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Page:An Enquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning in Europe.djvu/106

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92
The PRESENT STATE

obvious to the senses in every country and climate, these qualities please the wildest savage as much as the most polished European; as far as it affects the senses, the pleasure a guinea gives is therefore in every country the same.

But the consideration of the uses it can be turned to, are another source of pleasure, which is different in different countries. A native of Madagascar prefers to it a glass bead; a native of Holland prefers it to every thing else. The pleasure then of its sensible qualities are every where the same; those of its secondary qualities every where different. He, whom nature has furnished with the most vivid perceptions of beauty, and to whom experience has suggested the greatest number of uses, in the contemplation of anyob-