principle of general benevolence, patriotism, and public fpirit, which perfons who live to be old without ever marrying are not so generally remarkable for. The attention of thefe perfons having been long confined to themfelves, they often grow more and more selfish and narrow fpirited, fo as to be actuated in all their purfuits by a joyless defire of accumulating what they cannot confume themselves, and what they must leave to those who, they know, have but little regard for them, and for whom they have but little regard. ́ A feries of family cafes (in which a confiderable degree of anxiety and painful fympathy have a good effect) greatly improves, and as it were mellows, the mind of man. It is a kind of exercise and discipline, which eminently fits him for great and generous conduct; and, in fact, makes him a fuperior kind of being, with refpet to the generality of thofe who have had no family conneâions. On the other hand, a courfe of lewd indulgence, without family cafes, finks a man below his natural level. Promifcuous commerce gives an indelible vicious taint to the imagination, fo that, to the latest term of life, thofe ideas will be predominant, which are proper only to youthful vigour. And what in nature is more wretched, abfurd, and defpicable, than to have the mind continually haunted with ideas of pleasures which cannot be enjoyed; and which ought to have been long abandoned, for entertainments more fuited to years; and from which, if perfons had been properly trained, they would, in the courfe of nature, have been prepared to receive much greater and fuperior fatisfaction. Befides, all the pleasures of the fexes in the human fpecies, who cannot fink themfelves fo low as the brutes, depend much upon opinion, or particular mental attachment; and confequently, they are greatly heightened by fentiments of love and affection, which have no place with common prostitutes, proftitutes, or concubines, where the connection is only occafional or temporary, and confequently flight. Thofe perfons, therefore, who give themselves up to the lawless indulgence of their paffions, befides being expofed to the moft loathfome and painful diforders, befides exhaufting the powers of nature prematurely, and fubjecting themfelves to fevere remorfe of mind, have not (whatever they may fancy or pretend) any thing like the real pleasure and fatisfaction that perfons generally have in the married ftate. § 2. Of the pleafures of imagination. As we ought not to make the gratification of our external fenfes the main end of life, fo neither ought we to indulge our taste for the more refined pleasures, those called the pleasures of imagination, without fome bounds. The cultivation of a taste for propriety, beauty, and fublimity, in objects natural or artificial, particularly for the pleasures of mufic, painting, and poetry, is very proper in younger life; as it ferves to draw draw off the attention from grofs animal gratifications, and to bring us a step farther into intelle&ual life; fo as to lay a foundation for higher attainments. But if we ftop here, and devote our whole time, and all our faculties to thefe objets, we fhall certainly fall fhort of the proper end of life. 1. These objeas, in general, only give pleafure to a certain degree, and are a fource of more pain than pleasure when a perfon's tafte is arrived to a certain pitch of correctnefs and delicacy: for then hardly any thing will pleafe, but every thing will give difguft that comes not up to fuch an ideal standard of perfection as few things in this world ever reach: fo that, upon the whole, in this life, at least in this country, a person whofe tafte is no higher than a mediocrity, ftands the best chance for enjoying the pleasures of imagination; and confequently, all the time and application that is more than neceffary to acquire this mediocrity of taste, or excellence in the arts refpecting it, are wholly loft. Since, Since, however, the perfons and objects with which a man is habitually converfant, are much in his own power, a confiderable refinement of tafte may not, perhaps, in all cafes, impair the happinefs of life, but, under the direction of prudence may multiply the pleasures of it, and give a perfon á more exquifite enjoyment of it. 2. Very great refinement and taste, and great excellence in thofe arts which are the object of it, are the parents of fuch exceffive vanity, as exposes a man to a variety of mortifications, and difappointments in life. They are alfo very apt to produce envy, jealoufy, peevishnefs, malice, and other difpofitions of mind, which are both uncafy to a man's felf, and difqualify him for contributing to the pleasure and happiness of others. This is more efpecially the cafe where a man's excellence lies chiefly in a fingle thing, which, from confining his attention to it, will be imagined to be of extraordinary confequence, while every other kind of excellence will be undervalued. 3. With |