, we have a conception of prolonged manual labor, and are gratified
in proportion to the supposed expenditure of time and exertion. These
are, indeed, powers of a low order, yet the pleasure arising from the
conception of them enters very largely indeed into our admiration of all
elaborate ornament, architectural decoration, etc. The delight with
which we look on the fretted front of Rouen Cathedral depends in no
small degree on the simple perception of time employed and labor
expended in its production. But it is a right, that is, an ennobling
pleasure, even in this its lowest phase; and even the pleasure felt by
those persons who praise a drawing for its "finish," or its "work,"
which is one precisely of the same kind, would be right, if it did not
imply a want of perception of the higher powers which render work
unnecessary. If to the evidence of labor be added that of strength or
dexterity, the sensation of power is yet increased; if to strength and
dexterity be added that of ingenuity and judgment, it is multiplied
tenfold, and so on, through all the subjects of action of body or mind,
we receive the more exalted pleasure from the more exalted power.

Sec. 3. But are received from whatever has been the subject of power. The
meaning of the word "excellence."

So far the nature and effects of ideas of power cannot but be admitted
by all. But the circumstance which I wish especially to insist upon,
with respect to them, is one which may not, perhaps, be so readily
allowed, namely, that they are independent of the nature or worthiness
of the object from which they are received, and that whatever has been
the subject of a great power, whether there be intrinsic and apparent
worthiness in itself or not, bears with it the evidence of having been
so, and is capable of giving the ideas of power, and the consequent
pleasures, in their full degree. For observe, that a thing is not
properly said to have been the result of a great power, on which only
some part of that power has been expended. A nut may be cracked by a
steam-engine, but it has not, in being so, been the subject of the power
of the engine. And thus it is falsely said of great men, that they waste
their lofty powers on unworthy objects: the object may be dangerous or
useless, but, as far as the phrase has reference to difficulty of
performance, it cannot be unworthy of the power which it brings into
exertion, because nothing can become a subject of actio