the king willing to cover him with shame, pronounced only one part of his name and called him ovos, ass, instead of Chronos. Diodorus was so much affected at this as to die soon afterwards." Others have told the story a little differently, yet it appears from all authorities that he died of shame from not being able to answer a puzzling question put to him by the philosopher Stilpo. So painful is this passion in its extreme degree, that to escape it, the guilty mother is sometimes driven on, in opposition to the strongest instinct of her nature, to the murder of her own offspring.

Sensitive young children more often suffer under this passion of shame than has generally been considered. When strongly impressed by it, they are apt to grow dull, gloomy, sad; to lose their appetite, and become disordered in their digestive organs. The effect on the appetite is, in a particular manner, sudden and remarkable, so that any child whose feelings are at all quick and delicate may easily be shamed out of his dinner. To any family disgrace they become early and keenly sensible, and their sufferings from such source are more deep and painful than we are prone to suspect; and especially when-as is most usually the case —it is made the occasion of reproach and derision to them by their companions.

The cruel practice of ridiculing the young, making them the subject of contemptuous merriment, and more particularly of reproaching them with, or mocking their bodily imperfections, cannot be too severely censured, not only as deeply wounding their moral sensibilities, but as serving,

also, by an unavoidable consequence, to injure their physical health. It is generally known that Lord Byron, even in his earliest years, was most painfully sensitive to his lameness, and we are told that," One of the most striking passages in some memoranda which he has left of his early days, is where, in speaking of his own sensitiveness on the subject of his deformed foot, he described the feeling of horror and humiliation that came over him when his mother, in one of her fits of passion, called him a 'lame brat.'" Such an expression will be acknowledged by all to have been unfeeling and injudicious in the extreme; and yet how common is it to hear parents upbraiding their children with those infirmities of which they may be the unfortunate subjects, thus awakening in their breasts the most poignant, and oftentimes injurious sense of mortification, and causing them to feel their unavoidable physical defects with all the shame and vexation of some inflicted ignominy.

Some persons would seem to be naturally very susceptible to the passion under notice; even the slightest causes are sufficient to provoke it, and in such it becomes a frequent source of suffering alike to mind and body.

As an agent in the moral discipline of the young, no passion than that of shame is more frequently, and I may add, perhaps, successfully brought into requisition; but even here it should be resorted to with a good deal of prudence, or it may tend to crush, instead of correcting the spirit, and thereby to repress the wholesome energies of the constitution. A certain measure of self-esteem is a necessary stimulus equally to our mental and bodily functions,

and we should therefore be careful that this sentiment be not too much reduced by the counterworking of shame.

I have met with several instances where a morbid and more or less lasting redness of the skin, would often follow the passion in view. Thus, under its operation, a deep blush would spread itself over the face, extending perhaps to the neck, or even down the chest, and instead of passing off, as is usual, would remain to a greater or less extent, resembling a cutaneous inflammation, sometimes even for several days. These examples were witnessed in females of a delicate complexion, and mostly of a nervous temperament. Different eruptions upon the surface, and particularly those to which a predisposition may exist, will at times be produced by this same passion.

The different secretions may become affected through the agency of shame, as through that of the other painful passions. Dr. Carpenter remarks that the odoriferous secretion of the skin, which is much more powerful in some individuals than in others, is increased under the influence of bashfulness, as well as of certain other of the mental emotions.*

Under an aggravated sense of humiliation the mind experiences unutterable anguish, and the body cannot long remain unharmed. Insanity, convulsions, and even sudden death may be the melancholy result of such painful moral condition. What feeling can be imagined more overwhelming to the proud and lofty spirit, than that of deeply morti

* Human Physiology.

fied self-love? Under its oppressive influence existence itself is felt to be a cruel burden. How many face death in the battle-field to save themselves from the shame of cowardice, or hazard their lives in single encounter to shun the like reproach, or to wipe, as they believe, some humiliating stain from their honor!

In a state of society, where mankind are necessarily exposed to so many, and oftentimes severe mortifications, and subject to such frequent and painful vicissitudes of fortune, the suffering and disease emanating from wounded pride can scarce be adequately estimated.

CHAPTER XXVI.

MIXED PASSIONS DEFINED.-SEXUAL JEALOUSY.-ITS MORBID EFFECTS UPON MIND AND BODY.-BEARS A DIRECT PROPORTION TO THE STRENGTH OF THE LOVE ON WHICH IT BASED.-AVARICE. THE PLEASURABLE AND PAINFUL FEELINGS BELONGING TO IT.-EFFECTS ON THE PHYSICAL SYSTEM.-INCREASES WITH AGE.

IS

If we regard man in the spirit of unbiassed philosophy, we shall find little of unmingled good either in his moral or physical nature. Evil, in our limited view, would seem to be absolutely provided for in his constitution. In the very springs of his enjoyment, health, and life, flow also the elements of suffering, disease, and dissolution. Consider our appetites, the source of so much of human happiness, and so indispensable to our preservation both as individuals and a species, and what a fearful sum of sorrow, sickness, and death, shall we not find traceable to them? Look at the law of inflammation! How curious and wonderful appear the processes instituted by it for the restoration of injuries, and how essentially requisite do we find it to the safety and integrity of the vital fabric! And yet out of this very law, the wisdom and benevolence of