On this page

• Departments (1)
  • 
• Text (4)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    MISGiELLANEOtJS COMMTJNlCAftONS.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    Essay on the Pursuit of the Pleasures ' of Taste and Imagination . Jan . 7 , 1814 . *? hc pleasures of imagination are thi next remove above the sensible ones , and kavey in their proper place and degree-, a gfeat efficacy in iJnproving and perfecting Qitrndtares . Hartley .

    Though happiness is the end and object of all created beings , and is deliberately pursued by tiibSk of them who are intelligent .

    they seek it , however , by very different' means , in their use of which ttey bften lose sight of the gffafrd ptffpose they originally had ifi view . Men are wise or

    irrational adfcofdihg to the rule of life by which they act . To make the attainment of the pleasures of serisi * , of even of those of taste afiict imagination , our first concern , is to neglect highej : interests atid stronger obligations ; to give them no share of our trme and

    atteirtibrij notwithstanding our situation in the world enables us to procure them , is one of those instances of singularity from which ifrbre evil than advantage may arise . There is a middle point between excess and needless

    mortification and self-denial , which it should be biitaim to reach . Suppose that a man apply himself to the business of adorning his person , his habitation , his possessions , or of so improving in

    reputed accomplishments , as to increase , on some occasions , the joys of the social circle . Within certain bounds he may follow this employment and be blameless . But the moment it begins to occupy the chief portion of his time

    Untitled Article

    and faculties , it becomes a crime ; when it passes its just degree , it produces selfish qualities * It is a familiar remark that rnany of the votaries of the elegant arts , are vain and conceited , arc intoxicated with the incense they offer to their idols . The

    observation does not hold good of those who exercise the highest of these arts as means of subsistence : on the contrary , eminent painters * statuaries , sculptors and architects , are distinguished by strength of understanding and simplicity of character . But men fond of acquiring their works and designs , and of sitting in judgment on their

    merits- —the tribe of imitators and connoisseurs—frequently overrate their own attainments , which they estimate mdr& by their rarity than by their use . For this reason

    genuine knowledge is far ife'Ss in danger of swelling with vfcriity than an imagined taste in decorations . At every step he tak&s a man of science is sensible of his

    deficiencies , and is therefore humble . What is merely or principally ornamental , denotes a certain station in society , which they who fill it are commonly desirous of seeing acknowledged-Ostentation and display attend not seldom on the pursuit of the

    pleasures derived from the elegancies of life ; and they are infallible signs of excess in those pursuits . While men of solid knowledge are , the most part , reluctaot to exhibit it , he who cultivates , supremely or chiefly , a taste For ornamencs , is restless till its existence and effects ar #

    Untitled Article

    < 17 )

    Misgiellaneotjs Commtjnlcaftons.

    MISGiELLANEOtJS COMMTJNlCAftONS .

    Untitled Article

    VOL . IX . »

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1814, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2436/page/17/