PASSION. 



movements of this branch of the passions, 

 as they are generally secret, founded on 

 fear, and prey on the vitals of the wretch 

 who entertains it; it is a compound of 

 courage and apprehension, but the latter 

 ever predominates. Revenge is not al- 

 ways confined to acts, but descends to 

 malice, which delights in insinuations 

 and false conclusions ; when successful, 

 the human face divine becomes the 

 type of that of a fiend, and a smile 

 si-ts on the features which cannot be de- 

 scribed. 



Another gradation of anger is hatred, 

 which arises' from a real or supposed in- 

 jury. Inveterate hatred is a most direful 

 passion, distorting every word and every 

 act of the individual the subject of it ; 

 whose smiles are equally detested with 

 their frowns, and whose motives in ail 

 cases are supposed to be governed by an 

 intention of injuring the possessor of this 

 unworthy sensation. Resentment is a far 

 more generous inmate, because it pos- 

 sesses the power of discriminating an un- 

 intentional from a voluntary insult, and is 

 vented generally, and immediately, in 

 words aione. It must be obvious, thut he 

 who entertains hat) ed fosters an inmate 

 which feeds upon his own vitals, even 

 when the object hated is unconscious of 

 its existence, or has forgot Us future con- 

 sequences. 



Envy often produces hatred ; the for- 

 mer being- a most unreasonable passion, 

 seems to'derive Us origin from an innate 

 principle of evil ; it is one, in snort, which 

 cannot be accounted for on any ra- 

 tional grounds. The person influenced 

 by envy feels some deficiency, and ob- 

 serves "another endowed with qualifica- 

 tions either beyond the reach of acquire- 

 ment, or that may be obtained without 

 difficulty ; when the defect lies in the 

 person or features, it might be imagined 

 lhat tiie hopeless state of the case would^ 

 produce resignation, if not content. If 

 the acquirements disliked or envied are 

 attainable by all mankind, emulation 

 might be supposed to urge an attempt 

 at rivalry: but, no ; the envious person 

 ivsts in listless inactivity, and suffers his 

 mind to tear every ornament, natural or 

 artificial, from the subject of his dislike, 

 his eyes to express it, and his tongue to 

 depreciate and lessen every movement of 

 the involuntary enemy of his repose. 

 Aversion is often produced by a similar 

 cause; and yet it must be admitted, that 

 aversions do sometimes occur in minds 

 virtuous and pure, which require the 

 strongest, gftbrts lo subdue them. Those, 



however, generally proceed from the 

 contemplation of a set of forbidding fea- 

 tures, or some peculiarity in the manners 

 of the individual disapproved of, and may 

 be conquered by exertion. In another 

 sense, aversion is proper and justifiable; 

 the good must feel an aversion for 

 those whose conduct is wicked or dis- 

 graceful. 



Hatred is expressed by contemptuous 

 looks, or knitting of the brows, the raising 

 of the lips towards Ihe nostrils, and MI 

 averted face. Envy exhibits an eagerness 

 to see the departure of its object, when the 

 eyes sparkle, and the voice is tuned to ri- 

 dicule. Aversion shuns the presence of 

 the wicked, and turns the back to Us pre- 

 sumptuous folly. 



Cruelty, this perversion of our nature, 

 for it cannot be innate, may be traced to 

 its ori-.'in without a circuitous or theore- 

 tical process. Examine the domestic 

 economy of most families, and the result 

 will be, that five out of six who have in- 

 fants to instruct and educate possess 

 some animals, entertained for the sole pur- 

 pose of amusing the tender years of their 

 offspring, which are dragged by the neck 

 and limbs from one to another, with the 

 same indifference in the child and parents, 

 and their attendants, as if they were inani- 

 mate representations of dogs, cats, rab- 

 bits, or birds; and should the injured 

 animal complain or resist, the family is in 

 arms to beat, nay, hang the innocent of- 

 fender, while the child is soothed with 

 execrations of the animal, and assurances 

 of a cruel revenge. Can the unfortunate 

 being thus tutored be supposed to re- 

 spect the feelings of man, when opposed 

 to his will, in the course of his future life, 

 after having been taught to despise thr 

 cries of suffering from his earliest days I 

 Impossible. To follow the aberrations 

 of so hateful a disposition would require 

 a relation of facts which are calculated 

 to excite horror, as the exercise of it ex- 

 tends into a variety of acts, decidedly op- 

 posite to each other in their motives. In- 

 stances have been known of the infliction 

 of tortures, both mental and corporeal, 

 which could not be traced to any rational 

 cause: when it arises from revenge 

 against real or imagined injuries, we are 

 not at a loss for the reason why a wretch 

 should exult in the misery of his victim ; 

 but it is shocking to reflect on the conduct 

 of a fiend, who, after robbing an unresist- 

 ing traveller, beats him almost to death. 

 In this case, and in those cruelties fre- 

 quently exercised on the brute creation, 

 we fine! such a total rejection of the man- 



