sickness has been bribed into banishment, life has been invested with new charms, and death deprived of its former terrors.  Nor have the affections been less gratified than the wants, appetites, and ambitions of mankind.  By the conjurations of the same potent spell, kindred have lavished anticipated benefits upon one another, and charity upon all.  Let it be termed a delusion,—­a fool’s Paradise is better than the wise man’s Tartarus; be it branded as an ignis-fatuus,—­it was at least a benevolent one, which, instead of beguiling its followers into swamps, caverns, and pitfalls, allured them on with all the blandishments of enchantment to a garden of Eden, an ever-blooming Elysium of delight.  True, the pleasures it bestowed were evanescent:  but which of our joys are permanent? and who so inexperienced as not to know that anticipation is always of higher relish than reality, which strikes a balance both in our sufferings and enjoyments?  “The fear of ill exceeds the ill we fear”; and fruition, in the same proportion, invariably falls short of hope.  “Men are but children of a larger growth,” who may amuse themselves for a long time in gazing at the reflection of the moon in the water; but, if they jump in to grasp it, they may grope forever, and only get the farther from their object.  He is the wisest who keeps feeding upon the future, and refrains as long as possible from undeceiving himself by converting his pleasant speculations into disagreeable certainties.

The true mental epicure always purchased his ticket early, and postponed inquiry into its fate to the last possible moment, during the whole of which intervening period he had an imaginary twenty thousand locked up in his desk:  and was not this well worth all the money?  Who would scruple to give twenty pounds interest for even the ideal enjoyment of as many thousands during two or three months? “Crede quod habes, et habes”; and the usufruct of such a capital is sorely not dear at such a price.  Some years ago, a gentleman, in passing along Cheapside, saw the figures 1,069, of which number he was the sole proprietor, flaming on the window of a lottery-office as a capital prize.  Somewhat flurried by this discovery, not less welcome than unexpected, he resolved to walk round St. Paul’s that he might consider in what way to communicate the happy tidings to his wife and family; but, upon repassing the shop, he observed that the number was altered to 10,069, and, upon inquiry, had the mortification to learn that his ticket was a blank, and had only been stuck up in the window by a mistake of the clerk.  This effectually calmed his agitation; but he always speaks of himself as having once possessed twenty thousand pounds, and maintains that his ten-minutes’ walk round St. Paul’s was worth ten times the purchase-money of the ticket.  A prize thus obtained has, moreover, this special advantage:  it is beyond the reach of fate; it cannot be squandered; bankruptcy cannot lay siege to it; friends cannot