long sight, and see the road a long way before

you.

That exquisite dialogue," De Senectute seems to have made you wish to be, at once, as old as Cato, that you may enjoy his pleasures, and exhibit his skill in the best of all arts, the art of living.

:

Do not wait, however; but, as you run along, snatch at every fruit and every flower growing within your reach for, after all that can be said, youth, the age of hope and admiration, and manhood, the age of business and of influence, are to be preferred to the period of extinguished passions and languid curiosity. At that season our hopes and . wishes must have been too long dropping, leaf by leaf, away. The last scenes of the fifth act are seldom the most interesting either in a tragedy or a comedy. Yet many compensations arise as our sensibility decays.

"Time steals away the rose 'tis true,

"But then the thorn is blunted too"

Though I like much better than these humiliating thoughts the spirit of Montaigne's sturdy deter

mination, "Les ans peuvent m'entrainer, mais " réculons"

On this subject I have lately read a letter written by a distinguished clergyman, from which I send you an extract.

Certainly, if a man loses his leg, he need not "fear corns. As to the abstract question of boyish "or manly happiness, I own I think differently of it "according to the temper I am in, or (after the "French philosophers) according to the state of my "digestion.

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"I have no recollection in my boyish days of

quiet happiness, but of many fears, perturbations, "&c., and a continual longing for the dignity and "the independence of the manly state. Now that I

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am a man and verging towards an old one, I find

my vessel suffers but little from the short gusts "and ripplings of the passions; but is borne along "under a tattered sail by the steady trade-wind "of solicitude. When I was a boy, my pleasures "and cares were selfish; now I care and think more "for others than for myself. Here I exult in some

"little advantage from the comparison; and yet, "after all, the prospect is the chief subject of

comparison. That of a boy is full of change and "novelty. That of an elderly man admits of little "variety and no novelty, but the great one of all— a new existence ! The conclusion of this long

sermon is, that a thoughtful boy may be happy

"without religion, but a thoughtful man cannot

I can add nothing to this worth your reading, so farewell! and may you live long enough to feel that the writer has not over-rated the delights of an old man in looking forward to a better world!

TO THE SAME.

November 8, 1819.

You are desirous, I see, that I should not fancy my letters are tiresome, and I, therefore, once more assure you that our correspondence cannot be irksome to me, so long as I can hope that it may be serviceable

to you.

G

Of one thing pray be certain, that every person should retain the indisputable right of following or disregarding advice; inasmuch as a man himself must be far better acquainted than another can be, with his own inmost wishes and real capabilities.

It is at once an odious and a ridiculous kind of tyranny to take it ill of a friend that he judges for himself in the last resort. "Ah! if he had but

"followed my advice" "I told him what must "happen" and all such betrayings of wounded vanity, are proofs that good sense and good will have both been wanting.

Indeed, if a selfish and conceited man's object is to gain a character for sagacity, he should be glad when his counsel has been disregarded. Human life is so liable to unforeseen troubles that, whatsoever course may be pursued, we shall often regret the lot that we have chosen. As a bachelor I can be no judge of a known saying, "If you marry, or if you do not marry, "you will repent" But this will serve as a specimen of the general language. Herein, however, we must avoid the opposite and prevailing evil practice

of asking advice for the sake only of stealing a sanction, or a help to our own predeterminations. I was sincerely pleased by the frankness of a young lady, who, being urged to consult me respecting an offer of marriage, replied, "Why should I wait? My "mind is made up, and I will not use an old friend 66 so ill as to trouble him for advice which I shall not "be guided by "

It would not be easy to mention any habit more pernicious than that of listening or reading with a secret resolve to reject, or to evade every opinion that does not suit our own inclinations. Immediate

obedience should follow the decisions of the understanding, and the stimulus of benevolent emotions. One of the most serious objections to pathetic works of fiction is, that they tend to create a habit of feeling pity or indignation, without actually relieving distress, or resisting oppression.

Oh! it is very easy to cherish, like Sterne, the sensibilities that lead to no sacrifices and to no inconvenience. Most of those that are so vain of their fine feelings are persons loving themselves