As _wrath_ is one of the most violent emotions of the soul, so I think it is one of the first that breaks out into effects: it owes its birth indeed to _pride_; for we are never angry, unless touched by a real, or imaginary insult; but, by the offspring chiefly is the parent seen. _Pride_ seldom, I believe it may be said, _never_, wholly dies in us, tho' it may be concealed; whereas _wrath_ diminishes as our _reason_ increases, and seems intirely evaporated after the heat of youth is over: when a man therefore has divested himself of the _one_, no tokens are left to distinguish the _other_.--Sometimes, indeed, we shall see an extreme impetuosity, even to old age, but then, it is out of the ordinary course of nature, and besides, the person possessed of it must be endued with a small share of sound understanding, to give any marks of such a propensity remaining in him. It is with the utmost justice, that by the system of the _christian_ religion, _pride_ is intitled the original sin, not only as it was that of the fallen angels, but also as it is certainly the fountain-head from which all our other vices are derived.--It is by the dictates of this pernicious passion we are inflamed with _wrath_, and wild ambition,--instigated to covetousness,--to envy,--to revenge, and in fine, to stop at nothing which tends to self-gratification, be our desires of what kind soever. During the school hours, Natura, as well as the other young gentlemen, was under too much awe of the master to give any loose to his temper; but when these were over, and they went together into the fields, or any other place to divert themselves, frequent quarrels among them ensued; but above all between those who boarded in the same house; little jealousies concerning some imaginary preference given to the one more than the other, occasioned many bitter taunts and fleers, which sometimes rose to blows and bloody noses; so that the good people with whom they were, had enough to do, to keep them in any tolerable decorum. There is also another branch of _pride_ which is visible in all youth, before consideration takes place, and that is, treating with contempt whoever seems our inferior.--A boy who was allowed less money, or wore plainer cloaths, was sure to be the jest of all the rest. Natura was equally guilty of this fault with his companions; but when the sarcasms became too severe, and the object of them appeared any way dejected, his generosity often got the better of his arrogance, and he would take part with the weakest side, even till he drew on himself part of those reflections he averted from the other; but this never happened without his resenting it with the utmost violence; for patience and forbearance were virtues not to be expected in this stage of life.