ing behind those which at a Distance terminated our View.

The natural Consequences of such Reflections are these; that we should
take Care not to let our Hopes run out into too great a Length; that we
should sufficiently weigh the Objects of our Hope, whether they be such
as we may reasonably expect from them what we propose in their Fruition,
and whether they are such as we are pretty sure of attaining, in case
our Life extend itself so far. If we hope for things which are at too
great a Distance from, us, it is possible that we may be intercepted by
Death in our Progress towards them. If we hope for things of which we
have not thoroughly considered the value, our Disappointment will be
greater than our Pleasure in the Fruition of them. If we hope for what
we are not likely to possess, we act and think in vain, and make Life a
greater Dream and Shadow than it really is.

Many of the Miseries and Misfortunes of Life proceed from our Want of
Consideration, in one or all of these Particulars. They are the Rocks on
which the sanguine Tribe of Lovers daily split, and on which the
Bankrupt, the Politician, the Alchymist and Projector are cast away in
every Age. Men of warm Imaginations and towring Thoughts are apt to
overlook the Goods of Fortune [which are [1]] near them, for something
that glitters in the Sight at a distance; to neglect solid and
substantial Happiness, for what is showy and superficial; and to contemn
that Good which lies within their reach, for that which they are not
capable of attaining. Hope calculates its Schemes for a long and durable
Life; presses forward to imaginary Points of Bliss; and grasps at
Impossibilities; and consequently very often ensnares Men into Beggary,
Ruin and Dishonour.

What I have here said, may serve as a Moral to an _Arabian_ Fable, which
I find translated into _French_ by Monsieur _Galland_. [2]

The Fable has in it such a wild, but natural Simplicity, that I question
not but my Reader will be as much pleased with it as I have been, and
that he will consider himself, if he reflects on the several Amusements
of Hope which have sometimes passed in his Mind, as a near Relation to
the _Persian_ Glass-Man.

_Alnaschar_, says the Fable, was a very idle Fellow, that never would
set his Hand to any Business during his Father's Life. When his Father
died, he left him to the value of an hundred Drachmas in _Persian_
Mony. _Alnaschar_, in order to make the best of it, laid