In vain will the study of history, of mythology, or of a purer religion enrich his imagination, and present him with subjects for his art, if science and philosophy do not join, to enable him to give a representation true to nature. If Ananias is to be represented dying convulsed, let it be according to the unerring principles of our nature. The evening on which I sketched this figure from recollection, I had, in the course of the day, seen three men in succession, die in this state, with an exact resemblance in every twist and contortion of the frame; nor should I have caught the expression unless I had observed that all the muscular frame was affected, and that the most powerful flexor muscles dragged their opponents. Men in this condition are insensible to present objects, and their mutterings prove them to have the idea still prevailing in their minds of opposing the enemy *

* These are painful subjects to present to the reader. It may be a relief to his mind to know, that when there is this terrible excess of expression, there is, notwithstanding, insensibility to pain. One young gentleman, on recovering from the convulsions caused by a gun-shot fracture of the skull, declared that he was insensible to suffering, and the struggles, which to his companions in arms appeared so appalling, were to him merely the exertions which he thought necessary to preserve his balance on a soft bed, upon which he imagined himself to be stretched and carried high in air.

In FEAR there are several degrees. In SIMPLE BODILY FEAR there is mere animal expression, great meanness, and almost total absence of mind and energy. Mr. Burke, in his speculations on fear, assimilates it, with perhaps too little discrimination, to pain. "A man in great pain," he observes, "has his teeth set; his eyebrows are violently contracted; his forehead is wrinkled; his eyes are dragged inwards, and rolled with great vehemence; his hair

stands on end; his voice is forced out in short shrieks and groans; and the whole fabric totters."-" Fear or terror," he continues, “which is an apprehension of pain or death, exhibits exactly the same effects, approaching in violence to those just mentioned, in proportion to the nearness of the cause, and the weakness of the subject*."

But there is one distinguishing feature of the two conditionsThe immediate effect of pain is to produce an energetic action and tension of the whole frame; that of fear is to relax all the energy of mind and body, to paralyse as it were every muscle. Mr. Burke seems to have written loosely, partly from forgetting that pain and fear are frequently combined, and partly from taking a view of the subject too much limited to the particular conclusion which he wished to enforce. There cannot be great pain without its being attended with the distraction of doubts and fears; the dread even of death is a natural consequence of extreme pain, and so the expression of fear in the countenance, is frequently mingled with that of pain. But perhaps there are few passions which may not, in consequence of such combinations, be assimilated with equal truthfear and hatred; hatred and rage; rage and vengeance and remorse. On the other hand, confining the assimilation with pain to the case of simple bodily fear, there is much truth in the observation of this eloquent writer. The fear of boiling water falling on the legs, gives an expression of the anticipation of scalding, resembling the

* Sublime and Beautiful, part iv. § 3. Cause of Pain and Fear.

meaner expression of bodily pain and suffering. As Mr. Burke says, fear in a dog will no doubt be that of the lash, and he will yelp and howl as if he actually felt the blows. This indeed is the only kind of fear which brutes know. The higher degrees of fear, in which the mind operates, and which we shall see characterised in the countenance by an expression peculiar to mental energy, do not appear in them.

In man, the expression of mere bodily fear, is like that of animals, without dignity; it is the mean anticipation of pain. The eyeball is largely uncovered, the eyes staring, and the eyebrows elevated to the utmost stretch. There is a spasmodic affection of the diaphragm and muscles of the chest, affecting the breathing, producing a gasping in the throat with an inflation of the nostril, convulsive opening of the mouth, and dropping of the jaw; the lips nearly concealing the teeth, yet allowing the tongue to be seen, the space between the nostril and lip being full. There is a hollowness and convulsive motion of the cheeks, and a trembling of the lips, and muscles on the side of the neck. The lungs are kept distended, while the breathing is short and rapid. From the connexion of the nerves of the lungs and midriff with those of the side of the neck, and with the branches which supply the cutaneous muscle of the cheek and neck, we may comprehend the cause of the convulsive motion of this muscle*. The aspect is pale and cadaverous from the receding of the blood. The hair is lifted up by the creeping of the skin.

* See a preceding Essay.

P

In the sketch at the head of this chapter I have endeavoured to express fear mingled with wonder. But if we should suppose the fear there represented, to have arisen from apprehended danger still remote, and that the object of fear approaches, the person trembles and looks pale; a cold sweat is on his face; he apprehends that it is now about to cleave to him, and in proportion as there is less room for the imagination to range in, as the danger is more distinctly visible, the expression partakes more of actual bodily pain. The scream of fear is heard, the eyes start forward, the lips are drawn wide, the hands are clenched, and the expression becomes more strictly animal, and indicative of such fear as is common to brutes.