never can repair, to those whose real happiness they were, by all the ties of nature and reason, bound to promote.

It is to be hoped what is here said of the danger of constraining the inclinations of children in marriage, will by no means be construed, as if intended to encourage young people to obstinacy and contempt of the advice of parents in making a choice for life.

SECTION XII.

Of retiring from Business.

AS on the one hand, it is odious for a man of an overgrown fortune to go on in business to a great age, still striving to increase a heap already larger than is necessary, to the prejudice of younger people, who ought to have a clear stage, and opportunity of making their way in life; so it is vain for a person, who has spent his days in an active sphere, to think of enjoying retirement, before the time of retirement be come. He who resolves at once to change his way of life, from action to retirement, or from one state to another directly contrary, without being prepared for it by proper age and habit, for some continuance of time, will find, that he will no sooner have quitted his former way of life, than he will desire to be in it again.

It is on this, as well as other accounts, of great advantage, that a man have acquired some turn to reading, and the more sober entertainments of life, in his earlier days. There is not a much more deplorable sort of existence, than that which is dragged on by an old man, whose mind is unfurnished with the materials proper for yielding him some entertainment suitable to the more sedate time of life; I mean useful knowledge. For the remembrance of fifty years spent in scraping of money, or in pursuing pleasure, or in indulging vicious inclinations, must yield but poor entertainment at a time of life, when a man can at best say, he has been.

SECTION XIII.

Of disposing of Effects by Will.

IT is a strange weakness in some people, to be averse to making their wills, and disposing of their effects, while they are in good health, and have ease of mind, and a sound judgment to do it in a proper manner; as if a man must certainly die soon after he has made his will. It is highly proper that people, who have any thing considerable to leave, should settle their affairs in such a distinct manner, that their intentions may appear plain and indisputable, and their heirs may not have an endless and vexatious lawsuit, instead of a fortune.

For this purpose I would advise, that a gentleman, at his leisure, draw up a sketch of his will, leaving the names of the legatees, and the sums, blank, if he chooses to conceal either the state of his affairs, or the persons he intends to benefit at his death. This draught he may have exa mined by those who are judges of such matters; so that he may be quite easy as to the condition he leaves his wife and children, or other relations in.

The calamity in which a widow and orphans are involved, who, through some quirk of law, or the omission of some necessary formality, find themselves disappointed of their whole dependence, and have the mortification to see an heir at law (to the shame of law) seize on what the deceased intended for their support; the circumstances, I say, of a family thus plunged into want and misery, from the fairest expectations, are to the last degree deplorable.

A man ought to consider that it is a tender point for an affectionate wife to touch upon, and ought to spare her the trouble of soliciting him upon this head. For it must be no easy state of mind a woman must be in, who considers that she and her children depend, for their daily bread, upon the slender thread of the life of an husband, who at the same time has it in his power to secure her effectually, by taking only a very little trouble.

It is an unjust and absurd practice of many, in disposing of their effects by will, to show such excessive partiality to some of their children beyond others. To leave to an eldest son the whole estate, and to each of the other chil

dren, perhaps one year's rent. The consequence, indeed, of this is often, that the heir, finding himself in possession of an estate, concludes he-shall never be able to run it out; and may be got, through extravagance, just within sight of want, by the time his industrious brothers, who, having no such funds to trust to, were obliged to exert themselves, have got estates, or are in a fair way toward them. This, I say, is a common consequence of the unequal distribution of estates. But, whatever the consequence be, it seems pretty evident, that to treat so very differently, those who are alike our offspring, cannot be strictly just.

It proves often a fatal error in the disposal of effects for the benefit of one's family, to leave them in the hands of any private person whatever, especially of one who has concerns in trade. The state of such a one's affairs, must, by the very course of trade, be so liable to change, that no money can be absolutely safe which he can lay his hands upon. We see every day instances of the failure of traders, who have generally passed for men of first rate fortunes, and often see young families ruined by their ruin. If it be plain that the public funds are, at least, a more probable security than any private, one would think it natural to fix upon the best, since even the best is not too

secure.

