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man thought himself at liberty to indulge his own caprice and advance his own opinions. They then disturbed each other with contrariety of inclinations, and difference of fentiments; and Abouzaid was neceffitated to offend one party by concurrence, or both by indifference.

He afterwards determined to avoid a clofe union with beings fo difcordant in their nature, and to diffuse himself in a larger circle. He practised the smile of universal courtely, and invited all to his table, but admitted none to his retirements. Many who had been rejected in his choice of friendthip, now refused to accept his acquaintance, and of thofe whom plenty and magnificence drew to his table, every one preffed forward toward intimacy, thought himself overlooked in the crowd, and murmured because he was not diftinguished above the reft. By degrees, all made advances, and all refented repulfe. The table was then covered with delicacies in vain; the mufic founded in empty rooms; and Abouzaid was left to form, in folitude, fome new fcheme of pleasure or fecurity.

Refolving now to try the force of gratitude, he inquired for men of science, whofe merit was obfcured by poverty. His houfe was foon crowded with poets, fculptors, painters, and defigners, who wantoned in unexperienced plenty ; and employed their powers in celebrating their patron. But in a thort time they forgot the diftrefs from which they had been refcued; and began to confider their deliverer as a wretch of narrow capacity, who was growing great by works which he could not perform, and whom they overpaid by condefcending to accept his bounties. Abouzaid heard their murmurs, and dismiffed them; and from that hour continued blind to colours, and deaf to panegyric. As the fons of art departed, muttering threats of perpetual infamy, Abouzaid, who stood at the gate, called to him Hamet the poet. "Hamet," faid he, "thy ingratitude has put an end to my hopes and experiments. I have now learned the vanity of those labours that with to be reward. ed by human benevolence. I fhall henceforth do good, and avoid evil, without refpect to the opinion of men; and refolve to folicit only the approbation of that Being, whom alone we are fure to please by endeavouring to please him."

SECTION III.

The folly and mifery of idleness.

DR. JOHNSON.

The idle man lives not to himfelf, with any more advan. tage than he lives to the world. It is indeed on a supposi

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tion entirely oppofite, that persons of this character proceed. They imagine that, how deficient foever they may be in point of duty, they at least confult their own fatisfaction. They leave to others the drudgery of life; and betake themselves, as they think, to the quarter of enjoyment and eafe. Now, in contradiction to this, I affert, and hope to prove, that the idle man, first, fhuts the door against all improvement; next, that he opens it wide to every de ftructive folly; and, laftly, that he excludes himself from the true enjoyment of pleasure.

First, He fhuts the door againft improvement of every kind, whether of mind, body, or fortune. The law of our nature, the condition under which we were placed from our birth, is, that nothing good or great is to be acquired, without toil and induftry. A price is appointed by Provi dence to be paid for every thing; and the price of improvement is labour. Industry may, indeed, be sometimes disappointed. The race may not always be to the swift, nor the battle to the ftrong. But, at the fame time, it is certain that, in the ordinary courfe of things, without ftrength, the battle cannot be gained; without fwiftnefs, the race cannot be run with fuccefs. If we confult either the improvement of the mind, or the health of the body, it is well known that exercife is the great inftrument of promoting both. Sloth enfeebles equally the bodi ly, and the mental powers. As in the animal fyftem it engenders difeafe, fo on the faculties of the foul it brings a fatal ruit, which corrodes and wastes them; which, in a fhort time, reduces the brightest genius to the fame level with the meanest understanding. The great differences which take place among men are not owing to a diftinction that nature has made in their original powers, fo much as to the fuperior diligence with which fome have improved these powers beyond others. To no purpofe do we poffefs the feeds of many great abilities, if they are fuffered to lie dormant within us. It is not the latent poffeffion, but the active exertion of them, which gives them merit. Thousands, whom indolence has funk into contemptible obfcurity, might have come forward to the highest distinction, if idleness had hot fruftrated the effect of all their powers.

Inftead of going on to improvement, all things go to decline, with the idle man. His character falls into con tempt. His fortune is confumed. Disorder, confufion, and embarrassment, mark his whole fituation. Obferve in what lively colours the state of his affairs is described by

Solomon. "I went by the field of the flothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding. And lo! it was all grown over with thorns; nettles had covered the face thereof; and the ftone wall was broken down. Then I faw and confidered it well. I looked upon it, and received instruction." Is it in this manner, that a man lives to himself? Are these the advantages, which were expected to be found in the lap of eafe? The down may at first have appeared foft; but it will foon be found to cover thorns innumerable. This is, however, only a small part of the evils which perfons of this defcription bring on themselves; for,

