On Tragical Representations. 243 
interested in any tragic scene, and has leisure to 
attend to no other circumstances than what are 
appropriate to sympathy, it may be sensible to 
feelings which are in their nature pleasant, but 
chiefly, if not entirely, springing out of these 
collateral circumstances. But when the increas- 
ing distress of the scene entire. possesses the 
mind, all semblance of pleasure vanishes, and 
the feelings are those of pure compassion; but 
not unless in some particular instances, painful 
up to the degree of aversion. It is not strictly 
just, therefore, to say, that the feelings at such 
an instant are in any degree pleasant; as it would 
be grossly false to say, that we are instigated to 
this participation of distress by the view of plea- 
sure; unless all the sympathetic feelings be re- 
ferred to the class of the agreeable ones. We 
are carried, indeed, by a virtuous impulse to 
converse with distress; the certainty that we 
shall not be spectators of any real suffering, 
withdraws all aversion to this impulse; but un- 
der this assurance we surrender ourselves up 
entirely to the poet; we enter into his views ; 
we are carried out of ourselves into his fictitious 
scenes, as if they were real. We often feel 
from them an exquisite pain, which oppresses 
our minds for a considerable time after the re- 
presentation is over, and sinks too deeply into 
those of a delicate and susceptible make. Yet 
VOL. V D 
