world he lived in were material phenomena, generated by natural forces out of cosmic atoms, and into atoms to be again resolved.”

p. 51

p. 52

Next I am going, as I promised, to consider those indulgences which become luxuries by excessive use, and in this I shall be led also to consider the effects of luxury. It has become a very trite saying that riches do not bring happiness; and certainly luxury, which riches can command, does not bring content, which is the greatest of all pleasures. On the contrary, the moment the body or mind is over-indulged in any way, it immediately demands more of the same indulgence, and even in stronger doses. Who does not know that too much wine makes one desire more? Who, after reading a novel, does not feel a longing for another?

The rich and poor dog, as we all know, meet and discourse of these things in Burns’s poem—

CONTENTS

“Frae morn to e’en it’s naught but toiling At baking, roasting, frying, boiling, An’, tho’ the gentry first are stechin, Yet e’en the hall folk fill their pechan With sauce, ragouts, and sic like trashtrie, That’s little short of downright wastrie. An’ what poor cot-folk pit their painch in I own it’s past my comprehension.”

p. 53To which Luath replies—

p. 53

CONTENTS

“They’re maistly wonderful contented.”

Cæsar afterwards describes the weariness and ennui which pursue the luxurious—

CONTENTS

“But human bodies are sic fools, For all their colleges and schools, That, when nae real ills perplex ’em, They make enow themselves to vex ’em. They loiter, lounging lank and lazy, Though nothing ails them, yet uneasy. Their days insipid, dull, and tasteless; Their nights unquiet, lang, and restless, An’ e’en their sports, their balls and races, Their gallopin’ through public places, There’s sic parade, sic pomp, an’ art, The joy can scarcely reach the heart.”

 Prev. P 36/92 next