370 fancy and Imagination. 
rank, and pushes himself into the circles of those who 
possess that elegance of manners and liberality of mind to 
which he can never attain; who, when he has reached this 
pinnacle of his ambition, although words of contempt and 
disdain reach his ear from every side, still persists in the 
belief that he is honoured and respected ? 
What a great felicity it must be for some of our financiers 
of the present day to pursue the crooked paths to riches and 
reputation as honest men, that they can positively fancy 
themselves going on the straight and honourable road! 
When they see their names heading charity subscription lists 
in the daily papers, or quoted as chairman of this railway, or 
director of that company, they really believe themselves 
respectable members of society. What a boon it must be 
to them that when they are exposed and their spurious 
accounts made public, to believe themselves to be men of 
the utmost purity of intention and integrity of action. Such 
a flight however, cannot be taken at once; there must be 
something preparatory to it, and therefore, their fancy first 
persuades them, that notwithstanding their many virtues 
and unimpeachable honesty, they have had the misfortune 
to be persecuted by a host of fastidious shareholders and 
uncharitable accountants, and so have lost their chance of 
convincing their fellowmen of their disinterested and 
honourable motives of proceeding. 
There is another body of men formed out of all ranks of 
life, whose imaginations continually suggest to them that 
they shall live for ever, that disease and death are things 
that belong to their neighbours, and that such casualties 
happen merely to produce paragraphs and funerals, wills 
and obituaries. The fancy of some of these immortals does 
not grow duller as they advance in years, which is said to 
be the case with even the most ingenious of our poets, but 
on the contrary, becomes more lively than ever. They blow 
a spark or two out from the dying embers and the fire of 
their imagination really makes them believe that they are 
perpetuating the original blaze. The imagination of this 
class is so prolific, that they consider the debilitating in- 
firmitiesof age form an admirable junction with the vigorous 
frolics of youth; that feebleness is irresistible, and that the 
language of the eyes is never so expressive as when they 
ogle in a palsied head. Certainly, there is nothing so ex- 
travagant in the most ludicrous conceit of our poets as the 
amorous pursuit of a dropsical Lothario. 
In conclusion, we should like to show the extent of 
