But if the constitution of human nature and the structure of human society alike render it difficult for the human heart to be affected with a pleasure in no degree derived from—absolutely and totally unconnected with sympathetic association, of that complex pleasure which arises out of social intercourse, partly selfish and partly sympathetic, how far sweeter the sympathetic than the selfish part; and as the sympathetic preponderates over the selfish, how vast the increase of the pleasure! And when matured, exalted into affection—affection, that holy emotion which exerts a transforming influence over the selfish part of human nature, turning it into the sympathetic; affection, which renders the happiness of the beloved object inexpressibly dearer to the heart than its own; affection, among the benignant feelings of which as there is none sweeter so there is none stronger than that of self-devotion, nay, sometimes even of self-sacrifice; affection, which is sympathy pure, concentrated, intense—Oh how beautiful is the constitution of this part of our nature, by which the most transporting pleasures the heart receives are the direct reflection of those it gives! Nor ought it to be overlooked, that, while nearly all the selfish, like all the sensual pleasures, cannot be increased beyond a fixed limit, cannot be protracted beyond a given time, are short-lived in proportion as they are intense, and satiate the appetite they gratify, the sympathetic pleasures are capable of indefinite augmentation; are absolutely inexhaustible; no limit can be set to their number, and no bound to their growth; they excite the appetite they gratify; they multiply with and by participation, and the more is taken from the fountain from which they flow, the deeper, the broader, and the fuller the fountain itself becomes. But not only is the mental state of affection in all its forms and degrees highly pleasurable, but the very consciousness of being the object of affection is another pleasure perfectly distinct from that arising immediately from the affection itself. It has been said of charity, that it is twice blessed, that it blesses alike him that gives and him that receives; but love has in it a threefold blessing: first, in the mental state itself; secondly, in the like mental state which the manifestation of it produces in another; and thirdly, in the mental state inseparable from the consciousness of being the object of affection. And this reflex happiness, this happiness arising from the consciousness of being the object, is even sweeter than any connected with being the subject of affection.