SECT. IV. 



Of Old Age and Death, 



VERY objed: in Nature muft change and 

 decay. The bodies of men no fooner 

 arrive at full maturity, than they inilantly be- 

 gin to decline. The wafte is at firfl: infenfible ; 

 jfevcral years frequently revolve before we per- 

 ceive any confiderable alteration. But we ought 

 to feel the weight of our years, better than their 

 number can be elUmated by ftrangers ; and, as 

 thofe are feldom deceived who judge of our age 

 by external characters, we would be flill more 

 fenfible of it from what pafles within us, if we 

 were more attentive to our feelings, and de- 

 ceived not ourfeives by vanity and fallacious 

 hopes. 



When the body has acquired its ful^ length, 

 it increafes in thicknefs : The commencement 

 of this augmentation is the fn-il ftep toward^ 

 decay ; for this extenfion is not a continua- 

 tion of growth, which would communicate 

 force and adtivity, but merely an addition of 

 fuperfluous matter, that blows up the body, and 

 loads it with a ufelefs weight. This matter, 



which 



