758 
PASSION. 
-theory of their antagonifts. The difciples of Locke and 
Hartley do not fuppofe it poffible for any man in fociety 
to prevent fuch all'ociations from being formed in his 
mind as (hall neceflarily produce defires and aversions; 
far lefs do they think it poffible to form affociations of 
ideas utterly repugnant, fo as to delire that as good 
■which his fenfes and intelledt have experienced to be 
evil. Affociations are formed by the very lame means, 
and at the very fame time, that ideas and notions areim- 
preffed upon the mind ; but, as pain is never miftaken for 
pleafure by the fenfes, fo an objeff which has given us 
■only pain is never aifociated with any thing that makes 
it defirable. We fay an objedl that has given us only 
pain, becaufe it is poffible to form fuch an alfociation be¬ 
tween life and the lofs of a limb, as to make us grateful 
to the furgeon by whom it was amputated. Affociations 
being formed according to the fame laws by which know¬ 
ledge is acquired, it by no means follows that paffions 
refulting from them ffiould be more capricious than they 
are found to be; and they certainly are Efficiently ca¬ 
pricious to make us fufpedt that the greater part of them 
lias this origin, rather than that they are all infufed in 
the mind by the immediate agency of the Creator. If 
man be a being formed with no innate ideas, and with 
no other inftindtive principles of adlion than what are 
abfolutely necefl'ary to preferve his exiftenceand perpe¬ 
tuate the fpecies, it is eafy to perceive why he is placed 
in this world as in a date of probation, where he may 
acquire habits of virtue to fit him fora better. It is like- 
wile eafy to perceive why fome men are better than 
others, and v.-hy fome are the flaves of the mod criminal 
paffions. But all this is unintelligible, upon the fuppo- 
fition that the feeds of every paffion are innate, and that 
man is a compound of reafon and of inftindls fo nume¬ 
rous and various as to fuit every circumftance in which 
lie can be placed. 
If paffions be the refult of early affociations, it is of the 
utmoft confequence that no improper affociations be 
formed in the minds of children, and that none of their 
unreafonable defires be gratified. Upon this theory it 
feems indeed to depend almoft wholly upon education, 
whether a child fhall become a calm, benevolent, fteady, 
and upright, man ; or a paffionate, capricious, felfifh, mif- 
creant. By teaching him to refent every petty injury, 
the feeds of irafcibility are fown in his mind, and take 
fuch root, that before the age of manhood he becomes 
intolerable to all with whom he mull converfe. By ex¬ 
citing numberlefs defires in his youthful mind, and in- 
ftantly gratifying them, you make him capricious and 
impatient of difappointment; and in reprefenting other 
children as in any degree inferior to him, you infpire 
him with the hateful paffion of pride. According to the 
inftindtive theory, education can only augment or dimi- 
niffi the ftrength of the paffions; according to the other 
theory, it is thefource of by far the greater part of them. 
On either fuppofition, parents ffiould watch with folici- 
tude over the adtions of their children ; but they will 
furely think themfelves obliged to be doubly watchful, 
if they believe, that through their negledt their children 
may acquire hateful paffions, to which, if properly edu¬ 
cated, they might have remained ftrangers through their 
whole lives. And let it be remembered, that this folici- 
tude ffiould begin at an early period; becaufe the mind is 
fufceptibie of deep affociations much fooner than is fome- 
times imagined. Without this fufceptibility, no lan¬ 
guage could be learned ; and therefore a child, by the time 
he learns to fpeak, may have planted in his mind the 
feeds of paffions, on the juft regulation and fubordination 
of which depends, in a great meafure, the happinefs of 
mankind. 
External Signs of the Paffions .—So intimately connected 
are the foul and body, that every agitation in the former 
produces a vifible effect upon the latter. There is, at the 
fame time, a wonderful uniformity in that operation ; 
.each clafs of emotions and paffions being invariably at¬ 
3 
tended with an external appearance peculiar to itfeif, 
Tbefe external appearances, orfigns, may not improperly 
be confidered as a natural language, expreffing to all be¬ 
holders embtions and paffions as they rife in the heart. 
