fometimes favours this impulfe of paffion, by bestowing a temporary fenfibility upon any object at hand, in order to make it a confident. Thus in the Winter's Tale * Antigonus addreffes himself to an infant whom he was ordered to expofe: Come, poor babe, y I have heard, but not believ'd, the fpirits of the dead May walk again: if fuch thing be, thy mother Appear'd to me last night; for ne'er was dream So like a waking. This he does in his dedication of the Double Dealer, in the following words. "When a man in foliloquy reafons with "himself, and pro's and con's, and weighs all his de"figns; we ought not to imagine, that this man either talks '26 to us, or to himself; he is only thinking, and thinking (frequently) fuch matter as were inexcufeable folly in him "to fpeak. But because we are concealed fpectators of the plot in agitation, and the poet finds it neceffary to let us "know the whole myftery of his contrivance, he is willing ' to inform us of this perfon's thoughts; and to that end is "forced to make ufe of the expedient of fpeech, no other "better way being yet invented for the communication of "thought." * Act 3. fc. 6% The The involuntary figns, which are all of them natural, are either peculiar to one paffion or common to many. Every violent paffion hath an external expreffion peculiar to itself, not excepting pleasant paffions: witnefs admiration and mirth. The pleafant emotions that are lefs vivid, have one common expreffion; from which we may gather the ftrength of the emotion, but fcarce the kind: we perceive a chearful or contented look; and we can make no more of it. Painful paffions, being all of them violent, are diftinguishable from each other by their external expreffions. Thus fear, fhame, anger, anxiety, dejection, defpair, have each of them peculiar expreffions; which are apprehended without the least confufion. Some of these paffions produce violent effects upon the body, fuch as trembling, starting, and fwooning. But these effects, depending in a good measure upon fingularity of conftitution, are not uniform in all men. The involuntary figns, fuch of them as are display'd upon the countenance, are of two kinds. Some make their appearance occafionally occafionally with the emotions that produce them, and vanish with the emotions: others are formed gradually by some violent paffion often recurring; and, becoming permanent signs of this prevailing paffion, ferve to denote the difpofition or temper. The face of an infant indicates no particular difpofition, because it cannot be marked with any character to which time is neceffary. And even the temporary figns are extremely aukward, being the firft rude effays of Nature to discover internal feelings. Thus the fhrieking of a new-born infant, without tears or fobbings, is plainly an attempt to weep. Some of the temporary figns, as smiling and frowning, cannot be obferved for fome months after birth. The permanent figns, formed in youth while the body is foft and flexible, are preserved entire by the firmnefs and folidity which the body acquires; and are never obliterated even by a change of temper. Permanent figns are not produced after a certain age when the fibres become rigid; fome violent cafes excepted, fuch as reiterated fits of the gout or stone through a course of time. But these figns are not fo obftinate as what are produced in youth; for when the cause is removed, they gradually wear away, and at last vanish. The natural figns of emotions, voluntary and involuntary, being nearly the fame in all men, form an universal language, which no distance of place, no difference of tribe, no diversity of tongue, can darken or render doubtful. Education, though of mighty influence, hath not power to vary or sophisticate, far less to deftroy, their fignification. This is a wife appointment of Providence. For if these figns were, like words, arbitrary and variable, it would be an intricate science to decipher the actions and motives of our own species, which would prove a great or rather invincible obstruction to the formation of focieties. But as matters are ordered, the external appearances of joy, grief, anger, fear, fhame, and of the other paffions, forming an univerfal language, open a direct avenue to the heart. As the arbitrary figns vary in every country, there could be no communication of thoughts among different nations, were it not for the natural natural figns in which all agree. Words are fufficient for the communication of fcience, and of all mental conceptions: but the discovering paffions inftantly as they rife, being effential to our well-being and often neceffary for felf-prefervation, the author of our nature, attentive to our wants, hath provided a paffage to the heart, which never can be obftructed while our external fenses remain entire. In an inquiry concerning the external figns of paffion, actions ought not altogether to be overlooked: for though fingly they afford no clear light, they are upon the whole the best interpreters of the heart*. By ob *The actions here chiefly in view, are what a paffion fuggefts in order to its gratification. Befide thefe, actions are occafionally exerted to give fome vent to a paffion, without propofing an ultimate gratification. Such occafional action is characteristical of the paffion in a high degree; and for that reason, when happily invented, has a wonderful good effect in poetry: Hamlet. Oh most pernicious woman! That one may fmile, and fmile, and be a villain ; [Writing. Hamlet, aft 1. fc. 8. ferving |