Numb. 54. SATURDAY, September 22, 1750.
To the RAMBLER.
SIR,
T HAVE lately been called, from a mingled life
of business and amusement, to attend the last
hours of an old friend ; an office which has filled me,
if not with melancholy, at least with serious reflections,
and turned my thoughts towards the contemplation of
those subjects, which, though of the utmost importance,
and of indubitable certainty, are generally secluded
from our regard, by the jollity of health, the hurry of
employment, and even by the calmer diversions of
study and speculation; or if they become accidental
topicks of conversation and argument, yet rarely fink
deep into the heart, but give occasion only to some
fubtilties of reasoning, or elegancies of declamation,
which are heard, applauded, and forgotten.
· It is, indeed, not hard to conceive how a man
accuftomed to extend his views through a long con-
catenation of causes and effects, to trace things from
VOL. II.