[24] Ecclesiasticus, xxii., 8.
[25] Act iv., Sc. 2.
[26] Our greatest pleasure consists in being admired; but those who admire us, even if they have every reason to do so, are slow to express their sentiments. Hence he is the happiest man who, no matter how, manages sincerely to admire himself—so long as other people leave him alone.
[27] Milton. Lycidas.
[28] Epist. I. II.
The End
THE ESSAYS ON WOMEN AND OTHER THINGS
ON THE SUFFErINGS OF THE WOrLD
Unless suffering is the direct and immediate object of life, our existence must entirely fail of its aim. It is absurd to look upon the enormous amount of pain that abounds everywhere in the world, and originates in needs and necessities inseparable from life itself, as serving no purpose at all and the result of mere chance. Each separate misfortune, as it comes, seems, no doubt, to be something exceptional; but misfortune in general is the rule.