Gazette Of The United States

THE TABLET.

No. CXLIV.

"It is fancy, not the reason of things, that makes life so uneasy to us as we find it."

I CAN think of no rule that will determine, whether the evil or the good we anticipate, be most likely to turn out differently from what we expected. The imagination is equally apt to exaggerate in both cases. Excess of fear and anxiety is not less common, or less foolish, than the contrary extremes of hope and complacency. We are so much controlled by fancy, and whirled about by passion, that it is difficult to acquire an habit, of viewing things according to their real character, or of regulating our hopes and fears by any rational standard. Though I am not of the opinion, that disappointed hopes are a source of so much pain, as to balance the pleasure resulting from the indulgence of such hopes, I nevertheless think that barely to escape the evils we have dreaded is no compensation for having cherished needless, and anxious fears. We are, as has been before observed, alike liable to meet with disappointment when we are swayed by fancy, either as to objects of good or evil. The impulses of hope are so lively and constant, that though they are frequently fallacious, they still return with fresh vigour and delight. So that upon the whole, we may reckon hope as a precious source of felicity. Nor do I conceive it very detrimental to happiness, to give wing to the imagination in looking for the enjoyment of objects which we may never attain. The only restriction in this case, is that we do not suffer ourselves to be so much elevated with alluring prospects, as to neglect ordinary duties, and to despise ordinary occurrences. A sacred regard to support a clear conscience, and a fair character, will restrain the pernicious effects of hope, and make it the source of much delight, intermingled with little inconvenience.

But it is far otherwise with respect to fear. This passion, though implanted as a natural guard or forewarner against the various hurtful incidents to which we are exposed, becomes a monstrous enemy to happiness, when we surrender it to fancy. If there be any case, in which reason should eminently assume a sway over the passions, it is in moderating the excess of a fearful, anxious disposition. Ill health, loss of friends, and a thousand other misfortunes are apt to give a gloomy cast to the mind, and force it into an habit of cherishing imaginary evils. By this means, a fixed melancholy ensues, and a disrelish for the innocent enjoyments of life. We are thus deprived of those gratifications which providence puts in our way, and become the slaves of a servile passion. In this view of the subject, we can perceive the necessity of examining the reason of things, when fancy suggests any circumstance that excites fearful apprehensions. It is true, that it may be desirable, to have a right view of objects, when hope is stimulating us to action, but an error in this case is far less pernicious than an excessive and unreasonable degree of fear. For as evil is as uncertain as good, it is more eligible to hope too much of the one, than to fear too much of the other.