7800...” On Infanity, 
much agitated. Wherethe attention feems 
to be riveted upon one object, no doubt it 
is proper to try any method that may lie 
in our power of diverting it to others. In 
endeavouring however to put the mind in 
motion, ought not we to take care, left 
we /batter fo delicate a machine by the 
violence of the impulfe ? 
Independently of the preceding reafon- 
ing, many are the facts which might be 
ftated, to demonftrate the extreme inex- 
pediency of curing one paftion by convert- 
ing it into another of an opnofite nature ; 
amoneft the reft, that Rrikine one alluded 
to by a poet, who well Knew human 
nature— 
*¢ Earth knows no rage, like Jove to batr ed 
$6 turn’d,’ 
“¢ Nor heil a Rie: like a woman eave. iy 
There is no mixture of emotions which, 
by neutralifing each other, can produce 
indifference, No two impulfes upon the 
mind can be fo directed, as to make it 
move in the diagonal. 
Upon: the principle which I have jut 
noticed, it has been generally thought right 
in ee of violent mania, to inlpire fear in 
order to diminifh excitement. But the no- 
tion that fear neceffarily diminifhes excite- 
ment, feems to me contradicted by the 
moft obvious facts. The energy of our 
frame never perhaps rifes toa higher pitch, 
than in cafes where it has been rotfed by 
the apprehenfion of an impending evil. 
In an effort to efcape, or to defend our- 
felves again{t approaching danger, how 
often are we able to furmount difficulties 
and to refift obftacles which, in other 
circumftances, would have defied the ut- 
moft exertion of our power? Fear, it is 
true, when carried. to a certain height, will 
induce a failure of all the faculties. But 
this appears to be the effect alfo of every 
other of the paflions, where it operates 
with an equal degree of violence. 
Do not we know, for inftance, that the 
excefs of defire precludes, in a variety of 
cafes, the poflibility of gratification ; and 
that gratitude, in general fo temperate a 
fentiment, when awakened by the unex- 
pected difplay of an extraordinary kind- 
nefs, often takes from us even the power 
of thanking our benefactor. 
Another precept fomewhat fimilar to . 
that to which I have laf objeéted, incul 
cates a soriany reftraint upon the actions 
of maniacs;,not merely as it may be ne- 
ceffary to Waser the infliction of injury 
upon themfelves or others, but alfo be- 
caufe fuch reftraint has itfelf a falutary 
operation. This opinion has been a- 
by Dr. Reid. 
dopted by Dr. Cullen ; 
tion of it he has obleeeds that ‘* angry 
paffions are always rendered) more violent 
by the indulgence of the violent motions 
they produce.”’ | 
But in oppofition to the affertion of this 
refpectable writer, do not we find, that'the 
current of feeling is uniformly rendered 
more impetuous by what oppoies the 
freedom of its courfe ? 
To quench the fire that rages in a overs 
veins, you ought, inftead of tearing him 
from the prefence ‘of his miftrefs, to ine 
dulge him, if poffible, in the full enjoy- 
ment of her charms. 
Sorrow, we know, feeks relief in tears, 
in fighs and ejaculations 5 and no way 
could. you. aggravate the oricf of an af- 
flicted perfon more deverely, than by 
forbidding him thefe ‘natural exprefiions 
of it. 
The fhort-lived madnefs of an angry 
man we may obferve in like manner to 
be eafed in general by the blow which ‘he 
inflicts upon the object. of his refentment. 
The death, in hort, of all the paffions is 
found in every cafe to facceed infantly 
their complete gratification. 
From fach confiderations I am inclined 
to think, that it is proper to reftrain a 
maniac in the expreflion of an emotion, 
only fo far as it may be neceflary to pre~ 
429 
vent him trom doing mifchief co others, . 
or any fatal or permanent injury to himielf. 
Any injury, I fay, that would be fatal or 
permanent 5! for if, from the gratification of 
his patfion, he would be likely to fuffer tem- 
porary pain cms however fevere, it ought, 
I think, to be permitted ; fince a recol- 
leGtion of the inconvenience aflociated with 
-the paft. indulgence of his feelings may be 
more likely, perhaps, °than any Sas Gir 
cumftance, to induce a greater degree of 
felf-command in future. 
63, Hatton-Garden. , Ae Rep. 

For the Monthly Magazine. 
RETROSPECT of the PRESENT STATE of 
the GERMAN THEATRE, ¢0 the beginning 
of the Winter of 1800. : 
HE fummer annals of the German 
Thalia are not entirely barren in 
manifold events, efpecially if we pay any 
attention to the adventures of the ftrolling 
companies, and the revolutions of the new- 
rifing or diflolving focieties.. It is juft 
we thould begin our furvey with the four 
national theatres at Vienna, Berlin, Ham- 
burg, and Francfort. Though Mr. Kot. 
zebue was not honoured, at his departure 
from Vienna, with the flattering reftate 
“ dunque 
and in confinma-., 
a SS ee 
+ > 
ee 
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