His youthful hose well fav'd, a world too wide
For his fhrunk fhank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his found :—Laft scene of all,
That ends this ftrange eventful history,

Is fecond childishness, and mere oblivion ;
Sans teeth, fans eyes, fans tafte, fans every thing.

That the heart, forrowful and dejected
by the repulfe of an ardent paffion, is averse
from pleasure of every kind, has been
often obferved. The mind, in a gay and
healthful state, receives hope and enjoy-
ment from every object around us. The
fame objects, if we languish and defpond,
are regarded with difguft or indifference.
"What path of life would you pursue ?"
faid Poseidippus, morose and out of hu-
mour with his condition: "In public you
66 are perplexed with business and conten-
"tion: At home, you are tired with
"cares: In the country, you are fatigued
"with labour? At fea, you are exposed to
"danger: In a foreign land, if rich, you
་ are fearful; if poor, neglected: Have

"you

1

rus:

<< you a wife? expect forrow: Unmar"ried? your life is irkfome: Children "will make you anxious: Childless, your "life is lonely: Youth is foolish: And "grey-hairs feeble. Upon the whole, "the wife man would chufe either not "to have exifted, or to have died the "moment of his birth." "Chufe any path "of life," replies the chearful Metrodo"In the forum are profits and wife "debates: At home, relaxation: In the country, the bounty of nature: The fea-faring life is gainful: In a foreign land, if wealthy, you are respected; "if poor, nobody knows it: Are you "married? your house is chearful? Un"married? you live without care: Chil"dren afford delight: Childless, you have "no forrow: Youth is vigorous: And "old-age venerable. The wife man, "therefore, would not chufe but to have

exifted." Morofe and fplenetic moments are tranfient; the foul recovers L

from

66

from them as from a lethargy, exerts her activity, and pursues enjoyment; But, in the temper of Jaques, morofeness is become habitual: He abandons the world, he contemns its pleafures, and buries himfelf in a cloifter. The cause of this exceffive feverity requires a particular expla

nation.

Among the various defires and propenfities implanted by nature in the conftitution of every individual, fome one paffion, either by original and fuperior vigour, or by reiterated indulgence, gains an ascendant in the foul, and fubdues every oppofing principle; it unites with defires and appetites that are not of an oppofite tendency, it bends them to its pleasure, and in their gratifications pursues its own. The man whofe governing paffion is pride, may also be social and beneficent, he may love his friends, and rejoice in their good fortune; but, even in their company, the defire of impreffing them with an idea of

his

5

his own importance, forever obtruding itTelf, produces difguft and averfion. The ruling paffion, blended with others, augments their vehemence, and confequently enhances their pleafure: For the pleasure arifing from the gratification of any paffion, is proportioned to its force. Moreover, the fenfations arifing from the indulgence of the governing principle will neceffarily be combined with those arifing from the gratification of other appetites and defires; fo intimately combined, that their union is not easily discerned, but by those who are accustomed to reflect on their feelings: Yet, by their union, they affect the mind with a ftronger impulse than if they were feparately excited. Suppose the ruling paffion thwarted: It ceases to operate with fuccefs: The force it communicated to other paffions is withdrawn; confequently, their vehemence fuffers abatement; and, confequently, the pleasure they yield is leffened. By the L 2

dif

discomfiture and difappointment of the governing principle, the pleasure arising from its gratification is no longer united with that arifing from other active but fubordinate principles: And thus, the pleasure refulting from fubordinate principles, by the failure and abfence of the adventitious pleasure with which it was formerly accompanied, is fenfibly dimínifhed. It is, therefore, manifeft, that, if focial and beneficent affections, by gaining a fuperiority in the conftitution, have heightened every other enjoyment, and if their exercife is fufpended by difappointment, all the pleasures of sense or of ambition that formerly contributed to our felicity, though in themselves they are ftill the fame; yet, being reft of their better part, of the spirit that enlivened them, they strike the mind fo feebly, as only to awaken its attention to the lofs it hath sustained; and, instead of affording comfort, they aggravate our misfortune.

2

We