Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Select Bibliography
- Note on the Texts
- The Rash Resolve: or, the Untimely Discovery
- Life’s Progress through the Passions: or, The Adventures of Natura
- LIFE'S PROGRESS THROUGH THE PASSIONS: INTRODUCTION
- Book the First
- BOOK the Second
- BOOK the Third
- CHAP. I Shews in what manner anger and revenge operate on the mind, and how ambition is capable of stifling both, in a remarkable instance, that private injuries, how great soever, may seem of no weight, when public grandeur requires they should be looked over
- CHAP. II Shews at what age men are most liable to the passion of grief: the impatience of human nature under affliction, and the necessity there is of exerting reason, to restrain the excesses it would otherwise occasion
- CHAP. III The struggles which different passions occasion in the human breast, are here exemplified, and that there is no one among them so strong, but may be extirpated by another, excepting revenge, which knows no period, but by gratification
- CHAP. IV Contains a further definition of revenge, its force, effects, and the chasm it leaves on the mind when once it ceases The tranquility of being entirely devoid of all passions; and the impossibility for the soul to remain in that state of inactivity is also shewn; with some remarks on human nature in general, when left to itself
- CHAP. V Contains a remarkable proof, that tho' the passions may operate with greater velocity and vehemence in youth, yet they are infi nitely more strong and permanent, when the person is arrived at maturity, and are then scarce ever eradicated. Love and friendship are then, and not till then, truly worthy of the names they bear; and that the one between those of diff erent sexes, is always the consequence of the other
- CHAP. VI How the most powerful emotions of the mind subside, and grow weaker in proportion as the strength of the body decays, is here exemplified; and that such passions as remain after a certain age, are not properly the incentives of nature but of example, long habitude, or ill humour
- Editorial Notes
- Silent Corrections
CHAP. III - The struggles which different passions occasion in the human breast, are here exemplified, and that there is no one among them so strong, but may be extirpated by another, excepting revenge, which knows no period, but by gratification
from BOOK the Third
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Select Bibliography
- Note on the Texts
- The Rash Resolve: or, the Untimely Discovery
- Life’s Progress through the Passions: or, The Adventures of Natura
- LIFE'S PROGRESS THROUGH THE PASSIONS: INTRODUCTION
- Book the First
- BOOK the Second
- BOOK the Third
- CHAP. I Shews in what manner anger and revenge operate on the mind, and how ambition is capable of stifling both, in a remarkable instance, that private injuries, how great soever, may seem of no weight, when public grandeur requires they should be looked over
- CHAP. II Shews at what age men are most liable to the passion of grief: the impatience of human nature under affliction, and the necessity there is of exerting reason, to restrain the excesses it would otherwise occasion
- CHAP. III The struggles which different passions occasion in the human breast, are here exemplified, and that there is no one among them so strong, but may be extirpated by another, excepting revenge, which knows no period, but by gratification
- CHAP. IV Contains a further definition of revenge, its force, effects, and the chasm it leaves on the mind when once it ceases The tranquility of being entirely devoid of all passions; and the impossibility for the soul to remain in that state of inactivity is also shewn; with some remarks on human nature in general, when left to itself
- CHAP. V Contains a remarkable proof, that tho' the passions may operate with greater velocity and vehemence in youth, yet they are infi nitely more strong and permanent, when the person is arrived at maturity, and are then scarce ever eradicated. Love and friendship are then, and not till then, truly worthy of the names they bear; and that the one between those of diff erent sexes, is always the consequence of the other
- CHAP. VI How the most powerful emotions of the mind subside, and grow weaker in proportion as the strength of the body decays, is here exemplified; and that such passions as remain after a certain age, are not properly the incentives of nature but of example, long habitude, or ill humour
- Editorial Notes
- Silent Corrections
Summary
THOUGH it must be acknowledged, that the passions, generally speaking, operate according to the constitution, and seem, in a manner, wholly directed by it, yet there is one, above all, which actuates alike in all, and when once entertained, is scarce ever extinguished: – it may indeed lie dormant, for a time, but then it easily revives on the least occasion, and blazes out with greater violence than ever. I believe every one will understand I mean revenge, since there is no other emotion of the soul, but has its antedote; grief and joy alternately succeed each other; – hope has its period in possession; – fear ceases, either by the cause being removed, or by a fatal certainty of some dreaded evil; – ambition dies within us, on a just sense of the folly of pursuing it; – hate is often vanquished by good offices; – even greedy avarice may be glutted; and love is, for the most part, fluctuating, and may be terminated by a thousand accidents. – Revenge alone is implacable and eternal, not to be banished by any other passion whatsoever; – the eff ects of it are the same, invariable in every constitution; and whether the man be phlegmatic or sanguine, there will be no difference in his way of thinking in this point. The principles of religion and morality indeed may, and frequently do, hinder a man from putting into action what this cruel passion suggests, but neither of them can restrain him who has revenge in his heart, from wishing it were lawful for him to indulge it.
This being so fixed a passion, it hardly ever gains entrance on the mind, till a sufficient number of years have given a solidity to the thoughts, and made us know for what we wish, and why we wish. – Every one, however, does not experience its force, and happy may those be accounted who are free from it, since it is not only the most unjustifiable and dangerous, but also the most restless and self-tormenting emotion of the soul.
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- The Rash Resolve and Life's Progressby Eliza Haywood, pp. 175 - 177Publisher: Pickering & ChattoFirst published in: 2014