Page:An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals - Hume (1751).djvu/146

 readily be made by superficial Reasoners; and there is Room, at least, to support the Cavil and Dispute for a Moment. But as Qualities, which tend only to the Utility of their Possessor, without any Reference to us, or to the Community, are yet esteem'd and valu'd; by what Theory or System can we account for this Sentiment from Self-love, or deduce it from that favourite Origin? There seems here a Necessity of confessing that the Happiness and Misery of others are not Spectacles altogether indifferent to us, but that the View of the former, whether in its Causes or Effects, like Sun-shine or the Prospect of well-cultivated Plains (to carry our Pretensions no higher) communicates a secret Joy and Satisfaction; the Appearance of the latter, like a lowering Cloud or barren Landskip, throws a melancholy Damp over the Imagination. And this Concession being once made, the Difficulty is over; and a natural, unforc'd Interpretation of the Phænomena of human Life will afterwards, we may hope, prevail, amongst all speculative Enquirers.