72 HISTORY of th SOCIETY. 
actor, are founded the gentle, the amiable virtues ; the virtues 
of candid condefcenfton and indulgent humanity. Upon the 
effort of the perfon principally concerned to lower his own emo- 
tions, fo as to correfpond as nearly as poflible with thofe of the 
{pectator, are founded the great, the awful and re{pectable virtues; 
the virtues of felf-denial, of felf-government, of that command of 
the paffions, which fubjects all the movements of our nature to 
what our own dignity and honour, and the propriety of our 
own conduét, require. 
As a farther illuftration of the foregoing do@rine, Mr Smitru 
confiders particularly the degrees of the different paflions which 
are confiftent with propriety, and endeavours to fhew, that in 
every cafe, it is decent or indecent to exprefs a paffion ftrongly, 
according as mankind are difpofed or not difpofed to fympa- 
thize with it. It is unbecoming, for example, to exprefs ftrongly 
any of thofe paflions which arife from a certain condition of 
the body ; becaufe other men, who are not in the fame condi- 
tion, cannot be expected to fympathize with them. It is un- 
becoming to cry out with bodily pain; becaufe the fympathy 
felt by the {pectator bears no proportion to the acutenefs of what 
is felt by the fufferer. The cafe is fomewhat fimilar with thofe 
paflions which take their origin from a particular turn or habit 
of the imagination. 
In the cafe of the unfocial paffions of hatred and refent- 
ment, the fympathy of the fpectator is divided between the 
perfon who feels the paffion, and the perfon who is the object 
of it. ‘ We are concerned for both, and our fear {for what 
“ the one may fuffer damps our refentment for what the other 
“ has fuffered.’’ Hence the imperfect degree in which we fym- 
pathize with fuch paffions; and the propriety; when we are 
under their influence, of moderating their expreflion to a 
much greater degree than is required in the cafe of any other 
emotions. 
2 THE 
