relative suggestion. Thus he maintains, and very justly, that there is a natural order of succession in the mental process of reasoning, which brings us to a sound judgment, independently of any acquaintance with scholastic logic, and this process of suggestion (one proposition springing out of another) is the natural exhibition of our mental capacity, and not by any means an artificial process. The last order of the internal affections of the mind, is that of the emotions. These Dr. Brown classifies under three heads, viz:-immediate, retrospective, and prospective and each of these he subdivides, as it involves, or does not involve, some moral affection. Under the head of immediate emotions, (not necessarily involving any moral affection,) we find the emotion of wonder or surprise, and languor, or "ennui " (as the French term it) of beauty, and its opposite-deformity, of sublimity and ludicrousness, &c. Under the head of immediate emotions (in which moral feeling is necessarily involved) we find the feelings distinctive of vice and virtue, love and hate, sympathy, pride and humility, &c. With regard to beauty, Dr. Brown considers that it is not any thing which exists in objects independently of the mind which perceives them, but is that pleasing emotion which varies, like all our other emotions, under different circumstances and with varying susceptibilities. Sublimity is an emotion nearly allied, but united with a feeling of vague indefinable grandeur in its object, intermediate between mere admiration and awe. Dr. Brown remarks with regard to ludicrousness, that it is chiefly produced by the combination of general incongruity with partial and expected congruity of the mere images brought before us. This frequently strikes us forcibly in the game of crossquestions and crooked answers." The following incongruous cross readings and paragraphs, supposed to be taken from a newspaper, will illustrate our meaning; they are the production of Mr. Whiteford. "The sword of state was carried "Before Sir John Fielding and committed to Newgate." "Last night the Princess Royal was baptised "Mary, alias Moll Hacket, alias Black Moll." F "This morning the Right Hon. the Speaker- Yesterday, the Lord Mayor was sworn in— "Afterwards tossed and gored several persons." "When the honor of Knighthood was conferred upon him"To the great joy of that noble family." "A fine turtle weighing upwards of eighty pounds— "Was carried before the sitting Alderman." "'Tis said the ministry is to be new modelled "The repairs of which will cost the public a large sum annually." "This has occasioned a cabinet council to be held "At Betty's fruit shop, in St. James' street." "One of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State"Fell off the shafts, being asleep, and the wheels ran over him." "He was examined before the sitting Alderman— "Genteel places in any of the public offices- "This morning will be married the Lord Viscount“And afterwards hung in chains, pursuant to his sentence." Under the head of retrospective emotions, (as they relate to others) Dr. Brown beautifully illustrates the emotions of anger and gratitude, and (as they relate to ourselves,) of regret and gladness. Under the head of prospective emotions, we naturally come to the great family of desires and fears, under the influence of which we are constantly held. Dr. Brown selects some of the most prominent of our desires upon which he dwells at great length, such as our desire of continued existence, of pleasure, of society, of knowledge, of power, (embracing ambition and avarice,) of affection, of glory, of the happiness of those we love, of the unhappiness of those we hate, &c. Dr. Brown's theory of avarice makes the passion of the miser depend more on a painful feeling of regret at parting with the smallest portion of his hoard, lest he should become poor, than on the pleasing feeling of enjoyment in the acquisition of treasure, and the comforts attending upon wealth; which comforts he is never to enjoy, because he will never make their purchase, lest he should become indigent. As we have said little on the subject of the passions or desires, which are, perhaps, some of the most interesting parts of our mental endowment, in which we all partake alike, we propose to investigate them according to the principle laid down by Dr. Cogan, who has written a very able treatise upon them and in further illustration of the subject, we have made use of Sir Charles Bell's "Anatomy of Expression," where the leading features of the passions are admirably pourtrayed, together with their physical developement. Before entering upon the analysis of the passions, a question of considerable interest suggests itself, viz., had the passions an existence from the first creation of man, or did they enter the human breast in consequence of his sin and fall? Some moral writers have adopted the latter opinion, and considered them as the effects of a sinful and fallen nature. If we refer the origin of the passions, as Dr. Cogan has done, to the great fundamental principle