The Litchfield County post., 1826-08-29

The FIRST difficulty, ID philosophical sense,
that here presents itself Is, the impOssibility
Of finding any one unapprOpriated word in
the language that win signify just this feeling
and nothing else. As have said before,
Love is appropriated to the genus aud there
fore ia logical precision cannot be applied to
thespecies. Desire, has been sometimes used,
but only as applicable TO tho animal part Of
the affection but in trcatises on the aifec-
tons the word desire is used to denote
whole class of simple affections.
affection and attachment arc improper, the
one being too general the other too indef-
mite. Capidity, from Cupid though fanci-
full, might have been proper word to have
coined, but unfortunately, by a very strange
peryersion in the formation of language, 1t
signifies aUGrice. Any word derived from We
nus, the goddess of beauty, has become SO
vulgarised as to render use improper. As
/ can find no single word to express the sPe-
cies, i propose TO call the affection under re-
view Tin my analysis of the hearty SEXUAL
ATTACHMENT, and define it to be Love
exercised by the different sexes to each other.
Several different Ingredients are mingled in
this affection to distinguish it from the other
species Of the genus to which it bears the
nearest resemblance, such as friendship, es-
TEEN, respect, natural affection, and the like.
Unlike them, it is mingled with q natural AMI
NAL instinct, which is never found in friend
slip, or even, ito use the language of Natural
History in that variety called Platonic affeC.
ton. In connection to this instinct which
most commonly is created by beauty of exter-
nal person, there is mingled in different pro-
portions in different characters, esteem, friend
ship, admiration, sc. all of which combined.
give to this affection power and duration
beyond that of any other feeling. Mingled,
as our nature requires it to be, with so much
mere animalism. no wonder that it is violent;
NO wonder that it has been called a " 1ame,"
a fire. "lava food;n no wonder that it
soon ceases to be calm, gentle, and equable,
and becomes the storm, the tempest, the tor
nado Of passion.
1t is to be observed in the philosophy Of
the human mind that when any mental opera
ton or passion is associated with the body.
the emotion or operation becomes more strong
and less refined. The Inatcrialism or animal
ism Of love gives it this character and takes
from it thelpurity and the calmness found in
other affections.
These effects, however, exist in different
degrees in different persons, and Of course
partake Of the constitutional peculiarities both
of body and mind that any individual possess
ses. This fact will be strongly exhibited in
the history of love. The sensuality or intel
lectuality Of it has prcdOninated at different
times according as savage barbarity or chiv-
alrOus refinement dictated, and in one age we
1aff inf n 0frNr
brutal affection, and at another, rising to the
most devoted state Of intellectual admiration,
and had almost said, to alteration itself.
But sufficient time has been spent upon
the ingredients of this passion, of both Of its
animal and intellectual origin. The sources
from which it arises, or the causes that pro-
duce its existence in the heart, now cali for
our attention.
DR.. Watts, or some one as visionary as he,
says that matches are made in heaven" ar
as l suppose him to mean that we love from
some certain unknown internal agreement Of
soul. But if matches are made in heaven,
they have become most vilanously jostlcd
and disordered on the way, for of one COM
nection formed in modern days from what is
ordinarily called pure love- a hundred .. match
cs' take place that have more of earth in
them than heaven" AS some Of the causes
of love will mention I. Personal beauty.
The admiration that this excites is very often
the f0re-r,lnner and the cause of love. Most
Of that which is called love at first sight ari-
ses from, this cause. "A century or two past.
the prevailing opinion was that no love could
be genuine that did not arise in a moment.
But it is hard to conceive in our intellectual
times Of any thing but the mere materiality
of love springing up at a bare contemplation
of external accomplishments, where the quail
ties Of the mind"are kept cut of view.
know there was period in English history
where wife was desired merely as a splen-
did accession to the heartless style and bon
ton prevailing; but in our days something
moro than the mere qualification of the eye
by splendid exterior, is required in wife.
The good wife in modern times is looked up
on as the adviser in difficulties, the soother in
sorrows, the companion, who, in the voyage
of fife, will sit cheerfully and firmly by our
sides at the helm of the boat, bearing the
storms that arise with fortitudc, and pointing
with unwearicd diligence to the pole star Of
heaven above us.
AS the world is constituted at present,
would almost call the man fool, who should
speak to me Of his "love at first sight" No,
thank heaven, personal beauty is not alone
required, it is knowledge of the qualities Of
the soul, "of the better and brighter qualities
nF fhn Spfn1nck md tho habit that rS1.sa9p