SECTION XIV.

Of Old Age.

WHEN people draw towards old age, the infirmities of nature, joined with the various ills of life, become more and more grievous; and strength of mind continually decaying, the burden becomes at last hardly supportable. To wave, for the present, all moral or religious considerations, I will only observe, that, if one would, in any period of life, or under any distress whatever, desire to have his grievances as tolerable as possible, there is no surer means for that end, than to endeavour to preserve an equal, composed, and resigned temper of mind. To struggle, and fret, and rage at every misfortune or hardship, is tearing open the wound, and making it fester. Composing the mind to contentment and patience is the

most likely means to heal it up. It is, therefore, obvious what conduct prudence directs to in the case of distress or hardship.

But in what light does this show the prudence of many people? Do we not see, that they who have no considerable real distresses in life to struggle with, take care to make themselves miserable, by mustering up imaginary, or heightening inconsiderable misfortunes? Does not a courtier, in the midst of affluence, and with independence in his power, make himself as unhappy about a cold look from the minister, as a poor tradesman is at the loss of his principal customer? Is not a fine lady as much distressed, if her lap-dog has a fit of the cholic, as a poor woman about the sickness of a child? Such imaginary unfortunates complain heavily of the afflictions of life, while neither labours under any worth mentioning but what are of their own making.

When people have all their lives allowed themselves to give way to foolish discontent and uneasiness, it is no wonder, if when they come to old age, they find themselves unhappy, and by their peevishness make all about them unhappy, and put it in their hearts to wish them well out of the world.

The art of growing old with a good grace is none of the least considerable in life. In order to this, it is absolutely necessary, that a man have spent the former part of his days in a manner consistent with reason and religion. He who has passed his life wholly in secular pursuits, in grasping at riches, in aspiring after preferments, in amusing himself in show and ostentation, in wallowing in sensuality and voluptuousness, what foundation has he laid for passing old age with dignity? What is more universally despised than an old man, whose mind, unstored with knowledge, and unaffected with a sense of goodness, still grovels after the objects of sense, still hankers after the scenes which formerly engaged him; scenes of vanity and folly in any age, but in the graver part of life, unnatural and monstrous? Yet there is nothing more certain (for universal experience confirms it) than that, according as a person has formed his mind in the younger part of life, such it will be to the last. The ruling passion seldom fails, till all fails. He who has made the bottle his chief

delight, will drink on even when he has hardly breath to swallow a glass of wine. The impure letcher will creep after his mistress, when his knees knock together. The miser, who has all his life made riches his god, will be scrambling after the wealth of this world, with one foot in the other. The vain coquet will show affectation, when she can no longer move any passion but pity. The brainless card-player will waste the last lawful remains of life in an amusement unworthy of the most considerate age. Even when all is over, how do we see many old people in their conversation dwell with pleasure on the vanities, and even the vices of their younger days?

How should it be otherwise than that the mind, which has been for fifty years together constantly bent one way, should preserve to the end, the cast it has received and kept so long? In the same manner, those who have been so wise, as to view life in its proper light, as a transient state, to be temperately enjoyed while it lasts; who have improved their minds with knowledge, and enriched them with virtue and piety; have qualified themselves for acting the last concluding scene with the same propriety as the rest. To such, their finding themselves unequal to the active or the gayer scenes of life, is no manner of mortification. Indifferent to them, while engaged in them, they quit them with indifference; sure to find in retirement a fund of the noblest entertainment from sober and wise conversation, from reading, and from views of that future world, for which the conscience of a well-spent life assures them of their being in a state of preparation. Useful by their wise and pious conversation while they live, they go off the stage lamented, leaving behind them the sweet savour of a good name, and the universal approbation of the wise and good.

SECTION XV.

Of the Dignity of Female Life, prudentially considered. WITHOUT the general concurrence of both sexes, in a prudent and virtuous conduct, the perfection of human nature is not to be attained. The influence which the fair sex have, and ought to have in life, is so great, that

Ο