3o6 ARISTOCRA C Y AND E VOL UTION 



Book iv desire of it most powerfully influences. For wealth 

 as such, in the ordinary sense of the phrase, is wealth 

 or for the sake regarded as a means of personal self-indulgence. It 

 gratification, stands for the finest wines, the richest food, the 

 softest beds, the most luxurious furniture for every- 

 thing that can caress the senses and enervate the 

 mind and body. And no doubt its power of securing 

 all these things to its possessors is one of the qualities 

 which render it an object of desire. But it is only 

 one ; and though it is the most obvious of them, 

 it is not the chief. The subordinate place which it 

 occupies is conclusively shown by the fact that a 

 very few thousands a year would suffice to provide a 

 This forms a man with every pleasure or luxury that his own 

 uT desfrabmty senses cou ld appreciate ; and yet men are often more 

 eager, after these few thousands have been secured 

 by them, to pass this point of opulence than they 

 ever were in reaching it. Many men, moreover, 

 who have surrounded themselves with pomp and 

 splendour are indifferent to the gratification of their 

 own senses altogether. Though their luncheon 

 tables may groan under every imaginable delicacy, 

 they will themselves eat a slice or two of cold ham, 

 no better or worse than would have been secured 

 them for a shilling in a cheap restaurant. Their 

 own beds will be no softer than those of prosperous 

 clerks ; and, surrounded by cushioned sofas, they 

 will sit upon straight-backed chairs. 



The principal reasons for which wealth is sought 

 are not pleasures of the senses, but pleasures of the 

 mind and the imagination ; and of these pleasures 



