South Branch Intelligencer

FORTUNE. -By JAMES Hogg.

I believe that no man with a very large fortune or estate, can be truly happy. It is a strange enigma, but it is true, that he feels no want of happiness in those very blessings which others covet. I believe that the nobleman is happier than his sovereign; I believe that the farmer is happier than his lord; and I believe that a truly virtuous servant is the happiest of all.

The principal reason for this seems to be, that what costs us dearest we are sure to estimate highest. We receive the choicest gifts of providence with indifference, unless they are obtained with difficulty: The sweetest dishes, the richest wines, the softest beds, cloy the appetite, unless they are attained with some difficulty-nay only cloy the appetite and fatigue the senses of him who can always procure them.

There is infinitely more enjoyment in that state in which relaxation is festivity, in which the coarsest food has the seasoning-and in this rests happiness.

Now. in that particular the poor man has greatly the advantage over the rich, who has no occasion and is under no obligation to labor.

He has certain stated periods after short intervals, at which his enjoyments return; and they are the sweeter, that he has labored to procure them. This is happiness that never cloys, which brings along with it its full measure of contentment, and which does not distract its possessor, either by a multitude of objects or by unsubstantial hopes. A man born to a large fortune has his relish for enjoyment corrupt from his infancy. He has no restraints on his pursuits after happiness, except those which convince him, at the same time, that it is not to be found. His extensive possessions only diminish hope, without supplying contentment. We ought, then, to deliberate calmly and seriously, whether it would add to our comforts to have every wish of our hearts gratified as soon as it was formed

Let us consult our reason and experience, and say whether disappointment in some things, and expectations in others, are not necessary ingredients in human happiness. The more that fortune places us above danger and want, the less qualified are we to enjoy her favors. Abundance may increase, but never can remove chagrin or disappointment; it even makes them intolerable in proportion as we might have avoided them; while the ease with which we may command enjoyment, opens to us endless prospects of pleasure which we can never realize.