318 DISEASES CLASS m. i. 2. n. 



else but her dear children. But did not for many years, even 

 to her dying hour, get quite over a gloom, which was left upon 

 her countenance. 



In violent grief, when tears flow, it is esteemed a good symp- 

 tom; because then the actions caused by sensitive association 

 take the place of those caused by volition; that is, they prevent 

 the voluntary exertions of ideas, or muscular actions, which con- 

 stitute insanity. 



The sobbing and sighing attendant upon grief are not convul- 

 sive movements, the) are occasioned by the sensorial power be- 

 ing so expended on the painful ideas, and their connexions, that 

 the person neglects to breathe for a time, and then a violent sigh 

 or sob is necessary to carry on the blood, which oppresses the 

 pulmonary vessels, which is then performed by deep or quick in- 

 spirations, and laborious expirations. Sometimes, nevertheless, 

 the breath is probably for a while voluntarily held, as an effort 

 to relieve pain. The paleness and ill health occasioned by long 

 grief are spoken of in Class IV. 2. 1. 9. 



The melioration of grief by time, and its being at length even 

 attended with pleasure, depends on our retaining a distinct idea 

 of the lost object, and forgetting for a time the idea of the loss 

 of it. This pleasure of grief is beautifully described by Aken- 

 side. Pleasures of Imagination, Book II. i. 680. 



-Ask the faithful youth, 



Why the cold urn of her, whom long he loved, 



S ' often fills his arms; so of I en draws 



His loneh fbo\st/-ps at the silent hour, 



To pay the mournful tribute of his tears ? 



Oh ! he will tell thee, that the wealth of worlds 



Should ne'er seduce his bosom to forego 



That sacred hour; when, stealing from the noise 



Of care and envy, sweet remembrance soothes 



With Virtue's kindest looks his aching 1 breast, 



And turns his tears to rapture. 



M M. Consolation is best supplied by the Christian doctrine 

 of a happy immortality. In the Pagan religion the power of 

 dying was the great consolation in irremediable distress. Seneca 

 says, u no one need be unhappy unless by his own fault." And 

 Ilk; author of Telemachus begins his work by saying, that Ca- 

 lypso could not console herself lor the loss of Ulysses, and found 

 herself unhappy in being immortal. In the first hours of grief 

 the method of consolation used by uncle Toby, in Tristram 

 Shandy, is probably the best; "lie sat down in an arm chair by 

 the bed of his distressed friend, and said nothing." 



11. Tizdiwm vitce. Ennui. Irksomeness of life. The ina- 

 nity of sublunary things has afforded a theme to philosophers. 



