150 Dr. Barnes on the Vleofures fometimes felt 
prefent the mod horrid fcenes of carnage and 
defolation ? 
That, in all thefe cafes, pleafure predominates 
in the compounded feeling, is plain from hence, 
becaufe you continue to furvey the fcene ; whereas, 
when pain became the ftronger fenfation, you 
would certainly retire. I was lately in company 
with a Gentleman, who defcribed to me, in very 
glowing and pi&urefque colours, an engagement 
between two privateers, of which he had been 
a fpedator, from one of the cliffs on the eaftern 
coaft of England. Several lives were loft ; and 
the conteft was long, doubtful, and fevere. 
Having this fubjedt in my thoughts, I afked him, 
whether he felt pleafure from the fpedtacle. He 
anfwered with great energy, that he would not 
have miffed the fight for a very confiderable fum. 
His tone, and manner proved, that he fpoke from 
his heart. 
Cultivation may, indeed, have produced fome 
minuter differences, in the tafte and feelings of 
different minds. Thofe, whofe fenfibilites have 
not been refined by education or fcience, may 
feel the pleafure, in a more grofs and brutal form. 
But do not the moft polifhed natures feel a 
fimilar, a kindred pleafure, in the deep-wrought 
diftreffes of the well-imagined fcene ? Here the 
endeavour is, to introduce whatever is dreadful 
or pathetic, whatever can harrow up the feelings, 
or extort the tear. And the deeper, and more 
tragical 
