PASSION. 



passion and affection : it instigates the 

 whole of our conduct; it pervades and 

 directs every internal operation of the 

 mind ; it is clearly known by every one 

 xvho has the power of thinking, but it de- 

 fies every definition. That this is the 

 truth no one will dispute : hence it ap- 

 pears, that the Divinity has given its an 

 Invisible active spirit, possessing the 

 means of perception, and even of fore- 

 sight, extending to a hint of what would 

 be hurtful, or beneficial, or pleasant, on 

 which it is intended reason, improved by 

 education and experience, should act and 

 bring to perfection. 



Admitting these premises, it necessa- 

 rily follows, that man hus the means of 

 foreseeing what will prove injurious, or 

 the reverse, and the power of turning 

 those means to the full use intended. 

 These we shall term the control of the 

 passions; were they carried to the extent 

 of which they are capable, half the pre- 

 sent unhappiness of life might be avoid- 

 ed, and an endless catalogue of dangers 

 prevented. 



We manage the horse, and command 

 his passions ; nay, we teach him to face 

 the fire and thunder of cannon ; though 

 we know that, when untutored, his fears 

 fascinate him to the spot where that ele- 

 ment surrounds and would destroy him : 

 shall it then be said that the infant must 

 advance into life with all its passions 

 advancing in equal proportion ? have 

 we reason given us to tutor the horse 

 and neglect our own species; 1 Surely 

 not. Let the latter, then, be taught, 

 in the earliest period of existence, to 

 fear nothing but moral evil; let the 

 child be led into the very jaws of dan- 

 ger, and taught the method of deliberate 

 retreat, that he may not faint before sha- 

 dows, and magnify fancies into gulfs of 

 destruction. 



Parents, nurses, and ignorant teachers, 

 lay the foundation of much misery, by ex- 

 citing fears of imaginary beings in the 

 minds of infants. This method of fright- 

 ening them into propriety of conduct 

 turns the thoughts of the child from con- 

 templating the appearance of natural ob- 

 jects, whose operations are easily com- 

 prehended, into a dark vacuum, where 

 fancy finds floating spectres of horrid 

 form and mein, which haunt them sleep- 

 ing, and pursue them in the dark through 

 the remainder of their lives ; and to this 

 cause we principally attribute the sudden 

 magnifying of the soul's hints of danger, 

 which finding nothing real to work upon, 

 the thoughts are wrought into chaos 



and frenzy, confusing the organs of 

 speech, depriving the muscles of the 

 power of action, and sometimes the body 

 of existence. 



Fear operates in a variety of ways upon 

 the human frame, and its effects depend, 

 in a great measure, on the temperament 

 of the body under its influence. Females, 

 when suddenly and violently alarmed, fre- 

 quently utter a piercing cry, and faint in- 

 to total insensibility. Others are seized 

 with hysterics, or a general convulsion 

 of the whole system; and in slighter de- 

 grees of fear, the eyes are fixed on the 

 object of terror, while the feet involun- 

 tarily perform the office of flight. When 

 the cause of fear strikes the soul without 

 a possibility of an intervening conception 

 of it, an universal start of the nerves and 

 muscles is the consequence ; the con- 

 traction of the skin of the head raises the 

 hair upright ; the blood rushes back to 

 the heart, which palpitates most rapidly ; 

 the mouth opens ; the eyes undergo the 

 same operation, and are stretched in 

 eager gaze after the dreaded object ; and 

 an uniform trembling and faintness of the 

 limbs take place. The best painters ex- 

 hibit terrified figures with their ai'ms ex- 

 tended forward, as if to resist an assault, 

 or rather to prevent a substance from 

 rushing against them ; one of the legs set 

 firmly back, the mouth open, the eyes 

 glaring, the skin of the temple wrinkled, 

 and a deadly paleness overspreading their 

 features. 



We shall support our observations on 

 this first of the human passions by a 

 short quotation from a late and approved 

 writer. " Excessive fear is, by fur, the 

 most painful of all our sensations. Fear 

 is wholly engaged in the contemplation 

 of misery, which contains not a single 

 particle in its nature calculated to soothe 

 and mitigate its agonizing influence. But 

 still it is the vigilant guardian of well- 

 being. It tries every expedient, and 

 makes every effort to escape the evil so 

 much dreaded. Were we indifferent 

 about things pernicious in themselves, 

 they would frequently seize us totally 

 unprepared, and overwhelm us when we 

 might have escaped from them.** 



Fear may be generally attributed to an 

 apprehension of we know not what ca- 

 lamity, one which may be traced to a 

 cause, perhaps, but not to its full effects. 

 Apprehension is a modification of the 

 same passion, with sensations of uneasi- 

 ness and restless watchings. Terror, on 

 the contrary, has its cause in full view; the. 



