It is in the abstruser sciences, particularly in the higher parts of mathema|tics, that the greatest and most admired ex|ertions of human reason have been displayed. But the utility of those sciences, either to the individual or to the public, is not very obvi|ous, and to prove it requires a discussion which is not always very easily comprehend|ed. It was not, therefore, their utility which first recommended them to the public admi|ration. This quality was but little insisted upon, till it became necessary to make some reply to the reproaches of those, who, hav|ing themselves no taste for such sublime dis|coveries, endeavoured to depreciate them as useless.
That self-command, in the same manner, by which we restrain our present appetites in order to gratify them more fully upon ano|ther occasion is approved of as much under the aspect of propriety as under that of utility. When we act in this manner the sentiments which influence our conduct seem exactly to coincide with those of the spectator. The spectator does not feel the sollicitations of our present appetites. To him the pleasure which we are to enjoy a week hence, or a year hence, is just as interesting as that which we are to
