394 HENRY KIRKE WIIITE S RE.MAINS. 



In these systems it is taken for granted that all those 

 passions are excited which are represented in the drama. 

 This I conceive to have been the primary cause of error, 

 for to me it seems very probable that the only passion or 

 afft^ction which is excited is that of sympath}^ which par- 

 takes of the pleasing nature oC pity and compassion, and 

 includes in it so much as is pleasing of hope and appre- 

 hension, joy and grief. 



The pleasure we derive from the afflictions of a friend 

 is proverbial — every person has felt, and wondered wdiy 

 he felt, something soothing in the participation of the 

 sorrows of those dear to his heart ; and he might, with as 

 much reason, have questioned why he was delighted with 

 the melancholy scenes of tragedy. Both pleasures are 

 e iually singular ; they both arise from the same source. 

 Both originate in sym})athy. 



It would seem natural that an accidental spectator of 

 a cause in a court of justice, with which he is perfectly 

 unacquainted, would remain an uninterested auditor of 

 what was going forward. Experience tells us, however, 

 the exact contrary. He immediately, even before he is 

 well acquainted with the merits of the case, espouses one 

 side of the question, to which he uniformly adheres, par- 

 ticipates in all its advantages, and sympathizes in its suc- 

 cess. There is no denying that the interest this man 

 takes in the business is a source of pleasure to him ; but 

 we cannot suppose one of the parties in the cause, though 

 his interest must be infinitely more lively, to feel an equal 

 pleasure, because the painful passions are in him really 

 roused, while in the other sjnnpathy alone is excited, 

 which is in itself pleasing. It is pretty much the same 

 with the spectator of a tragedy. And if the sympathy is 

 the more pleasing, it is because the actions are so much 

 the more calculated to entrap the attention, and the ob- 

 ject so much the more worthy. The pleasure is height- 

 ened also in both instances by a kind of intuitive recol- 

 lection, which never forsakes the spectator, that no bad 

 consequences will result to him from the action he is sur- 

 veying. This recollection is the more predominant in 

 the spectator of a tragedy, as it is impossible in any case 



