life itself. Further on I shall again allude to this view of the general subject.
In what herein follows, Love is the theme or topic, as well in its practical, matter-of-fact, every-day, and passional, as in its more lofty, theoretical, and sentimental, but not its lackadaisical aspects; and in endeavoring to faithfully perform this task,—not wholly self-imposed, it will be necessary. I trust, without offence, to use bold terms; because errors are to be exposed, fallacies exploded, current follies rebuked, and modern theories weighed in the balance of just reason. On the subject of the affections we have had a surfeit of philosophy; now we want common sense; especially in reference to certain peculiar notions thereanent, put forth, very confidently, and sustained by logic modelled on new plans, and claiming no relationship with the systems of either Aristotle, Bacon, or John Stewart Mill, by persons claiming to be "reformers." Freely admitting the fact that there may be too much mawkishness, and not a little prudery, on the part of over-sensitive people on the general subject of the various moods of human affection, the abuse of which, and not the moods themselves, has occasioned much misery in the world of civilizees; yet, nevertheless, in order to full justice, it will be necessary to treat of the lower, as well as the nobler, phases of the superlative, grand master-passion of mankind; for the reason, among others, that there is much license, both in thought and life, in this respect, that needs to be restrained. In doing this, of course nothing shall be purposely put forward that can offend sound or healthy morals; nothing save what God, our benignant Father, hath already written on the world's face, if the world would only stop to read; hence, while avoiding offence, my meaning shall not be stilted beyond common reach, or hidden beneath a cloak of hard words. I make a plea for woman—and mean to be understood! Many a well-meaning man and woman has, of late years, been led to believe that love and passion are one and the same. A great error! Passion is but a mood of love. Its (love's) seat is in the soul, and its roots only in the body. The cerebral organ thereof is not in the back basilar brain, but on the summit of the fore-brain, right in the group of the phrenologist's "Fancy," "Reverence," "Ideality," "Hope," and the general aesthetic family. Latterly, all over the world, certain passion-driven people, male and female, having
