PHILOSOPHY, MENTAL. 



only here attend to the checks which, in 

 the coarse of life, usually prevent the 

 love of money from acquiring 1 that power 

 which, without such restraint, would 

 overcome all the particular desires on 

 which it is founded. 



81. First, then, it is checked by the 

 strong desires of young persons, and 

 others, after particular gratifications; for 

 these desires, by overpowering- their 

 acquired aversion to part with money, 

 weaken it gradually, and consequently 

 weaken the pleasure of keeping it, and 

 the desire of obtaining it, all which are 

 closely connected together in tliis view ; 

 notwithstanding that the last, viz. the 

 desire of obtaining, and consequently (in 

 an inverted order) the pleasure of 

 keeping, and the aversion to part with, 

 are in another view strengthened by the 

 desires of particular pleasures to be pur- 

 chased by money. And this contrariety 

 of our associations is not only a means of 

 limiting certain passions, but it may be 

 considered as a mark set upon them by 

 the Author of nature, to shew that they 

 ought to be limited even in this life, and 

 that they must ultimately be annihilated, 

 every one in its proper order. Secondly, 

 the insignificance of riches in warding off 

 death and diseases, and, in many cases, 

 shame and contempt also, and in ob- 

 taining the pleasures of religion and the 

 moral sense, and even those of sympathy, 

 ambition, imagination, and sensation, first 

 lessen their value in the estimation of 

 those who reflect, and afterwards assign 

 to them a very low rank among the 

 means of happiness. Thirdly, the eager 

 pursuit of any other apprehended source 

 of happiness, such as fame, learning, &c. 

 leaves little room in the mind for avarice, 

 or any other foreign end. 



82. These considerations not only ac- 

 count for the limitation set to the love of 

 money, but for the various apparent in- 

 consistencies and pecularities observable 

 in it in different individuals. Thus pro- 

 fuseness with respect to sensual and 

 selfish pleasures, is often joined with 

 avarice; covetous persons are often 

 rigidly just in paying as well as in ex- 

 acting, and are sometimes generous 

 where money is not immediately and 

 apparently concerned ; they have also 

 moderate passions in other respects, and 

 for the most part are suspicious, timorous, 

 and complaisant: and the most trvdy ge- 

 nerous, charitable, and even pious per- 

 sons, are highly frugal, so as to put on 

 the appearance of covetousness, and even 

 sometimes, and in some things, tp border 



upon it. We also see why the love of 

 money must in general grow stronger 

 with age, and especially if he particular 

 gratification, to which the person was 

 most inclined, become insipid or unat- 

 tainable; why frequent reflections upon 

 money in possession, and the actual 

 viewing of large sums, strengthen the 

 associations by which covetousness is 

 generated : and why children, persons in 

 low life, and indeed most others, are 

 differently affected towards the same 

 sum of money in different forms, gold, 

 silver, notes, &.c. 



83. The love of money is universally 

 deemed a more selfish passion than the 

 pursuit of the pleasures of imagination, 

 honour, or sympathy; jet all are gene- 

 rated by association from sensible plea- 

 sures, having their origin in self: all in 

 their several degrees tend to private 

 happiness; and all are, in certain cases, 

 pursued coolly and deliberately, from the 

 prospect of obtaining private happiness 

 by them. The reasons why the love of 

 money has in so peculiar and decided a 

 manner the shame of selfishness con- 

 nected with it, appear to be as follow. 

 The pleasures which it produces are 

 nearly, and in general, completely of a 

 solitary nature, and shun participation. 

 As far as money is deemed a mean to the 

 accomplishment of some useful purpose, 

 it ceases to be desired on its own account, 

 and then its pleasing associations are 

 communicable : but the love of money 

 as an end is exclusive to the individual 

 possessor. And in addition to tins it is 

 obvious, that in general it is not only 

 confined to the individual, but prevents 

 others from receiving the advantages 

 which it might procure to them. The 

 pleasures of sympathy on the other hand, 

 consist in doing good to others? those of 

 ambition are scarcely attainable in any 

 other way; and those of imagination are 

 both capable of a very extensive com- 

 munication, and are most perfect when 

 enjoyed in company. Further, a regard 

 to "self frequently recurring must denote 

 a pleasure selfish; so that if any, even of 

 the most generous pleasures, and such as 

 at first sight have no immediate relation 

 to self-interest, be pursued in a cool de- 

 liberate way, not from the mere impulse 

 of present inclination, but from the 

 opinion that it will afford pleasure, they 

 must be referred to self-interest. Now 

 money has scarcely any other relation to 

 pleasure than as an evident means; so 

 that after it has acquired the power of 

 pleasinginstantaneously, the intermediate 



