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Aumerous gifts, to turn from the many enjoyments to which, as a man, she invites thee. See, the sun shines upon thee: round the whole horizon, nature, smiling, displays her munificence. With health, youth, and strength, what else is wanting to complete happiness, but a guiltless conscience, and a mind unseduced by the pageantry of wealth:-if you possess these, why should you repine?-Ah, unless you are a mere slave to an unworthy affection unless your childish heart rejects every other delight, because one single object is removed from your grasp, pleasure and happiness are your own, from the moment you will have it.

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ON HEALTH.

Idem

EALTH, invaluable treasure!-thou givest fresh lustre to the beams of the sun, and fresh radiance to the skies of heaven!--Thou bestowest a more balmy odour on the breath of morning, and deepenest the richness of that tincture which flushes over the rose!-Ah! Health! thou prime source of pleasure, and vivifying soul of every felicity beneath the moon! for thee and thy inspiring influence, I would travel, were I assured of meeting thy rewarding smiles, into the heart of the most uncheery and unpeopled climate. With what a fervent alacrity doth the sick man leave even his velvet couch, and downy pillows, to court those breezes and those vales, however distant and obscure, which thou deignest to frequent. No desert can long deserve that name, or long remain barren, which is honoured by thy radiating presence. Wherever thou journeyest, plenty and pleasure are thy harbingers-the thorn is softened to a flower, and

from the barren rock issues, at thy bidding, the most copious streams of running water. In thy train are all the graces, and the gayest assemblage of those enchanting ideas, which those graces inspire. Imagination, fancy, poesy, and every power belonging to her divine and ingenious sisters, are thine. They describe, sing, design, paint, and regulate their separate arts, each allied to the other, only under thy immediate auspices.

With the blessings of health come spontaneously the blessing of correcter remark. The eye acquires a clearer light of its object-the intellect is cleansed of those cloudy films which before entangled it-and the ways of men, their manners, and their hearts are more easily read, and more easily wrought upon.

THE

THE VOLUPTUARY.

Blair.

NHE corrupted temper, and the guilty passions of the bad, frustrate the effect of every advantage which the world confers on them.-The world may call them men of pleasure; but of all men they are the greatest foes to pleasure: from their eagerness to grasp, they strangle and destroy it-riotous indulgence enervates both the body and the mind: so that in the midst of his studied refinement the voluptuary languishes.

Wherever guilt mingles with prosperity, a certain gloom and heaviness enter along with it. Vicious intrigues never fail to entangle and embarrass those who engage in them;-besides, the selfish gratifications of the bad are both narrow in their circle, and short in their duration.

I'

ON HUMAN PURSUITS.

Anonymous.

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T is a certain truth that no situation in life can. secure mankind from misfortunes. Neither elevated rank, great opulence, nor extraordinary abilities, have charms to exempt their possessors from disquietudes. But, of all others, persons of refined sentiments and great sensibility feel most strongly the evils of life, and the mortifications they are called to suffer. The desire of happiness is universal; all are engaged in the pursuit, though the experience of every age demonstrates that it is not to be perfectly attained, and that there are comparatively few who secure to themselves any considerable portion. If the question be asked, 'Why are the generality of mankind so much strangers to it.' I should answer, They seek and expect it where it is not, where it cannot be found.' Though many are the ways by which the heart is wounded, and innumerable the sources of calamity, yet the greatest share of trouble we expe-rience may be attributed to our own folly and imprudence. There is almost universally in the mind of man such a fickleness and thirst after novelty, that even the possession of every blessing, will neither satisfy its desires, nor yield a permanent happiness. What men ardently wish for, and pursue with avidity, they no sooner obtain, than they have an indifference for, and, not uncommonly, are disgusted with; every thing in their power is generally considered as of little value, whilst some phantom out of their reach strikes their imaginations, and becomes the object of their desires. They hold in small estimation present advantages, and lose all relish for present enjoyment, because something unpossessed is anxiously hoped for,

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without which they are strangers to peace. So true, in general, is the assertion,

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast;

Man never is but always to be blest."

It is a sentiment generally advanced by writers, that without hope men would be miserable; that it is the principle of every exertion of the mind; and gives vigour to the soul, by holding up to our view, as attainable, some good superior to what we ever experienced. Yet there are persons who know what contentment means, who are satisfied with their circumstances, favoured by fortune and blest in their social connections; whose chief hope is for a continuance of the comforts they are favoured with, and who know no distress or fear, but such as are liable to occur from human vicissitudes. That capriciousness of temper which leads men ever to aim at the possession of something new, is, I apprehend, of all others, the most unfriendly to the human race; the parent of a thousand unreasonable anxieties and disquietudes, both of private and social life. View the fond lover captivated by beauty, and the power of female attractions; you will perceive his eyes sparkle at the name of his mistress; his mind is filled with the ideas of her perfections, and his whole soul is ingrossed by his passion: he spares no pains to obtain her, for it is the height of his ambition: no difficulty is too great for him to surmount in attaining the enjoyment of her company for a single hour; even the sight of her habitation fills his mind with palpitations, her presence gladdens his heart, and her smile diffuses a glow of exquisite sensibility through his whole frame. He paints in his imagination numberless joys as his own, and promises to himself a long series of years of pleasure in her society. But observe him a few months after he has succeeded to his wishes, and how different is his behaviour! What is become of the fondness that was

once read in his eyes? Where are his raptures and extacies? Where is the assiduity he discovered to please, and the attention he once paid her? They are no more to be seen! He can now behold her without emotion, and quit her without regret. Her company, which he so much valued, no longer yields him pleasure; probably he considers his union to her as a bar to happiness, and a mortifying restraint on his liberty. Observation and experience evince the truth of this representation. Some exceptions must be allowed, for there are hearts formed for constancy, and capable of attachments which nothing can destroy. In travelling the journey of life, how desirable it is to have a beloved companion, to increase and participate our joys, and, by sharing, to lessen our griefs! Who would part from such a companion that considered the satisfaction received from an intercourse so generous! A desire of admiration, the charms of novelty, or the hope of conquest, too generally allure and urge us to play with our best passions, till the heart loses its finest feelings, and a substantial good is parted with for a mere shadow. In the days of youth, the multitude eagerly pursue pleasure as their chief good; their desires are unbounded; variety is their object; and to indulge their passions is the highest ideas they form of happiness. But they are sure of meeting with disappointment: their inclinations become vitiated and depraved; they are for ever in search of what they cannot obtain; and after having run through the glittering circle of dissipation, they still feel a vacancy of mind, and, disgusted with the world, become weary of life. Others, actuated early in life by ambition, sacrifice every gratification to acquire popularity and fame, or to rise to elevated stations in society To obtain their desires, they submit to a thousand mortifications, and pass their days and nights in forming plans to arrive at the summit of their wishes; but they succeed not in the attainment of happiness; Ambition knows no

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