162 



Thus far I have been obliged to enlarge on the nature of 

 civihzation, as it has not hitherto been sufficiently defined; 

 but shall at present confine myself to the examination of the 

 degree of happiness enjoyed, or that may be enjoyed, under 

 that government which appears to me to approach most to 

 perfect civilization, namely, that under which we have the 

 good fortune to live*. 



The essential rights of men beino- sufficiently secured to 

 them, or at least presumed to be so, by the united powers of 

 the society at large (an advantage which cannot be obtained 

 by the solitary eflorts of disunited individuals ;) they have 

 the leisure and opportunity of pursuing that course of life 

 proportioned to their abilities, which seems to them most pro- 

 ductive of pleasure, and least exposed to pain. 



The inhabitants of all countries may be ranged under four 

 general divisions or classes; namely, the opulent, the rich, the 

 poor and the indigent. 



The opulent are those who in addition to the necessaries 

 and comforts of life, possess also its luxuries, superfluities 

 and pageantry. 



The 



* I do not deny that a great degree of happiness prevailed among the middling classes 

 of society in many parts of the centinent, until about 70 years ago, when Frederic the 

 2' introduced the system of misery — the conscription, into Europe, which has since b*en 

 adopted by other sovereigns. The happiness enjoyed by a very numerous part of the 

 French penp!e before the year 1789, it attested by Marmontd in his Memoirs. 



