loud. Another bubble less buoyant was thrown off as a Philosopher. "There he goes," said the fool," with a drop at his tail to demonstrate the effect of gravity: -see, he turns like a whirling dervise!-he has, certainly, discovered the perpetual motion: happy soul! the world will now be blessed, and he will be immortal.-Alas! is it come to this? To fall in the moment of victory-to sink when the hand already grasps the prize-but so it is-gone like his precursor, and none knows whither." Again he shouted with joy; and held his sides with laughter and in this manner the knave apostrophized each bubble which he blew, well maintaining the credit of the ancient craft of which he seemed the worthy representative.

It was in vain to address such a being, and therefore I turned to the Philosopher, who at that instant had thrown off a bubble from the point of a quill, and was following its course, with a look of intense interest, as it floated upon the breeze, until it was lost to the sight. "Mortal!" said he as he turned towards me his complacent countenance, "Mortal! I already read your thoughts. Your laudable curiosity shall be satisfied :-sit down in peace, and listen to the voice of truth." I sat down, and he

thus continued-" Mortal! the valley which lies before you is a typification of the world. Its mountains and rugged rocks represent the difficulties and obstacles which beset man in his journey; whilst they are also the true causes of the transitory felicity that he attains on earth; for what enjoyment does he possess when not acquired by fatigue and industry, which does not become insipid and distasteful? Ease and indolence and certain security soon pall upon the mind, which, restless, and never satiated with toil, rather than it will endure the torment of apathy, courts dangers and even finds a charm in Death. Say-without this allurement, would the patriot sacrifice himself for the interests of his country, for the phantom Fame? Would the hero seek the bubble Reputation in the cannon's mouth? Or the philosopher, spurning from him the enticements of Pleasure and heedless of the vicissitudes of life, waste the midnight oil and immure himself in the solitary cell, merely to be assured of an immortal fame among all the sons of men? On the other hand, mortal! the hills, the vales, the forests, gardens, lakes, and streams which have charmed your sight, demonstrate the benevolence of Nature, and show that amidst difficulties, horrors, changes, deceit, and wickedness, the world supplies the

principles of harmony and proportion, and produces true felicity as the result of their conspiring order. Man alone is a paradox, and yet the whole race can be arranged under two classes, of which you behold us the representatives, the wise and the foolish; this prolific and teeming with myriads of every country and kindred; that inrolling a very scanty proportion only upon its list, but these the true intellectual nobility of the earth. Like this fool, so is the mass of mankind occupied with the veriest trifles; their projects as empty and as fragile as the bubbles which he commits to the air, blown only to be broken. They laugh at the idea of making man happy by reason; contented to believe that their senses and passions were bestowed only to be gratified, they are impatient of restraint and are convinced that the only road to happiness is to be found in following the dictates of Nature. Hapless, infatuated beings! who have brought disease into the world, and have yielded to Death the empire of mortality: and who too late discover that it is difficult long to support pleasure, and that its invariable termination is satiety and disgust.

"It is the object of the wise, on the contrary, to employ the senses only as the inlets of knowledge, to

On

cultivate the soil which Nature has planted with every material for the exercise of industry, and to rein the passions under the control of reason. these grounds I have founded a system which I am about to propound to you; which will banish physical evils from the earth and confer immortality upon the human race. This pyramid is the emblem of my theory; its broad base founded upon a rock and its apex pointing to the heavens, it scorns the rage of the conflicting elements, and even defies the overwhelming power of Time."

He paused: I raised my eyes to inquire the cause of the interruption, when to my astonishment I perceived a shadowy figure which I had not before observed, seated between my companions; grinning a ghastly look of contempt upon the speaker, and in the act of touching both the sage and the fool with a dart tipped with fire, which he grasped in his fleshless hand. The eyeballs of the Fool seemed starting from their sockets-his face was turgid and purple, his breath gurgled for a second in his throat, and after a convulsive gasp, he fell a lifeless mass at the foot of the Destroyer. The Philosopher lay for a few minutes as in a faint, his jaw fallen, his features pale and shrunk, and his eye filmed; he • 57

fetched a deep sigh, and seemed to revive; then turning his languid eye upon me, the placidity of his countenance unaltered, in scarcely audible accents uttered these words-"Alas! fellow mortal, experience only can teach wisdom: it has convinced me that my system is a vain hypothesis: man is still under the dominion of Death: but, in yielding to the tyrant, I have the satisfaction of knowing that the change will enable me to solve the greatest of all secrets." As he calmly yielded up his breath, the ground seemed shaken as if by an earthquake, and the pyramid crumbled into dust. Awe-struck and trembling, I expected to be involved in the general ruin, when the voice which I had before heard again addressed me: "Mortal! such is the frailty of humanity-virtue alone can render life happy: but austerity is not virtue; to trifle time away is to waste life-to endeavour to reduce life to exact rule and method is commonly a painful task-oft, also, a fruitless occupation. While we are reasoning concerning life, life is gone; and Death, though perhaps they receive him differently, yet treats alike the Fool and the Philosopher."*

* Hume's Essays-The Stoic.

A. T. T.