Ill 
hi the Exercife of its Vacuities '; 
and prone to indolence, would forever, perhaps, 
remain in a date little fuperior to that of the 
brutes, if neceffity, at firft, and pleafure after¬ 
wards, did not call forth thefe latent powers. 
Pleafure, the parent of joys and amufements, 
will be found alike the parent of Sciences, and 
of Arts ; Nature, in her kindnefs to man, having 
annexed an agreeable and pleafing fenfation to 
whatever gives exercife to the mind without fatiguing 
it. To this, we are indebted for the improve¬ 
ments made to arts, taught, at fir ft, by .neceffity 5 
and for the difcovery of many more, either agree¬ 
able or ufefuL Nay, fuch is the charm of that 
exercife, that it has been known fo to elevate the 
foul, as to detach her, as it were, from the 
body;* and freeing her from its fhackles, fee 
^ e read in Aulus Gellius , that Socrates, to exercife his 
patience, as he fays, but perhaps to indulge, in all its 
extent, the pleafure we are here fpeaking of, ufed to Hand 
for twenty-four hours together, in a Heady poHure, unmove¬ 
able, without even fo much as winking his eyes, which he 
conHantly kept fixed Upon the fame place, entirely abforbed 
in his own thoughts, and feeming, as if an adual feceffion 
had taken place between his foul and body. 
“ wiH be but doin g Mice to Aldus Gellius, though not a 
very elegant writer, to fet down here his own words. 
“ Stare folitus Socrates dicitur pertinaci fiatu, per dies 
atque per nodes, a fummo lucis ortu ad folem alterum 
onentem, inconnivens, immobilis, iifdem in vefligiis, et 
ore atque oculis eundem in locum diredis, cogitabundus, 
tanquam quodam feceflu animi fa£lo a corpore. rt 
Aul. Cell. Nod. Attic. Lib. II. Cap. r. 
her 