implanted in the soul, viz., "an ardent desire for well-being or happiness," we shall have no difficulty in shewing why the painful emotions were not called into action, so long as man remained in a state of innocence. "Supposing this principle to be implanted in the breast, it would follow, that whatever seemed to produce wellbeing, or happiness, would inspire love; and whatever tended to produce misery, would inspire hatred. And from these primary passions of love and hatred, spring all the other passions and emotions." When we examine what is most likely to produce happiness, we find that a perfect state of innocence, a full possession of all we desire, a total absence of fear and pain, or a joyful anticipation of future good, are the main causes of our felicity. On the other hand, when we consider what is most likely to produce misery, we find that the consciousness of sin, the fear of punishment and death, the injuries of our enemies, the loss of our friends, and the numerous calamities incident to human nature, are the great interruptions to our happiness. Those circumstances favourable to happiness, excite the pleasing passions of love, hope, and joy ; while those attendant on misery, inspire the painful emotions of fear, anger, and sorrow. When we consider the peculiar situation of our first parents, placed as they were, in a beautiful garden, abounding with every thing that could charm the sight, or gratify the senses; when we consider their souls as the tranquil abodes of innocence and love, from which arose pure and acceptable aspirations to the great Author of their being, we must acknowledge that they were placed infinitely beyond the reach of those painfully exciting causes, which we have already enumerated, as productive of the dreadful emotions of fear, sorrow, and anger. But the cold moralists we have alluded to, by depriving the happy pair of all passions whatever, deny them the possession of the pleasurable as well as of the painful ones. They deprive them of the delightful emotions of joy, love, and hope, the only medium through which their happiness must flow. They deprive them of the feelings of veneration and awe, mingled with love towards an infinitely superior being, the genuine emotions of piety. And lastly, they deprive them of a thousand pleasing sensations of fond solicitude, or tender sympathy, which are the great charms of mutual endearment. Laying aside the passions of whatever kind they may be, whether painful or pleasurable, what shall we substitute in their stead? The unerring voice of reason? Was it, then, the unerring voice of reason that guided our parents in the hapless hour of their first disobedience? Or was it not rather the voice of reason, overruled by the passion of ambition, excited in their minds by the deceitful promise of the tempter? -the vain ambition of being wise like the Gods? If they had been guided by reason alone, how could they have fallen? If the slaves of reason, how were they free agents? Taking into consideration all these things, we have been led to form the opinion that the passions, under the guidance of reason, were implanted in the breast of man at the creation, by the great Author of his being, as indispensable to his happiness. It seems to us probable that the introduction of sin and death into the world, which still remains a mighty mystery, brought with it a host of exciting causes, unknown to a state of innocence, which have produced, in the most fearful manner, those painful emotions that till then peacefully slumbered in the human breast. But leaving the barren regions of speculation, to those who are more able and willing than ourselves to explore them, we will proceed to examine the passions as they now operate upon the human frame. The subject cannot appear void of interest, when we consider that the passions are the great springs of action, and the parents of all affections which alternately take possession of the mind, during every moment of our existence, from the cradle to the grave. The great use of the passions is to stimulate the mind to exertion, to render it interested in every circumstance connected with its own welfare or with that of others. We cannot fail to admire the goodness of God, who while he bestowed upon us passions and affections to rouse the soul to action, gave us reason to restrain their excesses, which, if uncontrolled, must inevitably cause our destruction. Pope has justly said that : "Passions are winds to urge us o'er the wave; Reason the rudder to direct and save: This without those obtains a vain employ, Those without this, but urge us to destroy. Besides the balance maintained between the passions and reason, the passions themselves are so constituted, as to counteract each other : Again the same poet says— "Love, hope, and joy, fair pleasure's smiling train, Hate, fear, and grief, the family of pain; These mix'd with art, and to due bounds confin'd, Make and maintain the balance of the mind: The lights and shades, with well accorded strife, Give all the strength and colour of our life." |