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Article HAPPINESS: A FRAGMENT. ← Page 4 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Happiness: A Fragment.
is desirous of regulating the taste of another according to his own ; and yet nothing is more frequent : for we daily hear people criticising their neighbours' manner of living , because it is not conformable to their own ; and yet , perhaps , it is a moot point to determine to which side the preference . should be given . The truth is , he who lives according to his inclination , always lives well , though , in his neihbour ' s he appears to drag a life of misery . This was
g eyes , what gave rise to the saying sequere naturam ; pursue nature and your own inclination , and you cannot err , because you thereby attain the highest pinnacle of mundane felicity . . To hear a man censure another with respect to his manner of living , either in regard to eating , drinking , solitude , study , or any other similar pursuitis as if he were to say' Regulate your appetite
, , according to mine , though your constitution be completely different ; eat and drink those tilings for which , naturally you have not the least inclination , but . which 1 , and all sensible people , are fond of . ' This would be perfect tyranny , whereby one man would become another ' s executioner : for to deprive a person of things which he relishes , is jobbing him of his liberty , and reducing him to a state of slavery .
Those who would thus pretend to regulate the taste and pleasures of others , according to their own , would imitate the child , who said to his bird , ' Poor little Dicky I you shall sleep with me , and eat and drink just as I do-, ' and thereupon took the bird into his bosom , when he went to bed , but found him next morning stifled ; whereas had . the poor bird been left to his liberty , it would have received no injury by ling upon the flooror in the fresh air .
y , What farther evinces the impropriety of regulating the . dispositions of others by our own , is the difference of our tastes at different ages : what we , admire , nay idolize , in youth , we contemn and despise in an advanced age ; and even the aniusements of this period communicate no satisfaction to . grey hairs .. In fact , were we compelled to recur to our former pastimesthis would be the greatest punishment that
, could be inflicted upon us . To do this successfully , we should recal past times , have different bodies , minds , and dispositions . Were those considerations more attended to , much declamation and criticism mig ht be saved ; and whether vanity or affection excited the censure , we " should not at . least , be . rendered miserable by being taught how to become happy . ....
Titius pities Sejus , and considers him as a . wretch , because he walks on foot when he might ride ; and Sejus , on his . part , pities Titius , and considers him as a paralytic , because he is carried in , a sedan chair , when his limbs are . still good and able to support him . It is , however , ridiculous to ' blame either of them , because the first finds leasure in walkingand the other is gratified bbeing . carried .:
a p , y , Neither do I condemn a Muscovite woman , who takes a pleasure inbeing beat by her husband ; but , on the contrary , I esteem her for placing her happiness in such wholesome discipline . Pleasure hath various effects with regard to taste , as medicines have with respect to the body . .. Some are . fond of sweets , others
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Happiness: A Fragment.
is desirous of regulating the taste of another according to his own ; and yet nothing is more frequent : for we daily hear people criticising their neighbours' manner of living , because it is not conformable to their own ; and yet , perhaps , it is a moot point to determine to which side the preference . should be given . The truth is , he who lives according to his inclination , always lives well , though , in his neihbour ' s he appears to drag a life of misery . This was
g eyes , what gave rise to the saying sequere naturam ; pursue nature and your own inclination , and you cannot err , because you thereby attain the highest pinnacle of mundane felicity . . To hear a man censure another with respect to his manner of living , either in regard to eating , drinking , solitude , study , or any other similar pursuitis as if he were to say' Regulate your appetite
, , according to mine , though your constitution be completely different ; eat and drink those tilings for which , naturally you have not the least inclination , but . which 1 , and all sensible people , are fond of . ' This would be perfect tyranny , whereby one man would become another ' s executioner : for to deprive a person of things which he relishes , is jobbing him of his liberty , and reducing him to a state of slavery .
Those who would thus pretend to regulate the taste and pleasures of others , according to their own , would imitate the child , who said to his bird , ' Poor little Dicky I you shall sleep with me , and eat and drink just as I do-, ' and thereupon took the bird into his bosom , when he went to bed , but found him next morning stifled ; whereas had . the poor bird been left to his liberty , it would have received no injury by ling upon the flooror in the fresh air .
y , What farther evinces the impropriety of regulating the . dispositions of others by our own , is the difference of our tastes at different ages : what we , admire , nay idolize , in youth , we contemn and despise in an advanced age ; and even the aniusements of this period communicate no satisfaction to . grey hairs .. In fact , were we compelled to recur to our former pastimesthis would be the greatest punishment that
, could be inflicted upon us . To do this successfully , we should recal past times , have different bodies , minds , and dispositions . Were those considerations more attended to , much declamation and criticism mig ht be saved ; and whether vanity or affection excited the censure , we " should not at . least , be . rendered miserable by being taught how to become happy . ....
Titius pities Sejus , and considers him as a . wretch , because he walks on foot when he might ride ; and Sejus , on his . part , pities Titius , and considers him as a paralytic , because he is carried in , a sedan chair , when his limbs are . still good and able to support him . It is , however , ridiculous to ' blame either of them , because the first finds leasure in walkingand the other is gratified bbeing . carried .:
a p , y , Neither do I condemn a Muscovite woman , who takes a pleasure inbeing beat by her husband ; but , on the contrary , I esteem her for placing her happiness in such wholesome discipline . Pleasure hath various effects with regard to taste , as medicines have with respect to the body . .. Some are . fond of sweets , others