ardour or of a pannic among foldiers, of civil 

 fury among a mob, and of religious fanaticifm, fometimes 

 even among people who did not apprehend any fuch danger to 

 themfelves. 



Next to this inftantaneous and mofl eflFe(flual expreflion and 

 communication of thought by natural language, is the quick 

 tranfmifllon of it by very brief expreffions in artificial lan- 

 guage. The beauty and force (that is, the quick, and power- 

 ful, and pleafing, effedl) of fuch quick and brief expreffions 

 has been generally acknowledged, and felt, and admired. The 

 chief, and fometimes perhaps the only merit of certain apoph- 

 thegms, or good fayings, confifls in the brevity, and confe- 

 quently force of the expreffion *. Among the Spartans, this 

 flyle of fpeaking and writing was fo much admired as to be- 

 come a matter of ftudy, and confequently fometimes of affec- 

 tation. It is certain, that many thoughts, which appear ftriking 

 and admirable, when exprefTed in one or two words, are feeble 

 and frivolous, when exprefTed at full length, efpecially when put 

 into pompous language. On the fame principle too, we may 

 iniderlland how it comes to pafs, that brevity, and the employ- 

 ment of few and fimple words, are effential to the fublime in 

 literary compofition ; which is a well known and important 



faa. 



We are fo apt to be difgufted with a very full and precife 

 expreffion of thought, efpecially on fubjefts which are familiar 



to 



* Vidtfis Plutarch's Apophthegms. 



