18G 



sentiment in so considerate a man as Dr. Ferguson, I own 

 surprizes n)e, even though he supposes the miser free from 

 the passions of jealousy and envy. Could he suppose the 

 pleasure of an Elwcs, devoured by anxiety, and who de- 

 prived himself of the common gratifications of sense, as 

 well as of all intellectual pleasures, and covered by the con- 

 tempt of all who knew him, equal with the pleasures of a New- 

 ton, a Grotius, a Sydney, or an Addison "^ The pleasures of 

 a miser are only those of a crazed imagination, as those of a 

 Bedlamite who imagines himself an emperor. 



Fourthly, according to the sagacious author of the light 

 of nature,* " all pleasures depend on our constitution and 

 " disposition. To instance only the acquisition of know- 

 " ledge, which is commonly held sweet to the mind, by the 

 " very frame of her constitution. But if it were so, every 

 " accession of knowledge would engage every body alike, 

 " whereas in fact we find the contrary. What would the 

 " mathematician^ give to know the newest fashions as they 

 •' start into vogue ? or what cares the beau for discoveries in 

 " astronomy, or explanations of attraction or repulsion, 

 " and other secrets of nature ?" Be it so ; the question 

 examined in this essay is, what pursuits are most productive 

 of happiness, and surely he will not say that the pursuits of 



a beau 



• Vol. 2. part 2. chap. 22. p. 97, 



