INFLUENCE OF KNOWLEDGE AND FREEDOM. 467

stolen half hour to give to it, and by him who can give it the live-long day, in company with others, or in solitude, which it con-verts into the most delightful society.

Above all, it is the cheapest of all amusements, and conse-quently, the most universally accessible. Reading is emphaticallythe poor man’s luxury ; for it is, of all luxuries, that which canbe obtained at the least cost. Still the rich man is not withouthis advantages in this, as in other things. He may prosecute thebusiness of mental cultivation to a much greater extent, than thepoorer and middle classes of society. He has, if he chooses,a degree of leisure and freedom from interruption, greatly ex-ceeding what the generality of men enjoy. Others have seldommore than the mere fragments of the day to give to study, afterthe bulk of it has been consumed in procuring merely the breadthat perisheth ; he may make literature and philosophy the voca-tion of his life. To be enabled to do this, or to do it only insmall part, many have willingly embraced comparative poverty inpreference to riches. Among the philosophers of antiquity,some are said to have spontaneously disencumbered themselvesof their inheritances, that the cares of managing their estatesmight not interrupt their philosophic pursuits. *

Moreover, political freedom is a most fertile source of happi-ness, if we may judge from the ardor with which it has beencoveted, and the costly sacrifices of time and labor, of blood andtreasure, which men have been ready to make, for the sake ofobtaining it. The encouraging, elevating, and inspiriting effectsascribed to freedom by Longinus, have already been adverted to,as also the discouraging, dispiriting, and deteriorating tendencyof despotism. The union of liberty with order is, indeed, atreasure, which cannot well be prized too highly. In this alone,are to be found the stability of governments, the prosperity ofnations, the confidence of men of business, the regular employ-ment of husbandmen, the improvement of the arts, and the steadygrowth of a people in knowledge, virtue, and happiness. Anar-chy and confusion are the severest forms of tyranny. Freedom,the most precious inheritance of nations, is itself chiefly valuable

See Library of Entertaining Knowledge, Vol. VIII. Part 1. pp. 2-4.