32 THE SHIPWRECK,

countable for follies and crimes generated entirely by their
capticious and licentious tempers. It not unfrequently
happens that objects or persons, free from the least thought
or desire of doing or saying any thing offensive to them,
fall innocent victims to their unreasonable, undiscerning
whims and caprices. Some poor friendless servant, or
some poor relative still more dependent, becomes too often
the subject on which the bad tempered and the capricious
inflict the venomous wounds of a blind and unjust anger,
that must inevitably fill their own bosoms with subsequent
and most bitter remorse.

And yet the heart which thus suffers itself to become
the slave of its unpremeditated impulses is not necessarily a
bad one. Its faults and its errors are oftentimes the con-
sequences of total inconsiderateness—of not saying to itself,
‘Tam now tormented by inward troubles, by such and such
unforeseen contingencies, or by some painful disease ; but
why shall I therefore render myself odious to this or that
person by gratuitous insult or ill-natured treatment. Will
not a little patience and self-command suffice to dissipate
those mental clouds, and leave me in possession of the
triumphant and joyful consciousness of having conquered

myself?” Self-examination and an humble and generous
avowal of one’s infirmities, would preserve the health of