AMUSEMENTS. 279 



and managing a fleet of wooden boats, of 

 which he is sole admiral. How near this mad 

 youth is to a genius, a hero, or to an angler, 

 who injures his health and risks his life by 

 going into the water as high as his middle, 

 in the hope of catching a fish which he sees 

 rise, though* he already has a pannier full. 



HAL. Or a statesman, working by all 

 means, fair and foul, to obtain a blue riband. 

 Or a fox-hunter, risking his neck to see the 

 hounds destroy an animal, which he preserves 

 to be destroyed, and which is good for no- 

 thing. Or an aged, licentious voluptuary, 

 using all the powers of a high and cultivated 

 intellect to destroy the innocence of a beauti- 

 ful virgin for a transient gratification to 

 render her miserable, and by making a flaw 

 in an inestimable and brilliant gem, utterly to 

 destroy its value. 



PHYS. You might go on and cite almost 

 all the objects of pursuit of rational beings, 

 as, by distinction, they are called. But to 

 return to your favourite amusement. I won- 

 der, that, with such a passion for angling, 

 you have never made an expedition in one of 

 T 4 



