pleasure, and the want of it a cause of pain, which cannot be accounted for in this manner. The sympathy, which my friends express with my joy, might, indeed, give me pleasure by enlivening that joy; but that which they express with my grief could give me none, if it served only to enlieven that grief. Sympathy, however, enlivens joy and alleviates grief. It enlivens joy by presenting another source of satis|faction; and it alleviates grief by insinu|ating into the heart almost the only agree|able sensation which it is at that time ca|pable of receiving.
It is to be observed accordingly, that we are still more anxious to communicate to our friends our disagreeable than our agree|able passions, that we derive still more satis|faction from their sympathy with the for|mer than from that with the latter, and that we are still more shocked by the want of it.
How are the unfortunate relieved when they have found out a person to whom they can communicate the cause of their sor|row? Upon his sympathy they seem to disburthen themselves of a part of their distress: he is not improperly said to share
