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    to this height ; but they answer two valuable purp © s 6 s * Ift iitv litating and accelerating its progress : they raise the mind above the pleasures and pains of sensation ; and they form those intellectual habits which must , more or less , be requisite to th 6

    higher degrees of excellence . The happiness of others , and the improvement of 6 urowt £ ininds , are the two grand objects , which should be kept \ ti View , as constituting the principal value of the various branches &f mental pursuit . To trace the various ways in which know **

    ledge extends our power of utility , would require a minuteness of detail inconsistent with the intended brevity of these re * Snarks ; but it may be mentioned , that there is scarcely any one of those sciences , which at present engage the public attention ^ which ha § not attracted that attention by its obvious utility . The world of science is not now the theatre of frivolous discus *

    sion : in this respect , at least , mankind have advanced towards improvement . Jn appreciating the value of mental pursuits * the perfection of the powers of the mind is still , perhaps , made less an object of consideration , than it deserves . An obvious reason occurs for this inattention . It is not long since the period when the studv of the mind was neglected , or considered

    $ ls involved in sophistry too deeply interwoven , to admit of the discovery of truth , The important habits of the mind are now more known , and more correctly appreciated ; and that which in education was formerly considered as a mean only , is some- * times admitted to the station of an end . The mental habit $ formed , rather than the number of ideas acquired , is considered as the test of improvement .

    The two principles above laid down will guide us very fart it must , however , be added , that some objects of mental pursuit , in themselves nearly unimportant , derive no inconsiderable degree of importance , from their connexion with others ; facilitating their attainment , perhaps even essential to it . The different branches of knowledge are very closely connected , The connexion is not always obvious , but it becomes apparent in

    proportion to the extent of our attainments ; and , where we cannot perceive it 3 we may safely rest upon the authority of those who are competent to judge from experience . Much varied culture is pften necessary to give us the greatest com * mand over the ideas which we possess—to put m requisition the stores which we have assiduously accumulated- —in short , to jaake our knowledge of practical utility .

    When we apply these principles to the estimation of manf Jxrevailing branches of education , we plight rank below their true Situation several which others rank too high , if we did not eioflhsider , that every thing which mcreases the pleasures of social

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    £ 92 On Mental Pursuits .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1806, page 292, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1725/page/12/