The passions, then, if properly
regulated, are the gentle gales which keep life from stagnating; but,
if let loose, the tempests which tear every thing before them. Too
fatal observation will evince the truth of this.
"Do we not frequently behold men of the most sprightly genius, by
giving the reins to their passions, lost to society, and reduced to
the lowest ebb of misery and despair? Do we not frequently behold
persons of the most penetrating discernment and happy turn for polite
literature, by mingling with the sons of sensuality and riot, blasted
in the bloom of life? Such was the fate of the late celebrated Duke of
Wharton, Wilmot, earl of Rochester, and Villers, duke of Buckingham,
three noblemen, as eminently distinguished by their wit, taste, and
knowledge, as for their extravagance, revelry, and lawless passions.
In such cases, the most charming elocution, the finest fancy, the
brightest blaze of genius, and the noblest burst of thoughts, call for
louder vengeance, and damn them to lasting infamy and shame.
"A greater curse cannot, indeed, befall community, than for princes
and men in eminent departments to be under the influence of
ill-directed passions. Lo Alexander and Cesar, the fabled heroes of
antiquity, to what lengths did passion hurry them? Ambition, with look
sublime, bade them on, bade them grasp at universal dominion, and wade
to empire through seas of blood! But why need I confine myself to
these? Do not provinces, plundered and laid waste with fire and sword;
do not nations, massacred and slaughtered by the bloody hand of war;
do not all these dreadful and astonishing revolutions, recorded in the
pages of history, show the fatal effects of lawless passions?
"If the happiness of others could not, yet surely our own happiness
should induce us to keep our passions within the bounds of reason; for
the passions, when unduly elevated, destroy the health, impair the
mental faculties, sour the disposition, embitter life, and make us
equally disagreeable to others and uneasy to ourselves.
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