in a mechanical sense. See TEMPERING.

in a moral sense, the disposition of mind whether natural or acquired. The word is seldom used by good writers without an epithet, as a good or bad temper; though one of the most beautiful poems in the language is entitled The Triumphs of Temper.

It is well observed by an elegant effluvium, that more constant uneasiness arises from ill temper than from ill fortune; as a bad temper embitters every sweet, and converts a paradise into a place of torment. For subduing the heart to自制, and preserving a due balance of the passions, a proper culture of the understanding and of the taste is the best method. He who employs his time in the studies of elegant literature, or the fine arts, has almost always a good temper; whilst the man who is absorbed in the pursuits of profound science is apt to acquire severity of disposition, little less disagreeable, though generally much less pernicious, than the capriciousness of the idler. Music, painting, and poetry, teach the mind to select the agreeable parts of those objects which surround us, and by habituating it to a pure and permanent delight, gradually superinduce an habitual good humour. It is of infinite importance to happiness to accustom the mind, from infancy, to turn from deformed and painful scenes, and to contemplate whatever can be found of moral and natural beauty.

So much of the happiness of private life depends on the government of the temper, that the temper ought to be a principal object of regard in a well-conducted education. The suffering of children to tyrannize without controul over servants and inferiors, is the ruin of many an amiable disposition. The virtues of humanity, benevolence, humility, cannot be too early enforced; at the same time care should be taken that an infant of two or three years old should never be beaten or spoken to harshly for any offence which it can possibly commit.