Hope, Fear, Joy, Grief, are difplayed externally: the 
charafter of a man may be read in his face; and beauty, 
which makes fo deep an impreffion, is known to refult, 
not fo much from regular features and a fine complexion, 
as from good-nature, good-fenfe, fpriglnlinefs, fvveetnefs, 
or other mental qualities, exprefl'ed upon the countenance. 
Though perfedt Ikill in that language be rare', yet what 
is generally known is Efficient for the ordinary pur- 
pofes of life. Bur by what means we come to underftand 
the language, is a point of fome intricacy. It cannot 
be by fight merely; for, upon the moft attentive infpec- 
tion of the human vifage, all that can be difcerned are, 
figure, colour, and motion, which, lingly or combined, 
never can reprefent a paffion nora fentiment: the exter¬ 
nal fign is indeed vifible; but to underftand its meaning, 
we muft be able to connedt it with the paffion that caufes 
it; an operation far beyond the reach of eye-fight. 
Where then is the inftrudlor to be found that can unveil 
this fecret connexion ? If we apply to experience, it is 
found, that, from long and diligent obfervation, we may 
gather, in fome meafure, in what manner thofe we are 
acquainted with, exprefs their paffions externally; but, 
with refpedt to ftrangers, we are left in the dark; and yet 
we are not puzzled about the meaning of thefe external 
expreffions in a ftrafiger, more than in a bofom compa¬ 
nion. Further ; had we no other means but experience 
for underftanding the external figns of paffion, we could 
not expedt any uniformity, nor any degree of Ikill in the 
bulk of individuals; yet matters are fo much better or¬ 
dered, that the external expreffions of paffion form a lan¬ 
guage underftood by all, by the young as well as the old, 
by the ignorant as well as the learned : we talk of the 
plain and legible charadlers of that language; for un¬ 
doubtedly we are much indebted to experience, in deci¬ 
phering the dark and more delicate expreffions. Where 
then (hall we apply for a folution of this intricate pro¬ 
blem, which feems to penetrate deep into human nature ? 
Undoubtedly, if the meaning of external figns be not de¬ 
rived to us from fight, nor from experience, there is no 
remaining fource whence it can be derived but from Na¬ 
ture. 
We may then venture to pronounce, with fome degree 
of confidence, that man is provided by nature with a 
fenfe or faculty that lays open to him every paffion by 
means of its external expreffions. And we cannot enter¬ 
tain any reafonable doubt of this, when we refledf, that 
the meaning of external figns is not hid even from in¬ 
fants : an infant is remarkably affedted with the paffions 
of its nurfe exprefl'ed on her countenance ; a fmile cheers 
it, a frown makes it afraid : but fear cannot be without 
apprehending danger; and what danger can the infant 
apprehend, unlefs it be fenfible that its nurfe is angry? 
We muft therefore admit, that a child can read anger in 
its nurfe’s face ; of which it muft be fenfible intuitively, 
for it has no other mean of knowdedge. We do not af¬ 
firm, that thefe particulars are clearly apprehended by the 
child ; for, to produce clear and diftindt perceptions, re¬ 
flection and experience are requifite: but that even an 
infant, when afraid, muft have fome notion of its being 
in danger, is evident. 
That we ffiould be confcious intuitively of a paffion 
from its external expreffions, is conformable to the ana¬ 
logy of nature: the knowledge of that language is of 
too great importance to be left upon experience; be¬ 
caufe a foundation fo uncertain and precarious, would 
prove a great obftacle to the formation of focieties. 
Wifely, therefore, is it ordered, and agreeably to the fyf- 
tem of Providence, that we ffiould have Nature for our 
inftrudlor. 
Such is the philofophy of lord Karnes, to which objec¬ 
tions unanfwerable may be made. It is part of the in- 
ftindlive 
