PHILOSOPHY, MENTAL. 



is thrown upon this part of our mental 

 structure by the anal) sis of them given by 

 Hu'-:|.y, and it is so much easier to find 

 fault than to improve, that \ve shall pro- 

 bably do best by taking the arrangement 

 and (with a tew passing remarks) the ap- 

 peliations as we find them, and by laying 

 before our readers such a specimen of the 

 unah tical investigations of that profound 

 philosopher, as may lay a solid founda- 

 tion for correct notions on this important 

 point, and lead them to seek for further 

 information in his observations. The in- 

 tellectual pleasures and pains are, 1. 

 Those of imagination, arising from natu- 

 ral or artificial beauty or deformity. 2. 

 Those of ambition, arising from the opi- 

 nions of others concerning us. 3. Those 

 of self-interest, arising from the posses- 

 sion or want of the means of happiness, 

 and security from, or subjection to, the 

 hazards of misery. 4. Those of sympathy, 

 arising from the pleasures and pains of 

 others. 5. Those of theopathy, arising 

 from the consideration of the attributes 

 of the Dtity, and the relation in which we 

 stand to him ; and, 6. Those of the moral 

 sense, arising from tlu? contemplation of 

 moral beauty and deformity. 



1. Oftlie Pleasures and Pains of Imagina- 

 tion. 



73. This class of feelings may be dis- 

 tinguished into seven kinds: the pleasures 

 arising from the beauty of the natural 

 world ; those from the works of art ; 

 from the liberal arts of music, painting, 

 and poetry ; from the sciences ; from the 

 beauty of the person ; from wit and hu- 

 mour ; and the pains which arise from 

 gross absurdity, inconsistency, or defor- 

 mity As the pleasures of the first class 

 admit of the most simple analysis, we 

 shall select this as a .-pecimen. The 

 pleasant tastes and smells, and the fine 

 colours of fruits and flowers, the melody 

 of birds, and the grateful warmth or cool- 

 ness of the air in the proper seasons, 

 transfer the relics of these pleasures upon 

 rural scenes, which rise up instantaneous- 

 ly so mixed with each other, and with 

 such as will immediately be enumerated, 

 as to be separately indiscernible. If there 

 be any object in the scene calculated to 

 excite fear and horror, the nascent ideas 

 of these magnify and enliven all the other 

 ideas, and by degrees pass into pleasures, 

 by suggesting the security from pain. In 

 like manner the grandeur of some scenes, 

 and the novelty of others, by exciting sur- 

 prise and wonder (that is, by making a 



great difference in the preceding 

 subsequent states of mind, so as to bor- 

 der upon or even enter into the limits oi 

 pain) may greatly enhance the pleasure. 

 Uniformity and variety, in conjunction, 

 are also principal sources of the pleasures 

 of beauty, being made so partly by their 

 association with the beauties of nature, 

 partly by that with the works of art, and 

 wiih the many conveniences which we de- 

 rive from the uniformity and variety of 

 the works of nature and of art : they must 

 therefore transfer part of the lustre bor- 

 rowed from the works of nature, and 

 from the conveniences they afford upon 

 the works of na ure. Poetry and painting 

 are much employed in setting forth the 

 beauties of the natural world, at the same 

 time that they afford us a high degree of 

 pleasure from other sources : hence they 

 blend some or other of the relics of those 

 other pleasures with those of natural 

 beauty. The many amusements which 

 are peculiar to the country, and whose 

 ideas and pleasures are revived in a faint 

 degree by the view of rural scenes, and 

 so mixed together as to be separately in- 

 discernible, further augment the plea- 

 sures suggested by the beauties of nature. 

 To these we may add the opposition be- 

 tween the ofiensiveness, dangers, and 

 corruption of populous cities, and the 

 health, tranquillity, and innocence, which 

 the actual view or the mental contempla- 

 tion of rural scenes introduces ; and the 

 pleasures of sociality and affection, which 

 have many connections with them ; and 

 those pleasures which the opinions and 

 encomiums of others respecting natural 

 beauties produce in us, in this, as in 

 other cases, by means of the contagious- 

 ness observable in mental, as well as in 

 bodily dispositions. It is also tr> be re- 

 marked, that green, which is the most 

 agreeable to the organ of sight, is the 

 most general colour of the vegetable 

 kingdom, that is, of external nature ; but 

 at the same time with so many varieties, 

 that it lo'ies little or none of its effect in 

 producing pleasure, which it would do if 

 it were all of the same lint. Those per- 

 sons who have already formed high ideas 

 of the power, knowledge, and goodness 

 of the Author of nature, with suitable af- 

 fections, generally feel the exalted plea- 

 sures of devotion upon every view and 

 contemplation of his works, either in an 

 explicit and distinct manner, or in a more 

 secret and implicit one : hence part of the 

 general indeterminate pleasures here con- 

 sidered is deducible from the pleasures 

 of theopathy. 



