affording, by itself and seperated from the beauty of that arangement which is fitted to promote it, it will always appear in the high|est degree contemptible and trifling. But we rarely view it in this abstract and philosophi|cal light. We naturally confound it in our imagination with the order, the regular and harmonious movement of the system, the machine or oeconomy by means of which it is produced. The pleasures of wealth and greatness, when considered in this complex view, strike the imagination as something grand and beautiful and noble, of which the attainment is well worth all the to•••• and anxiety which we are so apt to bestow upon it.
And it is well that nature imposes upon us in this manner. It is this deception which rouses and keeps in continual motion the in|dustry of mankind. It is this which first prompted them to cultivate the ground, to build houses, to found cities and common|wealths, and to invent and improve all the sciences and arts, which ennoble and embel|lish human life; which have entirely chang|ed the whole face of the globe, have turned the rude forests of nature into agreeable and fertile plains, and made the trackless and bar|ren
