440 
he cries for the moon, and it 1s not given 
him—he.wifhes to play in the garden, 
and his papa locks the door ; in both in- 
fiances he foon difpels the momentary 
rief. He has not read ‘ Political Fu/- 
zice ;’ he does not know, that it is unjuft 
for him to be deprived of pleafure, which 
injures no other. He knows not that he 
ought to be free; he feels that he is a 
flave, and in general, he is contented.— 
Such is the child. With the youth, it 
is fometimes otherwife. The young man, 
who, from 15 to 20, is fubjeét to domef- 
tic tyranny, feels the galling chain—re- 
fleétion opens the pores of moral feeling, 
and the iron of oppreffion then enters 
his foul, which could not penetrate the 
calloufnefs of ignorance. But is man, in 
this refpeét, much favoured beyond the 
youth? When the fetters of houfe- 
-hold oppreffion are removed, thole of 
focial tyranny, complicated as they are, 
by all the intricate, volved, and per- 
plexed inftitutions of civilized fociety, 
yet remain. The youth who ts eman- 
cipated from his parent and mafter, is 
ftill fubje& tothe yoke impoied by con- 
ftituted authorities, by privileged or- 
ders, and by law. He fees delightful 
gardens, which tempt every fenfe—he 
cannot enter them—they are prirvaie pro- 
perty. He hears the fong of revelry, and 
fees multitudes crowd to the public fef- 
tival—but he has no money. Life, to 
the majority of men, is an Bden, flocked 
with forbidden fruit : and for the refufe 
of the garden, they are compelled to 
furrender every exerciie of individual 
mind, and labour inceffantly. Compar- 
ed with fuch reftraints, the “ bondage of 
twenty years’ is furely not very heavy, 
freed as it is from the re{ponfibility and 
cares of manhood. ' ~~ - a 
‘The pleafures of youth, too, are 
comparatively flight and worthle{s.”— 
Woriblefs pleafure is a combination T did 
not expeét from Mr. G._ Pleafures can 
be eflimated only by their imtenfity and 
duration®; and fenfual gratifications, 
whilft they are the moft tranfitory, are 
the mof intenfe of any +3 and the fu- 
perior enjoyment of them by the youth, 
Mr. G. concedes. ie 
<The pleafures of youth are like the 
frifking and frolic of a calf:’? and who 
ces noc envy fuch frifking and frolic, 
when he fees the bull tied, in the full 
poffetion of his powers, to the ftake of 
ardent conteft? His rope allows him a 
a nl ch Ne Seka ST) 
* Paley’s Moral Philofophy. 
+ Helvetius on Man. | 
Happinefs of Youth. 
(June, 
wider range than bis former fold—he too 
enjoys ‘‘ felf-complacency’’ and triumph, 
when he compares his perfonal abilities 
with thofe of his numerous aflailants, and 
dafhes them to pieces; yet, in the end, 
he is facrificed to the barbarity and 
cupidity of his enemies. 
But is it true that youth has net the 
pleafures of intelleét? sif the child’s 
tafte be not “ refined,” he has a tafte 
which produces all the pleafures of re- 
finement. In youth every paffion has 
ample {cope—ambition is equally effica- 
clous in producing talent, whether its 
obje&t be the empire of the world, or 
priority in a clafs. A bag of marbles 
excites avarice no lefs forcibly than the 
treafures of Peru; and as many artifices 
are practifed to gain the favour of an 
ufher, as of-a minifter of fiate. The 
tritenefs of thefe remarks is an evidence 
of ‘their truth. 
But ‘ youth has its cares :”” it is true, 
but they are thofe of the day only. The 
young mam is a traveller in a country 
where his profpeét is narrowly limited, 
the green pafiure and the fhaay grove 
are fometimes fucceeded by the hard rock 
and the moift fen; but the evil that 
is pat, he forgets; that which is to 
come, he fees not; and his fancy eafily 
refts on the termination of what is pre- 
fent. But man journeys on a wide héath, 
where a few woods and ftreams diverfity 
the fcene; the profpect is open, but that 
onlv enables him to difcern the dangers 
he has to encounter, and to recolle&t the 
evils he has fuftained. 
It is not difficult to difeover the caufe 
of Mr. Godwin’s prefent opinion. In 
all his works he feems to confider the 
cultivation of the intelleét, and the prac- 
tice of benevolence, as éefentzal to hap- 
pinefs. Whilft I allow the efficacy of 
thefe inftruments of enjoyment, to minds 
fuited to their delicacy and refinement, 
IT am compelled to afent to the: lefs flar- 
tering, but more fimple, theery of Hel- 
vetius. Eftablifhing, with him, all our 
motives of action on corporeal fenfibi- 
lity, IT recognize equality of enjoyment 
y all men, curing the gratification of 
their animal neceflities. In the long in- 
tervals which feparate thefe periods, 
aétive employment conftitutes happineds. 
The Trader, whofe thoughts are in- 
tenfely fixed on his pecuniary affairs— 
the Lady, at her toilette, affiduoufly la~_ 
bouring to gratify her love of admira~ 
tion—-the Natural, idly bufy im furnifh- 
ing his cabinet—the Metaphyfcian, 
ss Immers’d in rapturous thought profound’. 
Dia the 
