ORDER OF EXEMPLIFICATION.

127

Feeling will depart from the arrangement given under Strength, and will follow the order of the Classes; the reference to the ultimate Constituents supplying the conditions of effect. For clearness' sake, these Constituents may now be resumed as follows:

:

(1) Sexual Feeling, as Animal Passion.

(2) Sexual Feeling, as Personal Fascination; together with its presence in the other relations.

(3) The influence of Reciprocal and Mutual Devotedness: viewed as pervading all the species of Tender Emotion, and as the chief foundation of filial, fraternal and other individual attachments.

(4) The Parental Feeling: with its derivatives, love of the little, the helpless and the distressed. Protection generally.

(5) The Feeling of the Gregarious, or General Sociability, conspicuous in the influence of the collective mass on the individual.

The mode of appeal to these ultimate varieties of tender emotion is governed by the characteristic feature of each.

VOCABULARY OF FEELING.

1. Subjects.

Domestic group: Lover,' 'wooer,'' suitor,' 'sweetheart,' 'pet,' 'darling'; 'husband,' 'wife,' 'spouse,' 'mother,* 'father,' 'parent,' 'child,' 'babe,' 'infant,' 'son,' 'daughter,' 'boy,' 'girl,' 'brother,' sister'; 'home,' hearth,' 'fireside,' 'household gods'; 'kinsman,'' relation,'' kindred,' 'bloodrelation,' forefather,' ancestor,' 'descendant,' heir'.

6

Friendship: Friend,' companion,' mate,'' comrade,' 'associate,' 'confidant,' bed-fellow," 'good genius,' 'bosomfriend,' 'boon companion'.

Co-patriotism:- Neighbour,' fellow-citizen,' 'fellowcountryman,'' compatriot,'' companion-in-arms'.

The Gregarious or numbers collectively:- Assemblage,' 'multitude,' gathering,' 'host,' 'congregation'; company,' 'brotherhood,' 'society,' 'meeting,' 'army,' 'legion,' 'array,' 'troop,' 'clan,' 'tribe,' 'congress,'' council,' 'crowd,' ' encampment,' 'flock,'' herd,'' swarm,' 'shoal'.

Benevolent interest: Benefactor,' 'philanthropist,' 'saviour,' deliverer,' 'guardian-angel,' 'good Samaritan,' 'Howard'.

Religion:- God,' 'Lord,' Heavenly Father,' 'Redeemer, Saviour,' Mediator,' 'Holy Spirit,' Comforter,' Paraclete,' angel,' 'heavenly host,' sons of God,' ministering spirits,' 'celestial visitants'.

Pathos and Sorrow :- Sufferer,' 'bereaved one,'' afflicted,' 'troubled,' down-trodden,' widow,' 'orphan,' 'fatherless,' martyr,' 'prey,'' victim,' 'poor,' needy'. 2. Qualities.

Pervading names for Tender Feeling: Love,' affection,' endearment,' attachment,' 'fondness,' 'passion (tender),'' warmheartedness,' ' devotion,'' goodness,'' kindness,' benevolence,' charity,' 'humanity,' 'sympathy,' 'fellow-feeling,' 'benignant,' 'amity,'' sociability

6

More special to the Sexes:- Ardour,' 'flame,' 'passion,' ' devotion,' ' adoring,' 'burning,' 'smitten,' captivated,' charmed,' 'enraptured'; 'kissing,' 'caressing,' 'embracing,' courting,' 'wooing'. 'Marriage,' 'honey-moon,' ' nuptials,' Hymen,' the altar,' wedlock,' espousals'; 'conjugal,' 'connubial,' wedded'. Parental,' motherly,' 'fatherly,' 'petting,' 'nursing,' 'protecting,' 'pitying,' 'caring for,' supporting,' watching,' ' nourishing'.

Compassion, Philanthropy:-'Benevolence,' ' beneficence,' bounty,' 'goodness,' 'kind offices,' services,' 'assistance, benefits,' 'generosity,' 'generosity,' 'sympathy,' 'pity,' 'charity'; 'long-suffering,' 'grace,' forgiveness,' 'pardon,' 'intercession,' 'conciliation,' 'propitiation'. Reciprocal and upward Tenderness: - Thankfulness,' gratitude,' 'response,' 'requital,' ' acknowledgment,' 'looking up to,' reverence'.

Pains awakening Tenderness:-'Sorrow,' 'sadness,' woe,'' tears,' 'crying,' 'grief,'' distress,' 'misery,' 'trial,' 'trouble,' 'suffering,' affliction,' bereavement,' desolation,' 'wretchedness,' 'tribulation,' broken heart,' 'adversity,' calamity,' 'disaster,' bitterness,' sinking,' 'inconsolable,' 'dejected,' 'doomed,' devoted,' undone,' 'despair,' 'tragic,' accursed,' ache,' 'pang,' agony,' anguish,' 'torment,' 'torture,' death,' 'the grave,' tomb,' the departed'.

the

Pleasures allied to Tenderness:- Joy,'' delight,' 'gladness,' 'happiness,' bliss,' 'youth,' 'charm,' 'glee'; 'genial,' 'sweet,' 'delicious,' heart-felt,' 'cordial,' 'rejoicing,' 'cheering'; 'sunshine,'' comfort,' 'calmness,'' serenity,' 'trans

NAMES OF TENDER QUALITIES.

129

port,' 'fascination,' ravishment,' 'ecstasy,' 'paradise,' 'Elysium,' 'seventh heaven '.

Names for Beauty employed to awaken Tenderness :'Beautiful,' 'graceful," 'elegant,' 'comely,' 'lovely'; 'adornment,' witchery'; fair,' handsome,' delicate,' 'refined,' 'well-favoured,' seemly,' 'blooming,' 'bright,' brilliant,' 'resplendent,' 'well-formed,' 'becoming,' 'tasteful,' 'classical,' 'chaste,' courtly'.

