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    follow , as he detourto xepr&fei&it , tb ^ t t&ey are tob $ placed in the game order in point of dignity and impedance . Nor indefecj is the order of time wry closely adhered t , o in this arrangecn&nt , for though the pleasures of sense are doubtless the original source of ail , and though it may be true that those of the moral sense are the last which are brought to perfection , as being the , most complicated , and arising from the greatest varietyof associa tions , yet many of the reflections , idias and feelings , from which Hartley

    justly deduces the origin of the moral sense , make their appearance at a very early period ; So early , that many philosophers , and perhapfc the bulk of mankind in general , seem to regard them as instinctive principles not dependent oil education and experience . In short , he has no where very distinctly stated the grounds and reasons of this classification , and hence any conclusions which it may be proposed to deduce from the order in which things happen to be arranged and tofoll 6 w one another in it , can scarcely be admitted .

    It seems to me accordingly , that there are more instances than one in which , if ( Hartley has not been lfccj into error from this cause , he has at least teen induced to exaggerate and magnify the truth . The second place in his arrangement * next to the pleasures of sense , is occupied by those to which he has given the name of pleasures of the imagination . Under this denomination are comprehended not only the pleasures derived from works of ^ aste , from the fine arts , or from any of those sources which are included

    under the ordinary sense of the term imagination , but those also which arise from the exercise of the mind in the pursuit of every kind of knowledge , The contemplation of the works of God , and the beauties of surrounding mature \ the investigation of the frame and constitution of our minds , our < Xfl ^* io » , with and dependence upon our feUow- ^ creatures , and the duties that are owing both to them and to our Maker , considered as a branch of phi-, losophy , are all reduced to this class . Now , Dr , Hartley appears to set too

    low a value on these pursuits and pleasures ; and I account for it m part frpm the defect of his classification , according to which , occupations honour * able , laudable , and important , are ranked along with some that are compa- » rajtively ( rifling and frivolous * That the acquisition of knowledge ought not to be wade tfie primary object of human life is admitted on all hands ; knowledge , merely as such , would be of little moment were it not for its iu * fluence upon our happiness and improvement . But surely with these in **

    portent end $ it is sq intimately and peeessarily connected , that it cannot fell pf being regarded on their account as of the highest value ; and even inde * penitently Qt this connexion , to trace the marks of wise design in the works pf nature , to exercise the © obtest powers of the mind in investigating truth , and tjiua to cultivate and improve that part of his frame by which he is pe « culiarly distinguished above the rest of the animate creation , i ^ in itself a spurce of the purest enjoyment to a rational being . That such inquiries , when not properly regulated , when pursued to the neglect of other more

    important duties , or when they meet with a temper of mind previously dis- > posed to petulance and conceit , may have a tendency to foster and encourage these evil dispositions , is perfectly true ; but it does not follow that such dis * positions owe their origin to j&e eager pursuit after knowledge ; nor is there any good reason to suppose that jthe instances of these unhappy effects are of such frequent occurrence as the general and rather vague language of Or , Hartley would lead one to isaagine . It is commonly only those wbo have iftade but slight advances wh » we proud or conceited ; the more men learn , the mom they find retrains fat be learnt ; tlie deeper becomes their jjense jpf

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    &&tity ' sntfe !>/ && ¥ * 295

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1828, page 295, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2560/page/7/