"Thus you see, Sir, that these people are not so unpolished as we
represent them.'Tis true, their magnificence is of
a different taste from ours, and perhaps of a
better. I am almost of opinion, they have a right notion of
life. They consume it in music, gardens, wine, and delicate
eating, while we are tormenting our brains with some
scheme of politics, or studying some science to which we
can never attain, or, if we do, cannot persuade other
people to set that value upon it as we do ourselves†. We die
or grow old before we can reap the fruit of our
labours. Considering what short-lived weak animals men are, is
there any study so beneficial as the study of present
pleasure?"
- Lady Mary Wortley Pierrepoint Montagu
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