458 Pleafure from Utility. [Book X. 



atre,withakindoffolemndelight*. This can onlyrefult, 

 ift, From the mental agitation, which thefe trains of 

 thought produce. 2dly, From fome agreeable ideas, 

 which may be connected with the train of thought ; for 

 the mind is ever ready to turn and embrace pleafing 

 affociations, and feldom fond of purfuing a difagreeable 

 train. 3dly, Variety is generally connected with rude 

 nature, and imperfeft characters. 



The plcafurc refulting from narratives of apparitions, 

 enchantments, &c. may be accounted for on the fame 

 principles j and from the pleafure attendant on them 

 refbhsthe eafy belief which men afford to fuch fancies. 



The pleafure futility reiults from the ideas of plea- 

 fure that are afTociated with the ends of any work or 

 undertaking. Hence thefe pleafurable ideas become 

 affociated with the employment itfelf. Though in 

 fome inftances this effect may be counteracted f, the 

 general principle holds neverthelefs true. 



Pleafure 



* At the fubfiding of grief tbere is a certain melancholy plea- 

 fure. A diftar.t view of the misfortunes of others affords a fimilar 

 fenfation : but they produce pain if they touch us nearly ; and 

 fome hearts are fo fufceptible, that they are moved much eafier than 

 others. On the imagination being excited to action, we feel a moft 

 agreeable fenfation ; and it is a common maxim among authors, to 

 leave fometbing to the imagination. 



f " A prifon is certainly more ufeful to the public than a pa- 

 lace; and the perfon who founds the one is generally directed by a 

 much jurfer fpirit of patriotifm than he who builds the other. But 

 the immediate effects of a prifon, the confinement of the wretches 

 ihut up in it, are difagreeable, and the imagination either does not 

 take time to trace out the remote ones, or fees them at too great a 

 diftance to be much affected by them." Smith's Tbeor. Mar. Sent. 

 part i. f. 3. c. 3. 



" On the contrary, we may add, the pleafure, the gaiety, the great- 

 nefs of thofe who inhabit the palace, naturally affect the mind with 

 pleafing fentiments. 



Trophies 



