SPECULATIVE AND PRACTICAL DESIRE 361 



he placed this bag on the summit of a neighbouring Book iv 

 mountain and promised to give it to the first man who 

 should get hold of it, every member of this simple 

 community who was not lame or bed-ridden would 

 start for the mountain as fast as his legs could carry 

 him, and the slopes would soon be the scene of a mad 

 and breathless scramble. But if no such stranger 

 came bringing the image of wealth close to them, or 

 if instead of placing his bag on the summit of a 

 neighbouring mountain he showed it to them through 

 a telescope hung up in the moon, not a single heart 

 amongst them would beat quicker at the thought of 

 it or suffer a single pang from the knowledge that it 

 was unattainable. 



The reason of this is as follows : Amongst the Amongst most 

 great masses of mankind the desire for wealth is 

 a speculative desire only. They give, if we may 

 borrow an expression from Cardinal Newman, only desire only - 

 a ''notional assent" to the fact that it is desirable. 

 Wealth means for them no special pleasure which 

 they have experienced, or can represent to them- 

 selves, and the repetition of which they crave for ; 

 nor does it mean the satisfaction of any importunate 

 wants. It does not mean for them what a shilling 

 would mean for a starving man. For him the 

 shilling would mean the food for which his 

 stomach clamoured ; and he would feel the want of it implies no 

 it as keenly as he would value its possession. So, p< 

 too, a poor youth separated from his family may 

 crave for a five-pound note, and be miserable at not 

 possessing it, because this will represent the possi- 



the want of 

 wealth. 



