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/449

 after happiness, is apparent from the clamorous complaints which are always to be heard; from the restless discontent, which is hourly to be observed; and from the incessant pursuit of new objects, which employ almost every moment of every man's life. For a desire of change is a sufficient proof, that we are dissatisfied with our present state; and evidently shows, that we feel some pain which we desire to avoid, or miss some enjoyment which we wish to possess.

The true cause of this general disgust, an unprejudiced and attentive survey of the world will not long fail of discovering. It will easily appear, that men fail to gain what they so much desire, because they seek it where it is not to be found, because they suffer themselves to be dazzled by specious appearances, resign themselves up to the direction of their passions, and, when one pursuit has failed of affording them that satisfaction which they expected from it, apply themselves with the same ardour to another equally unprofitable, and waste their lives in successive delusions, in idle schemes of imaginary enjoyment; in the chase of shadows which fleet before them, and in attempts to grasp a bubble, which, however it may attract the eye by the brightness of its colour, is neither solid nor lasting, but owes its beauty only to its distance, and is no sooner touched than it disappears.

As men differ in age or disposition, they are exposed to different delusions in this important inquiry. The young and the gay imagine happiness to consist in show, in merriment and noise, or in a constant succession of amusements, or in the gratification of their appetites, and the frequent repetition of sensual pleasures. Instead of founding happiness on the solid basis of reason and reflection, they raise an airy fabrick of momentary satisfaction, which is perpetually decaying, and perpetually to be repaired. They pleased themselves, not with thinking justly, but with avoiding to think at all, with a suspense of all the operations of their intellectual faculties, which defends them from remembrance of the past, or anticipa