VII.] MELANCHOLY HOURS. 355 



present scene, and to v;hom the grave is the boundary 

 of anticipatfon. But this is not the only paradox which 

 humanity furnishes to the eye of a thinking man. It is 

 very generally the case, that we spend our whole lives in 

 the pursuit of objects, which common experience informs 

 as are not capable of conferring that pleasure and satis- 

 faction which we expect from their enjoyment. Our 

 views are uniformly directed to one point — happiness, 

 in whatever garb it be clad, and under whatever figure 

 shadowed, is the great aim of the busy multitudes whom 

 we behold toiling through the vale of life in such an in- 

 finite diversity of occupation and disparity of views. 

 But the misfortune is, that we seek for happiness where 

 she is not to be found, and the cause of wonder, that the 

 experience of ages should not have guarded us against so 

 fatal and so universal an error. 



It would be an amusing speculation to consider the 

 various points after which our fellow mortals are inces- 

 santly straining, and in the possession of which they have 

 placed that imaginary chief good, which we are all 

 doomed to covet, but which, perhaps, none of us, in this 

 sublunary state, can attain. At present, however, we 

 are led to considerations of a more important nature. 

 We turn from the inconsistencies observable in the pro- 

 secution of our subordinate pursuits, from the partial 

 follies of individuals, to the general delusion which 

 seems to develop the whole human race — the delusion 

 under whose influence they lose sight of the chief end of 

 their being — and cut down the sphere of their hopes and 

 enjoyments to a few rolling years, and that too in a scene 

 Avhere they know there is neither perfect fruition nor 

 permanent delight. 



The faculty of contemplating mankind in the abstract, 

 apart from those prepossessions which, both by nature 

 and the power of habitual associations, would intervene 

 to cloud our view, is only to be obtained by a life of 

 virtue and constant meditation, by temperance, and 

 purity of thought. "Whenever it is attained, it must 

 greatly tend to correct our motives, to simplify our de- 

 sires, and to excite a spirit of contentment and pious 



