CONTENTS The arts by which bad men are reconciled to themselves - Variety necessary to happiness. A winter scene The great rule of action. Debts of Justice to be distin- to a criticism on Milton's versification . 127 The conduct of patronage, an allegory The prevalence of curiosity. The character of Nugaculus 198 The original of flattery. The meanness of venal praise The vanity of an author's expectations. Reasons why good Tranquilla's account of her lovers opposed to Hymenæus - 288 The history of Almamoulin, the son of Nouradin - - 294 The dangers of imitation. The impropriety of imitating 321 The difficulty of defining comedy. Tragic and comic sen- The universality of cowardice. The impropriety of ex- Diligence too soon relaxed. Necessity of perseverance 333 Anxiety universal. The unhappiness of a wit and a fine No. 67. THE RAMBLER. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1750. Αἱ δ ̓ ἐλπίδες Βόσκεσι φυγάδας, ως λόγος, Exiles, the proverb says, subsist on Hope; THERE EURIP HERE is no temper so generally indulged as Hope other passions operate by starts on particular occasions, or in certain parts of life; but hope begins with the first power of comparing our actual with our possible state, and attends us through every stage and period, always urging us forward to new acquisitions, and holding out some distant blessing to our view; promising us either relief from pain, or increase of hap piness. Hope is necessary in every condition. The miseries of poverty, of sickness, of captivity, would, without this comfort, be insupportable; nor does it appear that the happiest lot of terrestrial existence can set us above the want of this general blessing; or that life, when the gifts of nature and of fortune are accumulated upon it, would not still be wretched, were it not elevated and delighted by the expectation of some new possession, of some enjoyment yet behind, by which the wish |