sense, is unknown to the brute. It is thus
deprived of any share in that which gives us the most and best of our
joys and pleasures, the mental anticipation of a happy future, and the
inspiriting play of phantasy, both of which we owe to our power of
imagination. If the brute is free from care, it is also, in this
sense, without hope; in either case, because its consciousness is
limited to the present moment, to what it can actually see before
it. The brute is an embodiment of present impulses, and hence what
elements of fear and hope exist in its nature--and they do not go very
far--arise only in relation to objects that lie before it and within
reach of those impulses: whereas a man's range of vision embraces the
whole of his life, and extends far into the past and future.

Following upon this, there is one respect in which brutes show real
wisdom when compared with us--I mean, their quiet, placid enjoyment of
the present moment. The tranquillity of mind which this seems to give
them often puts us to shame for the many times we allow our thoughts
and our cares to make us restless and discontented. And, in fact,
those pleasures of hope and anticipation which I have been mentioning
are not to be had for nothing. The delight which a man has in hoping
for and looking forward to some special satisfaction is a part of the
real pleasure attaching to it enjoyed in advance. This is afterwards
deducted; for the more we look forward to anything, the less
satisfaction we find in it when it comes. But the brute's enjoyment
is not anticipated, and therefore, suffers no deduction; so that the
actual pleasure of the moment comes to it whole and unimpaired. In the
same way, too, evil presses upon the brute only with its own intrinsic
weight; whereas with us the fear of its coming often makes its burden
ten times more grievous.

It is just this characteristic way in which the brute gives itself up
entirely to the present moment that contributes so much to the delight
we take in our domestic pets. They are the present moment personified,
and in some respects they make us feel the value of every hour that
is free from trouble and annoyance, which we, with our thoughts and
preoccupations, mostly disregard. But man, that selfish and heartless
creature, misuses this quality of the brute to be more content than we
are with mere existence, and often works it to such an extent that he
allows the brute absolutely nothing more than mere, bare