OPINIONS OF VIRGIL AND PLINY 151 



As a country life has been recommended in all ages (not less for the 

 contentment of the mind than the health of the body), it is no wonder 

 that hunting should be considered by so many as a necessary part of it, 

 since nothing conduces more to both. A great genius has told us, that it is 



Better to hunt in fields for health unbought, 

 Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught. 



With regard to its peaceful state, according to a modern poet, 



No fierce unruly senate threatens here, 

 No axe or scaffold to the view appear, 

 No envy, disappointment, and despair. 



And, for the contentment which is supposed to accompany a country 

 life, we have not only the best authority of our own time to support it 

 but even that of the best poets of the Augustan age. Virgil surely felt 

 what he wrote, when" he said, ' fortunatos nimium, sua si bona, norint, 

 agricolas ! ' x and Horace's famous ode, ' Beatus ille qui procul negotiis,' * 

 seems not less to come from the heart of a man who is generally allowed 

 to have had a perfect knowledge of mankind ; and this, even at the time 

 when he was the favourite of the greatest emperor, and in the midst of 

 all the magnificence of the greatest city, in the world. 



The elegant Pliny also, in his Epistle to Minutius Fundanus, which 

 is admirably translated by the Earl of Orrery, whilst he arraigns the life 

 that he leads at Rome, speaks with a kind of rapture of a country life : 

 ' Welcome,' says he, ' thou life of integrity and virtue ! Welcome, sweet 

 and innocent amusement ! Thou art almost preferable to business and 

 employment of every kind ! ' And it was here, we are told, that the great 

 Bacon experienced his truest felicity. With regard to the otium cum 

 dignitate, so much recommended, no one, I believe, understands the true 

 meaning of it better, or practises it more successfully, than you do. 



A rural life, I think, is better suited to this kingdom than to any other ; 

 because the country in England affords pleasures and amusements un- 

 known in other countries ; and because its rival, our English town (or 

 ton) life, perhaps is a less pleasant one than may be found elsewhere. If 

 this, upon a nice investigation of the matter, should appear to be strictly 

 true, the conclusion that would necessarily result from it might prove 

 more than I mean it should ; therefore we will drop the subject. Should 

 you, however, differ from me in opinion of your town-life, and disapprove 

 what I have said concerning it, you may excuse me, if you please, as you 

 would a lawyer who does the best he can for the party for whom he is 

 retained. I think you will also excuse any expressions that I may have 

 used, which may not be current here ; if you find, as I verily believe you 



*' ' Lucky farmers ! if only they knew when they are well off ! ' 

 * 2 ' Happy he who far from toilsome cares. ..." 



