I can after my Decease, and have accordingly ordered my Bones to be disposed of in this Manner for the Good of my Countrymen who are troubled with too exorbitant a Degree of Fire. All Foxhunters, upon wearing me, would in a fhort Time be brought to endure their Beds in a Morning, and perhaps even quit them with Regret at Ten. Instead of hurrying away to teaze a poor Animal, and run away from their own Thoughts, a Chair or a Chariot would be thought the most desirable Means of performing a Remove from one Place to another. I fhould be a Cure for the unnatural Defire of John Trott for dancing, and a Specific to leffen the Inclination Mrs. Fridget has to Motion, and cause her always to give her Approbation to the present Place she is in. In fine, no Egyptian Mummy was ever half fo useful in Phyfic as I fhould be to those feverish Conftitutions, to repress the violent Sallies of Youth, and give each Action its proper Weight and Repose. I can stifle any violent Inclination, and oppose a Torrent of Anger, or the Sollicitations of Revenge, with Succefs. But Indolence is a Stream which flows flowly on, but yet undermines the Foundation of every Virtue. A Vice of a more lively Nature were a more defirable Tyrant than this Ruft of the Mind, which gives a Tincture of its Nature to every Action of one's Life. It were as little Hazard to be toft in a Storm, as to lie thus perpetually becalmed; and it is to no Purpose to have within one the Seeds of a thousand good Qualities, if we want the Vigour and Refolution neceffary for the exerting them. Death brings all Perfons back to an Equality; and this Image of it, this Slumber of the Mind, leaves no Difference between the greatest Genius and the meanest Understanding. A Faculty of doing Things remarkably praise-worthy thus concealed, is of no more Use to the Owner, than a Heap of Gold to the Man who dares not use it. To-morrow is ftill the fatal Time when all is to be rectified: To-morrow comes, it goes, and ftill I please myself with the Shadow whilft I lofe the Reality; unmindful that the prefent Time alone is ours, the future is yet unborn, and the past is dead, and can only live (as Parents in their Children) in the Actions it has produced. The The Time we live ought not to be computed by the Number of Years, but by the Ufe which has been made of it; thus it is not the Extent of Ground, but the yearly Rent which gives the Value to the Eftate. Wretched and thoughtless Creatures, in the only Place where Covetoufnefs were a Virtue we turn Prodigals! Nothing lies upon our Hands with such Uneafiness, nor has there been fo many Devices for any one Thing, as to make it flide away imperceptibly, and to no Purpose. A Shilling fhall be hoarded up with Care, whilft that which is above the Price of an Estate, is flung away with Disregard and Contempt. There is nothing now-a-days fo much avoided as a follicitous Improvement of every Part of Time: It is a Report must be fhunned as one tenders the Name of a Wit and a fine Genius, and as one fears the dreadful Character of a laborious Plodder: But, notwithstanding this, the greatest Wits any Age has produced thought far otherwife; for who can think either Socrates or Demofthenes loft any Reputation by their continual Pains both in overcoming the Defects and improving the Gifts of Nature. All are acquainted with the Labour and Affiduity with which Tully acquired his Eloquence. Seneca, in his Letters to Lucellius, affures him there was not a Day in which he did not either write something, or read and epitomize some good Author; and I remember Pliny in one of his Letters, where he gives an Account of the various Methods he used to fill up every Vacancy of Time, after several Employments which he enumerates, "Sometimes, fays he, I hunt; but even then I carry with me a Pocket-Book, that, whilft my Servants are bufied in difpofing of the Nets and other Matters, I may be employed in fomething that may be useful to me in my Studies; and that, if I miss of my Game, I may at the leaft bring home fome of my own Thoughts with me, and not have the Mortification of having caught nothing all Day." Thus, Sir, you see how many Examples I recall to Mind, and what Arguments I use with myself to regain my Liberty; but as I am afraid it is no ordinary Perfuafion that will be of Service, I fhall expect your Thoughts on this Subject with the greatest Impatience, especially fince the Good will not be confined to me alone, but will be of universal Use: For there are no Hopes of Amend ment ment where Men are pleased with their Ruin, and whilst they think Laziness is a desirable Character; whether it be that they like the State itself, or that they think it gives them a new Luftre when they do exert themselves, feemingly to be able to do that without Labour and Application, which others attain to but with the greatest Diligence. CODG 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 3000 0000 3000 00000009 00000000 ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄a ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄0000000 0000 3000 On SPENDING TIME. W [From the Guardian.] E all of us complain of the Shortness of Time, faith Seneca, and yet have much more than we know what to do with. Our Lives, fays he, are spent either in doing Nothing at all, or in doing Nothing to the Purpose, or in doing Nothing that we ought to do: We are always complaining our Days are few, and acting as though there would be no End of them. That noble Philofopher has described our Inconfiftency with ourselves in this Particular, by all thofe various Turns of Expreffion and Thought which are peculiar to his Writings. I often confider Mankind as wholly inconfiftent with itself in