pable of striking strong sensations, and finding a delight in almost every exercise that is not put upon them by constraint: if it were not for this, children would never awake out of that drowsy stupidity which overwhelms them for the most part in their cradles; when they can run about, you see them incessantly busy in their little plays which keep their limbs or their imagination in movement during those long intervals of time wherein hunger and thirst cannot find them employment; as they grow up they begin to have a forecast for pleasures a little remote, this gives an engagement to the prosecution of an object not immediately within their reach, and they can be pleased with taking the right measures for procuring something that will please them by and by, from whence afterwards by long process grows the idea of rectitude, and the satisfaction felt in the steps taken towards an ultimate aim.

And in our riper years there must generally be the expectation of something apprehended very delightful to make us enter upon business, or undertake any long work: no matter whether the delight prove so great as apprehended, for here again happiness depends upon opinion; but the opinion is necessary to engage us in the work, and procure us the satisfaction found in the engaging pursuit. Thus are we often cheated into a real good by the lure of an imaginary, like the old man's lazy sons in the fable, who were set a digging to their great profit in the improvement of the vineyard by being told of a hidden treasure. Or if the pleasure expected be real, still it is less in quantity than that distilling in the progress towards it; for I believe My lord Mayor's coach has been the remote occasion of more engaging satisfaction to the apprentice, than ever his Lordship felt in it himself.

Pleasures serve to recreate and unbend the mind, and when properly interspersed lighten the burden of any laborious work: they give a briskness to the spirits, a cheerfulness to the temper, contribute to preserve the health by quickening and smoothing the circulations, and unite people together in intimacy; for nothing makes friendship more hearty than a participation of pleasures, unless it be a fellowship in distresses which is a much less desirable cement: they make us take a fuller notice of the places we have been at, the objects we have seen, and the transactions we have borne a part in; and often store up a fund of entertainment for the imagination in the remembrance of them after they are past, insomuch that Epicurus placed the happiness of his wise-man when under the frowns of fortune, in the recollection of former enjoyments. But I differ from him upon that point, as expecting the benefit rather from a spontaneous reflection or one that rises easily, than from a forced recollection; for I would have nothing forced

in matters of pleasure, and conceive that herein lies the great error of your men of pleasure, who turn it into a toil, and spoil its relish by their great pains to enhance it.

Instruction sinks deepest when conveyed in amusing tales, or the manner of receiving it can be made an entertainment: the flowers of rhetoric when aptly fitted on, like the feathers to an arrow, give force to the steely points of argumentation: elegance of language, harmony of composition, method, allegory, allusion, familiar example, whatever helps to illustrate or draw up the colors of things, at once pleases and informs; for it is the property of light to entertain the eye while it discovers the object: the pleasures of conversation make one among the principal links of society, multiply the intercourses among mankind, and help transactions of business to go on the easier.

Nor is pleasure incapable of finding an entrance even into the holy offices of Religion, as witness the trumpets, the choristers, the perfumes, the golden vessels, the rich vestments, the splendor and magnificence of the Jewish temple, the love feasts of the primitive Christians, the organ in our Churches, and chanting in our Cathedral service.

But it is not at the altar alone that pleasure may be turned to the service of Religion and Philosophy, by assisting to work that largeness of heart which renders it their fittest receptacle: pain and uneasiness necessarily contract the views; while under them it is scarce practicable for a man to think of anything beyond himself, and his present grievance; but a little enjoyment of innocent pleasures setting the mind at ease within itself, opens his prospect; he then can take concern with things around him, diffuse in sincere charity to his fellow-creatures, comprehend the general interest, and pour forth in hearty thanksgiving for that flood of bounty which, like the vital air, expands everywhere except in some few dungeons and loathsome places, and whereof he now feels the influence.

Thus we see the value of pleasures does not lie in themselves. but in their uses, and many times the joy of having gained our point is nothing, but the whole delight stands confined to the pursuit: we matter not the shilling we play for at cards, yet if we played for nothing there would be no diversion in the game; so in the games of traffic, of ambition, of accomplishment, the wealth, the honor, the perfection, when gained, will not invest us with the supreme happiness we flatter ourselves, yet without such expectation we should not pass our time so agreeably as we do in managing our cards well, and making advances towards them.

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This might teach us the true science of pleasure, which consists in distinguishing those that are most productive of engagement, of activity, of agreeable reflection, of cheerfulness and serenity of mind, or stimulate to useful acquisitions, and prefer those before the more exquisite. But science will avail nothing without a strength of resolution to practise it, which may enable us to choose for ourselves among our pleasures, and to choose with discretion, not with fondness, nor ever suffer them to force themselves upon us whether we will or no, to harbor no wants nor anxious cravings for them: for this is what was meant by the Apathy of the Philosophers, this is that forbearance which is one of the two branches of our Redemption, and this stands included in what was styled in Scripture language, asserting the glorious liberty of the sons of God."

6. This selection of pleasures valuable for their fruits and appendages from those which delight only in the fruition, most obviously marks the difference between a civilized and a barbarous people; for the pleasures of pure nature, the gratifications of undisciplined appetite are as intense, or perhaps more so, than those of refinement.

