NUMBER. PAGE. fage compared with one in Clau- Shakespear: The fituation of a LXXXV. Advice to a man of landed proper- ty: Habits of life and expence in 2.42 LXXXVI. Remarks upon the characters of Falstaff and his group PAGE, NUMBER. circumftances attending the death XCII. Anecdotes of Jack Gayless XCIII, Author explains the motives of his work and concludes the third vo lume 302 311 323 THE THE OBSERVE R. N LXI. Primum Graius homo mortales tollere contra Eft oculos aufus (LUCRETIUS.) At length a mighty man of Greece began Taffert the natural liberty of man. (CREECH.) HERE are fo many young men of fortune Tand fpirit in this kingdom, who, without the trouble of reforting to the founder of their philofophy, or giving themfelves any concern about the Graius homo in my motto, have nevertheless fallen upon a practice fo confentaneous to the doctrines, which he laid down by system, that VOL. III, B I much I much question if any of his profeft fcholars ever.. did him greater credit, fince the time he firft ftruck out the popular project of driving all religion out of the world, and introducing pleasure and voluptuousness in its ftead. Quare religio pedibus fubjecta vicissim "We tread religion under foot and rise So far from meaning to oppofe myself to fuch a hoft of gay and happy mortals, I wish to gain a merit with them by adding to their stock of pleasures, and fuggesting fome hints of enjoyments, which may be new to them; a difcovery which they well know was confidered by the kings of Perfia, (who practifed their philofophy in very antient times) as a fervice of fuch importance to all the feet, (who had even then worn out most of their old pleasures) that a very confiderable reward was offered to the inventor of any new one. How the ftock at prefent ftands with our modern voluptuaries I cannot pretend to fay but I fufpect from certain fymptoms, which have fallen under my obfervation, that it is nearly run out with fome amongst them; to fuch in particular I flatter myself my discoveries will prove of value, and I have for their use compofed the following meditation, which I have put together in the form of a foli loquy, falving it ftep by step as regularly as any propofition in Euclid, and I will boldly vouch it to be as mathematically true. If there is any one poftulatum in the whole, which the trueft voluptuary will not admit to be orthodox Epicurifm, I will confent to give up my system for nonsense and myself for an impoftor; I condition only with the pupil of pleafure, that whilft he reads he will reflect, that he will deal candidly with the truth, and that he will once in his life permit a certain faculty called reafon, which I hope he is poffeffed of, to come into use upon this occafion; a faculty, which, though he may not hitherto have employed it, is yet capable of fupplying him with more true and lasting pleafures, than any his philosophy can furnish. I now recommend him to the following meditation, which I have entitled ડૉ "THE VOLUPTUARY'S SOLILOQUY. "I FIND myself in poffeffion of an eftate, "which has devolved upon me without any pains of my own: I have youth and health to.. "enjoy it, and I am determined fo to do: Pleafure is my object, and I must therefore fo contrive as to make that object lafting and B2 "fatisfactory: |
