the time of fuch a man is always spent in forming fchemes, which a change of wind hinders him from executing, his powers fume away in projects and in hope, and the day of action never arrives. He lies down delighted with the thoughts of to-morrow, pleases his ambition with the fame he fhall acquire, or his benevolence with the good he fhall confer. But in the night the fkies are overcaft, the temper of the air is changed, he wakes in languor, impatience, and diftraction, and has no longer any wifh but for eafe, nor any attention but to mifery. It may be faid that disease generally begins that equality which death completes; the diftinctions which fet one man fo much above another are very little perceived in the gloom of a fick chamber, where it will be vain to expect entertainment from the gay, or inftruction from the wife; where all human glory is obliterated, the wit is clouded, the rea foner perplexed, and the hero fubdued; where the highest and brightest of mortal beings finds nothing left him but the confcioufnefs of innocence. There is among the fragments of the Greek poets. a fhort hymn to Health, in which her power of exalting the happiness of life, of heightening the gifts of fortune, and adding enjoyment to poffeffion, is inculcated with fo much force and beauty, that no one, who has ever languifhed under the difcomforts and infirmities of a lingering disease, can read it without feeling the images dance in his heart, and adding from his own experience new vigour to the wish, and from his own imagination new colours to the picture. The particular occafion of this little compofition is not known, but it is probable that X 3 the the author had been fick, and in the first raptures of returning vigour addreffed Health in the following manner: Υγίεια πρεσβίτα Μακάρων, Μετὰ σὲ ναὶοιμι Ει γάρ τις ἢ πλᾶτε χάρις ἢ τεκέων, Οὺς κρυφίοις Αφροδίτης ἄρκυσιν θηρεύομεν, Μετὰ ζεῖο μακαρία Υγίεια, Τέθηκε πάντα, καὶ λάμπει χαρίτων ἔαρ' Σέθεν δὲ χωρὶς, ἐδεὶς ἐυδαίμων πέλει. Health, moft venerable of the powers of heaven! with thee may the remaining part of my life be passed, nor do thou refuse to bless me with thy refidence. For whatever there is of beauty or of pleasure in wealth, in defcendants, or in fovereign command, the highest fummit of human enjoyment, or in those objects of defire which we endeavour to chafe into the toils of love; whatever delight, or whatever folace is granted by the celestials, to foften our fatigues, in thy prefence, thou parent of happiness, all thofe joys spread out and flourish; in thy prefence blooms the Spring of pleasure, and without thee no man is happy. Such is the power of health, that without its cooperation every other comfort is torpid and lifeless, as the powers of vegetation without the fun. And yet this blifs is commonly thrown away in thoughtlefs negligence, or in foolish experiments on our own ftrength; we let it perish without remembering its value, or wafte it to fhow how much we have to fpare; it is fometimes given up to the management of levity and chance, and fometimes fold for the applause of jollity and debauchery. Health is equally neglected, and with equal impropriety, by the votaries of bufinefs and the followers of pleasure. Some men ruin the fabrick of their bodies by inceffant revels, and others by intemperate ftudies; fome batter it by excefs, and others fap it by inactivity. To the noisy route of bacchanalian rioters, it will be to little purpose that advice is offered, though it requires no great abilities to prove, that he lofes pleasure who lofes health; their clamours are too loud for the whispers of caution, and they run the courfe of life with too much precipitance to ftop at the call of wifdom. Nor perhaps will they that are bufied in adding thoufands to thousands, pay much regard to him that fhall direct them to haften more flowly to their wishes. Yet fince lovers of money are generally cool, deliberate, and thoughtful, they might furely confider, that the greater good ought not to be sacrificed to the lefs. Health is certainly more valuable than money, because it is by health that money is procured; but thousands and millions are of fmall avail to alleviate the protracted tortures of the gout, to repair the broken organs of fense, or refufcitate the powers of digestion. Poverty is, indeed, an evil from which we naturally fly; but let us not run from one enemy to another, nor take fhelter in the arms of fickness. Projecere animam! quàm vellent æthere in alto For healthful indigence in vain they pray, Those who lose their health in an irregular and impetuous pursuit of literary accomplishments are yet lefs to be excufed; for they ought to know that the body is not forced beyond its ftrength, but with the lofs of more vigour than is proportionate to the effect produced. Whoever takes up life beforehand, by depriving himself of reft and refreshment, muft not only pay back the hours, but pay them back with ufury; and for the gain of a few months but half enjoyed, muft give up years to the liftleffness of languor, and the implacability of pain. They whofe endeavour is mental excellence, will learn perhaps too late, how much it is endangered by diseases of the body, and find that knowledge may eafily be loft in the ftarts of melancholy, the flights of impatience, and the peevishnefs of decrepitude. NUMB. 49. TUESDAY, September 4, 1750. Non omnis moriar, multaque pars mei Vitabit Libitinam, ufque ego pofterâ Crefcam laude recens. Whole Horace fhall not die; his fongs fhall fave HOR. CREECH. HE firft motives of human actions are those TH appetites which providence has given to man in common with the reft of the inhabitants of the earth. Immediately after our birth, thirst and hunger incline us to the breaft, which we draw by instinct, like other young creatures, and when we are fatisfied, we express our uneafinefs by importunate and inceffant cries, till we have obtained a place or posture proper for repose. The next call that roufes us from a ftate of inactivity, is that of our paffions; we quickly begin to be fenfible of hope and fear, love and hatred, defire and averfion; these arifing from the power of comparison and reflection, extend their range wider, as our reafon ftrengthens, and our knowledge enlarges. At first we have no thought of pain, but when we actually feel it; we afterwards begin to fear it, yet not before it approaches us very nearly; but by degrees we difcover it at a greater distance, and find it lurking in remote confequences. Our terror in time improves into caution, and we learn to look round with vigilance and folicitude, |