Page:Johnson - The Rambler 1.djvu/260

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252
THE RAMBLER.
N° 42.

hours with comfort, to lay up such a treasure of pleasing ideas, as shall support the expences of that time, which is to depend wholly upon the fund already acquired.

——— Petite hinc, juvenesque senesque
Finem animo certum, miserisque viatica canis.

Seek here, ye young, the anchor of your mind;

Here suff'ring age, a bless'd provision find.

Elphinston.

In youth, however unhappy, we solace ourselves with the hope of better fortune, and however vicious, appease our consciences with intentions of repentance; but the time comes at last, in which life has no more to promise, in which happiness can be drawn only from recollection, and virtue will be all that we can recollect with pleasure.




Numb. 42. Saturday, August 11, 1750.


Mihi tarda fluunt ingrataque tempora.

Hor

.
How heavily my time revolves along.

Elphinston.


To the RAMBLER.

Mr. Rambler,

I AM no great admirer of grave writings, and therefore very frequently lay your papers aside before I have read them through; yet I cannot but confess that, by slow degrees, you have raised my opinion of your understanding, and that, though I believe it will be long before I can be