114 



happiness consists which may be enjojed in the present life, 

 I have aheady shewn. Content does not imply so much ; it 

 requires not th^ excess of pleasing perceptions over the dis- 

 pleasing, but merely the absence of intense pain, whether 

 corporeal or mental, and consequently of the fruitless desire 

 of change to a more comfortable state. Desire includes some 

 knowledge of the object desired, but the savage knows no 

 other comforts but those he enjoys, and if by any chance he 

 discovers them, he finds himself incapable of receiving 

 them,* he is satisfied with mere existence and possessing the 

 means of maintaining it, however disgusting and nauseous 

 they may be. Of pleasurable perceptions he is acquainted 

 with none but the grossest. 



The content of many in the lowest classes of civilized so- 

 ciety stands on a much better footing. Their food may be 

 simple but not nauseous, and it may be secured without any- 

 dangerous or even painful exertions; their habitations are 

 sufficient to guard them from the inclemency of the seasons, 

 and free from the offensive smells that are found in the dens 

 or caverns of savages ; their cloathing coarse and homely, 

 but not frowzy nor verminous as that of savages always is. 

 To most mental pleasures they have free access, and if they 

 are wise, their desires extend no farther than their power of 



lawful gratifications.-f 



Of 



* See the proof of this No. 15. 



\ See this subject well handled in Gilpin's Dialogues. 



