ways true to Nature, is perfectly compatible with an elevated and fublime Spirit. Nay, is it not an Attribute afcribed even to the Deity himself? How then can it be derived from fo mean an Original? It is, indeed, a Softnefs, but not (as you call it) an Imbecillity of Heart. Juvenal, I remember, fomewhere extols it as the best and most lovely Paffion belonging to human Nature, and the diftinguishing Characteristic of our Species [r].

You must be fenfible, returned Sophronius, that whatever Notion the Poet might` advance to flatter Mankind, or beautify his Composition; yet

"Not unrelenting. Then ferene began
"With Words to footh the miferable Man.

Iliad. xxiv. Pope's Tranfl.

There is not, as Mr. Pope obferves, a more beautiful Paffage than this, in the whole Iliad. Homer, to thew that Achilles was not a mere Soldier, here draws him as a Perfon of excellent Senfe, and found Reafon. And it was a Piece of great Judgment thus to defcribe him: for the Reader would have retained but a very indifferent Opinion of him, if he had had no Qualification, but mere Strength. It alfo fhews the Art of the Poet, thus to defer this Part of his Character to the Conclufion of the Poem: By these Means, he fixes an Idea of his Greatnefs upon our Minds, and makes his Hero go off the Stage with Applause.

们

POPE'S Homer, B. xxiv. p. 168. ed. 1736.
Molliflima corda

"Humano generi dare fe natura fatetur,

"Quæ lachrymas dedit. Hæc noftri pars optima

"A grege mutorum.'

(fenfus.

盒

JUVEN. Satyr. xv.

Compaffion proper to Mankind appears;

"Which Nature witnefs'd when fhe gave us Tears.” 'Tis this, the nobleft Paflion of the Mind,

Exalts our Race above the brutal Kind.

the

the Generality of the Ancients derived Pity from no higher a Source than that, which I have affigned. Seneca calls it the Fault of a poor pufillanimous Spirit; and affirms, that the basest Tempers are most fufceptible of this Paffion. The wife and good, fays he, will not pity, but he 'will relieve; but he will run to the Aid of the diftreffed. So far is he from dropping a sympathizing Tear with the unhappy; that he is not moved even by his own Calamities, but, like a folid Rock, reverberates the Storm, and ftands fecure [s].

But how does it appear, faid Philocles, that Pity has the fame Idea in our Language, which Mifericordia had in the Roman? Perhaps this might mean a fenfelefs effeminate Confternation, that feizes weak Minds on the Profpect of any thing disastrous, and deprives them of the Capacity to relieve the Mifery they behold.

There is a Paffage in the Author I just now mentioned, returned Sopbronius, which makes it evident, that he understood by Mifericordia, the very fame Thing, which we do by the Word Pi

[s] Clementiam, manfuetudinemque omnes boni præftabunt: mifericordiam autem vitabunt: eft enim vitium pufilli animi ad fpeciem malorum alienorum fuccidentis. Itaque peffimo cuique familiariffima eft. Anus & mulierculæ funt, quæ, &c.--Ergo non miferebitur fapiens, fed fuccurret, fed proderit.--Ne in fuis quidem accidet calamitatibus, fed omnem fortunæ iram reverberabit, & ante fe franget, &c.

SENECA de Clem. lib. II. edit. Dan. Elz. 1672.

ty:

66

ty. [t] He tells us, "that a wife Man will look upon a Beggar labouring under all the Distref"fes of Poverty and Infirmities of old Age, with 66 a Countenance unaltered, and his Heart un"moved at the Sight of the Calamity." From hence it is plain, that, in the Judgment of this Philofopher, it was a Weakness, to be moved and difturbed with the Mifery of another.

Cicero is alfo clearly of the fame Opinion, as may be proved from feveral Paffages in his philofophical Works [u]. And though, in fome of thofe Places, he is giving us the Sentiments of the Stoics; yet he does not hesitate to approve of their Opinion [x]. Nay, the very Definition, which both he and Seneca give of Pity, is-" A "Disorder of the Mind arifing from the View of "another Perfon's Mifery [y].

