somebody; and he considered it of but little consequence whom he should name under such circumstances, inasmuch as it. could not rightfully be regarded either as a proof of falsehood in himself or of guilt in others. And was he not essentially right? Can a man be considered as justly accountable for what is extracted from him under the pressure of the intense sufferings of the torture?

In Fox's well-known History of Christian Martyrdoms, a book where terrible cruelty is arrayed side by side with transcendent virtue, there is an account of a Portuguese young lady, resident in the city of Lisbon, who was taken up by the inquisitors and ordered to be put to the rack. "Unable to endure the torments that were inflicted, she confessed the charges brought against her. "The cords were then slackened," says the historian, "and she was reconducted to her cell, where she remained till she had recovered the use of her limbs; she was then brought again before the tribunal, and ordered to ratify her confession. This she absolutely refused to do, telling them that what she had said was forced from her by the excessive pain she underwent. The inquisitors, incensed at this reply, ordered her again to be put to the rack, when the weakness of nature once more prevailed, and she repeated her former confession. She was immediately remanded to her cell; and being a third time brought before the inquisitors, they ordered her to sign her first and second confessions. She answered as before, but added, 'I have twice given way to the frailty of the flesh, and perhaps may, while on the rack, be weak enough to do so again; but depend upon it, if you torture me a hundred times, as soon as I am released from the rack, I shall deny what was extorted from me by pain.'"*

Such illustrations and facts show clearly and decisively that there is such a thing as mental enthralment; that it is not a mere fiction, but exists as truly and undeniably as enthralment of the body. And

* Universal History of Christian Martyrdoms, book v., § ii.

such being the fact, it becomes an important subject both of philosophical and ethical inquiry.

§ 143. The will enthralled by the indulgence of the appetites. With these general explanations before us on the nature of Mental Slavery, and in particular of the slavery of the will, we are the better prepared to contemplate the subject by going more into particulars. ---We have instances of the prostration and enslavement of the Will, unhappily too often witnessed, in the undue indulgence of the Appetites. Look at the man who habitually indulges himself in the use of ardent spirits. Every time he carries the intoxicating potion to his lips, the sensation of taste, in accordance with the law of our nature that the various states of the mind become more prompt and vigorous in their exercise by repetition, acquires an increased degree of pleasantness. At the same time, the feeling of uneasiness, when the sensation is not indulged by drinking, is increased in a corresponding degree; and, of course, the desire, which is necessarily attendant upon the uneasy feeling, becomes in like manner more and more importunate and imperative. During all this time the internal harmony of the mind is interrupted. The other parts of the mind revolt, if we may so speak, against the usurpations of this unholy and destructive desire. The reason points out the evil consequences; the natural desire of esteem throws itself in front of the enemy; the conscience remonstrates and calls aloud; the will summons up its strength and makes a serious resistance. But the desire, growing daily stronger and stronger, gains the victory over one opponent after another; it tramples on the innate regard for the good opinion of others; it stops the hearing and puts out the eyes of conscience; it pays no regard to the admonitions of reason; like a strong man armed, it violently seizes the will, binds it hand and foot, and hurls it into the dust. What slavery can be more dreadful than this?

In connexion with this section, we wish to intro

duee incidentally a single remark. Enslavement is generally gradual in its progress and various in degree, and we can oftentimes speak of one man as more free than another. And yet we do not ordinarily make this distinction, but are in the habit of speaking of a man as FREE whom we at the same time know to be under the enslavement of the undue influence of his appetites, so long as the degree of freedom is such as to allow of his own voluntary restoration. This mode of expression may not in all respects be philosophically accurate. But it is concise. and convenient, and comes nearer the truth than any other formulary of expression, equally simple and equally well adapted to common use. We do not mean at such times to say that the person is free absolutely, and in the strict philosophical sense, but popularly and relatively to his accountability and a new course of conduct. (See § 96.)

§ 144. Enthralment of the will occasioned by predominant and overruling propensities.

We may apply these views to other active principles of a higher order than the appetites, such as the Propensities and Passions, or Affections. It is well understood that our propensities and passions, of whatever kind, as well as the appetites, grow stronger and stronger by repetition. And there are not unfrequently cases where they have become so intense, after years of such repetition, as to control, or, in other words, enthral the voluntary power almost entirely. And we accordingly proceed to remark, that one of the most common and lamentable forms in which mental slavery exists, is the aggravated or inordinate state of Acquisitiveness, or the Propensity to acquire.

We sometimes find men, for instance, so entirely absorbed in the pursuit of wealth as to annihilate them, as it were, to everything else. This pursuit so completely occupies every thought and feeling as to exclude all other objects, and to render them mentally debased and subjugated to the lowest degree. InII.-D D

dividuals are to be found, men too of great wealth, who are so entirely under the excessive influence of the acquisitive propensity that they cannot be persuaded to expend enough for the common comforts of life, and who will even gather up the cast-off clothes, and sticks and nails, that are found in the street, to add something, even the merest trifle, to their heaps of treasure.

The reader will find some account of the characteristics of the insane AURI FAMES, as he terms it, in the medical writings of Dr. Good, an acute and laborious observer of nature both in her material and immaterial forms.*

§ 145. The will enthralled by inordinate ambition.

The love of power, or ambition in any of its forms, if it gain an uncontrolled ascendency, will be found to cause such a degree of pressure upon the domains of the will as greatly to perplex and even enthral its action. It will not avail the individual, who is the subject of this inordinate ambition, that he is not wanting in energy of character; that he is, in ordinary cases, a man of great promptness and decision. There is no efficiency or energy of the Will so great, either originally or by culture, as not to be perplexed, weakened, and, in some of the circumstances of its action, entirely overthrown, by the inordinate increase of this passion. And we have reason to think that we can make this position good (saying nothing of the proofs which are almost daily and hourly presenting themselves to our notice) by a remarkable in

stance.

If any one will take the trouble to examine carefully and to estimate the life of the Emperor Napoleon, he will be satisfied that there is nothing more worthy of notice in the character of that remarkable man than his energy, his decision, his perfect control of all his powers. His control over himself was equalled only by his control over others. The movement

*Good's Study of Medicine, vol. iv., p. 132, Cooper's edition.

of his volition, like some electric element of nature, instantaneously penetrated in all directions, and all persons who were in communication with him instinctively felt their own minds tremble and quail before it. But it cannot be too often remembered and repeated, that the Will, like other mental capabilities, is a price put into our hands to be employed by us in accordance with its nature; and however great its natural or acquired energy, that encroachments cannot be made upon it from any other source without great danger. Unfortunately, the various situations. in which the Emperor of the French was placed, all tended to foster the love of power and domination. The acquisition of supreme dominion over the nations. was the burden of his meditations, the constant object of his desires. In the end, the lust of power became so predominant, that, in all matters where it was concerned, there no longer remained any authority, any effective power of the mind, that seemed to be capable of checking and controlling it. That strong and impetuous. Will, which had subdued all others before it, was insidiously approached by this enemy from beneath, and, before the danger was fully perceived, was taken captive and bound with cords of iron. Napoleon himself was conscious of his situation; and feeling within him the demonstrations of this incontrollable impulse, usurping an authority to which nature never entitled it, and driving him hither and thither in a mad and measureless career, he began to talk about his "horoscope," his "star invisible to others," "unalterable fate," and "destiny." This is the common language of persons who have lost the true balance of the mind, and have permitted unauthorized passions to gain the ascendency.

§ 146. The will enslaved by the indulgence of the passions. One of the most common instances of an enslaved will is that of persons who have long indulged in angry and violent passions. It is said of Frederic William of Prussia, the father of Frederic the Great, that