on for a long time in a very eloquent
strain, upon the disadvantages of intolerance; which, I would have it,
was a policy as familiar to Protestantism now as it had been to Popery
in the dark ages; quite forgetting that it is not the vice of a peculiar
sect, but of a ruling party.

St. John, who thought or affected to think very differently from me
on these subjects, shook his head gently, but, with his usual good
breeding, deemed it rather too sore a subject for discussion.

"I will tell you a discovery I have made," said I.

"And what is it?"

"Listen: that man is wisest who is happiest,--granted. What does
happiness consist in? Power, wealth, popularity, and, above all,
content! Well, then, no man ever obtains so much power, so much money,
so much popularity, and, above all, such thorough self-content as a
fool; a fool, therefore (this is no paradox), is the wisest of men.
Fools govern the world in purple: the wise laugh at them; but they laugh
in rags. Fools thrive at court; fools thrive in state chambers; fools
thrive in boudoirs; fools thrive in rich men's legacies. Who is so
beloved as a fool? Every man seeks him, laughs at him, and hugs him. Who
is so secure in his own opinion, so high in complacency, as a fool? _sua
virtute involvit_. Hark ye, St. John, let us turn fools: they are the
only potentates, the only philosophers of earth. Oh, motley, 'motley's
your only wear!'"

"Ha! ha!" laughed St. John; and, rising, he insisted upon carrying me
with him to the rehearsal of a new play, in order, as he said, to dispel
my spleen, and prepare me for ripe decision upon the plans to be adopted
for bettering my fortune.

But, in good truth, nothing calculated to advance so comfortable
and praiseworthy an end seemed to present itself. My religion was an
effectual bar to any hope of rising in the state. Europe now began to
wear an aspect that promised universal peace, and the sword which I had
so poetically apostrophized was not likely to be drawn upon any more
glorious engagement than a brawl with the Mohawks, any incautious noses
appertaining to which fraternity I was fully resolved to slit whenever
they came conveniently in my way. To add to the unpromising state of my
worldly circumstances, my uncle's death had removed the only legitimate
barrier to the acknowledgment of my marriage with Isora, and it became
due to her to proclaim and publish that event. Now, if there be any time
in the world when a man's frien