fortune, or fcruples of confcience, correspond sufficiently with this account. I have commonly remarked in fuch men, a reftlefs and inextinguifhable paflion for variety; a great part of their time to be vacant, and fo much of it irkfome; and that, with whatever eagernefs and expectation they fet out, they become, by degrees, faftidious in their choice of pleasure, languid in the enjoyment, yet miferable under the want of it.

The truth feems to be that there is a limit, at which these pleasures foon arrive, and from which they afterwards decline. They are by neceffity of fhort duration, as the organs cannot hold on their emotions beyond a certain length of time; and if you endeavour to compenfate for this imperfection in their nature by the frequency with which you repeat them, you lofe more than you gain, by the fatigue of the faculties, and the diminution of fenfibility.

We have faid nothing in this account of the lofs of opportunities, or the decay of faculties, which whenever they happen, leave the voluptuary, deftitute and defperate; teafed by defires that can never be gratified, and the memory of pleafures which muft return no more.

It will alfo be allowed by thofe who have experienced it, and perhaps by thofe alone, that pleasure which is purchafed by the incumbrance of our fortune, is purchafed too dear; the pleafure never compenfating for the perpetual irritation of embarraffed circumftances.

These pleafures, after all, have their value: and as the young are always too eager in their purfuit of them, the old are fometimes too remifs; that is, too ftudious of their eafe, to be at the pains for them, which they really deserve.

SECONDLY, Neither does happiness confift in an exemption from pain, labour, care, bufinefs, fufpenfe, moleftation, and "thofe evils which are without;" fuch a ftate being ufually attended not

1

with ease, but with depreffion of fpirits, a tastelefsnefs in all our ideas, imaginary anxieties, and the whole train of hypochondriacal affections

For which reafon, it feldom anfwers the expectations of thofe, who retire from their fhops and counting-houses, to enjoy the remainder of their days in leifure and tranquillity; much lefs of fuch, as in a fit of chagrin, fhut themfelves up in cloyfters and hermitages, or quit the world and their stations in it, for folitude and repofe.

Where there exifts a known external caufe of uneafinefs, the caufe may be removed, and the uneafinefs will cease. But thofe imaginary diftreffes which men feel for want of real ones, (and which are equally tormenting, and fo far equally real) as they depend upon no fingle or affignable fubject of uneafinefs, admit oft-times of no application or relief.)

Hence a moderate pain, upon which the attention may faften and fpend itfelf, is to many a refreshment; as a fit of the gout will fometimes cure the fpleen. And the fame of any lefs violent agitation of the mind, as a literary controverfy, a law-fuit, a contested election, and, above all, gaming; the paffion for which, in men of fortune, and liberal minds, is only to be accounted for on this principle.

THIRDLY, Neither does happiness confift in greatnefs, rank, or elevated ftation.

Were it true that all fuperiority afforded pleasure, it would follow, that, by how much we were the greater, that is, the more perfons we were fuperior to, in the fame proportion, fo far as depended upon this caufe, we fhould be the happier; but fo it is, that no fuperiority yields any fatisfaction, fave that which we poffefs or obtain over thofe with whom we immediately compare ourfelves. The shepherd perceives no pleasure in his fuperiority over his dog; the farmer in his fuperiority over the fhepherd; the lord in his fuperiority over the farmer; nor the king, laftly,

laftly, in his fuperiority over the lord. Superiority, where there is no competition, is feldom contemplated; what most men indeed are quite unconscious of.

But if the fame fhepherd can run, fight, or wrestle better than the peasants of his village; if the farmer can fhow better cattle, if he keep a better horfe, or be fuppofed to have a longer purfe than any farmer in the hundred; if the lord have more intereft in an election, greater favour at court, a better house, or larger eftate, than any nobleman in the county; if the king poffefs a more extenfive territory, a more powerful fleet or army, a more fplendid eftablishment, more loyal fubjects, or more weight and authority in adjufting the affairs of nations, than any prince in Europe: in all thefe cafes the parties feel an actual fatisfaction in their fuperiority.

