( 339 ) 
to almoft every individual, one would be 
apt to fuppofe it a phantom, an ignis fatuus. 
You are yet a ftripling. You have fcarce 
looked into manhood ; it cannot therefore 
be expected that you have thought much 
about the matter. At your age, fenfual 
pleafures are powerfully attractive; but pow- 
erful as they are, you cannot avoid reflect- 
ing, that you have them in common with 
the brute creation; it were therefore too 
degrading to human nature to fuppofe, that 
fenfual pleafure is its fummum bonum-, that, 
with faculties fo infinitely fuperior to the 
animal world, man was created incapable 
of pleafures above thofe enjoyed by other 
animals, and probably by them in a higher 
degree. 
From thefe reflections, you are naturally 
induced to direct your attention towards 
the pleafures of the mind, as moft congenial 
to your rank in the creation; and I will 
venture to aflure you, that nothing will af- 
ford you fo much pleafure as the purfuit of 
knowledge. The celebrated Dr. Prieftley, 
in a preface to one of his philofophical pub- 
lications, very pleafingly and ingenioufly 
fuppofes, that he fhall carry his multifarious 
acquirements to the next world, and, very 
y 2 ra- 
