f^Ql. on the influence of tastti 117 



tranquillity and happinefs of the mind, independent of 

 external, moral, or political causes, and fliall have OC" 

 casion hereafter to ftiow how it co-operates in domes- 

 tic and social intercourse. 



It is impofsible that the mind fliould enjoy repose 

 and inward satisfaction when it is perplexed and dis- 

 tracted by confused or distorted notions concerning 

 the appearances of nature, or the moral government 

 of the world by its divine governor, or of the civil 

 government upon which we are to depend for securi- 

 ty and comfort. 



Curiosity, lefs or more in every situation, excites 

 the exploration of these riddles ; and taste, if this cu- 

 riosity is indulged, succeeds to discriminate, with 

 various degrees of accuracy, a satisfactory result, 

 which produces a pleasant flow of thought and reflect, 

 tion, that calls for gratification of a similar nature, in 

 a more extensive range of experience. 



Curiosity meets here with the love of variety, and 

 whets the appetite for knowledge. 



Mr Paley, archdeacon of Carlifle, in his little es- 

 say on human happinefs, has placed it, 1st, in the 

 exercise of the social affections : 2dly, in the 

 exercise of the faculties either of budy or, mind, in 

 the pursuit of some engaging end : ^dly, upon 

 the proper constitution of our habits : and, lastly, 

 upon the enjoyment of health. On all these heads 

 he has treated the subject very pertinently, but has 

 been forced to difFuse his argument, chiefly upon the 

 proper constitution of the habits, which can be done 

 no otherwise than by that power of discrimination, 

 >which produces the permanent quality to which wc 



