BOOK II PART III
of the human mind, and an infallible source of
pleasure, where the facility goes not beyond
a certain degree. And here it is remarkable
that the pleasure, which arises from a mod-
erate facility, has not the same tendency with
that which arises from novelty, to augment the
painful, as well as the agreeable affections. The
pleasure of facility does not so much consist in
any ferment of the spirits, as in their orderly
motion; which will sometimes be so powerful
as even to convert pain into pleasure, and give
us a relish in time what at first was most harsh
and disagreeable.
But again, as facility converts pain into plea-
sure, so it often converts pleasure into pain,
when it is too great, and renders the actions of
the mind so faint and languid, that they are no
longer able to interest and support it. And in-