HUMAN AXD ANIMAL SENSATIONS. 73 



being fed. There is a surplus part of it. That 

 which distinguishes violets, and roses, and orange 

 flowers, and clove pinks, and all the blooming per- 

 fumes of the gay globe rises above the mere get- 

 ting of nourishment ; and therefore it is a mental 

 surplus given to us for the joint purposes of know- 

 ledge and enjoyment. It must, therefore, admit of 

 being improved by education; but the means of 

 improving it necessarily partake of the niceness and 

 obscurity of itself, and all that we can say positively 

 about it is, that " the longer we are among the 

 sweets, they smell the more sweetly." 



There is no such educatability in mere tasting. 

 There is, in fact, rather the reverse ; and when the 

 epicurean ransacks the three kingdoms of nature 

 in all their provinces, and even presses in putrefac- 

 tion itself v to give a flavour to his mess, he has 

 actually less animal pleasure in that mess than the 

 rustic has in a crust of wholesome brown bread, or 

 a potato nicely roasted in the turf ashes. His 

 sensation may be different, but it is not better; and 

 let a man be but hungry enough, and give him some- 

 thing to appease that hunger, and all the cooks that 

 " the devil ever sent" to mar Heaven's bounty can 

 give no more enjoyment. So also in drinks wines 

 have their gusto, and other potations their exhilara- 

 tion; but "Adam's wine," as it wells living from 

 the rock, free from foreign substances, and showing 

 every gem of the casket in each drop, is, in truth, 

 and will remain " the liquor of life." The weary, 

 the fainting, and the dying call not for burgimdy, or 

 champaign, or tokay; the longing of their heart, 

 the hope of their recovery, or the alleviation of 

 their anguish is "water," water clear from the 

 fountain, or fresh from the cistern. Thus we see 

 that, even in thosi3 cases in which art and luxury 

 have done the most, human nature, when it comes 

 to the hour of tribulation to the moment of peril 

 to the article of strife with nothingness clings 

 G 



