6z tetter from Senex. March 14, 



diefsed to me by your correspondent C. J. vol. 6. p. 180 

 who has so kindly interested himself in my welfare, 

 I embrace the earliest opportunity of returning 

 thanlis for his benevolent inquiries. To complain of 

 the natural distrefses of senility v.'Odld indicate a 

 weaknefs that a wise man {hould be aiiiaaved to owji. 

 These are the unavoi-dable cr'nsequences of age, and 

 must be submitted to by ev^ry person wliose years 

 it fhall please heaven to prnVng beyond the usual lot 

 of humanity; bat the burden becomes the lefs op- 

 prefsive, from the certainty that it is not long that 

 these evils can endure. The human Irnme gndually 

 falls to pieces, and in a few years sufFers its heaC'en- 

 ly visitor to escape, in .-^p'te of the efforts of friends 

 or of foes to prolong its visit to this tru.isitory 

 scene. 



Yet, though this consideration afTords a kind of 

 melancholy comfort, nothing c? 1 altogctrcr remove 

 the uneasy sensations that are the necefsary cor.se- 

 quences of human sufferings ; nor is it pofsible for 

 any human being, advanced in lile, not to utter with 

 emphasis, at times, such exprefsions as these: "0 le 

 lei age de la jeunefse .'" " Rejoice O young man 

 in thy strength, for age is dark and unlovely ."* or 

 not most cordially to wilh that all those who have it 

 now in their power to enjoy this line season of youth, 

 might be induced to prolong the period of it as long 

 as pofsible, I much doubt if the desire of prolong- 

 ing life itself, which nature hath so providentially 

 imprefsed as an instinctive sensation on all the ani- 

 mal creation, can be more ardently wilhed for by 

 old men, in general, thvm that youths would avail 