In the fecond place, while in this manner they shut the door against every improvement, they open it wide to the most destructive vices and follies. The human mind cannot remain always unemployed. Its paffions must have fome exercise. if we fupply them not with proper employment, they are fure to run loofe into riot and disorder. While we are unoccupied by what is good, evil is continually at hand; and hence it is faid in Scripture, that as foon as Satan" found the houfe empty," he took poffeffion, and filled it with evil fpirits." Every man who recollects his conduct may be fatisfied, that his hours of idleness have always proved the hours molt dangerous to virtue. It was then, the criminal defires arofe: guilty pursuits were fuggefted; and defigns were formed, which in their iffue, have difquieted and embittered his whole life. If feafons of idlenefs are dangerous, what mult a continued habit of it prove? Habitual indolence, by a filent and fe- ' cret, progrefs, undermines every virtue in the foul. More violent paffions run their course, and terminate. They are like rapid torrents, which foam and swell, and bear down every thing before them. But after having overflowed their banks, their impetuofity fubfides. They return, by degrees, into their natural channel; and the damage which they have done can be repaired. Sloth is like the flowly-flowing, putrid ftream, which ftagnates in the maith, breeds venomous animals and poisonous plants; and infects with peftilential vapours the whole country round it. Having once tainted the foul, it leaves no part of it found; and, at the fame time, gives not thofe alarms to confcience which the eruptions of bolder and fiercer emotions often occafion. The difeafe which it brings on is creeping and infidious; and is, on that account, more certainly mortal.

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One conftant effect of idleness, is to nourish the paffions, and, of course, to heighten our demands for gratification; while it unhappily withdraws from us the proper means of gratifying thefe demands. If the defires of the indus trious man are fet upon opulence or distinction, upon the conveniences, or the advantages of life, he can accomplish his defires, by methods which are fair and allowable. The idle man has the fame defires with the industrious, but not the fame refourges for compaffing his ends by honourable means. He must therefore turn himself to feek by fraud, or by violence, what he cannot fubmit to acquire by induftry. Hence, the origin of those multiplied crimes to which idleness is daily giving birth in the world; and which contribute so much to violate the order, and to disturb the peace, of fociety. In gen eral, the children of idleness may be ranked under two denominations, or claffes of men. Either incapable of any effort, they are fuch as fink into abfolute meanness of character, and contentedly wallow with the drunkard and debauchee, among the herd of the sensual, until poverty overtakes them, or disease cuts them off; or, they are such as, retaining fome remains of vigour, are impelled by their paffions to venture on a defperate attempt for retrieving their ruined fortunes. In this cafe, they employ the art of the fraudulent gamefter to infnare the unwary. They iffue forth with the highwayman to plunder on the road; or with thief and the robber, they infeft the city by night. From this clafs our prisons are peopled; and by them the fcaffold is furnished with thofe melancholy admonitious, which are so often delivered from it to the crowd. Such are frequently the tragical, but well known, confequences of the vice of idleness.

In the third, and laft place, how dangerous foever idlenefs may be to virtue, are there not pleasures, it may be faid, which attend it? Is there not ground to plead, that it brings a release from the oppreffive cares of the world; and foothes the mind with a gentle fatisfaction, which is not to be found amidst the toils of a bufy and active life?

This is an advantage which, least of all others, we admit it to poffefs. In behalf of inceffant labour no man contends. Occafional releafe from toil, and indulgence of ease, is what nature demands, and virtue allows. But what we affert is, that nothing is fo great an enemy to the

lively and spirited enjoyment of life, as a relaxed and indolent habit of mind. He who knows not what it is to la bour, knows not what it is to enjoy. The felicity of human life depends on the regular profecution of fome laudable purpose or object, which keeps awake and enliv ens all our powers. Our happinefs confifts in the purfuit, much more than in the attainment, of any temporal good. Reft is agreeable; but it is only from preceding labours that reft acquires its true relish. When the mind is fuffered to remain in continued inaction, all its powers decay. It foon languishes and fickens; and the pleafures which it propofed to obtain from rest, end in tediousness and infipidity. To this, let that miferable fet of men bear witnefs, who, after spending great part of their life in active induftry, have retired to what they fancied was to be a pleafing enjoyment of themselves, in wealthy inactivity, and profound repofe. Where they expected to find an ely fium, they have found nothing but a dreary and comfortless waste. Their days have dragged on, in uniform languor; with the melancholy remembrance often returning, of the cheerful hours they paffed, when they were engaged in the boneft business, and labours of the world.

We appeal to every one who has the leaft knowledge or obfervation of life, whether the bufy, or the idle, have the molt agreeable enjoyment of themselves? Compare them in their families. Compare them in the focieties with which they mingle; and remark, which of them difcover most cheerfulness and gaiety, which poffefs the most regular flow of fpirits; whofe temper is moft equal; whose good humour, most unclouded. While the active and diligent both enliven, and enjoy society, the idle are not only a burden to themselves, but a burden to those with whom they are connected; a nuisance to all whom they opprefs with their company.

Enough has now been faid to convince every thinking perfon of the folly, the guilt, and the mifery of an idle ftate. Let thefe admonitions ftir us up to exert ourfelves in our different occupations, with that virtuous activity which becomes men and Chriftians. Let us arife from the bed of floth; diftribute our time with attention and care; and improve to advantage the opportunities which Providence has bestowed. The material bufinefs in which our several fations engage us may often prove not fufficient to occupy the whole of our time and attention. In the life even of

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