130 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book II. 



there Is the fame knowledge of contraries ; and, though a man be not 

 a philofopher, he will readily perceive that it is impofhble to know 

 what is Beautiful, without knowing, at the fame time, what is not 

 Beautiful, or Deformed, and v/Vf'yf//^. This Scnfe of the Ridiculous is 

 exprefled by that ftrange agitation of the mufcles of the face, and often 

 of the whole body, which we call Laughter, and which every Body 

 knows is peculiar to Man, who therefore has been defined a rifihle Ani- 

 mal: But every Body does not know tliat the reafon,why it is peculiar 

 to him, is, that he is an Intellectual Animal; for it isonly Intelledl that 

 perceives Beauty, and its contrary. Deformity : And therefore the 

 Brute, not having Intelled, is neither a Rifible Animal, nur perceives 

 Beauty. 



But, though every man muft perceive the Ridiculous, as well as 

 the Beautiful, yet every man does not delight in it. It is the plea- 

 fure, chiefly, of the vain, the invidious, and the malignant, not of 

 the great and good, who delight in the contemplation of the Beauti- 

 ful, but turn their eyes away from the deformed. Hence it is that 

 Savages, who are commonly high minded men, are very grave, and 

 feldom laugh : And, among civilized nations, neither philofophers, 

 nor high-bred men, are addided to laughter; which, therefore, is tlie 

 paflion of the vulgar only, in fuch nations. 



Ambition is one of the paffions of great Minds, and is evidently 

 founded in a man's fenfe of the dignity and fuperiority of his cha- 

 racter, which he thinks entitles him to govern others : And in all 

 fuch characters, the Senfe of Honour, and the Love of Praife, is very 

 ftrong. Even Avarice, one of the moft fordid pafhons belonging to 

 our Nature, has a mixture of the Love of Praife in it ; for a rich 

 mian defires to be refpeCted for his Wealth : And, accordingly, I 

 have obferved, that all the Avaritious are Vain to a certain degree, 

 that is, as far as it does not interfere with their Love of Money. 



All 



