42 MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 



as in a state of siege, acting on the defensive, occa- 

 sionally invading others, and causing them to experi- 

 ence the same sensation. We, in fact, revolve round 

 each other, besieging and besieged. 



Care. 



Happiness does not consist in an exemption from 

 care, labour, pain, business, suspense, molestation, 

 &c. &c., such a state not being attended with ease, 

 but with a depression of spirits, tastelessness, imagi- 

 nary anxieties, and a whole train of hypochondriacal 

 affections. 



Fashion and Ennui. 



The rage among the lower classes for gaming in 

 lotteries, is probably encouraged by their overrating 

 the difference between one permanent situation and 

 another. The poor man, whose whole faculties are 

 engaged to provide for the passing day, and whose 

 health is preserved by his labour, can neither see nor 

 feel any trouble, which the possession of riches could 

 not remove. 



The two great causes of unhappiness to those 

 raised above physical want, viz. ennui and the desire 

 of being fashionable, are unknown to the poor ; they 

 are liable, therefore, to overrate the difference be- 

 tween the wealthy and themselves. 



It is this intolerable vacuity of mind (ennui) which 

 drives the rich and the great to the race-course and 

 gaming table, and often engages them in contests and 

 pursuits, the success of which bears no proportion to 

 the solicitude and expense with which it is sought. 

 They appear to be rather in search of diversion than 

 diverted. 



Maxims. 



Make not your scheme of life too complicated, or 

 such as shall require several pieces of good fortune 

 to realize. 



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