§ 196. Practical results connected with the foregoing views.

As sympathetic imitation, if it be correctly considered as a modification of the more ordinary form of Imitativeness, is to be regarded as, in its basis at least, an original part of our mental constitution, we may well suppose it has its beneficial ends. But it is evident, from the facts which have been given, that it may also be attended, and, under certain circumstances, is very likely to be attended, with results of a different kind. Hence the direction has sometimes been given by physicians, that a free intercourse with persons subject to convulsive attacks ought not to be unnecessarily indulged in, especially by such as are inclined to nervous affections. And this precautionary rule might be extended to other cases for instance, of madness. "It is a question" (says Mr. Stewart, in the chapter already referred to) "worthy of more attention than has yet been bestowed upon it by physicians, whether certain kinds of insanity have not a contagious tendency, somewhat analogous to that which has just been remarked. That the incoherent ravings and frantic gestures of a madman have a singularly painful effect in unsettling and deranging the thoughts of others, I have more than once experienced in myself; nor have I ever looked upon this most afflicting of all spectacles without a strong impression of the danger to which I should be exposed if I were to witness it daily. In consequence of this impression, I have always read, with peculiar admiration,

the scene in the tragedy of Lear, which forms the transition from the old king's beautiful and pathetic reflections on the storm, to the violent madness in which, without any change whatever in his external circumstances, he is immediately after represented. In order to make this transition more gradual, the poet introduces Edgar, who, with a view of concealing himself from Lear, assumes the dress and behaviour of a madman. At every sentence he utters, the mind of the king, whose wits' (as we are told in the preceding scene) were beginning to turn,' becomes more and more deranged, till at length every vestige of reason vanishes completely."

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§197. Application of these views to Legislative and other Assemblies.

We have already had occasion to intimate that the effects of sympathetic imitation have been strikingly experienced in public assemblies; and we may here add, when those effects have been strongly marked, they have seldom been beneficial. In all political deliberative assemblies, it is a reasonable suggestion that all violent external signs of approbation and disapprobation should be, in a great degree, suppressed. There is generally enough in the subjects which are discussed to excite the members, without the additional excitement (to use a phrase of Buffon) of "body speaking to body." It is said of the famous Athenian tribunal of the Areopagus, that they held their deliberations in the night, in order that their attention might not be diverted by external objects. And, without expressing

an opinion on this practice, it is certainly not unwise to guard against the terrible influences under consideration; otherwise truth, honour, and justice will often be sacrificed to feeling. Every public deliberative assembly has probably furnished facts illustrative of the propriety of this caution.

Similar remarks will apply to religious assemblies, and perhaps with still more force, as religious subjects are more important, and, in general, more exciting than any other. If, in such an assembly, the feelings of a few individuals become so strong as to show themselves very decidedly in the countenance and the movements of the body, and particularly by sobs and loud outcries, it will not be surprising if this state of things should quickly spread itself through the whole body. In this way it is probable that serious evils have sometimes been experienced, and that true and false religious feelings have been confounded. It is true that people may sometimes be led, by the mere power of sympathy, to attend to religious things; and so far, if there are no collateral evils, the result may be regarded as favourable; but, at the same time, it should be kept in recollection, that the feelings, which are really propagated from one to another by mere sympathy, are not in themselves religious feelings in any proper sense of the terms, though they are often confounded with them.

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CHAPTER VI.

DISORDERED ACTION OF THE PROPENSITIES

(v.) THE DESIRE OF ESTEEM.

198. The desire of Esteem susceptible of a disordered action.

THERE may be a disordered action of the desire of Esteem. This principle is not only an original one, but, as a general thing, it possesses, as compared with some of the other propensities, a greater and more available amount of strength. It is a regard for the opinion of others (a sense of character, as we sometimes term it), which, in the absence or the too great weakness of higher principles, serves to restrict the conduct of multitudes within the bounds of decency and order. This principle is good and important in its place and under due regulation; but it is exceedingly apt to become irregular, unrestrained, and inordinate in its exercise. This view throws light upon the character of many individuals. It is here, probably, that we may discover the leading defect in the character of Alcibiades, a name of distinguished celebrity in the history of Athens. His ruling passion seems to have been not so much the love of POWER as the love of APPLAUSE. In other words, his great desire was, as has been well re

marked of him, "to make a noise, and to furnish matter of conversation to the Athenians."

Pope, in the first of his Moral Essays, illustrates this subject, in his usual powerful manner, in what he says of the Duke of Wharton; the key to whose character he finds in the excessive desire of human applause.

"Search then the ruling passion. There alone
The wild are constant and the cunning known;
This clew, once found, unravels all the rest,
The prospect clears, and Wharton stands confess'd.
Wharton, the scorn and wonder of our days,
Whose ruling passion was the LUST OF PRAISE.
Born with whate'er could win it from the wise,
Women and fools must like him, or he dies."

§ 199. Further explanatory remarks on this subject. The inordinate exercise of this propensity, as is correctly intimated by Mr. Stewart, tends to disorganize the mind. It cannot well be otherwise. The man who is under the influence of such an excessive appetite for the world's smiles and flatteries, has no fixed rule of conduct; but the action of his mind, his opinions, desires, hopes, and outward conduct, are constantly fluctuating with the changing tide of popular sentiment. It is nearly impossible that the pillars of the mind should remain firm, and without more or less undermining and dislocation, under the operations of such a system of uncertainty and vicissitude. Hence the disorganization which Mr. Stewart speaks of; not merely in the power primarily affected, but also in other parts of the mind.

Nor is this all. When persons who are under