404 IIENPvY KTKKE WHITE S EESfAIXS. 



you were to be miserable till the whole mass of sand 

 were thus annihilated, at the rate of one sand a thousand 

 years ; which of these two cases would you make your 

 choice ?" 



It must be confessed that in this case so many * * 



* * * * 



The life of man is transient and unstable ; its fairest 

 passages are but a lighter shade of evil, and yet those 

 passages form but a disproportionate part of the picture. 

 We all seek happiness, though with different degrees of 

 avidity, while the fickle object of our pursuits continually 

 evades the grasp of those who are the most eager in the 

 chase ; and, perhaps, at last throws herself into the armg 

 of those who had entirely lost sight of her, and who, when 

 they are most blessed with her enjoyment, are least con- 

 scious that they possess her. AVere the objects in which 

 we placed the consummation of our wishes always vir- 

 tuous, and the means employed to arrive at the bourn of 

 our desires uniformly good, there can be little doubt that 

 the aggregate of mankind would be as happy as is con- 

 sistent with the state in which they live; but, un- 

 fortunately, vicious men pursue vicious ends hj vicious 

 means, and by so doing not only ensure their own misery, 

 but they overturn and destroy the fair designs of the 

 wiser and the better of their kind. Thus he who has no 

 idea of a bliss beyond the gratification of his brutal 

 appetites, involves in the crime of seduction the peace 

 and the repose of a good and happy family, and an indi- 

 vidual act of evil extends itself by a continued impulse 

 over a large portion of society. It is thus that men of 

 bad minds become the pests of the societies of which 

 they happen to be members. It is thus that the virtuous 

 among men pay the bitter penalty of the crimes and 

 follies of their unworthy fellows. 



IVIen who have passed their whole lives in the lap of 

 lu'xury and enjoyment, have no idea of misery beyond 

 that of which they happen to be the individual objects. 

 * * * * 



