Volume 1

An ethical treatise on the passions, founded on the principles investigated in the philosophical treatise / By T. Cogan.

  • Cogan, T. (Thomas), 1736-1818.
Date:
1807-1810
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An ethical treatise on the passions, founded on the principles investigated in the philosophical treatise / By T. Cogan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ATA® JeNOTES’ FO THE: 119 thatiindividuals, placed'in the same situation, conversant, with‘the same» scenes, and exposed to the same. contin-) gencies, shall form the most different opinions. ,of ‘their, states. ‘Inc the one, we shall perceive the predominance; of Hope, with all. that chearfulness it is ‘calculated. to,in-; spire; “while the prospects: of another shall be gloomy, and his spirits habitually dejected. It is\also.a consoling fact that our fears deceive us, as well as our hopes; per- haps more frequently. They exaggerate those evils which will arrive, and create» forebodings which are never realized. As we often experience that ‘* our very wishes give us not our W ish,” thus are we struck with astonish- ment that the events we had most dreaded, have arrived without the attendant evils. The creative power of the imagination in. producing extreme wretchedness, without a real external cause of misery, is exemplified in, a, striking manner, by the celebrated Kotzebue, in the narrative of* his banish- ment, into Siberia, under the Emperor Paul. Nota single event took place which had presented itself to his terrified mind, during every stage of his jour- ney. The cloud was in great measure dissipated as soon as he arrived at the place of his destination. He experi- erced comforts and accommodations, which no man could have expected in regions destined to the punish- ment of supposed, offenders. , His fame, as a dramatic Author, preceded. his, personal appearance; and he. was frequently gratified with, the public exhibitions of his own fheatrical pieces,in Cities where theatrical, amusements could not be;supposed to,have been permitted. He form;