[Illustration: 132]
If I was a king upon a throne this minute, an' I wanted to have a smoke
for myself by the fireside--why, if I was to do my best, what could I
smoke but one pen'orth of tobacco, in the night, after all?--but can't I
have that just as asy?
“If I was to have a bed with down feathers, what could I do but sleep
there?--and sure I can do that in the settle-bed above.”
Such is the very just and philosophical reflection of one of Griffin's
most amusing characters, in his inimitable story of “The Collegians”--a
reflection that naturally sets us a thinking, that if riches and
wealth cannot really increase a man's capacity for enjoyment with the
enjoyments themselves, their pursuit is, after all, but a poor and
barren object of even worldly happiness.
As it is perfectly evident that, so far as mere sensual gratifications
are concerned, the peer and the peasant stand pretty much on a level,
let us inquire for a moment in what the great superiority consists which
exalts and elevates one above the other? Now, without entering upon
that wild field for speculation that power (and what power equals that
conferred by wealth?) confers, and the train of ennobling sentiment
suggested by extended views of philanthropy and benevolence--for, in
this respect, it is perfectly possible the poor man has as amiable a
thrill at his heart in sharing his potato with a wandering beggar, as
the rich one has in contributing his thousand pounds' donation to some
great national charity--let us turn rather to the consideration of those
more tangible differences that leave their impress upon character, and
mould men's minds into a fashion so perfectly and thoroughly distinct.
To our thinking, then, the great superiority wealth confers lies in the
seclusion the rich man lives in From all the grosser agency of every-day
life--its make-shifts, its contrivances, its continued warfare of petty
provision and continual care, its unceasing effort to seem what it is
not, and to appear to the world in a garb, and after a manner, to which
it has no just pretension. The rich man knows nothing of all this: life,
to him, rolls on in measured tread; and the world, albeit the changes
of season and politics may affect him, has nothing to call forth any
unusual effort of his temper or his intellect; his life, like his
drawing-room, is arranged for him; he never sees it otherwise than in
trim order; with an internal consciousness that people must be engaged
in providing for his comforts at seasons when he is in bed or asleep, or
otherwise occupied, he gives himself no farther trouble about them; and,
in the monotony of his pleasures, attains to a tranquillity of mind the
most enviable and most happy.
Hence that perfect composure so conspicuous in the higher ranks, among
whom wealth is so generally diffused--hence that delightful simplicity
of manner, so captivating from its total absence of pretension
and affectation--hence that unbroken serenity that no chances or
disappointments would seem to interfere with; the knowledge that he is
of far too much consequence to be neglected or forgotten, supports
him on every occasion, and teaches that, when anything happens to his
inconvenience or discomfort, that it could not but be unavoidable.
Not so the poor man: his poverty is a shoe that pinches every hour of
the twenty-four; he may bear up from habit, from philosophy, against his
restricted means of enjoyment; he may accustom himself to limited and
narrow bounds of pleasure; he may teach himself that, when wetting his
lips with the cup of happiness, that he is not to drink to his liking of
it: but what he cannot acquire is that total absence of all forethought
for the minor cares of life, its provisions for the future, its changes
and contingencies;--hence he does not possess that easy and tranquil
temperament so captivating to all within its influence; he has none of
the careless _abandon_ of happiness, because even when happy he feels
how short-lived must be his pleasure, and what a price he must pay for
it. The thought of the future poisons the present, just as the dark
cloud that gathers round the mountain-top makes the sunlight upon the
plain seem cold and sickly.
All the poor man's pleasures have taken such time and care in their
preparation that they have lost their freshness ere they are tasted. The
cook has sipped so frequently at the pottage, he will not eat of it
when at table. The poor man sees life “en papillotes” before he sees
it “dressed.” The rich man sees it only in the resplendent blaze of
its beauty, glowing with all the attraction that art can lend it, and
wearing smiles put on for his own enjoyment. But if such be the case,
and if the rich man, from the very circumstance of his position, imbibe
habits and acquire a temperament possessing such charm and fascination,
does he surrender nothing for all this? Alas! and alas! how many of
the charities of life lie buried in the still waters of his apathetic
nature! How many of the warm feelings of his heart are chilled for
ever, for want of ground for their exercise! How can he sympathise who
has never suffered? how can he console who has never grieved! There is
nothing healthy in the placid mirror of that glassy lake; uncurled by
a breeze, unruffled by a breath of passion, it wants the wholesome
agitation of the breaking wave--the health-giving, bracing power of the
conflicting element that stirs the heart within, and nerves it for a
noble effort.
All that he has of good within him is cramped by _convenance_ and
fashion; for he who never feared the chance of fortune, trembles, with
a coward's dread, before the sneer of the world. The poor man, however,
only appeals to this test on a very different score. The “world” may
prescribe to him the fashion of his hat, or the colour of his coat--it
may dictate the locale of his residence, and the style of his household,
and he may, so far as in him lies, comply with a tyranny so absurd; but
with the free sentiments of his nature--his honest pride, his feeling
sympathy--with the open current of his warm affection he suffers no
interference: of this no man shall be the arbiter. If, then, the shoals
and quicksands of the world deprive him of that tranquil guise and
placid look--the enviable gift of richer men--he has, in requital,
the unrestricted use of those greater gifts that God has given him,
untrammelled by man's opinion, uncurbed by the control of “the world.”
Each supports a tyranny after his own kind:--The rich man--above
the dictates of fashion--subjects the thoughts of his mind and the
meditations of his heart to the world's rule.
The poor man--below it--keeps these for his prerogative, and has no
slavery save in form.
Happy the man who, amid all the seductions of wealth, and all the
blandishments of fortune, can keep his heart and mind in the healthy
exercise of its warm affections and its generous impulses. But still
happier he, whose wealth, the native purity of his heart--can limit his
desires to his means, and untrammelled by ambition, undeterred by fear
of failure, treads the lowly but peaceful path in life, neither aspiring
to be great, nor fearing to be humble.