perienced it, and perhaps by those alone, that pleasure which is purchafed by the incumbrance of our fortune, is purchased too dear; the pleasure never compenfating for the perpetual irritation of embarraffed circumftances.

Thefe pleafures, after all, have their value: and, as the young are always too eager in their pursuit of them, the old are fometimes too remifs; that is, too ftudious of their ease, to be at the pains for them, which they really deferve.

SECONDLY, Neither does happinefs confift in an exemption from pain, labour, care, bufinefs, fufpenfe, moleftation, and "thofe evils which are without;" fuch a state being usually attended not with eafe, but with depreffion of fpirits, a taftelefsnefs in all our ideas, imaginary anxieties, and the whole train of hypochondriacal affections.

For which reafon, it feldom anfwers the expectations of those, who retire from their shops and counting-houses, to enjoy the remainder of their days in leisure and tranquillity; much less of fuch, as in a fit of chagrin, fhut themselves up in cloysters and hermitages, or quit the world and their ftations in it, for folitude and repose.

Where

Where there exifts a known external caufe of uneafinefs, the caufe may be removed, and the uneafinefs will ceafe. But thofe imaginary diftreffes which men feel for want of real ones, (and which are equally tormenting, and so far equally real) as they depend upon no fingle or affignable fubject of uneafinefs, admit ofttimes of no application or relief.

Hence a moderate pain, upon which the attention may faften and fpend itself, is to many a refreshment; as a fit of the gout will fometimes cure the fpleen. And the fame of any lefs violent agitation of the mind, as a literary controverfy, a law-fuit, a contefted election, and, above all, gaming; the paffion for which, in men of fortune and liberal minds, is only to be accounted for on this principle.

THIRDLY, Neither does happiness consist in greatnefs, rank, or elevated ftation.

Were it true that all fuperiority afforded pleafure, it would follow, that, by how much we were the greater, that is, the more persons we were fuperior to, in the fame proportion, fo far as depended upon this caufe, we should be the happier; but fo it is, that no fuperiority yields any fatisfaction, fave that which we poffefs or obtain over those with whom we immediately

compare

compare ourselves. The fhepherd perceives no pleasure in his fuperiority over his dog; the farmer in his fuperiority over the fhepherd; the lord in his fuperiority over the farmer; nor the king, laftly, in his fuperiority over the lord. Superiority, where there is no competition, is feldom contemplated; what moft men indeed are quite unconscious of.

But if the same shepherd can run, fight, or wrestle better than the peasants of his village; if the farmer can fhow better cattle, if he keep a better horse, or be supposed to have a longer purfe than any farmer in the hundred; if the lord have more interest in an election, greater favour at court, a better house, or larger estate, than any nobleman in the county; if the king poffefs a more extenfive territory, a more powerful fleet or army, a more fplendid establishment, more loyal subjects, or more weight and authority in adjusting the affairs of nations, than any prince in Europe: in all these cafes the parties feel an actual fatisfaction in their fuperiority.

Now the conclufion that follows from hence is this that the pleafures of ambition, which are fuppofed to be peculiar to high stations, are in reality common to all conditions. The far

rier who shoes a horfe. better, and who is in greater request for his fkill than any man within ten miles of him, poffeffes, for all that I can fee, the delight of distinction and of excelling, as truly and fubftantially as the statesman, the foldier, and the scholar, who have filled Europe with the reputation of their wisdom, their valour, or their knowledge.

No fuperiority appears to be of any account, but fuperiority over a rival. This, it is manifeft, may exist wherever rivalships do; and rivalfhips fall out amongst men of all ranks and degrees. The object of emulation, the dignity or magnitude of this object, makes no difference; as it is not what either poffeffes that conftitutes the pleasure, but what one poffeffes more than the other.

Philosophy smiles at the contempt with which the rich and great speak of the petty ftrifes and competitions of the poor; not reflecting that thefe ftrifes and competitions are juft as reafonable as their own, and the pleasure, which fuccefs affords, the fame.

Our pofition is, that happiness does not confift in greatnefs. And this pofition we make out by fhewing, that even what are fuppofed to be the peculiar advantages of greatness, the

plea

pleasures of ambition and fuperiority, are in reality common to all conditions. But whether the pursuits of ambition be ever wife, whether they contribute more to the happiness or mifery of the purfuers, is a different queftion; and a queftion concerning which we may be allowed to entertain great doubt. The pleasure of fuccefs is exquifite; fo alfo is the anxiety of the purfuit, and the pain of difappointmentand what is the worst part of the account, the pleasure is fhort lived. We foon cease to look back upon those whom we have left behind; new contefts are engaged in, new prospects unfold themselves; a fucceffion of ftruggles is kept up, whilft there is a rival left within the compafs of our views and profeffion; and when there is none, the pleasure with the purfuit is at an end.

II. We have feen what happiness does not confift in. We are next to confider in what it does confift.

In the conduct of life, the great matter is, to know beforehand, what will pleafe us, and what pleasures will hold out. So far as we know this, our choice will be juftified by the event. And this knowledge is more fcarce and difficult than at firft fight it may feem to be: for fome