pity you much more,” replied the philosopher, "because you have so many."

The possession of wealth is uncertain. Great property is sometimes held on a short tenure. Houses are destroyed by fire; ships are swallowed up by the relentless deep; lands are seized by a foreign enemy, and sometimes by the craft of a neighbour." Riches," observes a Persian writer, are more unsteady than a drop of water on the leaf of a lotus shaken by the wind."

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Great wealth has seldom improved the moral condition of mankind. Dr. Barrow terms it "a

needless clog, and a perilous snare.” It leads the way to luxury, to a want of dependence on the Author of every good, to haughtiness, to immorality. Pope says, in his story of Sir Balaam," that

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Satan, now, is wiser than of yore,

And tempts by making rich, not making poor." Cretes of Thebes became so much impressed with the injurious and unsatisfying tendency of money, that he delivered all his wealth to his banker, that it might be distributed among the poor. In Lacedæmon, the contempt for money was so great, that no one would take the trouble of stooping to pick up gold. In the present day, however, the absence of property makes a man dependent on others, or liable to misery. The possession of great wealth produces evils in the opposite way; and both are destructive of happiness. Labour is the usual provider of the comforts and necessaries of life. The great majority of mankind are dependent on their own exertions A man, therefore, should be industrious and prudent; but not avaricious, nor greatly ambitious.

CHAP. II.

ON EXTRAVAGANCE AND PENURIOUSNESS.

EXTRAVAGANCE signifies a wandering beyond the bounds of propriety; consequently, the person who deviates from consistent conduct is extravagant in his actions; he who entertains absurd notions is extravagant in his opinions; he who pursues the extreme of fashion is extravagant in his dress; and he who expends a larger sum than is customary among prudent persons in the same condition of life is extravagant in his expense. This impropriety is the source of much disadvantage and misery; it injures the man who indulges it, and those who are connected with him. Many eminent instances have occurred of the evils of extravagance:—the Romans were very expensive in their feasts; Lucullus gave several that were very costly; Cæsar made an entertainment for the Roman people, which covered twenty-two thousand tables; Nero and Heliogabalus were exceedingly expensive and luxurious. Seneca, also, was magnificent in his feasts; but afterwards, in his banishment, he learnt wisdom, and wrote some excellent precepts of life and morality. A show of gladiators was sometimes given by a private man; and thus, in obtaining the applause of the people, he ruined

himself. The Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, Germans, and the ancient Britons, sometimes expended a whole fortune in feasting. Cities and nations have been ruined by extravagance; and what has existed in the earlier ages of the world may be sometimes observed in the present day. A momentary enjoyment is pursued, and extravagantly purchased, at the price of subsequent happiness. If a traveller were supplied with a few torches to illumine his dreary way throughout the night, would it not be madness if he were to burn them all together, and then grope his solitary course in darkness?

Those who have a small income should so regulate their expense as to bring it within their means. A person may be rather poor, and yet he may be favoured with many enjoyments. But it will contribute very much to his happiness, if he keep himself strictly within his income; for whether his maintenance be dependent on a regular salary or not, he will naturally calculate on a certain sum yearly. If he should obtain a little more on any particular occasion, he should put it aside as a reserve; it will contribute towards supplying the place of labour in sickness and old age. A limited or fixed income should never be exceeded. An uncertain one should be rated as low as possible; and this sum should constitute the utmost limit of the expenditure. If a man receives twenty shillings weekly, but spends twenty-five, he must go in debt for five shillings. He must then, if he mean to pay his debt, live for one week on fifteen shillings; but how will this supply his wants, if

twenty-five were required before? It is as if a person, in endeavouring to ascend an eminence, not only discontinued his progress, but amused himself by sliding towards the base. Now this portion of loss must be made up by extra exertion and self-denial, and consequently the man's condition is worse than it was before.

There is more satisfaction in giving money for what will contribute to future comfort, than for what has been already worn out or consumed. There is more pleasure, also, and much more independence, in giving a value for any comfort, than in enjoying that comfort before the amount has been paid; and, it must be remembered, a day of reckoning will arrive, when perhaps a person will be least inclined to meet it; when the benefit will be gone, and when it will appear as if it had never existed. Besides, the man who anticipates his income, by purchasing on credit, is obliged to give a larger price for his commodities. Hence a question will arise, Is the buyer honest; does he mean to pay for his purchases? If so, he makes an agreement to exchange his money for certain necessaries or luxuries of life, but he voluntarily consents to take only nineteen shillings' worth for a pound! sometimes only eighteen shillings' or even seventeen shillings' worth! What folly for a man to sacrifice his interest in this way! Indeed, whenever a person goes very far in this system, he must be destitute of common sense, or extremely thoughtless; or he must be inclined to purchase without any solicitude about paying. There are some persons who are dependent on a very precarious live

lihood, and, being the sport of fortune themselves, they sport as much as they can with others. Some people (as I have said in the last chapter) live in imagination: a brighter day is always coming; while the present is dark and dreary. A mine of gold or silver is about to be opened, while not a copper occupies the pocket. Sometimes they entrap the unwary, and bring them into a similar condition. Fuller says of Sir Edward Coke, "Five sorts of persons this great man used to foredesign to misery and poverty, chemists (alchemists), monopolisers, concealers, promoters, and rhyming poets." The condemnation of the last class is rather severe, but there is pretty much reason for it. No other body of intellectual men have led such irregular lives; and none have suffered more from thoughtlessness, extravagance, disappointment, and poverty. Roger Ascham, in alluding to poets, observes," Men of very quick witte be also very light of condition; and, therefore, very ready to be carried over quicklie to any riot and unthriftinesse; and, therefore, are seldom either honest of life, or riche in living, when they be old.”

After a person has been sinking for some time, his credit becomes so low that no one will trust him; and this is the closing scene with every spendthrift. He is neglected by those who formerly paid court to him, and he seems to be forsaken by Heaven. Nothing evinces unreasonableness and folly more than to barter present happiness for future misery. That man is a hundred times more reasonable, who would purchase future enjoyment by present labour, by self-denial, and