‘duétion, is contemplated 
408 
a great part of their happinefs on ex- 
ternal objeéts ; and the very effence of 
enjoyment is, an agreeable perception of 
impreffions. No man is happy becaufe 
he knows a truth, or believes a faét, but 
becaufe he is confcious of a pleafing emo- 
tion. If, therefore, happinefs be the 
ultimate objeét of purfuit, it muft be the 
part of wifdom to cherifh fenfibility. 
The value of fenfibility is eminently 
feen in the pleafures of tafte. ‘The fur- 
vey of vrandeur and beauty affords va- 
rious degrees of gratification, between the 
fimple perception of relier from the Jift- 
leffnefs of indifference, and thofe ftrong 
emotions which‘ rie into delight and 
rapture. ‘To a mind fufceptible of.thete 
pleafures. ature exhibits objeéts of 
‘ple:fing contemplation in endlefs variety ; 
and Art pretents her whole train of ele- 
gant amufements. Every excellent pro- 
by fuch a mind 
with high delight and glowing enthu- 
faim ; for its powers of imagination are 
AGive and ftrong, and feelingly alive 
To each fine impulfe. 
Theie pleafures, moreover, admit of 
great increafe from early habit, and re- 
peated exercife. The fancy. like every 
other faculty, may be improved in the 
acu‘enefs of its perceptions by temperate 
ufc; and fince nature is infinitely diver- 
fified in its appearances, and art admits 
of endlefs improvemtnts in its opera- 
tions, the fources of the pleafures of ima- 
gination are inexhauftible. An attentive 
obferver of nature, or an accurate judge 
in the fine arts, will difcover innumera- 
ble beauties which efcape the common 
eye: Quam mulia vident piltores quae nos 
non videmus*, If it be potfible that ex- 
treme refinement may produce a dif- 
relifh for genuine beauty, and excite a 
fantaftic admiration of that which is arti- 
ficial and imaginary correétnefs and de- 
licacy of tafte, under the direétion of 
gocd fente, can never fail to yield a high 
degree of pieafure in the contemplation 
of real excellence: they create an idea 
of perfection fuperior to any thing which 
art has ever executed; and enable the 
critic to enjoy an exquisie gratification, 
in bringing the produéti ns of poets, and 
other artifis, to this ideal ftandard. 
If from the pleafurcs of tafte we pafs 
on to thofe of morals, we fha!] find that 
thefe, alfo, receive their higheft finith- 
ing from delicate fenfibility: Who 1s 
beft capable of enjoying the fatisfadtions 
Se ee ee 
¥ Cicexe, 
| The Enquirer. Now 1X 

of virtuous friendfhip, the endearments. 
of domeftic life, and the pleafures of fo- 
cial intercourte? Certainly, the man, 
whofe foul is the feat of every tender 
and generous fentiment, and. is alive to 
every impulfe of affection. ‘The feeling 
heart muft, it is true, often bleed over 
miferies which it wants the power to 
relieve: and the diftrefles of iympathy 
are, in many cafes, equal to thofe of per- 
fonal fuffering. But compatlion is ac- 
companied with a glow of felf-appro- 
betion—a conf{cioufnels of feeling as we 
ought—which ampy compenfates ‘its 
forrows. ‘ihe tears which a good man 
fheds over a brother in diftrefs are “ pre- 
cious drops” which, while they are re- 
ceived with grateful affeétion by the ob- 
ject on which they fall, the fympathizing 
mourner himfelf does not with to with- — 
hold. If. fympathy have forrows of its 
own, it has alfo joys, which fclfifh apathy 
cannot feel. 23 oa 
In young perfons, the early appear- 
ance of fenfibility is juftly confidered as 
a promifing omen. From the child 
whofe eye gliftens with a tear at a tale of 
diftrefs, who refutes unneceffarily to 
cruffi the heiplefs infeét, and who, from” 
a genuine feeling of pity, beftows an un- 
prompted and unfolicited alms, we na- 
turally expeét the future expanfion of 
kind affections and generous fentiments, 
in every relation of fociety. 
With whatever contempt the votary 
of diffipation may affect to treat this 
guality. its value is univerfally confefied 
in domeftic life. It is moral fenfibility 
alone which can fupply the flame cf pa- 
rental affetion through ali the labours, 
anxieties, and forrows of parental duty. 
It is only this which forms between bro- 
thers and fifters a bond of union, which 
no fubfequent change of fituation fhall 
be able to diffelve. Nothing, in’fine. but 
the charm cf moral fentibiligy can be of 
power fufficient to difpel the vapours of - 
fretfulnefs and {pleen; and. under all the 
cloudy fkies which muft be expected in 
the courfe of human life, to make the 
hours pafs cheerfully along. 
«* A*portion of this treafure is fome- 
times given,’’ fays one who knew how to 
tcuch the fineft- chords of the feeling 
heart, ‘to the rougheft peafant who tra- 
verfes the bieake® mountain. He finds 
the lacerared lamb of another’s feck— 
This moment I behold him leaning with 
his head againft his crook, with piteous 
inclination looking down upon it.— 
“ Oh! had Icome one moment fooner ?”’ 
—it bleeds to death—his gentle heart 
bts 
