1796.] 
paffion is a weaknefs which philofophy 
ought to fubdue. The doétrine of this 
haughty fect is, in appearance, abandon- 
ed; but it is, in truth, only a little lower- 
edinit’s tone. We are ftill inftruéted, 
that though the pafiions are a part of our 
conftitution, which may, in the prefent 
ftate of things, be of ufe to ftimulate us 
to neceflary exertions, human nature rifes 
in dignity, in proportion as they are re- 
firained; and that, as-we advance in 
moral merit, we fhail become fuperior to 
the impulfes of appetite and fentiment, 
and fhall aét upon general principles of 
wifdom, and a calm conviétion of what 
is right. Every warm attachment, every 
tender feeling, the natural offspring of 
unavoidable affociations, is, in the modern 
fyftem of philofophy, abforbed in an un- 
impaffioned difpofition to promote the 
general gd6d. The foul, inftead of ex- 
periencing endlefs varieties of warmth, 
with its perpetual changes of atmo- 
{phere, is fy{tematically brought into one 
unvarying temperature, at the ftationary 
point of univerfal’ benevolence. 
In order more fully to vindicate this 
fyftem, and to juftify that contemptuous 
{neer with which its profeffors are much 
inclined to look down upon thofe weak 
fouls who melt in tender fympathy at 
forrows not their own, an appeal is made 
to experience ; and we are required to 
obferve the effects aétually produced on 
minds eafily fufceptible of impreffions, 
by the free indulgence of delicate fen- 
fibilities. 
“* Amongft young people, the fafhion- 
able practice of reading novels tends,’’ 
it is remarked, ‘ to produce a degree of 
efinement rather injurious than ufeful 
in the affairs of life. The admiration of 
fictitious portraits of elegance and per- 
feétion creates a diftafte for fuch mode- 
rate attainments as are ordinarily found 
in real characters. The falfe delicacy of 
Sentiment expreffed in many of thefe 
tales, encourages an artificial referve, 
More |ikely to damp than to cherifh the 
genuine affections of nature. Extreme 
fenfibility, if real, is pitiable; if pre- 
tended, ridiculous. Who can endure, 
with patience, the weaknefs or the af- 
fe€tation which fhrieks at the fight of 
a f{pider; faints at a drop of blood pro- © 
duced by the punéture of a needle; and 
“ Dies of a rofe in aromatic pain?” 
“With men of tafte and letters, how 
‘often,” it is faid, ¢ is fenfibility found 
to be produétive of more pain than plea- 
fure! When finifhed performances in 
» MontHLy Mac. No IX. 
The Enquirer. No. 1X. 
707 
the fine arts have been admired, even to 
fatiety, and excellence has loft the charm 
of novelty, the powers of difcrimination 
become faftidious, and the reftlefs fancy 
choofes rather to vex itfelf with attend- 
ing to new defeéts, than to feck a languid 
gratification from contemplating familiar 
beauties. Thus a poem, or a picture, 
which, at a lower ftage of refinement, » 
would have afforded delight, rather of- 
fends than pleafes the praétifed critic, 
or the connoiffeur who is elegans /pectator 
formarum. 
“< Senfibility, fo much admired as the 
foul of friendship, frequently,” it is 
added, ‘degenerates into irritability. 
The tender {ympathizing friend is often 
feen to harrafs both himfelf and the ob- 
ject of his affection by fufpicions and jea- 
loufies excited by caufes altogether ima- 
ginary, or by trifling offences, whofe 
touch could only be perceived by feelings 
irritated even to forenefs. Even the un- 
‘avoidable agitations of fympathy are fre- 
quently fo over-powering to tender {pi- 
rits, that they are inclined to offer, in 
earneft, a prayer for indifference, and fay, 
“¢ Nor eafe, nor peace, that heart can know, 
That, like the needle true, 
Turns at the touch of joy or woe, 
But, turning, trembles too.” 
Carried to,its utmof excefs, this weak- 
nefs produces all the paroxyfms of 
phrenfy, and even terminates in fullen 
mifanthropy, in moody melancholy, or 
in raging madnefs.”’— 
The real éxiftence of thefe faéts is not 
difputed. Miifchiefs, both ludicrous and 
ferious, arife, ic is acknowledged, from 
morbid fenfibility. But what wife man 
would dry up the fources of a fertilifing 
ftream, becaufe its waters may fometimes 
be muddy, or may overflow its banks 2 
With its natural degree of irritability, 
the Senfitive Plant, while it fhrinks at 
the touch, ftill lives and flourifhes, and, 
pofiibly, derives from the preffure which 
contracts its fibres, a pleafing fenfation : 
is it to be wifhed, that the plant were 
deprived of this quality, becaufe, with a 
more irritable organization, it might, 
perhaps, on the gentleft touch, wither 
and die? ¢ 
The truth is, that fenfibility, though 
liable, like every thing elfe, to perver- 
fion and abufe, is too natural to man, to 
be reafoned away by the fubtilty of foe- 
culation ; and too effential to his happi- 
nefs, to be laughed out of the world by 
the dupes of whim and fafhion. 
Human beings depend, neceffarily, for 
a great 

EO 