When a child, I have been more highly delighted with a colored print bought for a halfpenny, with a ballad tune sung by the coarse-piped chamber-maid, in reading the dragon of Wantley, in discovering a better way of building houses with cards, than ever I was since with the finest paintings, the sweetest music, the sublimest poetry, or the luckiest thought occurring in the progress of my Chapters: even the heights of Philosophy and effusions of grace, if you regard only the present moment, are not more transporting than the amusements of childhood. Nor do I doubt that the American savages find as strong relish in their lumps of flesh with the skin on, taken from the burning coals, in their contrivances to catch the beavers, in successes against their enemies and seizures of plunder, as we do in our dainties, our elegancies, our arts, and accomplishments. And after all, perhaps we have no greater enjoyments among us than those of eating when we are hungry, drinking when we are thirsty, laying down when sleepy, or as the second Solomon has pronounced, than scratching where it itches.

But arts and sciences and the civilized modes of employment add to the enjoyment of life not by heightening the gust of it, but by supplying more in quantity with a less interrupted continuity we must indeed have an imagination of something very delightful in the possession of them to engage us to the pursuit; but this notion had better gradually subside, as indeed it generally

does, in proportion as the pursuit becomes habitual and pleasant. But the benefit results from the pursuit itself, which finds employment for our time by supplying us continually with engaging aims in the steps taken towards attainment of our purpose, and yields a fund of agreeable reflection on the advances we have made, which is compatible with our other reasonable desires, which provides for the entertainment of other persons besides our own, and takes us off from the indulgence of those natural appetites, that would be troublesome to others and pernicious to ourselves.

For we may observe, that the arts of pleasure have their foundation in the resistance of pleasure, we must get rid of our gross tastes to acquire a refined, the first effect of manly desires is to give us a contempt for those childish ones which used to afford us vast delight before, and in all accomplishment there is something of a subjection of appetite. Politeness cannot subsist without an easy, unruffled temper, capable of stifling all emotions that rise in the breast; the genteelest players at games of diversion are those who show the least eagerness, who can win without transport or lose without concern; and in all arts the ignorant are known from connoisseurs by that rapturous amazement with which they are struck upon beholding extraordinary performances.

Thus the arts providing for the embellishment of life were not designed to make us more fond of pleasure, but to bring that propensity which there is in most men thereto into a regular system whereby to prevent it from running out into extravagant and dangerous excursions: for it is better to persuade a man to study any science whatever, than that he should act wantonly without any science at all; and there being such an infinite variety of dispositions among mankind, makes it necessary to provide employment for the industry and ingenuity of them all; besides that industry of any one kind helps to encourage that in every other, as well by increasing the demands for its produce and so promoting commerce, as by rendering the spirit, activity, and contrivance more general therefore we find that in proportion as countries grow better policied, the polite arts go hand in hand with the useful, or at least do not wait long for their introduction after the others have been established. For they contribute a share for the benefit of society, making it the business of some to prepare materials for the entertainment of others; and if it is said they give occasion to vices unknown among the ignorant, this may be true without their increasing the growth of wickedness, but only by turning it into a different channel: for there is a perversity of character to be found among all families upon earth, which will find matter to work upon, wherever placed. The same persons

whom we see rapacious, over-reaching, and tricking here, would have been pilferers, robbers and plunderers if born among savages; those who riot in luxury among us, would have been likely to wallow in sensualities among them; for the same error leads into both, namely, their fondness for high delights, and inability to resist the impulse of any allurement striking strongly upon their fancy.

CHAP. XXX.

SELF-DENIAL.

THE greatest conquest, say all the Sages of ancient and modern days, is that of ourselves; for victory is never so glorious nor so valuable as when gained over an invader or a tyrant, who would enslave us: but there is not a more imperious or oppressive tyrant in nature, than that usually called Self-love; though his true name be Self-fondness, the most opposite to love and the most dangerous to its interests, because assuming its likeness and thereby beguiling the unwary to court their own thraldom.

Liberty is dear to all, but the ideas of it are very different, nor perhaps are there many terms current in language which are so little understood: men commonly place it in a license to do uncontrolledly whatever their desires or the present impulse of passion shall prompt them to; but the liberty of the sons of God consists in an exemption from passion and a superiority to desire, so as they may be able to choose and to act as they will, upon all occasions, being passive in none of their motions, nor hurried along impetuously by any force whatsoever.

Now the two great obstacles against this freedom are Pleasure and Pain, which the imbecility of human nature in its present degraded state renders it unable to resist ; nor shall we ever become freemen until having attained that perfect power of endurance and forbearance, which is to be our deliverance from original sin and the completing of our Redemption. This is a great work never to be finished in this life, wherein yet we must make what progress we are able, or else shall go out utterly unprepared to carry it on in the next.

Therefore it behoves us to be diligent in loosening the bonds that hold us, which is done two ways, either by weakening the force of our desires, or strengthening our own resolution: the for