6

Names for the Virtues that inspire Tender Feeling, coupled with more or less of admiration :-- Fairness,' 'justice,' 'equity,' 'reciprocity' (in good offices), 'fair play,' 'even-handed,'generosity,' rewarding desert,' approbation,' 'esteem,' 'praise,' 'regard,' respect,' 'honesty,' 'uprightness,' 'probity,' 'fidelity,' 'constancy,' 'trustworthiness,' 'punctuality,' scrupulosity,' generosity,' 'liberality, nobleness,' 'purity,' magnanimity,' 'incorruptibility,' 'innocence'; 'harmless,' 'blameless,' 'faultless,' 'dove-like,' angelic'.

6

Names for the Religious aspects of Tenderness 'Piety,' 'faith,' grace,'godliness,' 'reverence,' 'sacredness,' 'devoutness,' 'sanctity,' 'holiness,' 'humility,' 'purity,' 'innocence,'' sinlessness,' 'heavenly,' 'holy beauty,' 'divine peace,' 'saint,' child of God,' 'redeemed,'' unearthly,' heavenly-minded,'' spiritually-minded,' 'consecration,' 'unction,' 'salvation,' 'redemption,' 'prayer,' 'supplication,' 'adoration,' 'devotion,'' worship,' 'benediction'.

Pathos of Time :-Old,' 'past,' 'foretime,' 'aftertime,' 'ages past and future,' 'generations gone-by-to come,' antiquated,' 'forgotten,' 'eternal,' 'enduring,' 'for ever' 'Ancient of days'.

Names for the Little :-Diminutives of Grammar, 'tiny,' 'lambkin,' ' atom,' 'mite,' 'pigmy'.

3. Antipathetic Vocabulary.

;

Diametrical opposites of Tenderness :-'Hatred,' 'malevolence,' 'revenge,'' aversion'. Opposites from Strength :Vocabulary of strength and energy without malevolence. Coarse and slang terms; the ludicrous. Forms of misery too intense to be redeemed. Exultation of triumph and victory. The stately Classical vocabulary: magniloquence generally. Language studiously and artificially compacted.

4. Names for Associated circumstances.

Under Figures of Contiguity was shown the use of

adjuncts and connections in enlarging the means of expressing emotion. The operation is still wider. The Associated language of Tenderness, in general, and of the love of the sexes, in particular, embraces the harmonies of nature— flowers, animals, streams, mountains, scenic effects of every kind. These emotional adjuncts have been gradually increasing and accumulating, and have been raised or heightened by their continued employment in the service, till they have acquired an independent power, and repay their origin with interest.

Even the heavenly bodies are not exempted; the Moon being in more especial request. There is apt to be a forced employment of these cold and distant bodies; yet by iteration the wished-for result is gained. The Seasons alone yield a copious fund of allusion, especially after having been exhaustively worked by Thomson.

CONDITIONS OF FEELING.

1. The Aids to Emotional Qualities already given being supposed, the requisites special to Tender Feeling are little else than the general conditions applied to the

case.

As with Strength, so here: no mere profusion of the phraseology and imagery of Tender feeling will succeed without representative force, concreteness, cumulation, harmony, ideality, originality or variety, and refining arts.

The following aids deserve special attention as bearing on the quality of Feeling. Their exemplification will be given afterwards.

(1) Adequate representation of the subject of the emotion, by duly selecting the essential points, and omitting all irrelevant and disturbing particulars.

(2) Additional heightening circumstances, as, for example, the mental virtues of a beautiful person. To increase the impression of female beauty, we should not introduce virtues of the more masculine type, even though these may, in themselves, be fitted to secure admiration.

(3) Harmonious circumstances and surroundings. These will be most abundantly illustrated in connexion with the Erotic form of the tender emotions.

(4) Subjective delineation, by the various modes already

FAULTS AND FAILURES.

131

recounted (p. 11). The importance of this condition will be best seen under Religion; more stress being there laid upon it, from the difficulties attending on the other conditions, especially the first.

2. The faults most liable to occur in connexion with Feeling are a further illustration of its requirements.

(1) Insipidity. This is common to all qualities, and may be owing to general inadequacy of the language used; but, most commonly, it comes from want of sufficient originality.

(2) Discords. The purity of the instrument, or, in other words, the absence of all inharmonious accompaniments, must be especially kept in view.

Discords will arise not only from the introduction of language inconsistent with Feeling, but also from a failure to maintain the consistency of the particular feeling in question.

(3) Extravagance and Overstraining: that is to say, greater profusion than the feeling is able to sustain. There is frequently waste of power upon situations of an exceptional kind, as in the tragedy of a first love, which, to be treated at all, demands the highest power of genius in order to redeem its hyperbolical character.

(4) Maudlin. This is a name for the most characteristic abuse of Tender feeling. It is the employment of it in excess, and out of relation to the object. The Ass of Sterne is still the best-known example of gross disproportion between the language of feeling and its occasion.

The assuaging outburst of grief under pain, is the extreme form of an organic process whose milder modes of stimulation are associated with the tender feeling on its genial side. If possible, nothing should be done to induce the spasmodic violence of the lachrymal flow, which is a mode of weakness and exhaustion of the system. The modes of refinement of the grosser passions are eminently applicable to the moderating of the tender emotions, if only for the sake of its physical

excesses.

As with the lachrymal flow, so with the embrace; the occasion should be adequate, and the actuality rare. It takes a considerable development of interest to make these outward tokens acceptable in artistic delineation.

(5) Confounding of Pathos and Strength. The cases where these come together without mutual injury have been adverted to already, and will appear again. There may be rapid alternation of the two without discord.