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.

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 effects 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.

There are, notwithstanding, some kind of provocations, which it is
scarce possible, nor indeed consistent with the justice we owe to
ourselves, to bury wholly in oblivion; and likewise there are some
kinds of revenge, which may deserve to be excused; o