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Article CURIOUS ACCOUNT OF A DUMB PHILOSOPHER. ← Page 6 of 7 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Curious Account Of A Dumb Philosopher.
chnary instances of rational and virtuous men amongst them , as could hardly be ' excelled by any of us haughty Europeans . In several of these nations , I likewise contracted an intimacy with their philosophers , and procured the writings of their most famed moralists ; and even to this hour , 1 keep up an advantageous and extensive correspondence with some of them . Whenever it happened in these my travelsas was frequently casethat I was aloneand destitute
, my , , of all other books , the Bible , with the great Book of Nature , were my whole library , and a discourse thereupon , with myself , my most agreeable conversation . ' With these , and other the like assiduous observations and
enquiries , my thirst after knowledge is at length quenched , and I am now contented with myself , in an entire tranquillity of mind . As much as I endeavour not to be insensible of the daily miracles and mercies of the Almi ghty , as little do I suffer either a sense of disappointments to get the mastery of me , or my prosperity to make me haughty , I neither fear nor grieve beyond measure ; andean say , with your excellent Spectatorthat though I am always seriousI do not know
, , what it is to be melancholy : I never rejoice to excess ; I suffer not anger to get the better of my reason ; I envy no man : in short , all my aim and all my wishes are , with pleasure , to see every one prosper , and to enjoy that mixed state , which wise men both delight in and are qualified for . ' I have now passed my fifty-eighth year , and it is but a few years
since I retired from the world , and resolved to end my days where I had agreeably spent my youth . As I can here enjoy an abundance of every comfort of life , with an unlimited freedom ; so likewise , in the midst of a constant , though voluntary employment , I here find what others call rest . I have never been anxious after great riches , and they are yet very far from being what I aim at , in any of my actions : but as little as they have been the objects of my hopes and desires , as plentifully are they fallen to my share . Though I
am far from denying myself a reasonable enjoyment of them , 1 live very much within the compass of my revenues ; and as I have always led a single life , and have neither children to provide for , or to leave my estate to , nor relations who want it , I take a pleasure in employing the residue of my yearly income to the benefit of others , and the public good . ' I live herein an agreeable solitudeat some distance from the
, , noise and hurry of business ; but yet so near the city , that as I frequently visit it , the little follies ofthe meaner sort , and the greater extravagances and absurdities of the great , alternately move my laughter and my pity . I am an enemy to all pomp , and study ease and decency more than splendor and outward shew . My whole equipage consists in a coach and paira couple of saddle-hoi sesanil
, , six or eight domestics of both sexes , who serve me in several capacities , and administer to my pleasures as well as my necessities . By this means , I live retired within myself , and want very little assistance from without . My taylor and my barber , my semstress and my laundress , with several other necessary artificers , and an excellent
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Curious Account Of A Dumb Philosopher.
chnary instances of rational and virtuous men amongst them , as could hardly be ' excelled by any of us haughty Europeans . In several of these nations , I likewise contracted an intimacy with their philosophers , and procured the writings of their most famed moralists ; and even to this hour , 1 keep up an advantageous and extensive correspondence with some of them . Whenever it happened in these my travelsas was frequently casethat I was aloneand destitute
, my , , of all other books , the Bible , with the great Book of Nature , were my whole library , and a discourse thereupon , with myself , my most agreeable conversation . ' With these , and other the like assiduous observations and
enquiries , my thirst after knowledge is at length quenched , and I am now contented with myself , in an entire tranquillity of mind . As much as I endeavour not to be insensible of the daily miracles and mercies of the Almi ghty , as little do I suffer either a sense of disappointments to get the mastery of me , or my prosperity to make me haughty , I neither fear nor grieve beyond measure ; andean say , with your excellent Spectatorthat though I am always seriousI do not know
, , what it is to be melancholy : I never rejoice to excess ; I suffer not anger to get the better of my reason ; I envy no man : in short , all my aim and all my wishes are , with pleasure , to see every one prosper , and to enjoy that mixed state , which wise men both delight in and are qualified for . ' I have now passed my fifty-eighth year , and it is but a few years
since I retired from the world , and resolved to end my days where I had agreeably spent my youth . As I can here enjoy an abundance of every comfort of life , with an unlimited freedom ; so likewise , in the midst of a constant , though voluntary employment , I here find what others call rest . I have never been anxious after great riches , and they are yet very far from being what I aim at , in any of my actions : but as little as they have been the objects of my hopes and desires , as plentifully are they fallen to my share . Though I
am far from denying myself a reasonable enjoyment of them , 1 live very much within the compass of my revenues ; and as I have always led a single life , and have neither children to provide for , or to leave my estate to , nor relations who want it , I take a pleasure in employing the residue of my yearly income to the benefit of others , and the public good . ' I live herein an agreeable solitudeat some distance from the
, , noise and hurry of business ; but yet so near the city , that as I frequently visit it , the little follies ofthe meaner sort , and the greater extravagances and absurdities of the great , alternately move my laughter and my pity . I am an enemy to all pomp , and study ease and decency more than splendor and outward shew . My whole equipage consists in a coach and paira couple of saddle-hoi sesanil
, , six or eight domestics of both sexes , who serve me in several capacities , and administer to my pleasures as well as my necessities . By this means , I live retired within myself , and want very little assistance from without . My taylor and my barber , my semstress and my laundress , with several other necessary artificers , and an excellent