10 3 2 "37' STUDY OF THE EMOTIONS. 25 



as to surprise those who casually became aware of its 

 nature. 



He was, in the days we now speak of, an impetuous, 

 ardent, and often impatient youth, capable of any act of 

 unselfish devotion to those dear to him, but abounding in 

 strong and sometimes unreasonable aversions. Yet with a 

 certain waywardness, there was mingled such a winning 

 grace that it was a notorious fact that when he chose, con- 

 sciously or unconsciously, to exert the power, no one could 

 refuse him aught he asked. Indeed, throughout life his 

 powers of " coaxing " were often called into requisition in 

 cases where others had failed. From this digression, we 

 return to the private journal, as the best source of informa- 

 tion in regard to the inner life. The entries are more full 

 in the first month of its existence than at any future period, 

 though some of them are too sacred and personal to be 

 made public. 



"January \\th. Logicians have given much attention 

 to the study of the emotions likely to be legitimately excited 

 by certain occurrences, and on this point Dr. Abercrombie 

 has most particularly dwelt, and yet I cannot perceive the 

 possibility of ever ascertaining or fixing what emotions should 

 originate from known causes ; for in every individual these 

 emotions must differ as well in kind as in degree, and there 

 appears to me no subject better fitted than this to show, to 

 prove, how much mind differs in different individuals, and 

 how essentially it is the reflection of the mind on objects 

 and events which is the greatest cause of joy and sadness, 

 and delight and horror, and not those occurrences them- 

 selves, so much so that we often find that the contemplation 

 of such objects awakes startling, striking, and vivid feelings, 

 which these objects themselves did not excite, though 



