of Solomon; for it is said in xxv. i,
"These are also proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah, king of
Judah, copied out." It was two hundred and fifty years from the time of
Solomon to the time of Hezekiah. When a man is famous and his name is
abroad he is made the putative father of things he never said or did;
and this, most probably, has been the case with Solomon. It appears to
have been the fashion of that day to make proverbs, as it is now to
make jest-books, and father them upon those who never saw them. [A "Tom
Paine's Jest Book" had appeared in London with little or nothing of
Paine in it.--Editor.]

The book of Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher, is also ascribed to Solomon,
and that with much reason, if not with truth. It is written as the
solitary reflections of a worn-out debauchee, such as Solomon was, who
looking back on scenes he can no longer enjoy, cries out All is Vanity!
A great deal of the metaphor and of the sentiment is obscure, most
probably by translation; but enough is left to show they were strongly
pointed in the original. [Those that look out of the window shall
be darkened, is an obscure figure in translation for loss of
sight.--Author.] From what is transmitted to us of the character of
Solomon, he was witty, ostentatious, dissolute, and at last melancholy.
He lived fast, and died, tired of the world, at the age of fifty-eight
years.

Seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines, are worse than
none; and, however it may carry with it the appearance of heightened
enjoyment, it defeats all the felicity of affection, by leaving it no
point to fix upon; divided love is never happy. This was the case
with Solomon; and if he could not, with all his pretensions to wisdom,
discover it beforehand, he merited, unpitied, the mortification he
afterwards endured. In this point of view, his preaching is unnecessary,
because, to know the consequences, it is only necessary to know the
cause. Seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines would have
stood in place of the whole book. It was needless after this to say that
all was vanity and vexation of spirit; for it is impossible to derive
happiness from the company of those whom we deprive of happiness.

To be happy in old age it is necessary that we accustom ourselves to
objects that can accompany the mind all the way through life, and that
we take the rest as good in their day. The mere man of pleasure is
miserable in old age; and the mere