PASSION. 
1>e sensible of i< ; in vain did they exclaim, 
even vvilb speaking trumpets, that the au- 
dience themselves might perceive that smoke 
or flame appeared in no part of the theatre. 
Still they fled to certain suffocation, still 
they precipitated themselves from the gal- 
lery to the pit, till the place was nearly 
emptied. 
Such is the simple narrative of this dread- 
ful scene ; but how is it to be accounted 
for? 
Were we to argue from the precise oc- 
currences of the scene just described, we 
must suppose that the perceptions of the 
soul are greatly confined or limited ; that 
confused or imperfect sounds, striking up- 
on the drum of the ear, convey ideas to 
the former which it is incapable of separat- 
ing and appropriating j but that being 
rouzed to a sense of some sort of danger, 
resemblances are taken for originals. Thus, 
perhaps, some of the execrations uttered 
by the rioters may have sounded like the 
word fire, to the female or females who re- 
peated it, whose weakness and want of re- 
solution deprived them of the power of as- 
certaining, from every surrounding object, 
that the conceptions of their fears were ut- 
terly unsupported by facts, Nor was their 
faculty of recollection sufficiently strenu- 
ous to remind them that the passages from 
the boxes of the theatre they were in was 
so capacious as to admit of the exit of every 
individual in ten minutes, in a manner that 
would not injure an infant ; that the whole 
of the stage being a vast tank of water, it 
was impossible that the engines behind the 
scenes should want a supply ; besides the 
total absence of alarm in the coi^tenances 
of the performers, it might be supposed 
sufficiently indicated, that the only place 
concealed from their view was entirely free 
from danger. The fears of those who sat 
in the back part of the gallery were far more 
justly excited; they saw nothing but the 
stage, and might suppose that the boxes or 
pit beneath them was on fire, and their own 
screams prevented their hearing the intrea- 
ties for silence fi'om the stage ; it is, tliere- 
fore, not altogether to be wondered at that 
they endeavoured to escape. ■ 
Dr. Cogan very truly observes, that an 
idea is the grand exciting cause of every 
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 who has the 
power of thinking, but it defies every defi- 
nition. That this is the tnith no one will 
dispute; hence it appears, that the Divi-. 
nity has given us an invisible active spirit, 
possessing the means of perception, and 
even of foresight, 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 necessarily 
folio ws, that man has the means of foreseeing 
what w'ill 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 car- 
ried to the extent of which they arc capa- 
ble, half the present unhappiness of life 
might be avoided, 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 fasci- 
nate him to tile spot where that element 
surrounds and would destroy him, shall it 
then be said that the infant mnstadvance in- 
to life with all its passions advancing in equal 
proportion, have we reason given us to tu- 
tor the horse and neglect our own species ? 
Surely not. Let the latter, tlien, be taught, 
in the earliest period of existence, to fear 
nothing but moral evil ; let the child be led 
into the very jaws of danger, and taught 
the method of deliberate retreat, that he 
may not faint before shadows, and magnify 
fencies 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 frightening 
them into propriety of conduct turns the 
thoughts of the child from contemplating 
the appearance of natural objects, whose 
operations are easily comprehended, into a 
dark vacuum, where fancy finds floating 
spectres of horrid form and mien, which 
haunt them sleeping, 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 ci ac- 
tion, 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- 
