72 HIS TORT of the SOCIETr. 



Account of actor, are founded the gentle, the amiable virtues : the virtues 



Dr Simth, ' . 



of candid condefcenfion and indulgent humanity. Upon the 

 effort of the perfon principally concerned to lower his own emo- 

 tions, Co as to correfpond as nearly as poffible with thofe of the 

 fpectator, are founded the great, the awful and refpectable virtues; 

 the virtues of felf-denial, of felf-government,of that command of 

 the pafTions, which fubjects all the movements of our nature to 

 what our own dignity and honour, and the propriety of our 

 own conduct, require. 



As a farther illuftration of the foregoing doctrine, Mr Smith 

 confiders particularly the degrees of the different paffions which 

 are confident with propriety, and endeavours to fhew, that in 

 every cafe, it is decent or indecent to exprefs a paffion ftrongly, 

 according as mankind are difpofed or not difpofed to fympa- 

 thize with it. It is unbecoming, for example, to exprefs ftrongly 

 any of thofe paffions which arife from a certain condition of 

 the body ; becaufe other men, who are not in the fame condi- 

 tion, cannot be expected to fympathize with them. It is un- 

 becoming to cry out with bodily pain ; becaufe the fympathy 

 felt by the fpectator bears no proportion to the acutenefs of what 

 is felt by the fufferer. The cafe is fomewhat fimilar with thofe 

 paffions which take their origin from a particular turn or habit 

 of the imagination. 



In the cafe of the unfocial paffions of hatred and refent- 

 ment, the fympathy of the fpectator is divided between the 

 perfon who feels the paffion, and the perfon who is the object 

 of it. " We are concerned for both, and our fear jjfor what 

 " the one may fuffer damps our refentment for what the other 

 u has fuffered." Hence the imperfect degree in which we fym- 

 pathize with fuch paffions ; and the propriety, when we are 

 under their influence, of moderating their expreffion to a 

 much greater degree than is required in the cafe of any other 

 emotions. 



2 The 



