roach nearer to us, or
acquire the advantages of favourable lights and positions, which
catch the heart or imagination; our general resolutions are frequently
confounded, a small enjoyment preferred, and lasting shame and sorrow
entailed upon us. And however poets may employ their wit and eloquence,
in celebrating present pleasure, and rejecting all distant views to
fame, health, or fortune; it is obvious, that this practice is the
source of all dissoluteness and disorder, repentance and misery. A man
of a strong and determined temper adheres tenaciously to his general
resolutions, and is neither seduced by the allurements of pleasure, nor
terrified by the menaces of pain; but keeps still in view those distant
pursuits, by which he, at once, ensures his happiness and his honour.

Self-satisfaction, at least in some degree, is an advantage, which
equally attends the fool and the wise man: But it is the only one; nor
is there any other circumstance in the conduct of life, where they are
upon an equal footing. Business, books, conversation; for all of these,
a fool is totally incapacitated, and except condemned by his station
to the coarsest drudgery, remains a useless burthen upon the earth.
Accordingly, it is found, that men are extremely jealous of their
character in this particular; and many instances are seen of profligacy
and treachery, the most avowed and unreserved; none of bearing patiently
the imputation of ignorance and stupidity. Dicaearchus, the Macedonian
general, who, as Polybius tells us [Footnote: Lib. xvi. Cap. 35.],
openly erected one altar to impiety, another to injustice, in order to
bid defiance to mankind; even he, I am well assured, would have started
at the epithet of FOOL, and have meditated revenge for so injurious an
appellation. Except the affection of parents, the strongest and most
indissoluble bond in nature, no connexion has strength sufficient to
support the disgust arising from this character. Love itself, which
can subsist under treachery, ingratitude, malice, and infidelity, is
immediately extinguished by it, when perceived and acknowledged; nor
are deformity and old age more fatal to the dominion of that passion.
So dreadful are the ideas of an utter incapacity for any purpose or
undertaking, and of continued error and misconduct in life!

When it is asked, whether a quick or a slow apprehension be most
valuable? Whether one, that, at first view, penetrates far into a
subject, but can