324 On Tragical Representations, 
without which, the spectacle would be painful 
beyond the degree, in which it is capable of 
passing into pleasure, 
This is the spirit of Fontenelle’s theory; 2 
theory so exceedingly refined, that we hardly 
know how to lay hold of it. It does not present 
us with any thing analogous to the real feelings 
of the heart; andis, indeed,contradictory to the 
very nature of things. Pleasure and pain, as sim- 
ple sensations, have no intercourse with each 
other ; though the transitions from the one to the 
other may be exceedingly quick, and may have 
their origin from the same external objects. For 
as objects are of a mixed character, the sensations 
may be mixed also; and in some, the painful 
circumstance, after a certain interval, may dis- 
appear, and vice versa. But where the characters 
of the painful and the pleasant continue undi- 
minished, the sensations which correspond, to 
them will continue also; and each, as the causes 
of them are alternately contemplated, be) sepa- 
rately excited; or that, which is the balance of 
the separate sensations will remain, 
If, as Fontenelle asserts, pain can of itself ; 
pass into pleasure, and without any additional 
cause, and it be in the moment of the transition 
that the pleasureable; sensation presents itself, it 
will be exceedingly difficult to determjne, accord- 
ing to this theory, what the predominant sensa- 
tign will be. If the. painful sensation .be then 
