heir pursuit is, after all,
but a poor and barren object of even worldly happiness.

As it is perfectly evident that, so far as mere sensual gratifications
are concerned, the peer and the peasant stand pretty much on a level,
let us inquire for a moment in what the great superiority consists
which exalts and elevates one above the other? Now, without entering
upon that wild field for speculation that power (and what power equals
that conferred by wealth?) confers, and the train of ennobling
sentiment suggested by extended views of philanthropy and
benevolence--for, in this respect, it is perfectly possible the poor
man has as amiable a thrill at his heart in sharing his potato with a
wandering beggar, as the rich one has in contributing his thousand
pounds' donation to some great national charity--let us turn rather to
the consideration of those more tangible differences that leave their
impress upon character, and mould men's minds into a fashion so
perfectly and thoroughly distinct.

To our thinking, then, the great superiority wealth confers lies in
the seclusion the rich man lives in from all the grosser agency of
every-day life--its make-shifts, its contrivances, its continued
warfare of petty provision and continual care, its unceasing effort to
seem what it is not, and to appear to the world in a garb, and after a
manner, to which it has no just pretension. The rich man knows nothing
of all this: life, to him, rolls on in measured tread; and the world,
albeit the changes of season and politics may affect him, has nothing
to call forth any unusual effort of his temper or his intellect; his
life, like his drawing-room, is arranged for him; he never sees it
otherwise than in trim order; with an internal consciousness that
people must be engaged in providing for his comforts at seasons when
he is in bed or asleep, or otherwise occupied, he gives himself no
farther trouble about them; and, in the monotony of his pleasures,
attains to a tranquillity of mind the most enviable and most happy.

Hence that perfect composure so conspicuous in the higher ranks, among
whom wealth is so generally diffused--hence that delightful simplicity
of manner, so captivating from its total absence of pretension and
affectation--hence that unbroken serenity that no chances or
disappointments would seem to interfere with; the knowledge that he is
of far too much consequence to be neglected or forgotten, supports him
on every occasion, a