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Th' eternal snows appear already past,

And the first clouds and mountains seem the last ·
But those attain'd, we tremble to survey

The growing labours of the lengthen'd way;
Th' increasing prospect tires our wand'ring eyes,
Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise!

РОРЕ.

The man of Knowledge can never pine in solitude, for he has always a rich provision in his own ideas; if he has no one with whom to hold converse, he can find pleasure in conversing with himself. That man can never be totally miserable, who carries his company and amusement along with him wherever he goes. Mental recreations are a pleasing relief from the toils of life, and the hurry of business. In the advanced periods of human existence, when the pas sions are satiated and blunted, when our friends and partners have retired from this busy scene, and left us as it were in a world of strangers, then philosophy, literature, and religion, can alone afford us pleasure and consolation. Happy is he that has laid in a good stock of these intellectual goods in the time of youth and health; they will afford him the most substantial comfort in the evening of life, when all other sources of satisfaction are dried up. Such a one possesses pleasures, which not all the wealth in the world can bestow, nor the most abject poverty entirely exclude; he rises superior to all the vanities of time, being crowned with the riches of eternity. But will not the habitual doubt and caution, ascribed to Knowledge in the preceding paper, break the connection between wisdom and religion? I answer, No; for, whatever doubts a wise man may have in speculation, in practice he will have none. He is always certain that "virtue alone is happiness," and, that "he that walketh uprightly, walketh surely." At the worst, he will possess that just and rational assent to the great truths of natural and revealed religion, founded on their strong probability, which is at all times of much more value, than the ill-grounded confidence, or fanciful assurance, of ignorance and superstition.

CHAP. XXVIII.

LITERATURE.

Of all the pleasures, noble and refin'd,
Which form the taste, and cultivate the mind;
In ev'ry realm where science darts its beams,
From Zembla's ice, to Afric's golden streams;
From climes where Phoebus pours his orient ray,
To the fair regions of declining day,→

The "feast of reason," which from reading springs,
To reas'ning man the highest solace brings:
"Tis books a lasting pleasure can supply,

Charm while we live, and teach us how to die.

THE influence of Literature on the character and circumstances of nations, and on the general happiness of mankind, is extensive and powerful beyond all calculation. It may, indeed, be considered as one of the most important agents in the civilization of the human species: a higher degree of intellectual improvement is the cause of that political superiority which Europe possesses over the other quarters of the globe.

Books are a never-failing source of ever-varying amusement. They give information to the philosopher and the peasant. They afford pleasure and recreation to the grave and the gay, and are the companions of the hours of melancholy as well as those of mirth. Whatever the temper of the mind, whatever the state of the feelings, books may be found suitable to every taste and inclination.

The countenance of wisdom is not naturally harsh, crabbed, and repulsive; if it be wrinkled, it is not with care and ill-temper, but with the lines of deep thought. Her ways are ways of pleasantness," and

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Th' eternal snows appear already past,

And the first clouds and mountains seem the last
But those attain'd, we tremble to survey
The growing labours of the lengthen'd way;
Th' increasing prospect tires our wand'ring eyes,
Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise!

POPE.

The man of Knowledge can never pine in solitude, for he has always a rich provision in his own ideas; if he has no one with whom to hold converse, he can find pleasure in conversing with himself. That man can never be totally miserable, who carries his company and amusement along with him wherever he goes. Mental recreations are a pleasing relief from the toils of life, and the hurry of business. In the advanced periods of human existence, when the passions are satiated and blunted, when our friends and partners have retired from this busy scene, and left us as it were in a world of strangers, then philosophy, literature, and religion, can alone afford us pleasure and consolation. Happy is he that has laid in a good stock of these intellectual goods in the time of youth and health; they will afford him the most substantial comfort in the evening of life, when all other sources of satisfaction are dried up. Such a one possesses pleasures, which not all the wealth in the world can bestow, nor the most abject poverty entirely exclude; he rises superior to all the vanities of time, being crowned with the riches of eternity. But will not the habitual doubt and caution, ascribed to Knowledge in the preceding paper, break the connection between wisdom and religion? I answer, No; for, whatever doubts a wise man may have in speculation, in practice he will have none. He is always certain that "virtue alone is happiness," and, that "he that walketh uprightly, walketh surely." At the worst, he will possess that just and rational assent to the great truths of natural and revealed religion, founded on their strong probability, which is at all times of much more value, than the ill-grounded confidence, or fanciful assurance, of ignorance and superstition.

CHAP. XXVIII.

LITERATURE.

Of all the pleasures, noble and refin'd,
Which form the taste, and cultivate the mind;
In ev'ry realm where science darts its beams,
From Zembla's ice, to Afric's golden streams;
From climes where Phoebus pours his orient ray,
To the fair regions of declining day,→

The "feast of reason," which from reading springs,
To reas'ning man the highest solace brings:
"Tis books a lasting pleasure can supply,
Charm while we live, and teach us how to die.

THE influence of Literature on the character and circumstances of nations, and on the general happiness of mankind, is extensive and powerful beyond all calculation. It may, indeed, be considered as one of the most important agents in the civilization of the human species a higher degree of intellectual improvement is the cause of that political superiority which Europe possesses over the other quarters of the globe.

Books are a never-failing source of ever-varying amusement. They give information to the philosopher and the peasant. They afford pleasure and recreation to the grave and the gay, and are the companions of the hours of melancholy as well as those of mirth. Whatever the temper of the mind, whatever the state of the feelings, books may be found suitable to every taste and inclination.

The countenance of wisdom is not naturally harsh, crabbed, and repulsive; if it be wrinkled, it is not with care and ill-temper, but with the lines of deep thought. "Her ways are ways of pleasantness," and

her smile is as genial and refreshing as that of young beauty, equally inviting us to be joyous and glad. She teaches us

To live

The easiest way; nor, with perplexing thoughts,

To interrupt the sweets of life, from which
God hath bid dwell far off all anxious cares,

And not molest us; unless we ourselves

Seek them with wandering thoughts and notions vain.

In the world of Literature, there is food adapted for all palates, be they ever so various-solid and substantial fare, for those of healthy and wholesome digestions; light and nutritive, for the weak or idle; and stimulative, for the languid: so that a man need never be at a loss for literary matter suitable to his inclination or constitution; and he may vary it as often as he pleases, according to the mood in which he finds himself, with the happy consciousness, that let him consume as much as he will, he can never exhaust the common stock :

Age cannot wither it, nor custom stale
Its infinite variety.

Dr. Aikin observes," At the head of all the pleasures that offer themselves to the man of liberal education, may confidently be placed that derived from books. In variety, durability, and facility of attainment, no other can stand in competition with it; and even in intensity, it is inferior to few." On the pleasures of Literature, the following observations, extracted from a respectable periodical publication, are worthy of attention:

"When we hear of the wisdom of Socrates or Xenophon, or of the wit and accomplishments of Horace or Cicero ; when we reflect on the knowledge and elegance of Addison, or the erudition and vigorous powers of Johnson,-we feel a sentiment of regret, that we are no longer able to enjoy the company, or profit by the conversation, of these illustrious sages. Happy indeed were those who could avail themselves of opportunities now irrecoverably lost; whose imaginations were delighted, and whose hearts were improved, by the fellowship and society of these lights of mankind. But though,

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