And if our destiny envy our virtue The honour of the day, yet let us care The Furies ftood on hills Circling the place, and trembled to fee men Ibid. alt. 5. Ofmyn. While we indulge our common happinefs, He is forgot by whom we all poffefs, The brave Almanzor, to whofe arms we owe All that we did, and all that we fhall do; Who like a tempeft that outrides the wind, Abdalla. His victories we fcarce could keep in view, Or polish 'em so fast as he rough drew. Abdemelech. Fate after him below with pain did move, And Victory could scarce keep pace above. The gods of Rome fight for ye; loud Fame calls ye, Pitch'd on the toplefs Apenine, and blows To all the under world, all nations, The feas and unfrequented deferts, where the fnow dwells, Wakens the ruin'd monuments, and there Beaumont and Fletcher, Bondúca, alt. 3. fc.3. I close with the following obfervation, That an actor upon the stage may be guilty of bombaft as well as an author in his clofet. A certain manner of acting, which is grand when supported by dignity in the fentiment and force in the expreffion, is ridiculous where the fentiment is mean, and the expreffion flat. CHAP, СНА Р. V. Motion and Force. 309 T eye HAT motion is agreeable to the without relation to purpose or defign, may appear from the amusement it gives to infants. Juvenile exercises are relished chiefly upon that ac count. If to fee a body in motion be agreeable, one will be apt to conclude, that to see it at reft is difagreeable. But we learn from experience, that this would be a rash conclufion. Reft is one of those circumstances that are neither agreeable nor disagreeable. It is viewed with perfect indifferency. And happy it is for mankind that the matter is fo ordered. If reft were agreeable, it would difincline us to motion, by which all things are performed. If it were disagreeable, it would be a fource of perpetual uneafiness; for the bulk of the things we fee appear to be at reft. reft. A fimilar inftance of designing wifdom I have had occafion to explain, in oppofing grandeur to littleness, and elevation to lowness of place*. Even in the fimpleft matters, the finger of God is confpicuous. The happy adjustment of the internal nature of man to his external circumstances, difplayed in the inftances here given, is indeed admirable. Motion is certainly agreeable in all its varieties of quickness and flowness. But motion long continued admits fome exceptions. That degree of continued motion which correfponds to the natural courfe of our perceptions, is the most agreeable +. The quickest motion is for an instant delightful. But it soon appears to be too rapid. It becomes painful, by forcibly accelerating the course of our perceptions. Slow continued motion becomes difagreeable for an oppofite reafon, that it retards the natural course of our perceptions. There are other varieties in motion, be See chap. 4. + See chap. 9. fide quickness and flowness, that make it more or less agreeable. Regular motion is preferred before what is irregular, witness the motion of the planets in orbits nearly circular. The motion of the comets in orbits less regular, is lefs agreeable. : Motion uniformly accelerated, refembling an ascending series of numbers, is more agreeable than when uniformly retarded. Motion upward is agreeable by the elevation of the moving body. What then shall we fay of downward motion regularly accelerated by the force of gravity, compared with upward motion regularly retarded by the fame force? Which of these is the most agreeable? This question is not eafily folved. Motion in a straight line is no doubt agreeable. But we prefer undulating motion, as of waves, of a flame, of a ship under fail. Such motion is more free, and also more natural. Hence the beauty of a ferpentine river. The eafy and fliding motion of fluids, from the lubricity and incoherence of their parts, is agreeable upon that account. But the |