G-OODNESS OF THE DEITi'. 297 



this is a state of gratincation. What else should fix Lhem 

 EG close to the operation, and so long ? Other species are 

 running about, with an alacrity in their motions which 

 carries with it every mark of pleasure. Large patches ot 

 ground are sometimes half covered with these brisk and 

 sprightly natures. If we look to what the waters produce, 

 shoals of the fry of fish frequent the margins of rivers, of 

 lakes, and of the sea itself These are so happy that they 

 know not what to do with themselves Their attitudes, 

 their vivacity, their leaps out of the water, their frolics in it, 

 which I have noticed a thousand times with equal attention 

 and amusement, all conduce to show their excess of spirits, 

 and are simply the efTects of that excess. Walking by the 

 sea-side in a calm evening, upon a sandy shore, and with an 

 ebbing tide, I have frequently remarked the appearance of a 

 dark cloud, or rather a very thick mist, hanging over the edge 

 of the water, to the height perhaps of half a yard, and of 

 the breadth of two or three yards, stretching along the coast 

 as far as the eye could reach, and always retiring with the 

 water. When this cloud came to be examined, it proved to 

 be nothing else than so much space filled with young shrimps 

 in the act of bounding into the air from the shallow margin 

 of the water, or from the w^et sand. If any motion of a mute 

 animal could express delight, it was this ; if they had meant 

 to make signs of their happiness, they could not have done 

 it more intelligibly. Suppose, then, what I have no doubt 

 of, each individual of this number to be in a state of positive 

 enjoyment; what a sum, collectively, of gratification and 

 pleasure have we here before our view ! 



The young of all animals appear to me to receive pleas- 

 ure simply from the exercise of their limbs and bodily facul- 

 ties, without reference to any end to be attained, or any use 

 to be answered by the exertion. A child, without knowing 

 any thing of the use of language, is in a high degree delight- 

 ed with being able to speak. Xts incessant repetition of a few 

 articulate sounds, or. perhaps of the single word which it 

 13* 



