322 STUDIES OF NATlTRE. 



no gaiety, neverthelefs they interefl us, and thaï 



deeply. I feel much more emotion in contem- 

 plating the fetting than the rifing Sun. In gene- 

 ral, we are pleafed by gay and fprightly beauties, 

 but we are melted and touched only by thofc 

 which are melancholy. 



I fhall endeavour, in another place, to unfold 

 the caufes of thefe moral affedlions. They ftand 

 in connexion with laws more fublime than any 

 phyfical laws : while thefe laft amufe our fenfes> 

 the others fpeak to the heart, and calmly admo- 

 nifh us, that Man is ordained to a much higher 

 deftination. 



It is very poffible that 1 may be miftaken in the 

 order of thofe generations, and may have tranf- 

 pofed their terms. But all that I, from the be- 

 ginning, propofed, was to open fome new paths 

 into the Study of Nature. It is fufficient for my 

 purpofe, that the effeft of thefe generations is ge- 

 nerally acknowledged. Men more enlightened 

 will eftablifli the filiations of them in a more lu- 

 minous order. All that I have hitherto faid on 

 this fubjedl, or hereafter may fay, is reducible to 

 this great Law : Every thing in Nature is formed 

 of contraries : it is from their harmonies that the 

 fentiment of pleafure refults, and out of their op- 

 politions iifues the fentiment of pain. 



This 



