NUMB. 17. TUESDAY, May 15, 1750.

Me non oracula certum,

Sed mors certa facit.

Let those weak minds, who live in doubt and fear,

To juggling priefts for oracles repair;

One certain hour of death to each decreed,

LUCAN.

My fixt, my certain foxl, from doubt has freed. ROWE.

IT is recorded of fome eastern monarch, that he kept an officer in his houfe, whofe employment it was to remind him of his mortality, by calling out every morning, at a stated hour, Remember, prince, that thou fhalt die. And the contemplation of the frailness and uncertainty of our present ftate appeared of fo much. importance to Solon of Athens, that he left this precept to future ages; Keep thine eye fixed upon the end of life.

A frequent and attentive profpect of that moment, which must put a period to all our fchemes, and deprive us of all our acquifitions, is indeed of the utmost efficacy to the juft and rational regulation of our lives; nor would ever any thing wicked, or often any thing abfurd, be undertaken or profecuted by him who fhould begin every day with a ferious reflection that he is born to die.

The disturbers of our happinefs, in this world, are our defires, our griefs, and our fears, and to all thefe,

the

the confideration of mortality is a certain and adequate remedy. Think, fays Epictetus, frequently on poverty, banishment, and death, and thou wilt then never indulge violent defires, or give up thy heart to mean fentiments, εδὲν ἐδεποτε ταπεινὸν ἐνθύμηση, ἔτε ἄλαν ἐπιθυμήσεις τινός.

That the maxim of Epictetus is founded on juft obfervation will eafily be granted, when we reflect, how that vehemence of eagerness after the common objects of pursuit is kindled in our minds. We reprefent to ourfelves the pleafures of fome future poffeffion, and fuffer our thoughts to dwell attentively upon it, till it has wholly engroffed the imagination, and permits us not to conceive any happiness but its attainment, or anymifery but its lofs; every other fatisfaction which the bounty of Providence has fcattered over life is neglected as inconfiderable, in comparifon of the great object which we have placed before us, and is thrown from us as incumbering our activity, or trampled under foot as standing in our way.

Every man has experienced how much of this ar-. dour has been remitted, when a fharp or tedious ficknefs has fet death before his eyes. The extenfive

influence of greatnefs, the glitter of wealth, the praifes of admirers, and the attendance of fupplicants, have appeared vain and empty things, when the laft hour feemed to be approaching; and the fame appearance they would always have, if the fame thought was always predominant. We fhould then find the abfurdity of ftretching out our arms incefiantly to grafp that which we cannot keep, and wearing out our lives in endeavours to add new turrets to the fabrick of ambi

tion,

tion, when the foundation itself is fhaking, and the ground on which it ftands is mouldering away.

All envy is proportionate to defire; we are uneafy at the attainments of another, according as we think our own happiness would be advanced by the addition of that which he withholds from us; and therefore whatever depreffes immoderate wishes, will, at the fame time, fet the heart free from the corrofion of envy, and exempt us from that vice which is, above most others, tormenting to ourselves, hateful to the world, and productive of mean artifices, and fordid projects. He that confiders how foon he muft clofe his life, will find nothing of fo much importance as to clofe it well; and will, therefore, look with indifference upon whatever is uselefs to that purpose. Whoever reflects frequently upon the uncertainty of his own duration, will find out, that the state of others is not more permanent, and that what can confer nothing on himself very defirable, cannot fo much improve the condition of a rival, as to make him much fuperior to thofe from whom he has carried the prize, a prize too mean to deferve a very obftinate oppofition.

Even grief, that paffion to which the virtuous and tender mind is particularly fubject, will be obviated or alleviated by the fame thoughts. It will be obviated, if all the bleffings of our condition are enjoyed with a conftant fenfe of this uncertain tenure. If we remember, that whatever we poffefs is to be in our hands but a very little time, and that the little which our most lively hopes can promife us, may be made lefs, by ten thoufand accidents; we fhall not much repine at a lofs, of which we cannot eftimate

the.

the value, but of which, though we are not able to tell the leaft amount, we know, with fufficient certainty, the greateft, and are convinced that the greatest is not much to be regretted.

But, if any paffion has fo much ufurped our understanding, as not to fuffer us to enjoy advantages with the moderation prefcribed by reafon, it is not too late to apply this remedy, when we find ourselves finking under forrow, and inclined to pine for that which is irrecoverably vanished. We may then usefully revolve the uncertainty of our condition, and the folly of lamenting that from which, if it had ftayed a little longer, we fhould ourselves have been taken away.

With regard to the fharpeft and moft melting fortow, that which arifes from the lofs of those whom we have loved with tenderness, it may be obferved, that friendship between mortals can be contracted on no other terms, than that one muft fome time mourn for the other's death: And this grief will always yield to the furvivor one confolation proportionate to his affliction; for the pain, whatever it be, that he himself feels, his friend has escaped.

Nor is fear, the most overbearing and refiftlefs of all our paffions, lefs to be temperated by this univerfal medicine of the mind. The frequent contemplation of death, as it fhows the vanity of all human good, difcovers likewife the lightnefs of all terreftrial evil, which certainly can laft no longer than the fubject upon which it acts; and according to the old obfervation, must be shorter, as it is more violent. The most cruel calamity which misfortune can produce, muft, by the neceffity of nature, be quickly at an end. The foul VOL. IV.

I

cannot

cannot long be held in prifon, but will fly away, and leave a lifeless body to human malice.

· Ridetque fui ludibria trunci.

And foaring mocks the broken frame below.

The utmoft that we can threaten to one another is that death, which, indeed, we may precipitate, but cannot retard, and from which, therefore, it cannot become a wife man to buy a reprieve at the expence of virtue, fince he knows not how fmall a portion of time he can purchase, but knows, that whether short or long, it will be made lefs valuable by the remembrance of the price at which it has been obtained. He is fure that he deftroys his happiness, but is not sure that he lengthens his life.

The known fhortness of life, as it ought to moderate our paffions, may likewife, with equal propriety, contract our defigns. There is not time for the moft forcible genius, and most active induftry, to extend its effects beyond a certain fphere. To project the conqueft of the world, is the madness of mighty princes; to hope for excellence in every fcience, has been the folly of literary heroes; and both have found at laft, that they have panted for a height of eminence denied to humanity, and have loft many opportunities of making themfelves ufeful and happy, by a vain ambition of obtaining a fpecies of honour, which the eternal laws of Providence have placed beyond the reach of man.

The miscarriages of the great defigns of princes are recorded in the hiftories of the world, but are of little ufe to the bulk of mankind, who feem very little inte

refted