HIS HAPPINESS. 1 1 1 



the generation you spring from has passed away, and 

 you stand in the front rank. 



' There is little need, my dear John, that I should 

 address you in the language of consolation. You know 

 that she whom you loved "is not dead, but sleepeth." 

 Nor is yours one of those doubtful cases when he 

 who attempts to console is fain to rest in vague general- 

 ities ; fain to take it for granted without question that 

 the deceased has been living well, and therefore has died 

 safe. I have known Mrs Swanson for the last twelve 

 years. I have seen her character with all its peculiarities 

 in a hundred different aspects. And at what conclusion 

 have I arrived regarding her? Simply this, That I 

 never knew a woman more thoroughly conscientious. We 

 might deem her at times over wise and prudent, but who 

 ever saw her prudence chill her kindness, or her wisdom 

 set up in opposition to that of God, as displayed in the 

 gospel? Nay, but it is by much too little to say so. 

 Was she not a humble, devoted Christian ? 



' I am happy, happier than I was ever in my life be- 

 fore, and my companion is happy too. Love marriages 

 are after all the most prudent of any. Had I taken Lydia's 

 advice, I would have written you long ere now ; but be- 

 lieve me, and do not accuse me of selfishness when I say 

 so, I was by much too happy to write. Great enjoyment 

 naturally induces an inaptitude for thought and exertion. 

 I am convinced that, had not Adam fallen and become 

 miserable, the alphabet would have been yet to invent/ 



So that Miller held the doctrine which, according to 

 Goethe, Shakespeare proclaims ' with a thousand tongues ' 

 in Antony and Cleopatra, 'that enjoyment and action 

 (Genuss und That) are irreconcilable/ 



On the 12th of September of the same year we find 

 him writing to Mr Robert Chambers, offering one or two 



