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all things to all men, in order to their good. It is lowly and unassuming, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. It renders all the civilities that are expressive of pure benevolence, and all the respects which belong to the different orders of society; honour to whom honour, fear to whom fear. In a word, when taken in its full extent, it comprizes the whole of human duty; every law of kindness or courtesy, of religion or humanity.

RURAL PHILOSOPHY,

PART III.

REFLECTIONS ON HAPPINESS.

SECTION I.

On the Happiness arising from the Independence, the Agricultural Pursuits, the Diversions and Scenery, of a Country Life.

THE idea of rural felicity is so congenial with the human mind, that we cannot wonder to find it cherished amidst all the hurry and dissipation of public life; especially if we consider, that such a life is often attended with labour and sorrow, with weariness and disappointment. When we look abroad into the world, we see one man fixed down to his desk or stationed behind his counter, and, from morning to night, busily engaged in casting his ac

compts, or dealing out his commodities, with scarce sufficient intervals for the refreshment or support of nature. We see another, in aspiring after some place of public honour or profit, racked with suspense in the pursuit, frequently baffled in his object, and, if at length successful, dissatisfied with the acquisition.

While a

third, whose situation may seem more enviable, who, alike exempt from the toils of the city and the ambition of the court, has no other concern than to enjoy the amusements and pleasures of life, is often found a miserable prey to chagrin, from the caprices and jealousies which are sure to infest the brightest circies of gaiety and fashion. In all these cases, the mind naturally looks forward to the country, to the independence of some rural retreat, the peaceful labours of husbandry, the diversions of the field, or the scenery of nature, for purer sources of enjoyment. Let us then briefly enquire, under these several heads, how far they are likely to answer such an expectation.

I. First, of independence. By this the retired man is secured from many hurries and impertinences of public life. He is not obliged, when exhausted in body or mind, to run to the Exchange, or to wait upon his patron. He is not exposed to the trifling conversation and unseasonable intrusion of the world; his walks by day are free from idle interruption, and his doors by night are undisturbed by importunate visits. He enjoys, in a word, that privilege which, in the general opinion of mankind, gives the chief advantage to an independent retirement, when compared with a life spent in public, namely, the liberty to act without foreign controul, and agreeably to the native sense of his own mind. Whereas, the more any man is engaged in the world, the more he must expect to be thwarted by it, and the more constrained to give up his own will to that of others which is a submission naturally harsh and unpleasing. The great contest among men is, who shall have his own way; and he who seeks his fortune or happiness

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