Nor, while we retain any taste for pleasures, is it easy to prescribe limits to the extent in which we may indulge in them, or to the amount of the funds they may absorb.Every where we see, that, to spend is easy, to spare, hard.Every one indeed looks upon those in the rank immediately above him, as rolling in superfluous extravagance.But, in every rank, from the prince to the peasant, there are very many individuals, who have difficulty in procuring funds to defray the cost of articles, the expenditure of which they look upon as necessary to their condition, and, for the remainder, in the different classes, who have more than their utmost real desires would call for, pleasure is so entwined with extravagance, in the forms in which she presents herself to each, that it is difficult fully to embrace the one, without coming within the circle of the other.
It would then appear, that merely personal considerations, can never give great strength to the effective desire of accumulation.A future good, as concerns the individual, when balanced against a present good, is both exceedingly uncertain in its arrival, and in the amount of enjoyment it may yield, is probably far inferior.Such considerations would undoubtedly represent it, as a great folly to deny youth or manhood pleasure, that old age might have riches not to be enjoyed by it, but which, like the fabled monster in the garden of the Hesperides, it must employ itself with restless care to guard for others, "Conservans aliis, quae periere sibi Sieut in aurieomis pendentia plurimus hortis Pervigil observat non sun poma draco." (34)A prudent calculation of mere personal enjoyment, could prompt to nothing more than a provision for self, and would only lead to the making, as it is said, the day and the journey alike, and taking care, that youth should not want pleasure, nor old age comfort.But, as passion is ever getting the better of mere prudence, this limit would every now and then be exceeded, and in numerous instances, the satiety of riot would be succeeded by the miseries of want.Wherever a large amount of means for the gratification of the present existed, they would be squandered, and no one, on the other hand, would be inclined to make any great sacrifice of the present, for the purpose of providing for the future.The strength of the effective desire of accumulation would be low, and only such instruments would be formed as were of the quickly returning orders.
But man's pleasures are not altogether selfish.He receives pleasure, from giving pleasure, and is far from the perfection of his existence when he does not draw his enjoyments, rather from the good he communicates, than from that which he reserves.Without the ties which bind him to others through the conjugal and parental relations, the claims of his kindred, his friends, his country, or his race, life would be to most men a burden.
These are its great stimulants, and sweeteners, giving an aim to every possible exertion, and an interest to every moment.If, sometimes, they shadow our being with cares and fears, those passing shadows but prove there is a sunshine.The light of life only disappears, and its dreary night then commences, when we have none for whom to live.Then the whole creation is a void.Really to live is to live with, and through others, more than in ourselves.To do so we must do so truly.
"Love, and love only, is the loan for love."If the mere pretense deceive others, it mocks and tantalizes ourselves, encircling us with a joy as unreal, as that, which the looks and tones of affection shed round him, who receives them disguised in a borrowed garment.We cannot enjoy them, because we feel that they are not ours, but some other's whose dress we wear.
In so far as to procure good for others, gives a real pleasure to the individual, he is released from that narrow and imperfect sphere of action, to which his mere personal interests would confine him, and the future goods which the sacrifice of present ease or enjoyment may produce, lose the greater part of their uncertainty and worthlessness.Though life may pass from him, he reckons not that his toils, his cares, his privations, will be lost, if they serve as the means of enjoyment to some whom he may leave behind.These feelings, therefore, investing the concerns of futurity with a lively interest to the individual, and giving a continuity to the existence and projects of the race, must tend to strengthen very greatly the effective desire of accumulation.There would seem to be no limit to the possible extent of their operation.The more powerful and predominating they become, the greater must be their influence.It is true they are often feeble, and oppressed by other principles, and it is just as true that the world is full of deceit, hollowness, and unhappiness.As far as they exist, however, they form a real element, of great power in the determination of the course of human action, and one the nature of which would seem to indicate, and experience to prove, to be of great influence, on the particular part of it that forms our present subject.In the succeeding pages, the terms, the social and benevolent affections, will be employed to denote them.
The strength of the intellectual powers, giving rise to reasoning and reflective habits, forms another important element in the determination of the course of human action.These habits in opposition to the passions of the present hour, bring before us the future, both as concerns ourselves, and others, in its legitimate force, and urge the propriety of providing for it.Although therefore, were our cares limited altogether to ourselves, the greatest strength of the reasoning faculty, could prompt to but a very limited operation on the events of futurity, yet, the farther they extend to others, the wider is the circle of operations that it leads us to embrace.
