Class III. i. 2. 11. OF VOLITION. 



3*9 



moralifts, and divines, from the earlieft records of antiquity ; 

 « Vanity of vanities !" fays the preacher, " all is vanity !" Sol- 

 omon. " Man is the dream of a fhadow !" ?kix$ avx% av^wo',. 

 Pindar. O ! quantum eft in rebus inane ! Juvenal. Nor is 

 there any one, I fuppofe, who has parTed the meridian of life, 

 who has not at fome moments felt the nihility of all things. 



Wearinefs of life or ennui in its moderate degree has been ef- 

 teemed a motive to action by fome philofophers. See Seel. 

 XXXIV. 2. 3. But in thofe men, who have run through the 

 ufual amufements of life early in refpecl of their age •, and who 

 have not induftry or ability to cultivate thofe fciences, which af- 

 ford a perpetual fund of novelty, and of confequent entertain- 

 ment, are liable to become tired of life, as they fuppofe there is 

 nothing new to be found in it, that can afford them pleafure ; 

 like Alexander, who is faid to have fhed tears becaufe he had not 

 another world to conquer. 



Mr. , a gentleman, about fifty, of poliflied manners, 



who in a few months afterwards deftroyed himfelf, faid to me 

 one day, " A ride out in the morning, and a warm parlour and 

 a pack of cards in the afternoon, are all that life affords. " He 

 was perfuaded to have an iflue on the top of his head, as he com- 

 plained of a dull head-ach, which being unfkilfully managed, 

 deftroyed the pericranium to the fize of an inch in diameter ; 

 during the time this took in healing, he was indignant about it, 

 and endured life, but foon afterwards (hot himfelf. 



Mr. , a gentleman of Gray's Inn, fome years ago was pre- 

 vailed upon by his friends to difmifs a miftrefs, by whom he had 

 a child, but who was fo great a termagant and fcold, that (lie 

 was believed to ufe him very ill, and even to beat him. He be- 

 came melancholy in two days from the want of his ufual ftimu- 

 lus to action, and cut his throat on the third fo completely, that 

 he died immediately. 



Mr. Anfon, the brother to the late lord Anfon, related to me 



the following anecdote of the death of lord Sc- . His lord- 



fhip fent to fee Mr. Anfon on the Monday preceeding his 

 death, and faid, " You are the only friend I value in the world, 

 I determined therefore to acquaint you, that I am tired of the 

 infipidity of life, and intend to morrow to leave it." Mr. Anfon 

 faid, after much converfation, that he was obliged to leave town 

 till Friday, and added, "As you profefs a friendship for me, do 

 me this laft favour, I entreat you, live till I return." Lord 



Sc believed this to be a pious artifice to gain time, but nev- 



erthelefs agreed, if he fhould return by four o'clock on that day. 

 Mr. Anfon did not return till five, and perceived by the coun- 

 tenances of the domeftics, that tfie deed was done. He went 



into 



