58 MEMORIAL SKETCH. 



or wrong character which becomes attached to an action, 

 when we place in comparison the motives which prompted it ; 

 and this idea is entirely dependent on the relative worth or 

 value in the moral scale which we have been accustomed to 

 assign to the different classes of motives. The moral rule of 

 action hence consists in the preference of a higher to a lower 

 motive or combination of motives. But it will of course be 

 asked how are the relative values of these motives to be deter 

 mined ; and the answer is, simply, by the universal conscious 

 ness of mankind, which is found to be more and more accordant 

 in this respect, the more faithfully it is interpreted, and the more 

 fully the general mind is expanded and enlightened. It is this 

 tendency towards universal agreement upon this fundamental 

 point which leads us to feel satisfied that there will in the end 

 be as good a foundation for a science of morals in the 

 psychical constitution of man, as there is for that of music in 

 the pleasure which he derives from certain combinations of 

 sounds. 



Among these various springs of action, what is the 

 function of the will ? 



[It is] not only concerned in carrying into effect the sug 

 gestions of the desires. In the well-regulated mind it ought to 

 have a controlling influence over the desires themselves, so as 

 to prevent them from exercising themselves with undue force. 

 This is, in fact, the power known as self-control a power which 

 cannot be too early cultivated or too habitually exercised. Now, 

 we believe that much may be learned by observation of infantile 

 life of the nature of this power. When a young child gives way 

 to a fit of passion, the nurse attempts to restore its equanimity 

 by presenting some new object to its attention, so that the more 

 recent and vivid pleasurable impression may efface the sense of 

 past uneasiness. As the child grows older, the judicious mother 

 teaches it self-control, by calling up in its mind such motives as 

 it is capable of appreciating ; the act of self-control being the 

 result of the overpowering influence of the higher motives sug 

 gested to it over the lower or selfish emotions which we desire 

 to bring into subjection. 



