THE SOURCE OF HAPPINESS. 305 



and be amused at the strangeness of the contrast of 

 these events with the humdrum routine of ordinary 

 existence. I have no doubt that I shall then wonder 

 if this is not all set down in a dream, so singular will 

 it appear ; and yet so quickly do the human body and 

 the human mind accommodate themselves to the 

 changing circumstances of life that, in every thing 

 w^e do, the events seem at the time always natural, 

 and cause us no astonishment ; still, when we review 

 the past, we are continually amazed that we have un- 

 dergone so many transformations, and can scarcely 

 recos^nize ourselves in our chamelion dresses. If it 

 should ever again be my luck to eat canvas-back at 

 Delmonico's I shall no doubt very heartily despise the 

 dried beef and potato hash which now constitute, with 

 bread and coffee, my only fare ; and yet no canvas- 

 back was ever enjoyed as much as this same hash ; 

 and no coffee distilled through French percolator was 

 ever so fine as the pint pot which is passed along to 

 me, smoking hot, in the morning ; and the best treas- 

 ures of Perigord forest were never relished more than 

 are the few little chips of ship's biscuit which the 

 coffee washes down. In fact, our pleasures are but 

 relative. They are never absolute ; and happiness is 

 quite probably, as Paley has wisely hinted, but a cer- 

 tain state of that " nervous network lining the whole 

 region of the praecordia ; " and, therefore, since this 

 cold pencil only gives me pain in the fingers, while 

 nothing disturbs the harmony of the praecordia, I do 

 not know but that I am about as well off as I ever 

 was in my life. True, I have not the means which I 

 expected to have for the execution of my designs, 

 and I am beset with difficulties and embarrassments ; 

 but if happiness lies in that quarter, pleasure lies in 



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