HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY. g

objedf is prefented; it feems to pant and leap for-ward to meet it, and the paillon in its full forcetakes at once entire and complete poffeffion of thefoul. But it is otherways with grief; the heartrecoils from, and relifts die ftrft approaches ofthat disagreeable paillon , and it requires sometime before the melancholy obje£l can produceits full effe£l. Grief comes on slowly and gradu-ally , nor ever rises at once to that height ofagony to which it is increased after a little time.But joy comes rushing upon us all at once like atorrent. The change produced therefore by aSurprife of joy is more sudden, and upon that ac-count more violent and apt to have more fataleffects, than that which is occasioned by a Sur-prife of grief; there feems too to be somethingin the nature of Surprise, which makes it unitemore eahly with the brisk and quick motion ofjoy, than with the flower and heavier movementof grief. Moll men who can take the trouble torecollect, will find that they have heard of morepeople who died or became diftra£kd with sud-den joy, than with sudden grief. Yet from thenature of human affairs, the latter mull be muchmore frequent than the former. A man maybreak his leg, or lofe his son, though he has hadno warning of either of these events, but he canhardly meet with an extraordinary piece of goodfortune, without having had some forefight of whatwas to happen.

Blot only grief and joy but all the other paffions,are more violent, when opposite extremes succeed