How much is man the creature of incidents!----The solitary student
becomes a Hypochondriac, a Misanthropist; the world seems to him a
prison, and its inhabitants a parcel of rogues and vagabonds; he no
longer views mankind with complacency, with a fellow feeling for their
infirmities and pity for their misfortunes, but considers them with the
severity of a Censor.----But let him emerge from his closet, let him
enter into the concerns of life and undergo the salutary agitation of
gentle exercise, while he beholds his neighbours industriously and
chearfully employed, and he becomes quite another man. If we now
penetrate his mind we find him no longer disturbed by imaginary evils,
or vexed with supposed injuries. He begins to view mankind as his
brethren, and fellow travellers; and feels a disposition to assist the
weary, and to recall the wanderer to the right path, with a friendly
commiseration for his errors. Scrupulosus was once a crabbed, morose
_sceptic_; he would believe nothing but what had undergone the ordeal of
his own reason, nor trust any man farther than he could see
him.--Necessity drove him into the busy world, and a concurrence of
events, placed him in the matrimonial state.--He now finds fewer
difficulties, than formerly, to encounter; and perceives that his
self-sufficiency, and conceit had involved many things in an
impenetrable mist.--Connections multiply, and a smiling progeny
surrounds him.---Scrupulosus, is no longer a cavilling sceptic---he is a
christian.
What a change is this! what a metamorphosis of characters! Neither is it
the fiction of imagination, but the delineation of what daily occurs in
real life.---The traveller is quite a different being from the sedentary
man, because he is active, and constantly excited by a variety of
objects.
Our ideas of the Almighty, are not less influenced by the circumstances
which surround us. Behold the torpid monk, seeking the favour of a God
of vengeance, by the rigours of an austere life. On the other hand, see
the chearful friend of man, addressing the father of his
fellow-creatures, with a heart full of love and gratitude, and a lively
hope of his favour and protection. Such, then, is the penalty imposed on
immoderate study, and thus the solitary pursuit of knowledge, when
excessive, will entirely frustrate our expectations, and destroy the
health of both body and mind.