LETTERS. 247 



phlets, of which desultory readers are so fond, only tend 

 to enervate the mind, and incapacitate it for every species 

 of manly exertion. 



* * ^ * 



I continue to be better in health, although the weather 

 is a great obstacle to my taking a proper proportion of 

 exercise. I have had a trip to Hull of late, and saw the 



famous painter R there, with whom I had a good 



deal of talk. He is a pious man and a great astronomer ; 

 but in manners and ajtpearance a complete artist. I 

 rather think he is inclined to Hutch insonian principles, 

 and entertains no great reverence for Sir Isaac Newton. 



* * * * 



TO MR B. MADDOCK. 



"Winteringham, 1st March 1805. 

 My Dear Ben, 



I hope and trust that you have at length arrived at 

 that happy temperament of disposition, that, although 

 you have much cause of sadness within, you are yet 

 willing to be amused with the variegated scenes around 

 you, and to join, when occasions present themselves, in 

 innocent mirth. Thus, in tlie course of your peregrina- 

 tions, occurrences must continually arise, which, to a 

 mind willing to make the best of everything, will afford 

 amusement of the chastest kind. Men and manners are 

 a never-failing source of wonder and surprise, as they 

 present themselves in their various phases. We may 

 very innocently laugh at the brogue of a Somerset pea- 

 sant — and I should think that person both cynical and 

 surly, who could pass by a group of laughing children, 

 without participating in their delight, and joining in 

 their laugh. It is a truth most undeniable, and most 

 melancholy, that there is too mueli in human life whicb 

 extorts tears and groans, rather than smiles. This, how- 

 ever, is equally certain, that our giving way to unre- 



