505 / 652
SECT.
IV.]
IN REGARD
TO
OURSELVES',
495
tyrants
in
their
own
little dominions, and
if
they have
but
one
inferior
that
belons.to
them, he shall know
and
feel
that
they
are lords and
masters.
If
their
will
be
crossed
in some
common affair
of
life,
their laud
còm
plaints shall
break out
at
the
windows
and
the doors
:
The
walls
of
the house
shall echo with'
the sound
of
their
indignation,
till the
neighbours are alarmed and
enquire into
the
do-
mestic mischief.
You
shall
see
these sons
of humour
rise
from
their table
in a
fury
and
renounce their
food.
The breast
swells with inward
passion
and
leaves
no
room
for the
refreshments
of
nature
:
The
servants
fly
scattering
into
corners
for fear
:
The
peace
of their
dearest
relatives
is
broken,
the
order of
the
family
thrown into
wild
confusion,
and
the
tempest
rises
so
high
in
their
own bosom,
that
it will
require
some
hours
to
calm
and compose
it..
Pride
and
humour
have
raised
a
storm,
and it
is
no small
labour
to
reduce
the
passions
to
peace, to
smooth
all the billows
that roar and roll
within, and to make the
countenance
serene again.
And after
all,
what
is
the cause
of
this
tumult
?
What
gross and
unpardonable
crime
gave
occasion for such
resentment
and violence
?
Perhaps dinner
was
not set
upon
the
table.
exactly
at the
appointed
moment,
the
clock has
struck
five
minutes
and
the table
is
not
co-
vered
;
or
it
may be
the cook has
not
performed her
part
to such
a precise degree.
of
nicety and elegance
as
the
master
expected, or
as
the mistress had taught her.
"
This
dish
is
so
insipid and seasoned
so low,
it
is
impos-
sible
to
eat
it,
and
the
other
is
nothing
but
salt and
fire."
It
is
strange
that
for both these reasons the passions must
burn
and the
heart
broil
with fury.
"
What,
saith
he,
shall
I
never be gratified
at
my
own
table
?"
Or
it
is
frosty
weather, and
the
plates
are not quite
warm enough,
and
therefore the master
kindles; "
must
I
still be
served
so
?
Have
ye
all
conspired
that I
shall
eat
a cold
dinner
to
day
?"
And yet
this man professes
to be
a
philoso-
pher, a man
of
virtue
;
he
disdains
to
be
led
by
that
mean and
brutal thing
called
appetite, and
talks much
of
subduing the
passions.
I
wish he
could
hilt
suppose-he
had
any to
be
subdued.
Or
perhaps a
word
is
inadvertently spoken
in
the
dining
-room
which
used to
be
forbidden there
;
perhaps
some
grave and
seri
©us
theme
is
started
in
a
jovial
hour,