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propose to do more or better than in time past. The mind is enlarged and elevated by mere purposes, though they end, as they began, by airy contemplation. We compare and judge, though we do not practise."

Mr. Boswell having mentioned Hume's notion, that all who are happy are equally happy, a little miss with a new gown at a dancing-school ball, a general at the head of a victorious army, and an orator after having made an eloquent speech in a great assembly, Johnson said, "Sir, that all who are happy are equally happy, is not true. A peasant and a philosopher may be equally satisfied, but not equally happy. Happiness consists in the multiplicity of agreeable consciousness. A peasant has not capacity for having equal happiness with a philosopher." This very question was once happily illustrated in opposition to Hume by the Reverend Mr. Robert Brown, at Utrecht. “A small drinking glass and a large one (said he) may be equally full; but the large one holds more than the small.”

On another occasion we find Johnson remarking, that "Every man is to take existence on the terms on which it is given to him. To some men it is given on condition of not taking liberties which other men may take without much harm. One may drink wine, and be nothing the worse

for it; on another, wine may have effects so inflammatory as to injure him both in body and mind."

A gentleman mentioned the advice given us by philosophers, to console ourselves, when distressed or embarrassed, by thinking of those who are in a worse situation than ourselves; but this, he observed, could not apply to all, for there must be some who have nobody worse than they "Why to be sure, Sir, there are (said Johnson); but they don't know it. There is no being so poor and so contemptible, who does not think there is somebody still poorer, and still more contemptible.

are.

"That man is never happy for the present, is so true, that all his relief from unhappiness is only forgetting himself for a little while. Life is a progress from want to want, not from enjoyment to enjoyment."

At another time he maintained, that a boy at school is the happiest of human beings. Mr. B. supported a different opinion, namely, that a man is happier, and enlarged upon the anxiety and sufferings which are endured at school."Ah! Sir (said Johnson), a boy's being flogged is not so severe as a man's having the hiss of the world against him. Men have a solicitude about fame, and the greater share they have of it, the more afraid are they of losing it.”

The modes of living in different countries, and the various views with which men travel in quest of new scenes, having been talked of, a learned gentleman who held a considerable office in the law expatiated on the happiness of a savage life, and mentioned an instance of an officer who had actually lived for some time in the wilds of America, of whom, when in that state, he quoted this reflection with an air of admiration, as if it had been deeply philosophical:- Here am I, free and unrestrained, amidst the rude magnificence of Nature, with this Indian woman by my side, and this gun, with which I can procure food when I want it: what more can be desired for human happiness?" "Do not allow yourself, Sir (said Johnson), to be imposed upon by such gross absurdity. It is sad stuff; it is brutish. If a bull could speak, he might as well exclaim, 'Here am I with this cow and this grass; what being can enjoy greater felicity?""

Johnson once said, "A madman loves to be with people whom he fears; not as a dog fears the lash; but of whom he stands in awe*." He added, "Madmen are all sensual in the lower

* On this Mr. B. remarks: "I was struck with the justice of this observation. To be with those of whom a person, whose mind is wavering and dejected, stands in awe, represses and com. poses an uneasy tumult of spirits, and consoles him with the contemplation of something steady, and at least comparatively great.”

stages of the distemper. They are eager for gratifications to sooth their minds, and divert their attention from the misery which they suffer; but when they grow very ill, pleasure is too weak for them, and they seek for pain. Employment, Sir, and hardships prevent melancholy. I suppose in all our army in America there was not one man who went mad."

It was a frequent observation with Johnson, that there was more to be endured than enjoyed, in the general condition of human life; and he often quoted these lines of Dryden:

"Strange cozenage! none would live past years again,
"Yet all hope pleasure from what still remain."

For his part, he said, he never passed that week in his life which he would wish to repeat, were an angel to make the proposal to him.

DEATH.

MR. BOSWELL tells us, that he once, in a conversation with Johnson, and other company, expressed a horror at the thoughts of death. Mrs. Knowles, the Quaker, who was of the party, said, "Nay, thou should'st not have a horror for

what is the gate of life."-Johnson (standing upon the hearth rolling about with a serious, solemn, and somewhat gloomy air) observed, that no rational man could die without uneasy appre hension. Mrs. KNOWLES. "The Scriptures tell us, ' The righteous shall have hope in his death."" -JOHNSON. "Yes, Madam; that is, he shall not have despair. But consider, his hope of salvation must be founded on the terms on which it is promised that the mediation of our SAVIOUR shall be applied to us, namely, obedience; and where obedience has failed, then, as suppletory to it, repentance. But what man can say that his obedience has been such as he would approve of in another, or even in himself upon close examination, or that his repentance has not been such as to require being repented of? No man can be sure that his obedience and repentance will obtain salvation."-MRS. K. "But divine intimation of acceptance may be made to the soul."-J. "Madam, it may; but I should not think the better of a man who should tell me on his death-bed he was sure of salvation. A man cannot be sure himself that he has divine intimation of acceptance; much less can he make others sure that he has it."-B. "Then, Sir, we must be contented to acknowledge that death is a terrible thing."-J. "Yes, Sir. I have made no approaches to a state which can look on it as not

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