AMUSEMENTS. 279 



and managing a fleet of wooden boats, of 

 which he is sole admiral. How near this mad 

 youth is to a genius, a hero, or to an angler, 

 who injures his health and risks his life by 

 2oin<r into the water as hifrh as his middle, 



DO O 



in the hope of catching a fish which he sees 

 rise, though he already has a pannier full. 



Hal. — Or a statesman, working by all 

 means, fair and foul, to obtain a blue riband. 

 Or a fox-hunter, risking his neck to see the 

 hounds destroy an jtnimal, which he preserves 

 to be destroyed, and which is good for no- 

 thing. Or an aged, licentious voluptuary, 

 using all the powers of a high and cultivated 

 intellect to destroy the innocence of a beauti- 

 ful virgin — for a transient gratification to 

 render her miserable, and by making a flaw 

 in an inestimable and brilliant gem, utterly to 

 destroy its value. 



Phys. — You might go on and cite almost 

 all the objects of pursuit of rational beings, 

 as, by distinction, they are called. But to 

 return to your favourite amusement. I won- 

 der, that, with such a passion for angling, 

 you have never made an expedition in one of 



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