On Tragical Representations. 339 
ledges a fellow heart, one who appears to feel 
up to the very’ height of that sense, whieh he 
has himself of his loss. 
I have bestowed,’ perhaps, ‘more attention on 
these systems than they may be thought to merit ; 
as whatever ingenuity they may lay claim to, 
they have little ground of experiment in human 
nature to stand upon. But the examination of 
them has answered the principal purpose. The 
analysis of their defects discovers in every step 
the real source of the whole phenomenon; and 
what is of more importance, it discovers the wise 
provision'of the great author of all for conduct- 
ing the ceconomy of the moral as the material 
world. But the simplicity of nature offends 
some ; to discover only what every one may dis- 
cover, and what nature forces upon the notice 
of all, argues no superiority of genius; they 
suppose, they invent, they create, and in defiance 
of nature they erect vain monuments of their 
own wit and ingenuity. . 
In every view of the human mind, during 
‘the exhibition of tragic imitations, compassion, 
or sympathy in a more extended sense, presents 
itself as the operating principle, the immediate 
sense to which such scenes address themselves. 
This is the only principle within us, which is . 
sufficient to attach us to misery; to connect a 
peing who is interested for himself, and is in the 
