Page:A Vindication of Natural Society - Burke (1756).djvu/107

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[97]

the weak and ridiculous Efforts of human Art on the other. Their Pleasures are scarcely felt as Pleasures; at the same time that they bring on Pains and Diseases, which are felt but too severely. The Mind has it's Share of the Misfortune; it grows lazy and enervate, unwilling and unable to search for Truth, and utterly uncapable of knowing, much less of relishing real Happiness. The Poor by their excessive Labour, and the Rich by their enormous Luxury, are set upon a Level and made equally ignorant of any Knowledge which might conduce to their Happiness. A dismal View of the Interior of all Civil Society. The lower Part broken and ground down by the most cruel Oppression; and the Rich by their artificial Method of Life bringing worse Evils on themselves, than their Tyranny could possibly inflict on those below them. Very different is the Prospect of the Natural State. Here there is no want which Nature gives, and they can besensible