existence. I had, however, great pleasure and satisfaction in
hearing them; for, it must, no doubt, be a high entertainment to
hear such men talk in that manner.

Another satisfaction, without the least mixture of alloy, I at the
same time enjoyed, was to think, that age and experience are
sufficient to make a man learned, who without them would know
nothing; nor is it surprizing they should, since length of days is
the foundation of true knowledge. Accordingly, it was by means of
it alone I discovered their conclusion to be false. Thus, you see,
my lord, how apt men are to deceive themselves in their judgement of
things, when such judgement is not built upon a solid foundation.
And, therefore, to undeceive them, and set them right, I made answer,
that their conclusion was false, as I should actually convince them
by proving, that the happiness I enjoyed was not confined to me, but
common to all mankind, and that every man might equally enjoy it;
since I was but a mere mortal, composed, like all others, of the
four elements; and endued, besides existence and life, with rational
and intellectual faculties, which are common to all men. For it has
pleased the Almighty to bestow on his favourite creature man these
extraordinary blessings and favours above other animals, which
enjoy only the sensible perceptions; in order such blessings and
favours my be the means of keeping him long in good health; so that
length of days is a universal favour granted by the Deity, and not
by nature and the stars.

But man being in his youthful days more of the sensual, than of the
rational animal, is apt to yield to sensual impressions; and, when
he afterwards arrives at the age of forty or fifty, he ought to
consider, that he has attained the noon of life, by the vigour of
his youth, and a good tone of stomach; natural blessings, which
favoured him in ascending the hill; but that he must now think of
going down, and approaching the grave, with a heavy weight of years
on his back; and that old age is the reverse of youth, as much as
order is the reverse of disorder. Hence it is requisite he should
alter his mode of life in regard to the articles of eating and
drinking, on which health and longevity depend. And as the first
part of his life was sensual and irregular, the second should be
the reverse; since nothing can subsist without order, especially the
life of man, irregularity being without all doubt prejudicial, and
regularity