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ESSAY XIV.

ON TRIFLERS.

"What with the busy lives of the very idle, and the idle lives of the very busy, it would seem almost difficult to determine which is best,' ne rien faire,' or, 'ne faire que des riens.''

ALMACKS

It is an unjust aspersion which has affixed to the female sex the epithet of Triflers; but it seems to haye been bestowed without malice, and scarcely even intended as a reproach. It is the admitted privilege of women to trifle: candour must allow that they do not always avail themselves of it; but when they are triflers, it excites neither surprise nor censure, because they labour under such numerous disqualifications for becoming any thing else. Their education, or rather their want of any thing that deserves the name, their early habits, and the light species of employment which custom, and even nature, have imposed on them, must be admitted as excuses for all their trifling.

To this indulgent spirit of toleration we will leave the privileged sex, and, for the present, confine our consideration to that most ludicrous, yet most tiresome monster, a male trifler.

"What is man?" He is defined by Plato “a two legged animal, without feathers;" but however quaint and ingenious this definition may be, and however sufficient for describing the particular class we are about to consider, yet surely the lords of the creation deserve a more serious, diffuse, and dignified portrait. Man is the noblest of nature's works; to him the great Dispenser of light and life hath given dominion over the earth, to subdue it; yet man has neither the bulk of the elephant, the strength of the lion, nor the swiftness of the horse, he even wants the natural covering which nature has so providently bestowed on every other animal. There is no other creature born so utterly helpless, or who continues so long in a state of absolute dependence; none so difficult of preservation, yet none so destitute of natural weapons of defence. How then is this naked, powerless animal ennobled? what shall maintain dominion in his weak hand? and how shall his puny race subdue the earth? Is his dignity a jest, his supremacy a mockery? Or how

are nature's omissions towards him atoned for? By that divine, intellectual spark which pervades and animates his being, by that reasoning faculty which makes the various powers of the animal creation subservient to his use, and brings all the riches of the earth as a tribute to his feet. To the brutes every green herb is given for food, with the caves and forests for shelter and repose. Here their necessities and their desires end. But nurture for the body, and rest for the limbs, do not comprise all the wants of man. It is when these are satisfied that the gigantic cravings and endless gratifications of intellect begin. The mind of man expatiates through the whole creation; reason is not confined to the supply of his bodily wants, its penetrating eye surveys remote ages and visits other worlds. Every atom, from the starry firmament down to the dust we tread upon, presents a field for mental enjoyment, and ministers to the inexhaustible pleasures of a being fraught with the innate consciousness of immortality, endowed with powers to enjoy and to improve every moment of his existence, and permitted to look for a final resting place with his Maker. It is not possible to say how such a being may best and most profitably employ and

pass through this stage of his existence; what pursuits he may find most congenial to his individual nature, what objects most worthy his attainment; because the propensities of men are as various as the means of their indulgence are endless. Different degrees of intellect are allotted to each; some minds are formed to creep; others to soar; some to toil through the abstruse mazes of science; others to shape the excursive flight of genius; and the majority to ply the more mechanical, and not less necessary arts of life. But some rational pursuit, some worthy and steady end and aim, in his existence, every man ought to have; and the greater the scope afforded for difference of tastes and of abilities, the smaller is the excuse for those who allow themselves, whilst they have limbs, nerves, or faculties, bodily strength or mental capacity, to sink into folly or listnessness, and become, by habit, mere triflers. But it has been observed that, "since trifles form the sum of human things," all the importance we attach to any pursuit is purely imaginary: that the loiterer, who, with vacant eye, traces his initials on the sands of the sea-shore, to be obliterated by the next wave, is not more trivially employed than he who labours with his pencil to adorn the picture

gallery with feeble imitations of nature; that the utmost reach of science is but as the path of a mole, that slowly gropes its way in darkness; and the brightest human genius as the faint and short scintillations of the glow-worm. True: in comparison with eternity, our temporal pursuits are altogether vanity. True, that our highest efforts are trifles in the sight of Omniscience; and our greatest success, comparative failure. But, if such reasoning were pursued, what, we may inquire, is our globe? a mere speck even in the visible creation. What the system to which it belongs? Perhaps the least of myriads, contained in infinite space. Immensity, in our eyes immeasurable, almost incalculable; but to Him, who made it, as a grain of sand. Yet, do we not know that, except by His will, not a sparrow shall fall to the ground? Frequent considerations of man's insignificance are highly beneficial; they teach us to look eagerly for a higher state of being; to despise all sublunary things, when compared with the hope of immortality; and to make it the first object of this short life to prepare for one more enduring.

But when applied to the ordinary pursuits and needful avocations of life, such arguments are absurd, and even immoral, and they tend to encou

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