Little

[] Vultum quidem non dejiciet, non animum, ob ærufcantis alicujus aridam ac pannofam maciem, & innixam baculo fenectutem.- -Sed omnibus dignis proderit, & deorum more, calamitofos propitius refpiciet. SENECA, Ibid.

[u] Videamus quanta fint, quæ à philofophiâ remedia animorum morbis adhibeantur- -variæ funt curationes; alia invidenti, alia miferanti. CICERO, Tufc. Difp. lib. ́IV. p. 231. edit. Ald. Man. & paffim.

[x] Sententiis tamen utendum eft eorum (viz. Stoicorum) qui maximè forti, &, ut ita dicam, virili utuntur ratione.

ibid.

[y] Mifericordia eft ægritudo animi ex alienis rebus adverfis. Ibidem. And that by ægritudo he meant a Disorder or wrong State of Mind, is plain from another Paffage, where he fays Egritudo eft animi, adverfante ratione, contractio. Ibid. 218.

Mifericordia eft ægritudo ob alienarum miferiarum

fpeciem,

Little therefore, good Philocles, will a poetical Quotation avail, to afcertain the Sentiments of the Ancients; which furely are to be drawn from the fober Discourses of their Philofophers, rather than the Raptures and Vifions of their Poets.

But you send me likewife to the human Breast for Conviction in this Point. Why there it is, that I find my Sentiments confirmed. When I behold human Calamities, I perceive all my Faculties over-powered at the afflicting Sight. The Vigour of my Mind fails; and I yield, as it were with Reluctance, to fome fuperior Force. Men of a more refined Frame, who entertain exalted Notions of the Dignity of Man's Nature, may flatter themselves, that, in fuch a Situation, they feel a Confcioufnefs of generous Excellence: But as to myself, I cannot triumph in imaginary Greatnefs of Soul, against the clear Conviction of my Senfes. I freely confefs, that it is nothing but the Weaknefs of my Mind, to which I can afcribe the fudden Effects, which an Object of Mifery raises in my Breast.

But think not, therefore, that this is any Derogation to the Wifdom of the Creator. On the contrary, it seems a wife Defign, to have formed us with this Imbécillity, that we might be rouzed by a quicker Impulfe than that of Reason, and forced to give speedy Relief, that we might as speedily ease ourselves of the Anxiety raised in us

fpeciem, aut triftia ex alienis malis cóntracta. Egritudo autem in fapientem virum non cadit.

SENECA de Clementiâ, lib. II.

at the Sight of Diftrefs. Thus do our very Frailties and Imperfections lead us to Benevolence, and draw us into public and private Fellowships. Let not then Philocles imagine, that I am endeavouring to depreciate either the one or the other, when I fay they are derived from Weakness and Neceffity.

That the former could not arife from Affection to the Species, feems evident, from the fmall Degree of it, which was ever found in the World, and from the Animofities and Contentions, neceffarily attending the Self-appetites under no legal Restraints: And as to the latter, whilft Men had no Protection and Security from Laws, Selfpreservation must have been the only Obje& of their Attention and Care. But how was it poffi→ ble, in fuch a fituation, for the undifciplined Mind to exert her Faculties, and plan a Scheme of private Affociation, before a public was eftablifhed; from whence alone fhe could derive that Leifure and Safety, which were requifite to form the more diftant Scheme?

I can by no Means 'allow, returned Philocles, that the Self-appetites were under no Reftraint, even supposing a Time, when civil Compacts were not as yet established. If Self-affection pleads one Way, Benevolence (a Padion equally belonging to our Frame) pleads as ftrongly the other and the latter can no more be fuppreffed than the former, without doing Violence to Nature.,

But fee the Force of Truth! whilft you would reprefent your Species under difadvantageous Characters,