by the indications of Regan's disaffection, and those fond expectations and desires of sympathetic tenderness, which proceed from, and in their turn contribute to depression of spirit. Thus he condescends to entreat and remonstrate:

I gave you all!

At length, repulsed and insulted by Regan, totally cast down and enfeebled, he forgets his determined hatred of Goneril; and in the misery of his depression, irresolute and inconsistent, he addresses her as his last resource:

Not being the worst,

Stands in some need of praise; I'll go with thee;
Thy fifty yet doth double five and twenty,
And thou art twice her love.

Here he is again disappointed. He has no other resource. His mind, originally of a keen and impetuous nature, is now unoccupied with any tender sentiment. Accordingly, at the close of this interesting scene, we see him forcing himself as it were

from his depression, and expressing his undiminished resentment.

You Heavens, give me that patience which I need;
You see me here, you Gods, a poor old man,
As full of grief as age; wretched in both!
If it be you that stir these daughters' hearts
Against their father, fool me not so much
To bear it tamely; touch me with noble anger :
O let not women's weapons, water drops,
Stain my man's cheeks no you unnatural hags,
I will have such revenges on you both,

That all the world shall-I will do such things-
What they are, yet I know not; but they shall be,
The terrors of the earth. You think I'll weep-
No, I'll not weep.

I have full cause of weeping; but this heart
Shall break into an hundred thousand flaws,
Or e'er I'll weep-O Fool, I shall go mad.

Inconsistency of conduct, and of consequence, irresolution, occasioned by irregular and undirected feelings, proceed from other states of mind than depression of spirits. Of this some examples different from the present now occur to me. They illustrate the general position, and may therefore be mentioned.

Lorenzino de Medicis had a lively fancy; he was a courtier, ambitious, and had his imagination filled with ideas of pageantry. He wished to enjoy pre-eminence; but Alexander, the reigning Prince, was an obstacle to be removed; and this could only be done by despoiling him of life. The difficulty no doubt was great; yet it figured less to his heated imagination, than the dignity and enjoyment he had in view. Elegant in his manners, accomplished with every pleasing endowment; of soft and insinuating address; he had, nevertheless, no secret counsellor in his breast, to plead in behalf of justice. Thus prompted, and thus unguarded, he perpetrates the death of his sovereign. He sees his blood streaming; hears him groaning in the agonies of death; beholds him convulsed in the pangs of departing life: a new set of feelings arise; the delicate accomplished courtier, who could meditate atrocious injury, cannot, without being astonished, witness the bloody object; he remains motionless, irresolute, appalled at the deed and in this state of amazement,

* See Robertson's History of the Reign of Charles V.

instead of prosecuting his design, he betakes himself to sudden flight. After some time he is seized, and punished as he de

serves.

Voltaire gives a similar account of his hero, Lewis. After describing in lively colours the desolation perpetrated by his authority in the Palatinate; the conflagration of cities, and the utter ruin of the inhabitants; he subjoins, that these orders were issued from Versailles, from the midst of pleasures; and that, on a nearer view, the calamities he thus occasioned would have filled him with horror. That is, Lewis, like all men of irregular sensibility, was governed by the influences of objects operating immediately on his senses; and so according to such accidental mood as depended on present images, he was humane or inhuman. Lewis and Lorenzino, in those instances, were men of feeling, but not of virtue.

IV. The man of ungoverned sensibility, is in danger of becoming morose or inhuman. He entertains sanguine hopes; he allows every feeling to reign in his breast uncon

trouled; his judgment is dazzled; and his imagination riots in rapturous dreams of enjoyment. Every object of his wishes is arrayed in seducing colours, and brought immediately within his reach. He engages in the pursuit; encounters difficulties of which he was not aware; his ravishing expectations subside; he had made no provision for arduous adventure; his imagination becomes a traitor; the dangers and difficulties appear more formidable than they really are; and he abandons his undertak-ing. His temper is of consequence altered. No longer elated with hope, he becomes the prey of chagrin, of envy, or of resentment. Even suppose him successful, his enjoyments are not equal to his hopes. His desires were excessive, and no gratification whatever can allay the vehemence of their ardour. He is discontented, restless, and unhappy. In a word, irregular feelings, and great sensibility, produce extravagant desires; these lead to disappointment; and in minds that are undisciplined, disappointment begets moroseness, and anger. These dispositions again, will display themselves,

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