179 



' says he) " little doubt, that a profligate, possessed of health 

 ' and thoughtless vivacity, is as happy a J3eing as a Newton, 



' embraoinglhe universe in his sublime conceptions. It is 



' no good answer to this, that the happiness of the latter is of a 

 ' higher kind than that of the former; — we cannot be more 

 ' than fully blest. — A happy child does not enjoy less plea- 

 ' sure than a happy man ; and a happy fool is as blessed as a 

 ' happy philosopher*/' Who does not see that all these pa- 

 radoxes are founded on mistaking pleasure for happiness, and 

 confounding complex with simple pleasures .'' 



Even the general position on which most moralists agree, 

 namely, that the universal aim of mankind is to attain hap- 

 piness, seems to me unfounded. Few men lay down any 

 such plan. To receive pleasure and avoid pain, as either 

 occurs, is the constant aim of mankind. Happiness is an 

 abstract notion, involving a comprehension of present and 

 future, which seldom presents itself to the imagination of any 

 one but in a vague manner. The present alone engrosses 

 general attention ; even professions are commonly chosen to 

 obtain support, without any explicit view to happiness in any 

 sense of the M^ord. 



The condition of the indigent is more degrading, but ab- 

 stracting from the bodily pains or disorders under which they 



2 A 2 labour, 



• Forsyth, p. 1 3. 



