Page:Johnson - Rambler 2.djvu/301

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N° 104.
THE RAMBLER.
293

by great numbers as one that has their fame and their happiness in his power, and no man can much love him of whom he lives in fear.

Thus has an intention, innocent at first, if not laudable, the intention of regulating his own behaviour by the experience of others, by an accidental declension of minuteness, betrayed Nugaculus, not only to a foolish, but vicious waste of a life which might have been honourably passed in publick services or domestick virtues. He has lost his original intention, and given up his mind to employments that engross, but do not improve it.



Numb. 104. Saturday. March 16, 1751.

———Nihil est quod credere de se
Non possit.
————

Juvenal.

 None e'er rejects hyperboles of praise

THE apparent insufficiency of every individual to his own happiness or safety, compels us to seek from one another assistance and support. The necessity of joint efforts for the execution of any great or extensive design, the variety of powers disseminated in the species, and the proportion between the defects and excellencies of different persons, demand an interchange of help and communication of intelligence, and by frequent reciprocations of beneficence unite mankind in society and friendship.

If it can be imagined that there ever was a time when the inhabitants of any country were in a state