Now the conclufion that follows from hence is this that the pleasures of ambition, which are fuppofed to be peculiar to high ftations, are in reality common to all conditions. The farrier who fhoes a horfe better, and who is in greater request for skill than any man within ten miles of him, poffeffes, for all that I can fee, the delight of diftinction and of excelling, as truly and fubftantially as the ftatefman, the foldier, and the fcholar, who have filled Europe with the reputation of their wifdom, their valour, or their knowledge.

(No fuperiority appears to be of any account, but fuperiority over a rival. This, it is manifeft, may exift wherever rivalfhips do; and rivalfhips fall out among men of all ranks and degrees. The object of emulation, the dignity or magnitude of this object, makes no difference; as it is not what either poffeffes that conftitutes the pleafure, but what one poffeffes more than the other.

Philofophy fmiles at the contempt with which the rich and the great speak of the petty ftrifes and competitions of the poor; not reflecting that these ftrifes

and

and competitions are juft as reasonable as their own, and the pleasure, which fuccefs affords, the fame.

Our pofition is, that happiness does not confift in greatnefs. And this position we make out by fhewing, that even what are supposed to be the peculiar advantages of greatnefs, the pleasures of ambition and fuperiority, are in reality common to all condi-. tions. But whether the purfuits of ambition be ever wife, whether they contribute more to the happiness or mifery of the purfuers, is a different queftion; and a queftion concerning which we may be allowed to entertain great doubt. The pleasure of fuccefs is exquifite; fo alfo is the anxiety of the purfuit, and the pain of difappointment-and what is the worst part of the account, the pleafure is fhort lived. We foon ceafe to look back upon those whom we have left behind; new contefts are engaged in, new profpects unfold themfelves; a fucceffion of ftruggles is kept up, whilft there is a rival left within the compafs of our views and poffeffion; and when there is none, the pleasure with the pursuit is at an end.

II. We have feen what happiness does not confift in. We are next to confider in what it does confift.

In the conduct of life, the great matter is, to know beforehand what will pleafe us, and what pleasures will hold out. So far as we know this, our choice will be justified by the event. And this knowledge is more fcarce and difficult than at first fight it may feem to be: for fometimes, pleasures, which are wonderfully alluring and flattering in the prospect, turn out in the poffeffion extremely infipid; or do not hold out as we expected: at other times pleasures start up, which never entered into our calculation; and which we might have miffed by not forefeeing: from whence we have reason to believe, that we actually do mifs of many pleafures from the fame caufe. I fay, to know "beforehand," for after the experiment is tried, it is commonly impracticable to retreat or change; befide that fhifting and changing is apt to generate a habit of reft leffuefs, which is detive of the happiness of every condition.

By

By reafon of the original diverfity of tafte, capacity, and conftitution, obfervable in the human fpecies, and the ftill greater variety, which habit and fashion have introduced in thefe particulars, it is impoffible to propofe any plan of happiness, which will fucceed to all, or any method of life which is univerfally eligible or practicable.

All that can be faid is, that there remains a prefumption in favour of thofe conditions of life, in which men generally appear moft cheerful and contented. For though the apparent happiness of mankind be not always a true measure of their real happiness, it is the best measure we have.

Taking this for my guide, I am inclined to believe that happiness confifts,

I. In the exercife of the focial affections.

Those perfons commonly poffefs good spirits, who have about them many objects of affection and endearment, as wife, children, kindred, friends. And to the want of thefe may be imputed the peevishness of monks, and of fuch as lead a monaftic life.

Of the fame nature with the indulgence of our domeftic affections, and equally refreshing to the fpirits, is the pleasure which refults from acts of bounty and beneficence, exercised either in giving money, or in imparting to those who want it the affiftance of our skill and profeffion.

Another main article of human happiness is,

II. The exercife of our faculties, either of body or mind, in the pursuit of fome engaging end.

This

It feems to be true, that no plenitude of present gratifications can make the poffeffor happy for a continuance, unlefs he have fomething in refervefomething to hope for, and look forward to. I conclude to be the cafe, from comparing the alacrity and fpirits of men, who are engaged in any purfuit which interests them, with the dejection and ennui of almost all, who are either born to fo much that they want nothing more, or who have used up