"But courts give nothing to the wife and good, "But fcorn of pomp, and love of Solitude. "High stations tumult, but not bliss, create; "None think the great unhappy but the great.. "Fools gaze and envy; envy darts a sting "Which makes a Swain as wretched as a King."

DIREFUL condition! Is there then no occupation whatsoever, no useful employment, no rational recreation, fufficiently high and dignified for fuch characters? Are they reduced to the melancholy condition of not being able to perform one good and virtuous action during the intervals of fufpended pleasure? Can they render no services to friendship, to their country, to themselves? Are there no poor and miserable beings, to whose bofoms they might afford charitable comfort and relief? Is it, in fhort, impoffible for fuch characters in any way to improve themselves in wisdom or in virtue?

THE powers of the human mind are of greater extent than is generally imagined. He who, either from tafte or neceffity, exercises them frequently, foon finds that the highest felicities of which our nature is capable refide entirely within ourselves. The wants of life are, for the greater part, merely artificial; and, although sensual objects contribute most efficaciously to our happiness and delight, it is

not

not because they are indifpenfably neceffary for this purpose, but because they have been rendered defirable by habit; and, from the pleasures they produce, we flatter ourselves that they are abfolutely neceffary to our felicity. If, however, we had fortitude to refift their charms, and courage to seek our happiness in ourselves, we should frequently find in our own bosoms a greater variety of resources than all the objects of fense are capable of affording.

AMUSEMENT, indeed, may fometimes be found in those places to which the sexes refort merely to fee and to be feen. The eye may be occafionally gratified by the fight of objects really agreeable; the ear may liften to observations truly flattering. Lively thoughts and fenfible remarks now and then prevail. Characters equally amiable and interesting occafionally mix among the group. We may form acquaintance with men of diftinguished merit, whom we should not otherwise have had an opportunity of knowing; and meet with women of amiable qualities, and irreproachable conduct, whose refined conversation ravishes the ear with a delight equal to that with which their exquifite beauty captivates the heart. But by what a number of painful sensations must the chance of receiving these pleasures be purchased! Those whom reason or disgust restrain from mixing in the idle diffipa

tions

tions of life, cannot fee without a figh, the gay conceit, the airy confidence, the blind arrogance, and the bold loquacity, with which these votaries of worldly pleafure proclaim a felicity which is almost invariably deceitful; nor observe without a figh, the extravagant joy of fo many great men, the abfurd airs of so many old dowagers, and the ridiculous fopperies of fo many grey-headed children.

"What numbers here through love of pleasure strive "To feem the most transported things alive! "As if by joy defert was understood,

"And all the rich and great were wife and good.
"Here aching bofoms wear a visage gay,

"And stifled groans frequent the ball or play.
"Completely dress'd in fin'ry and grimace,
"They fhew their birth-day suits and public face.
"Their smiles are only part of what they wear,
"Put off at night, like Lady Betty's hair.
"What bodily fatigue is half fo bad?
"How anxiously they labour to be glad !"

HONOUR, Fame, and Pleasure, are conceived to accompany an invitation to the board of Luxury; although Disease, with leaden fceptre, is known to prefide; and reproach and calumny are indifcriminately caft upon the pureft characters. But he who feels the leaft energy of mind, turns with averfion from all fociety which tends to weaken its effect; and finds the fimpleft fare, enjoyed with free

dom

dom and content amidst a happy and affectionate family, ten thousand times more agreeable than the rareft dainty, and the richeft wine, with a fociety where he muft fit ceremonioufly filent in compliment to some reputed wit, from whofe lips nothing but abfurdities and nonfenfe proceed.

THE fpiritlefs and crowded focieties of the world, where a round of low and trifling amusements fills the hour of entertainment, and where to difplay a pomp of dress and levity of manner is the only ambition, may afford fome pleasure to those light and empty minds who are impatient of the weight of idleness; but the wife man, who occafionally reforts to them in search of rational conversation or temporary amusement, and only finds a dull unvaried jargon, and a tiresome round of compliments, will turn with aversion from these temples of falfe delight, and exclaim, in the language of the poet,

"I envy none their pageantry and show; "I envy none the gilding of their woe.

Give me, indulgent Gods! with mind ferene, "And guiltless heart, to range the fylvan fcene. "No fplendid poverty, no fmiling care,

"No well-bred hate or fervile grandeur there : "There pleafing objects ufeful thoughts fuggeft; "The fenfe is ravifh'd, and the foul is bleft:

"On

"On every thorn delightful wisdom grows, "In every rill a fweet inftruction flows."

TRUE focial pleasure is founded on unlimited confidence, on an affectionate and reciprocal interchange of fentiments and opinions. A tender, faithful, refined, and rational friendship, renders the pleasures of the world spiritless and disgusting. How joyfully do we difencumber ourselves from the fhackles of fociety, for that close and sublime intercourse in which our inclinations are free, our feelings generous, our fentiments unbiassed; where a mutuality of thought and action, of pleasures and of pains, uninterruptedly prevail; where the gentle hand of Love conducts us along the paths of truth and virtue; where every thought is anticipated before it escapes from the lips; where advice, confolation, fuccour, are reciprocally given and received in all the accidents and in all the misfortunes of life! The foul, touched by the charm of friendship, springs from its apathy and dejection, and views the enlivening beam of hope awakening it to activity. The happy pair, casting a retrospective glance on the time paffed, mutually exclaim with the tendereft emotions, "Oh the "delights that we have already experienced! Oh "the joys that we have already felt!" If the tear of affliction fteal down the cheek of the one, the other