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Article HAPPINESS: A FRAGMENT. ← Page 3 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Happiness: A Fragment.
sisted of a few flower-pots ranged before his window ; and he set forth to me some other trifles of the like nature : in asking my opinion of them , 1 replied , that he was lodged like a prince , and that I was just come from the house of a man of opulence , where I had not met with near so many accommodations , because he paid no attention to them . It may-with much propriety be said , that such a man , in the midst of plentyis in a state of indigence : for I must again
, make use of the words of Seneca , when he says , ' That riches without contentment , is the greatest of all wants : ' In divitiis inopes , quod genus egestalisgravissimum est . The grandeur or meanness of a thing must be estimated by the value that is conferred upon it ; wherefore we may frequently congratulate a person more upon the possession of a thing of small
importance , which he holds in high esteem , than for a thing of consequence , which he does not care for . A man , for instance , who has purchased simply a title , seems rather to solicit a compliment of condolence than congratulation , as he has deprived himself of what is considered to be of worth , iu lieu of which he receives only a mere name , and consequently only the shadow of a thing ; but when this
ideal consequence , which it confers , communicates interior happiness , the shade is dissipated , and a reality supplies its place . The accomplishment of a man ' s desire-and wish frames a paradise to him . To illustrate this , when Theodore was betrothed to a girl , whose face was almost an antidote to desire , the world pitied him , and condemned his father for procuring such a match for him
; but she passed for a beauty in her husband ' s eyes ; and , quisquisamat ranam , ranamp . itat esse Dianam ; that is , the man enamoured with a frog , considers her full as beautiful as a Venus : so that Theo-. dore , instead of being pitied , may be envied by every husband who ' has a handsome wife he doth not like .
When a merchant is satisfied with his goods , let them be of what quality they will , he has made a good purchase ; so again when an epicure likes his repast , though it may displease . every other guest , it is to him an excellent regale ; and to bring it still nearer to the point we had first in view , when a man patiently endures adversity , and says to himself , " Something still worse might have happened , " it no longer continues a misfortune to him . This brings to mind the
lively manner in which a Japenese afforded consolation to his friend , who was lamenting a burthen he had to bear . The emperor of Japan , being born under the dog-star , conceived so much friendship for this animal , that he ordered every man whose dog died , to carry him to a certain spot where he was to be buried .. One man met another who was sweating under the weiht of a large dead
, g very mastif . and was uttering his complaints at the toil imposed upon him ; but the other very readily answered , ' We should thank God that the emperor was not born under the horse-star : for in that case the burthen would have been more insupportable . ' No Grecian philosopher could have moralised more pertinently upon the occasion . There is nothing more astonishing-, than to meet with a man , who
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Happiness: A Fragment.
sisted of a few flower-pots ranged before his window ; and he set forth to me some other trifles of the like nature : in asking my opinion of them , 1 replied , that he was lodged like a prince , and that I was just come from the house of a man of opulence , where I had not met with near so many accommodations , because he paid no attention to them . It may-with much propriety be said , that such a man , in the midst of plentyis in a state of indigence : for I must again
, make use of the words of Seneca , when he says , ' That riches without contentment , is the greatest of all wants : ' In divitiis inopes , quod genus egestalisgravissimum est . The grandeur or meanness of a thing must be estimated by the value that is conferred upon it ; wherefore we may frequently congratulate a person more upon the possession of a thing of small
importance , which he holds in high esteem , than for a thing of consequence , which he does not care for . A man , for instance , who has purchased simply a title , seems rather to solicit a compliment of condolence than congratulation , as he has deprived himself of what is considered to be of worth , iu lieu of which he receives only a mere name , and consequently only the shadow of a thing ; but when this
ideal consequence , which it confers , communicates interior happiness , the shade is dissipated , and a reality supplies its place . The accomplishment of a man ' s desire-and wish frames a paradise to him . To illustrate this , when Theodore was betrothed to a girl , whose face was almost an antidote to desire , the world pitied him , and condemned his father for procuring such a match for him
; but she passed for a beauty in her husband ' s eyes ; and , quisquisamat ranam , ranamp . itat esse Dianam ; that is , the man enamoured with a frog , considers her full as beautiful as a Venus : so that Theo-. dore , instead of being pitied , may be envied by every husband who ' has a handsome wife he doth not like .
When a merchant is satisfied with his goods , let them be of what quality they will , he has made a good purchase ; so again when an epicure likes his repast , though it may displease . every other guest , it is to him an excellent regale ; and to bring it still nearer to the point we had first in view , when a man patiently endures adversity , and says to himself , " Something still worse might have happened , " it no longer continues a misfortune to him . This brings to mind the
lively manner in which a Japenese afforded consolation to his friend , who was lamenting a burthen he had to bear . The emperor of Japan , being born under the dog-star , conceived so much friendship for this animal , that he ordered every man whose dog died , to carry him to a certain spot where he was to be buried .. One man met another who was sweating under the weiht of a large dead
, g very mastif . and was uttering his complaints at the toil imposed upon him ; but the other very readily answered , ' We should thank God that the emperor was not born under the horse-star : for in that case the burthen would have been more insupportable . ' No Grecian philosopher could have moralised more pertinently upon the occasion . There is nothing more astonishing-, than to meet with a man , who