"The contact of society is necessary for the nurture and
preservation of the generous feelings implanted in us by the Great
Spirit."
In the system I inaugurated, where every man pursued his occupation with
enthusiastic delight, because he was engaged in that for which nature
and education had fitted him, it became necessary to enjoin recreation
and amusement as a duty, particularly in the case of learned men, whose
attention was concentrated on one particular subject.
Before my reign learned men had been sometimes prone to seclude
themselves from the world, while the opulent indulged in amusements to
excess, and had indeed need of laws rather to restrain than to enjoin
indulgence. Now, however, few, except the "humble" classes (for we have
no "poor" in your sense of the word), would have sought after diversions
had not my laws enjoined them as a duty.
As regards learned men, I knew that if one part of the brain was unduly
excited and overworked, the other portions would lie dormant and suffer.
All classes therefore were required to "undergo" amusements, and many
were the precepts to encourage them in the pursuit. I added to these the
force of my own example; for, though occupied incessantly with the cares
of government and with abstruse meditations, I nevertheless attended
amusements of all kinds, and often gave fêtes of great beauty and
magnificence for the recreation of the people. I was a frequent
attendant at places of amusement, public games, and races, and refreshed
myself almost daily with the sympathetic contact of the numerous society
which my hospitality brought round my table.
When my laws on the subject of social intercourse were first promulgated
there were many wise men who questioned the wisdom of my requiring the
learned to cultivate social relations. These addressed to me many
arguments in support of their views and objected that, without having
their thoughts interrupted by the clang of society, simple changes of
subject, or at least the simplest distractions, would amply suffice to
give the necessary repose. I always encouraged the learned to
communicate to me their opinions, to which I invariably listened with
attention; and in this case the arguments they adduced in support of
their views were so plausible that I resolved to convince them by an
actual experiment.
To satisfy them, and confirm the belief of others, I allowed the chief
opponents of my doctrines to select ten learned men who desired to
pursue their own idea of seclusion, and ten others were selected by me
from those who were converts to my views in matters of recreation and
amusement. The twenty men thus selected were, as nearly as possible,
equal in point of talent, and were all engaged on the same engrossing
subject--one which required great concentration of thought. The utmost
care was taken that the experiment might be fairly and conclusively
tried.
The result of this experiment, which extended over many years, proved
indisputably that I was right; for whilst the productions of the
"amusing and amused" men were equal in all, and in many respects
superior to, those of the "seclusionists," the latter showed visible
marks of the evils of their abstinence.
After a few years their indifference for the world had grown into
positive misanthropy. They refused to receive any visits, became
negligent of their personal appearance, and centred their whole
affection upon the object of their study.
Among those who had lived in seclusion seven out of the ten had lost
their hair and the freshness of their complexion, both of which with us
are highly valued. They were very sallow, and their figures betrayed the
incipient decrepitude of old age, though for our world they were but in
the prime of life, if not of early manhood. Besides which they had
formed contracted notions on many subjects, some of them being what is
called eccentric.
On the other hand, the collected works of the ten men who had profited
by contact with the world and its amusements were equal in all respects,
and indeed superior in some, to those of the "seclusionists." They were
for the most part large and liberal minded. There was but one who might
be called narrow-minded and eccentric, but his exceptional state was
greatly owing to the fact that the origin of this tendency had not been
attended to in childhood. He had, indeed, been educated under the old
system and consequently before the establishment of the office of
Character-divers. This man was the only one who was subject, though
partially, to the physical accidents which had affected the
"Seclusionists." The remaining nine "Society-sympathisers" remained
fresh, vigorous, and gay.
What, however, satisfied my wise men the most was, that the works of the
learned men who had lived in contact with the world were actually in
many respects superior to the works of the Seclusionists, although these
also were more than remarkable.
In requiring learned men to mix with the world, I did not forbid
frequent solitude and retirement for meditation. I only objected to the
passion being indulged in to the exclusion of the refreshing sympathies
developed by a contact with society.
The result of the experiment I have referred to seemed to satisfy even
the ten Seclusionists, who at least changed their habits in obedience to
my law, The effects of the seclusion on some of the ten were, however,
not got rid of, until a certain time had elapsed, and, but for increased
knowledge of the malady of monomania, these effects on one of the ten
Seclusionists would have been even far more serious than they
fortunately proved to be.