Page:The Works of Samuel Johnson ... A journey to the Hebrides. The vision of Theodore, the hermit of Teneriffe. The fountains. Prayers and meditations. Sermons.v. 10-11. Parliamentary debates.pdf/429



"I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit." i. 14.

That all human actions terminate in vanity, and all human hopes will end in vexation, is a position, from which nature withholds our credulity, and which our fondness for the present life, and worldly enjoyments, disposes us to doubt, however forcibly it may be urged upon us, by reason or experience.

Every man will readily enough confess, that his own condition discontents him; and that he has not yet been able, with all his labour, to make happiness, or, with all his inquiries, to find it. But he still thinks, it is somewhere to be found, or by some means to be procured. His envy sometimes persuades him to imagine, that others possess it; and his ambition points the way, by which he supposes that he shall reach, at last, the station to which it is annexed. Every one wants something to happiness; and when he has gained what he first wanted, he wants something else; he wears out life in efforts and pursuits, and perhaps dies, regretting that he must leave the world, when he is about to enjoy it.

So great is our interest, or so great we think it, to believe ourselves able to procure our own happiness, that experience never convinces us of our impotence; and, indeed, our miscarriages might be reasonably enough imputed by us, to our own unskilfulncss, or ignorance; if we were able to derive intelligence from no experience but our own. But surely we may be content to credit the general voice of mankind, complaining incessantly of general infelicity: and when we see the restlessness of the young, and peevishness of the old; when we find the daring and the active combating misery, and the calm