a Point that bears fome Affinity to the former. Though we feem grieved at the Shortnefs of Life, in general, we are wishing every Period of it at an End. The Minor longs to be at Age, then to be a Man of Business, then to make up an Estate, then to arrive at Honours, then to retire. Thus altho' the whole of Life is allowed by every one to be short, the several Divifions of it appear long and tedious. We are for lengthening our Span in general, but would fain contract the Parts of which it is compofed. The Ufurer would be very well fatisfied to have all the Time annihilated that lies between the prefent Moment and next Quarter-Day. The Politician would be contented to lofe three Years in his Life, could he place Things in the Pofture which he fancies they will stand in after fuch a Revolution of Time. The Lover would be glad to strike out of his Existence all the Moments that are to pafs away before the happy Meeting. Thus, as fast as our Time runs, we should be very glad, in moft Parts of our Lives, that it ran much faster than it does. Several Hours of the Day hang upon our Hands; nay, we wish away whole Years, and travel through Time as K through through a Country filled with many wild and empty Wastes, which we would fain hurry over, that we may arrive at thofe feveral little Settlements or imaginary Points of Reft which are difperfed up and down in it. If we divide the Life of moft Men into twenty Parts, we fhall find that at least nineteen of them are mere Gaps and Chafms, which are neither filled with Pleasure nor Bufinefs. I do not, however, include in this Calculation the Life of those Men who are in a perpetual Hurry of Affairs, but of those only who are not always engaged in Scenes of Action; and I hope I fhall not do an unacceptable Piece of Service to thofe Perfons, if I point out to them certain Methods for the filling up their empty Spaces of Life. The Methods I fhall propose to them are as follow: The firft is the Exercise of Virtue, in the moft general Acceptation of the Word. That particular Scheme, which comprehends the focial Virtues, may give Employment to the most induftrious Temper, and find a Man Business more than the most active Station of Life. To advise the Ignorant, relieve the Needy, comfort the Afflicted, are Duties that fall in our Way almost every Day of our Lives. A Man has frequent Opportunities of mitigating the Fiercenefs of a Party; of doing Juftice to the Character of a deferving Man; of foftening the Envious, quieting the Angry, and rectifying the Prejudiced; which are all of them Employments fuited to a reasonable Nature, and bring great Satisfaction to the Person who can bufy himself in them with Discretion. There is another Kind of Virtue that may find Employment for those retired Hours in which we are altogether left to ourselves, and deftitute of Company and Converfation; I mean that Intercouse and Communication which every reasonable Creature ought to maintain with the great Author of his Being. The Man who lives under an habitual Senfe of the Divine Presence keeps up a perpetual Chearfulness of Temper, and enjoys every Moment the Satisfaction of thinking himself in Company with his dearest and best of Friends. The Time never lies heavy upon him; it is impoffible for him to be alone. His Thoughts and Paffions are the moft bufied at fuch Hours when thofe of other Men are the most unactive. He no fooner steps out of the World, but his Heart burns with Devotion, fwells with Hope, aud triumphs in the Consciousness of that Prefence which every where furrounds him; or, on the contrary, pours out its Fears, its Sorrows, its Apprehenfions to the great Supporter of its Existence. I have here only confidered the Neceffity of a Man's being virtuous, that he may have Something to do; but if we confider further, that the Exercise of Virtue is not only an Amusement for the Time it lafts, but that its Influence extends to thofe Parts of our Existence which lie beyond the Grave, and that our whole Eternity is to take its Colour from thofe Hours which we here employ in Virtue or in Vice, the Argument redoubles upon us, for putting in Practice this Method of paffing away our Time. When a Man has but a little Stock to improve, and has Opportunities of turning it all to good Account, what fhall we think of him if he fuffers nineteen Parts of it to lie dead, and perhaps employs even the twentieth to his Ruin or Difadvantage? But because the Mind cannot be always in its Fervors, nor ftrained up to a Pitch of Virtue, it is neceffary to find out proper Employments for it in its Relaxations. The next Method, therefore, that I would propofe to fill up our Time, should be useful and innocent Diverfions. I must confefs I think it is below reasonable Creatures to be altogether converfant in fuch Diverfions as are merely innocent, and have nothing else to recommend them, but that there is no Hurt in them. Whether any Kind of Gaming has even thus much to fay for itself I fhall not determine; but I think it is very wonderful to fee Perfons of the best Senfe paffing away a dozen Hours together in fhuffling and dividing a Pack of Cards, with no other Converfation but what is made up of a few game Phrafes, and no other Ideas but those of black or red Spots ranged together in different Figures. Would not a Man laugh to hear any one of this Species complaining that Life is fhort? The Stage might be made a perpetual Source of the most noble and ufeful Entertainments, were it under proper Regulations. But the Mind never unbends itself fo agreeably as in the Converfation of a well-chofen Friend: There is indeed no Bleffing of Life that is any Way comparable to the Enjoyment of a difcreet and vir K 2 tuous |