man's peculiar pleasures intellectual. 183 



The gratification of every other sense is provided 

 for in the same abundant manner : fragrant odours 

 for the smelly and flavours for the taste. The vicis- 

 situdes of winter and summer, spring and autumn, 

 are a source of many pleasures, from the perpetual 

 change that they occasion. These are all chiefly 

 corporeal pleasures, and are enjoyed by man in com- 

 mon with the inferior orders of animals. Man is a 

 being of a mixed nature, and derives his principal 

 satisfaction from sources of a higher kind. The de- 

 lights peculiar to him are intellectual : the pleasures 

 of remembrance, the anticipations of hope, the pur- 

 suits of the understanding, the intercourse of friend- 

 ship, the consolations of sympathy, the union of satis- 

 faction with the exercise of virtue, especially the 

 social and benevolent virtues ; and, above all, the in- 

 expressible recompense of a good conscience. These 

 are the enjoyments bestowed upon us, with many 

 others, by our beneficent Creator, in our present im- 

 perfect state of existence, which is only a passage to a 

 more complete state of felicity. If we contemplate 

 our being, and that of creatures below us, in this point 

 of view, the goodness of the great Creator in the diffu- 

 sion of happiness is most striking, and calls for the 

 unfeigned praise and gratitude of all rational beings. 



I have insensibly got into a very grave, but I hope 

 not unwelcome strain, from the impression of Mr. 



