Kopeaceful luxury, and were thereby rendered capa

ble of deriving comfort and confolation from that fource which feems only to heighten and exafpe› rate the miseries of those whose minds are totally abforbed in the diffipations of life.*

The motives, indeed, which lead men either to temporary Retirement, or abfolute Solitude, are innumerably various. Minds delicately fufceptible to the impreffions of virtue, frequently avoid fociety, only to avoid the pain they feel in obferving the vices and follies of the world. Minds active and vigorous, frequently retire to

avoid

*The love of Retirement (lays Dr. JOHNSON) has in all ages adhered closely to those minds which have been moft enlarged or elevated by genius. Those who enjoyed every thing * generally fuppofed to confer happiness, have been found to feek it in the shades of privacy. Though they poffeffed both power and riches, and were therefore furrounded by men who confidered it as their chief intereft to remove from them every thing that might offend their ease, or interrupt their pleasures, they have found themfelves unable to purfue the race of life without frequent refpirations of intermediate SOLITUDE. Nor will greatness or abundance exempt him from the importunities of this defire, fince, if he is born to think, he cannot restrain himfelf from a thousand inquiries and fpeculations, which he muft pursue by his own reason, and which the splendor of his condition can only hinder; for those who are most exalted above dependence or controul, are yet condemned to pay fo large a tribute of their time to ceremony and popularity, that, according to the Greek proverb, "No man in the houfe is more a flave than the master of it."

avoid the clogs and incumbrances by which the tumults and engagements of society distract and impede the free and full enjoyment of their faculties. The bafis, indeed, of every inclination to Solitude is the love of liberty, either mental or corporeal; a freedom from all constraint and interruption: but the form in which the inclination displays itself, varies according to the character and circumftances of the individual.

Men who are engaged in pursuits foreign to the natural inclination of their minds, figh continually for Retirement, as the only means of recruiting their fatigued fpirits, and procuring a comfortable repofe. Scenes of tranquillity can alone afford them any idea of enjoyment. A refined sense of duty, indeed, frequently induces noble minds to facrifice all perfonal pleasure to the great interefts of the public, or the private benefits of their fellow-creatures; and they refift every opposing obstacle with courage, and bear every adversity with fortitude, under those cheering fentiments, and proud delights, which refult from the pursuits of active charity and benevolence, even though their career be thwarted by thofe whofe advantages they defign to promote. The exhilarating idea of being inftrumental in affording relief to fuffering humanity,

2

humanity, reconciles every difficulty, however great; prompts to new exertions, however fruitlefs; and fuftains them in those arduous conflicts, in which all who aspire to promote the intereft, and improve the happiness of mankind, muft occafionally engage, especially when opposed by the pride and profligacy of the rich and great, and. the obftinacy and caprice of the ignorant and unfeeling. But the most virtuous and steady minds cannot always bear up against " a sea of troubles, or, by oppofing, end them;" and, depreffed by temporary adverfities, will arraign the cruelty of their condition, and figh for the shades of peace and tranquillity. How transcendent muft be the enjoyment of a great and good Minister, who, after having anxiously attended to the important business of the state, and difengaged himfelf from the neceffary but irksome occupation of official detail, refreshes his mind in the calm of fome delightful retreat, with works of taste, and thoughts of fancy and imagination! A change, indeed, both of fcene and fentiment, is abfolutely neceffary, not only in the serious and important employments, but even in the common occupations and idle amufements of life. Pleasure springs from contraft. The most charming object lofes a portion of its power to delight by being continually beheld. Alternate Society and Solitude are necessary to the full en

joyment

joyment both of the pleasures of the world and the delights of Retirement. It is, however, afferted by the celebrated PASCAL, whose life was far from being inactive, that quietude is a beam of the original purity of our nature, and that the height of human happiness is in Solitude and tranquillity. Tranquillity, indeed, is the wish of all: the good, while pursuing the track of virtue; the great, while following the star of glory; and the little, while creeping in the styes of diffipation, figh for tranquillity, and make it the great object which they ultimately hope to attain. How anxiously does the failor, on the high and giddy maft, when rolling through tempeftuous feas, caft his eyes over the foaming billows, and anticipate the calm fecurity he hopes to enjoy when he reaches the wifh'd-for shore! Even kings grow weary of their splendid slavery, and nobles ficken under increafing dignities. All, in fhort, feel lefs delight in the actual enjoyment of worldly pursuits, however great and honourable they may be, than in the idea of their being able to relinquish them, and retire to

-Some calm fequefter'd spot;

"The world forgetting, by the world forgot." The restless and ambitious PYRRHUS* hoped that ease and tranquillity would be the ulti

VOL. II.

D

mate

PYRRHUS, the celebrated fovereign of Epirus, was the defcendant of PYRRHUS, the son of Achilles and Deidamai, and

mate reward of his enterprifing conquefts. FREDERICK THE GREAT difcovered, perhaps unintentionally,

king of Scyros. While he was yet an infant in his nurse's arms, the chance of war deprived him at once of his father and his throne. Caffandra, king of Macedonia, eager to deftroy the infant prince, affailed the dwelling in which he was faid to have been placed; but his fond and faithful attendants, Androclides, and Angelus, on the first news of his father's fate, had conveyed him to a place of safety in the kingdom of Illyria, whofe fovereign, Glaucias, generously educated him as his own fon; and when he had arrived at the age of twelve years, placed him, by the power of his arms, on his native throne, Nurtured amidft the clang of hoftile arms, war appeared to be his fole delight; and he indulged his restless, enterprising difpofition in fucceffive and obftinate conflicts with the Macedonians, Tarrentines, and other neighbouring powers. On giving battle to the conful Lavinus, near Heraclea, he gained a complete victory; but the carnage was great, and almost equal numbers killed on each fide. "Alas!" exclaimed the conqueror, on viewing his furviving troops, "if I gain fuch another victory; I fhall return I fear almoft alone to Epirus!" Fond, however, as he appeared of war, he profeffed to follow it only to procure a folid and permanent peace; and he sent the philofopher Cineus for that purpose to Rome. The philofopher harangued the fenate on the subject of his miffion with an extraordinary degree of zeal and eloquence; but the Romans coolly and fagaciously replied, "If PYRRHUS really wishes for the friendship of the Roman people, let him first abdicate their dominions, and then the fincerity of his propofals of peace may gain fome credit." After a great variety of fortune, he laid fiege to Argos, and, by the treachery of Ariftius, entered the city; but having impru dently introduced his elephants, their courfe was impeded by the narrowness of the streets, and his troops thereby thrown into confufion. The guards who attended him, after having fought

for