effects vary according to the diversity of constitution, both of mind and of body, and even in the same individual differ at different times. Sometimes men while in the vigour of life subdue an untoward disposition, finding it necessary for their success and advancement; for enabling them to live comfortably in society; for preventing quarrels and their consequences; from the strictness of martial discipline and other causes; and yet after they get old, and fall into a valetudinary or diseased state, lose their good humour, lay aside their former calmness of temper, and become fretful and irascible. This should be checked, if possible, at the commencement; for by the indulgence of any unruly passion the disorders of old age are greatly aggravated, and they will find too late that to retain, when once acquired, a dominion over our passions and affections, is an essential and indispensable requisite to health. There is no doubt that, by the due regulation of the passions, many fatal disorders might be prevented. Everyday experience points out how frequently giving way to passion occasions the most dreadful disorders. Anger carried to an extreme often terminates in fury and madness, grief, anxiety, and despair, and occasions melancholy and all its baneful consequences. There is, however, no emotion of the mind which, with a view to health, it is so necessary to overcome as that of fear. It has justly been called a base passion, and beneath the dignity of man. It robs him of power, reflection, resolution, judgment, and, in short, of all that preeminence which the human mind ought to enjoy. By Fear also has great influence in occasioning and aggravating diseases, and in preventing their cure. depressing the spirits, fear not only disposes us to disease, but often renders those diseases fatal which an undaunted mind would overcome. Indeed, the constant dread of some future evil, by dwelling on the mind, often occasions the very mischief which was so much apprehended. Timorous persons are also more readily MENTAL TRANQUILLITY INDISPENSABLE. 277 infected by epidemical disorders than those possessed of true courage, because fear not only weakens the energy of the heart, but at the same time increases the susceptibility of receiving contagion. It increases the malignity of diseases, changes their natural course, aggravates them by a thousand incidental circumstances, and the efforts of nature being thus suppressed, nothing but a speedy dissolution can be looked for. Experience tells us that many perish from despondency, who, if they had preserved their spirit and vigour of mind, might have survived many years. Bacon remarks that "any agitation of mind prevents the benefits which we ought naturally to derive both from food and rest." He therefore recommends that if any violent passion should chance to surprise us, either when we sit down to our meals or compose ourselves to sleep, to defer eating or going to bed until it subsides. It is of the highest importance to health, we repeat, to preserve the tranquillity of the mind, and not to sink under the disappointments of life, or give way to the turbulence of the passions, for nothing injures more the nervous system, and more effectually disturbs the digestive powers of the stomach, than the influence of the various mental affections, such as fear, grief, anxiety, disappointment, anger, despair, rage, or any other violent passion, whether sudden or attended by protracted painful sensations. When they become vehement and immoderate they disorder the body in various ways, chiefly by their impression upon the nervous system, and by their accelerating or retarding the circulation of the blood and the various secretions. From the influence of the passions upon the system when they are allowed to escape from under the control of reason, a large proportion of the most dreaded diseases to which human nature is subject originate. They increase also the malignity of disease, change its ordinary course, and aggravate it by a thousand incidental evils. During the prevalence of epidemics, as we have before observed, they augment in a considerable degree the susceptibility to an attack. The author of "Anson's Voyage round the World observes, "that seamen afflicted with the scurvy become cowards, and are terrified at the most trifling causes. He also observes that, when any adverse fortune happened which lessened their hopes of a prosperous return to their country, the violence of the disease was immediately increased, so as to strike with death those that were in the last stage of it; and others who, though languid, could yet do some duty, were instantly obliged to take to their beds. us But while the indulgence of the passions injures, in various ways, the health both of the body and the mind, a calm, contented, cheerful disposition is invariably a fruitful source of health. Lord Bacon assures that "a cheerful tone of mind helps digestion more than is imagined," and all know the saying of Solomon that " a merry heart doeth good like a medicine, but a broken spirit drieth the bones." The stimulus of the joyous and gently exciting passions, in suspending the incipient symptoms of various diseases, is often almost miraculous, while, during the course of a severe and protracted complaint, a favourable or unfavourable issue is often mainly determined by the nature of the mental emotions indulged in by the patient. For the due preservation and enjoyment of health observe fair play between cares and pastimes; increase all your natural and healthy enjoyments, cultivate your evening fireside or domestic circle, the society of your friends, the company of agreeable children, music and amusing books, an urbane and a generous gallantry. He who thinks any innocent pastime foolish (none but the innocent can be healthy), has yet either to grow wise or is past it. In the one case his notion of being childish is itself a foolish notion; in the other, his importance is of so feeble and hollow a cast that he dares not move for fear of tumbling to pieces. INFLUENCE ON LONGEVITY. 279 Bishop Butler has the following excellent observations, important no less to those who would enjoy vigorous bodies, than to others who desire a serene mind and quiet conscience. "I know not that we have any one kind or degree of enjoyment but by means of our own actions. And by prudence and care we may, for the most part, pass our days in tolerable ease and quiet; or, on the contrary, we may by rashness, ungoverned passion, wilfulness, or even by negligence, make ourselves as miserable as we please. And many do please to make themselves extremely miserable, i.e., they do what they know beforehand will render them so. They follow those ways, the fruit of which they know by instruction, example, experience, will be disgrace and poverty, and sickness and untimely death." There is nothing, perhaps, which contributes more to longevity than the proper regulation of the passions. The animating affections, as joy, hope, love, &c., when kept within proper bounds, gently excite the nervous system, produce an equable circulation of the blood, and are highly conducive to health; while the more violent and depressing passions, as anger, ambition, jealousy, fear, grief, and despair, produce the contrary effects, and lay the foundation for the most formidable diseases. In the instances of the Emperor Valentinian I., Wenceslas, Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, and others, a violent fit of anger, as history informs us, caused very speedy death. Perhaps there is nothing more troublesome to the possessor than an obstinate disposition. Half the evils of life arise from a dogged indifference to the opinions of others, and a determination to follow, at all hazards, the bent of our own will. History affords numerous examples of the evil consequences which have resulted from humouring this pernicious passion. Dr. King, in speaking of the fatality which attended the house of Stuart, says, "If I were to ascribe their calamities to another cause (than an evil fate), or endeavour to account for them by any natural means, I should think they were chiefly owing to a certain obstinacy of temper, which appears to have been hereditary and inherent in all the Stuarts excepting Charles II." The mental influences which can counteract any baneful tendency of the passions are many and various. They will be found in the pursuit of virtue, which, as Virey remarks, as it preserves an equilibrium among our passions, maintains, by moral health, our corporeal vigour. In the study of nature, God's open volume of goodness and beauty, we may gain a serenity of mind that will place us above the stormy clouds of intemperate passions. The poet admirably describes this happy state in the following lines: "I care not, Fortune, what you me deny; You cannot rob me of free Nature's grace; Through which Aurora shows her bright'ning face; The woods and lawns, by living stream, at eve: |