KIDD'S LONDON JOURNAL. 



165 



sagacity, for depth, for imagination, for the dif- 

 ferent kinds of judgment, &c. I have even been 

 sometimes wanting precision in the definition of 

 my ideas, my object being to make known to a 

 large number of readers the importance of my 

 subject. 



The whole of the work is divided into two 

 parts, which together make about ten sheets. 



Part I. 



contains the principles. I start with my readers 

 from that point to which nature had conducted 

 me. After having collected the result of my 

 tedious experiments, I have built up a theory of 

 their laws of relation. I hasten to lay before 

 you the fundamental principles. 



/. The Faculties and the Propensities innate 

 in Man and Animals. 



You surely are not the man to dispute this 

 ground with me; but, follower of Minerva, you 

 should be armed to defend her cause. Should it 

 appear from my system, that we are rather 

 slaves to, than masters of our actions, consequently 

 dependent upon our natural impulses, and 

 should it bo asked what becomes of liberty ? and 

 how can the good or evil we do, be attributed 

 to us ? — I shall be permitted to give you the 

 answer, by extracting it literally from my pre- 

 face. You can strengthen the argument by your 

 metaphysical and theological knowledge.* 



Those who would persuade themselves that 

 our dispositions (or qualities) are not innate, 

 would attribute them to education. But have 

 we not alike acted passively, whether we have 

 been formed by our innate dispositions, or by 

 education? By this objection they confound 

 the ideas of faculties, inclinations, and simple 

 disposition, with the mode of action itself. The 

 animals themselves are not altogether subject to 

 their dispositions and propensities. Strong as 

 may be the instinct of the dog to hunt, of the cat 

 to catch mice, repeated punishments will, never- 

 theless, prevent the action of their instincts! 

 Birds repair their nests when injured ; 'and bees 

 cover with wax any carrion which they cannot 

 remove. But Man possesses, besides the animal 

 qualities, the faculty of speech, and unlimited 

 educability — two inexhaustible sources of know- 

 ledge and action. He has the sentiment of truth 

 and error, of right and wrong ; the past and the 

 future may influence his action; he is endowed 

 with moral feeling, with conscience, &c. Thus 

 armed, man may combat his inclinations : these 

 indeed have always attractions, which lead to 

 temptation ; but they are not so strong that they 

 cannot be subdued and kept under by other and 

 stronger inclinations which are opposed to 

 them. You have a voluptuous disposition, but, 

 having good morals, conjugal affection, health, 

 regard for society and for religion, as your 



* Philosophy, says Abercrombie, wisely — fails "of its 

 noblest object if it does not lead us to God: and, what- 

 ever may be its pretensions, that is unworthy of the 

 name of science which professes to trace the sequences 

 of nature, and yet fails to discover, as if marked by a 

 sunbeam, the mighty hand which arranged them all; 

 which fails to bow in humble adoration before the power 

 and wisdom, 1he harmony and beauty, which pervade all 

 the works of Him who is eternal. — Ed. K. J. 



preservatives, you resist it. It is only this 

 struggle against the propensities which gives 

 rise to virtue, to vice, and moral responsibility. 

 What would that self-denial, so much recom- 

 mended, amount to, if it did not suppose a 

 combat with ourselves? and then, the more we 

 multiply and fortify the preservatives, the more 

 man gains in moral liberty. The stronger 

 the internal propensities, the stronger should be 

 the preservatives; from them result the neces- 

 sities and the utility of the most intimate 

 knowledge of man, of the theory of the origin of 

 his faculties and inclinations, of education, laws, 

 rewards, punishments, and religion. But the 

 responsibility ceases, even according to the 

 doctrine of the most rigid theologians, if man is 

 either not excited at all, or if he is absolutely inca- 

 pable of resistance when violently excited. Can 

 it be, that there is any merit in the continence 

 of those who are born without the sexual pas- 

 sions natural to man? Rush mentions the case 

 of a woman, who, though adorned by every 

 other moral virtue, could not resist her inclina- 

 tion to steal.* I know many similar examples 

 among others, of an irresistible inclination to 

 kill. Although we reserve to ourselves the right 

 to prevent these unhappy beings from injuring 

 us, all punishment exercised on them is not less 

 unjust than useless : they merit indeed only our 

 compassion. I hope some day to render the proof 

 of this rare, but sad fact, more familiar to 

 judges and physicians. 



(.To be continued Weekly). 



EASE v. FASHIONABLE ELEGANCE. 



The form of man is allowed by all writers, 

 ancient and modern, to stand foremost in the 

 ranks of animated nature. Man has it in his 

 power to retain his fine symmetry with 

 greater ease than any animal, because Omni- 

 potence has endowed him with reason ; 

 whereas it has only given instinct to those 

 below him. Perhaps there is nothing more at- 

 tractive in the living beauties of creation than 

 the human figure ; standing firmly on the 

 right foot, with the right arm elevated above 

 the head in a curve to the heavens, and the 

 inside of the half-closed hand towards the 

 face : whilst the other out-stretched foot 

 barely touches the earth with its extremity, 



* Instances of this innate propensity to " steal," in 

 Women (who are above want) especially, are numerous 

 at the present time. At all our places of fashionable resort 

 such as Bazaars, the Pantheon &c. &c, the utmost vigi- 

 lance is daily practised, or thefts by well-dressed women 

 would be fearful. Any one may satisfy themselves of 

 this by inquiry. Well do we remember, years ago, when 

 the police courts were daily thronged by people com- 

 plaining of these outrages. One lamentable case of a 

 young lady, whose parents (highly respectable) lived at 

 East Sheen, excited universal attention. The Magistrate 

 was "bought off " it is true, and the " young lady" 

 thus heavily ransomed, escaped ; but it was a scandal 

 that frighted the town for a long period. It is a noto- 

 rious fact, that many ladies of high birth possess this 

 innate propensity, and practise it daily. Linendrapers, &c, 

 (more than one or two in Oxford-street) are told by the 

 noble husbands, " not to appear to notice anything that 

 is stolen, but to charge it in the bill." The bills are of 

 course regularly "paid" by the husbands, and so the 

 culprits escape ! — Ed. K. J. 



