Сс "deep into thy heart. Remember, my fon, that "human life is the journey of a day. We rise in "the morning of youth, full of vigour and full of expectation; we fet forward with spirit and hope, "with gaiety and with diligence, and travel on a "while in the ftraight road of piety towards the "manfions of reft. In a fhort time we remit our " fervor, and endeavour to find fome mitigation of "our duty, and fome more easy means of obtain"ing the fame end. We then relax our vigour, " and refolve no longer to be terrified with crimes " at a distance, but rely upon our own conftancy, "and venture to approach what we refolve never to "touch. We thus enter the bowers of ease, and "repofe in the fhades of fecurity. Here the heart "foftens, and vigilance fubfides; we are then will ing to enquire whether another advance cannot be "made, and whether we may not, at least, turn our "eyes upon the gardens of pleasure. We approach "them with fcruple and hesitation; we enter them, "but enter timorous and trembling, and always "hope to pass through them without lofing the road "of virtue, which, we for a while, keep in our "fight, and to which we propose to return. But "temptation fucceeds temptation, and one com"pliance prepares us for another; we in time lose "the happiness of innocence, and folace our dif quiet with fenfual gratifications. By degrees we "let fall the remembrance of our original inten"tion, and quit the only adequate object of ra"tional defire. We entangle ourfelves in bufinefs, immerge ourselves in luxury, and rove through "the labyrinths of inconftancy, till the darkness "of "of old age begins to invade us, and disease and "anxiety obftruct our way. We then look back cr upon our lives with horror, with forrow, with repentance; and wifh, but too often vainly wifh, "that we had not forfaken the ways of virtue. Happy are they, my fon, who fhall learn from "thy example not to despair, but shall remember, "that though the day is past, and their strength is "wafted, there yet remains one effort to be made; "that reformation is never hopeless, nor fincere en"deavours ever unaffifted, that the wanderer may at length return after all his errors, and that he who "implores ftrength and courage from above, fhall "find danger and difficulty give way before him. "Go now, my fon, to thy repofe, commit thyself " to the care of Omnipotence, and when the morn"ing calls again to toil, begin anew thy journey and "thy life." NUMB. 66. SATURDAY, November 3, 1750. Pauci dignofcere poffunt Vera bona, atque illis multum diverfa, remotâ Erroris nebula. How few Know their own good; or, knowing it, pursue ? TH Juv. DRYDEN. HE folly of human wishes and pursuits has always been a standing fubject of mirth and declamation, and has been ridiculed and lamented from age to age; till perhaps the fruitless repetition of complaints and cenfures may be justly numbered among the fubjects of cenfure and complaint. Some of these inftructors of mankind have not contented themselves with checking the overflows of paffion, and lopping the exuberance of defire, but have attempted to deftroy the root as well as the branches; and not only to confine the mind within bounds, but to smooth it for ever by a dead calm. They have employed their reason and eloquence to perfuade us, that nothing is worth the wifh of a wife man, have reprefented all earthly good and evil as indifferent, and counted among vulgar errors the dread of pain, and the love of life. It is almost always the unhappiness of a victorious difputant, to destroy his own authority by claiming too many confequences, or diffufing his propofition to to an indefenfible extent. When we have heated our zeal in a cause, and elated our confidence with fuccess, we are naturally inclined to pursue the fame train of reasoning, to establish some collateral truth, to remove some adjacent difficulty, and to take in the whole comprehenfion of our fyftem. As a prince, in the ardour of acquifition, is willing to fecure his first conqueft by the addition of another, add fortrefs to fortrefs, and city to city, till defpair and opportunity turn his enemies upon him, and he lofes in a moment the glory of a reign. The philofophers having found an easy victory over those defires which we produce in ourselves, and which terminate in fome imaginary ftate of happiness unknown and unattainable, proceeded to make further inroads upon the heart, and attacked at last our fenfes and our instincts. They continue to war upon nature with arms, by which only folly could be conquered; they therefore loft the trophies of their former combats, and were confidered no longer with reverence or regard. Yet it cannot be with justice denied, that these men have been very useful monitors, and have left many proofs of ftrong reafon, deep penetration, and accurate attention to the affairs of life, which it is now our business to separate from the form of a boiling imagination, and to apply judiciously to our own ufe. They have fhewn that most of the conditions of life, which raise the envy of the timorous, and rouse the ambition of the daring, are empty fhows of felicity, which, when they become familiar, lose their power of delighting; and that the most profperous and exalted have very few advantages over a tinction of benevolence? Exchange of endearments and intercourse of civility may continue, indeed, as boughs may for a while be verdant, when the root is wounded; but the poifon of difcord is infufed, and though the countenance may preserve its smile, the heart is hardening and contracting. That man will not be long agreeable, whom we fee only in times of seriousness and severity; and therefore to maintain the softness and ferenity of benevolence, it is neceffary that friends partake each other's pleasures as well as cares, and be led to the fame diversions by fimilitude of taste. This is, however, not to be confidered as equally indifpenfable with conformity of principles, because any man may honeftly, according to the precepts of Horace, refign the gratifications of tafte to the humour of another, and friendship may well deferve the facrifice of pleafure, though not of conscience. It was once confeffed to me, by a painter, that no profeffor of his art ever loved another. This declaration is fo far juftified by the knowledge of life, as to damp the hopes of warm and conftant friendfhip, between men whom their ftudies have made competitors, and whom every favourer and every cenfurer are hourly inciting against each other. The utmost expectation that experience can warrant, is, that they should forbear open hoftilities and fecret machinations, and when the whole fraternity is attacked, be able to unite against a common foe. Some however, though few, may perhaps be found, in whom emulation has not been able to overpower generofity, who are distinguished from lower beings by nobler |