PASSION. 



ceal our attainments is unjust to our 

 instructors i besides, example is required 

 in society. Modesty and bashfulness oc- 

 casion apprehension and trembling, and 

 deep blushes and hesitation in speech 

 complete the confusion and errors com- 

 mitted. 



We have hitherto treated on those pas- 

 sions which agitate the mind and body in 

 various ways, without melting the soul 

 into what is termed sorrow, and its nu- 

 merous ramifications. It is difficult to 

 separate any of the sensations under this 

 head from the affection of self-love, 

 though it is beyond a doubt that much 

 really disinterested sorrow is felt. Grief 

 is the most violent emotion experienced 

 by man, and the most difficult to con- 

 quer. An injury may be forgiven, an 

 enemy converted into a friend, and re- 

 sentment subdued ; but grief seizes upon 

 the soul after the loss of a relative with 

 irresistible power, and reason exerts her- 

 self in vain to shake it off. The moralist 

 argues against its indulgence without 

 effect, because the loss cannot be sup- 

 plied, and the mind is compelled to wan- 

 der in a desert, where it searches in vain 

 for its departed friend. Grief sometimes 

 affects the faculties even to derangement, 

 and produces melancholy madness, which 

 of all the varieties of insanity is the most 

 hopeless. In cases of this nature the 

 organs of life are obstructed, the heart 

 oppressed, the lungs are inflated almost 

 to bursting, deep sighs are essayed for 

 relief, but in vain i a sudden obstruction 

 recurs in the windpipe, and that part of 

 the body seems more affected than any 

 other. The unhappy sufferers wander, 

 lost in misery, from place to place, wring 

 their hands, and strike their feet forcibly 

 on the ground ; raise their eyes, as if in 

 silent ejaculation, and the muscles of 

 their mouths are drawn down, giving the 

 countenance the expression of dreadful 

 agony. It is this state which is the most 

 alarming for the safety of the senses ; 

 when tears and lamentation succeed, im- 

 mediate relief is experienced, and time 

 will produce settled sorrow. 



This is attended by a composure of 

 features more affecting to the spectator 

 than the most vehement paroxysms of 

 grief. The afflicted person seeks retire- 

 ment to weep, loses his appetite, is care- 

 less of his dress, and views the grave 

 and the gay with equal indifference, and, 

 when in this state, incurs the danger of 

 falling into an habitual melancholy, 

 which, though often the result of the 

 loss of friends, fa not less frequently the 



consequence of disease. The melan- 

 choly man feels an universal listlessness ; 

 he is deprived of all desire of exertion, 

 walks without consciousness, and reposes 

 his limbs when fatigued by the mere im- 

 pulse of nature. As it appears, his mind 

 is abstracted from all external objects, 

 and preys only upon itself, the brilliancy 

 of the sun, the beauty of the expanse of 

 air and clouds, the pride of the spring, 

 and the rigour of winter, pass in their 

 fascinating varieties before him unnoti- 

 ced, and he is only anxious to escape 

 from them by suicide. 



Resignation is one remove towards re- 

 turning happiness, the calmness and 

 tranquility of which cannot be described ; 

 but it is nearly allied to humility, or a 

 sense that no exertion will avail to re- 

 store the loss occasioned by death, and 

 that it is little short of presumption to 

 oppose the weakness of human nature to 

 the dispensations of Providence. Hu- 

 mility, however, bears another character, 

 and becomes in this view a melancholy 

 resignation, or acquiescence in the con- 

 sciousness of some deiect of person or 

 intellect. 



Enthusiasm, or vehemence, in any pur- 

 suit may be called a passion of the soul, 

 which exhibits its effects with the greatest 

 violence when generated by religion. To 

 describe its consequences would require 

 a volume. It has led, and will hereafter 

 lead, mankind into a thousand extrava- 

 gancies, which can only be compared 

 witk the inconsistencies of madness. 

 This cause will impel him to flagellate 

 the body till blood follows, immure him- 

 self within a voluntary prison, and to 

 meet death in any shape it may present 

 itself. The consequences of this passion 

 cannot well be described, as they belong 

 almost decidedly to disease. Enthusiasm 

 is the parent of despair, which k fre- 

 quently produces in the minds of those 

 who conceive that their sins in this life 

 exceed the possibility of future forgive- 

 ness. The wretch thus situated displays 

 all the gestures and actions of grief uni- 

 ted with terror, a compound which is 

 fortunately generally concealed from 

 view by the asylums for lunatics. 



We have now noticed the principal 

 emotions of the soul, and stated our 

 opinion that the causes of them are stu- 

 diously kept from us by the great Au- 

 thor of that ethereal spirit ; and without 

 attempting to reason upon the probability 

 or improbability of the opinions of others, 

 we shall conclude this article wkh a 

 slight summary of some of them. 



