NUMB. 6. SATURDAY, April 7, 1750. Strenua nos exercet inertia, navibus atque Quadrigis petimus bene vivere: quod petis, bic eft; Active in indolence, abroad we roam In queft of happiness, which dwells at home : T Нов. ELPHINSTON. HAT man fhould never fuffer his happiness to depend upon external circumftances, is one of the chief precepts of the Stoical philofophy; a precept, indeed, which that lofty fect has extended beyond the condition of human life, and in which fome of them feem to have comprised an utter exclufion of all corporal pain and pleasure, from the regard or attention of a wife man. Such fapientia infaniens, as Horace calls the doctrine of another fect, fuch extravagance of philofophy, can want neither authority nor argument for its confutation; it is overthrown by the experience of every hour, and the powers of nature rife up against it. But we may very properly enquire, how near to this exalted ftate it is in our power to approach, how far we can exempt ourselves from outward influences, and fecure to our minds a ftate of tranquillity: For, though the boast of abfolute independence is ridiculous and vain, yet a mean flexibility to every impulfe, and a patient fubmiffion to the tyranny of cafual troubles, is below the dignity of that mind, which, however depraved or weakened, boafts its derivation from a celeftial original, and hopes for an union with infinite goodnefs, and unvariable felicity. Ni vitiis fejora fovens Profr um deferat ortum. Unless the foul, to vice a thrall, The The neceffity of erecting ourselves to fome degree of intellectual dignity, and of preferving refources of pleasure, which may not be wholly at the mercy of accident, is never more apparent than when we turn our eyes upon those whom fortune has let loose to their own conduct; who not being chained down by their condition to a regular and ftated allotment of their hours, are obliged to find themselves bufinefs or diverfion, and having nothing within that can entertain or employ them, are compelled to try all the arts of deftroying time. The numberlefs expedients practifed by this clafs of mortals to alleviate the burden of life, is not less fhameful, nor, perhaps, much less pitiable, than those to which a trader on the edge of bankruptcy is reduced. I have feen melancholy overfpread a whole family at the difappointment of a party for cards; and when, after the propofal of a thousand fchemes, and the difpatch of the footmen upon a hundred meffages, they have fubmitted, with gloomy refignation, to the misfortune of paffing one evening in converfation with each other, on a fudden, fuch are the revolutions of the world, an unexpected vifiter has brought them relief, acceptable as provifion to a ftarving city, and enabled them to hold out till the next day. The general remedy of thofe, who are uneafy without knowing the caufe, is change of place; they are willing to imagine that their pain is the confe quence of fome local inconvenience, and endeavour to fly from it, as children from their fhadows; always hoping for more fatisfactory delight from every new scene, and always returning home with difappointment and complaints. Who can look upon this kind of infatuation, without reflecting on thofe that fuffer under the dreadful fymptom of canine madnefs, termed by phyficians the dread of water? Thefe miferable wretches, C 3 wretches, unable to drink, though burning with thirft, are fometimes known to try various contortions, or inclinations of the body, flattering themselves that they can fwallow in one pofture that liquor, which they find in another to repel their lips. Yet fuch folly is not peculiar to the thoughtless or ignorant, but fometimes feizes thofe minds which feem moft exempted from it, by the variety of attainments, quickness of penetration, or severity of judgment; and, indeed, the pride of wit and knowledge is often mortified by finding, that they confer no fecurity against the common errors, which miflead the weakest and meaneft of mankind. These reflexions arofe in my mind upon the remembrance of a paffage in Cowley's preface to his poems, where, however exalted by genius, and enlarged by study, he informs us of a fcheme of happinefs to which the imagination of a girl, upon the lofs of her firft lover, could have fcarcely given way; but which he seems to have indulged till he had totally forgotten its abfurdity, and would probably have put in execution, had he been hindered only by his reason. My defire,' fays he, has been for fome years paft, though the execution has been accidentally diverted, and does ftill vehemently continue, to retire myself to fome of our American plantations, not to feek for gold, or enrich myself with the traffick of thofe parts, which is the end of moft « men that travel thither; but to forfake this world for ever, with all the vanities and vexations of it, and to bury myself there in fome obfcure retreat, but not without the confolation of letters and •philofophy.' Such was the chimerical provifion which Cowley had made, in his own mind, for the quiet of his remaining life, and which he seems to recommend to pofterity, pofterity, fince there is no other reafon for difclofing it. Surely no stronger inftance can be given of a perfuafion that content was the inhabitant of particular regions, and that a man might fet fail with a fair wind, and leave behind him all his cares, incumbrances, and calamities. If he travelled fo far with no other purpofe than to bury himself in fome obfcure retreat, he might have found, in his own country, innumerable coverts fufficiently dark to have concealed the genius of Cowley; for, whatever might be his opinion of the importunity with which he fhould be fummoned back into publick life, a fhort experience would have convinced him, that privation is eafier than acquifition, and that it would require little continuance to free himself from the intrufion of the world. There is pride enough in the human heart to prevent much defire of acquaintance with a man by whom we are fure to be neglected, however his reputation for science or virtue may excite our curiofity or esteem; fo that the lover of retirement needs not be afraid left the respect of ftrangers fhould overwhelm him with vifits. Even thofe to whom he has formerly been known will very patiently fupport his abfence, when they have tried a little to live without him, and found new diverfions for thofe moments which his company contributed to exhilarate. It was, perhaps, ordained by providence, to hinder us from tyrannifing over one another, that no individual fhould be of fuch importance, as to caufe, by his retirement or death, any chafm in the world. And Cowley had converfed to little purpofe with mankind, if he had never remarked, how foon the useful friend, the gay companion, and the favoured lover, when once they are removed from before the fight, give way to the fucceffion of new objects. С'4 The The privacy, therefore, of his hermitage might have been fafe enough from violation, though he had chofen it within the limits of his native island; he might have found here preservatives against the vanities and vexations of the world, not lefs efficacious than those which the woods or fields of America could afford him: but having once his mind imbittered with difguft, he conceived it impoffible to be far enough from the cause of his uneafinefs; and was pofting away with the expedition of a coward, who, for want of venturing to look behind him, thinks the enemy perpetually at his heels. When he was interrupted by company, or fatigued with business, he fo ftrongly imaged to himfelf the happiness of leifure and retreat, that he determined to enjoy them for the future without interruption, and to exclude for ever all that could deprive him of his darling fatisfaction. He forgot, in the vehemence of defire, that folitude and quiet owe their pleafures to thofe miferies, which he was fo ftudious to obviate; for fuch are the viciffitudes of the world, through all its parts, that day and night, labour and reft, hurry and retirement, endear each other; fuch are the changes that keep the mind in action; we defire, we pursue, we obtain, we are fatiated; we defire fomething elfe, and begin a new pursuit. If he had proceeded in his project, and fixed his habitation in the moft delightful part of the new world, it may be doubted, whether his distance from the vanities of life would have enabled him to keep away the vexations. It is common for a man, who feels pain, to fancy that he could bear it better in any other part. Cowley having known the troubles and perplexities of a particular condition, readily perfuaded himself that nothing worse was to be found, and that every alteration would bring fome improvement; he never fufpected that the |