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ON THE ORIGIN, CONNEXION, 



Perhaps the oldest, simplest, and most universal passion that stirs the "mind 

 of man, is Desire. So universal is it, that I may confidently ask, where is 

 the created bosom — nay, where is the created being, without it? AndDryden 

 is fully within the mark in asserting, that 



Desire's the vast extent of human mind. 



Aversion, which is its opposite, is less universal, less simple, and of later 

 birth. It is less universal, for though there is no created being exempt from 

 it, nor ought to be so upon certain points, it is more limited in its objects and 

 operation. It is of later date, at least among mankind, for the infant desires 

 before it dislikes : and hence there is as much physical truth as picturesque 

 genius in the following exhortation of Akenside, to the lovers of taste and 

 nature : — 



Through all the maze 

 Of YOUNG Desire, with rival steps pursue 

 The charm of beauty. 



And it is less simple, as being the opposite of desire, and in a certain sense 

 flowing from it, and connected with its existence ; the whole of its empire 

 being founded on objects and ideas that the elder passion of desire has 

 rejected. 



Now the main streams that issue from desire, running in different direc- 

 tions and giving rise to multitudes of secondary streams, are the three fol- 

 lowing: — LOVE, HOPE, EMULATION. Examiuc them attentively, and you will 

 find, that, different as they are from each other, they all possess the sperm 

 and parentage of desire, and possess it equally. 



Love is not simple desire, but flows from it, and is so closely connected 

 with it, that some shade of the latter passion is, in every instance, to be found 

 in the former. The terms are hence, in some particular senses, and espe- 

 cially when employed loosely, used in all languages synonymously: whence 

 Eros ('Epw?) among the elegant Greeks, and Cupido among the Romans, was 

 the god equally appointed to preside over both passions. It is from the latter 

 tongue we obtain in our own language tlie word cupidity^ which in like man- 

 ner embraces both ideas. Spenser has made desire the offspring of love, 

 rather than love the offspring of desire ; but this is to invert the order of 

 nature. The first instinctive passion discoverable in infant life, as I have 

 already observed, is desire — a desire of satisfying the new-born sensation of 

 hunger ; and love — that is, love of the object that gratifies it — follows from the 

 gratification itself; nor can we, through any period of life, love what in our 

 own estimation is undesirable. In many cases, for there are innumerable 

 shade-s belonging to both, love may be regarded as the same passion as desire, 

 but with an increase of intensity; as hatred, which is its opposite, is the 

 same passion as aversion but with a parallel advance in the scale. There 

 are, however, various marks of difference ; and I may observe, that while 

 desire is never without a less or greater degree cf uneasiness, love, though 

 it is sometimes accompanied with the same feeling, is occasionally free from 

 it, and always so, when perfectly genuine. 



Before we proceed to the two other main branches which radiate from 

 DESIRE, let us follow up the subsidiary streams into which the passion of love 

 ramifies. These run in two opposite directions, according as they possess a 

 virtuous or a vicious tendency ; and in each direction they are extremely pro- 

 lific, and offer to us a numerous progeny. Thus, on the one band, we 

 behold the passion or feeling of love giving birth to charity, benevolence, 

 philanthropy, pity, mercy, fellow-feeling, which the Latins called compassion, 

 and the Greeks sympathy ; generosity, friendship, and ardour. They form a 

 chaste and a happy group, are full of social affection, and are hence often 

 called, after the name of the eldest sister, the charities of life or of the 

 heart. 



