tragedy in
that invaluable work "A philosophical inquiry into the origin of our
ideas of the SUBLIME AND BEAUTIFUL."

"It is a common observation," says the author, in the chapter on
sympathy and its effects, "that objects which in the reality would
shock, are, in tragical and such like representations, the source of a
very high species of pleasure. This taken as a fact, has been the cause
of much reasoning. The satisfaction has been commonly attributed, first
to the comfort we receive in considering that so melancholy a story is
no more than a fiction; and next to the contemplation of our own freedom
from the evils which we see represented. I am afraid it is a practice
much too common in inquiries of this nature, to attribute the cause of
feelings, which merely arise from the mechanical structure of our
bodies, or from the natural frame and construction of our minds, to
certain conclusions of the reasoning faculty on the objects presented to
us: for I should imagine that the influence of reason, in producing our
passions, is nothing near so extensive as is commonly believed.

"To examine this point, concerning the effect of tragedy in a proper
manner, we must previously consider how we are affected by the feelings
of our fellow-creatures, in circumstances of _real_ distress. I am
convinced we have a degree of delight, and that no small one, in the
_real_ misfortunes and pains of others; for let the affection be what it
will in appearance, if it does not make us shun such objects, if, on the
contrary, it induces us to approach them, if it makes us dwell upon
them, in this case we must have a delight or pleasure of some species
or other in contemplating objects of this kind.

"Do we not read the authentic histories of scenes of this nature with as
much pleasure as romances or poems, where the incidents are fictitious?
The prosperity of no empire, nor the grandeur of no king, can so
agreeably affect in the reading, as the ruin of the state of Macedon and
the distress of its unhappy prince. Such a catastrophe touches us in
history, as much as the destruction of Troy does in fable. Our delight
in cases of this kind is very greatly heightened if the sufferer be some
excellent person who sinks under an unworthy fortune. Scipio and Cato
are both virtuous characters, but we are more deeply affected by the
violent death of the one, and the ruin of the great cause he adhered to,
than with the deserved triumphs and uninterrupted