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ROMANCE AND REALITY.
171

but are we better or happier? It is true, where a former earl stepped upon rushes, I step upon a carpet; but comfort is a very conventional term; and what we have never had, at least we do not miss. We do not kill each other quite so much, but we cheat each other more; mortifications are more frequent than wants; and it does appear to me, that, in this change of rude into civilised life, we only exchange bodily evils for mental ones."

Edward Lorraine.—"But success in one effort inclines us to hope for success in another: the same powers which have so well remedied the ills of the physical world, may, when so applied, equally remedy those of the moral world. Hitherto, it seems to me, we have attended more to the means than to the end—we have accumulated rather than enjoyed. All the energies of the mind were devoted to necessity; but our house is now built and furnished, our grounds cultivated, ourselves clothed: our natural condition thus ameliorated, now is the time to enjoy our artificial one. We have provided for our comforts; let us now attend to our happiness;—let each man sedulously nurture those faculties of pleasure which exist both for himself and others. It is