The New Hampshire Gazette

HAPPINESS

adroitly deceived, perhaps no order in society merits congratulation more, than that cajoled cluster of "good easy men," whom knaves call dupes. Amadis de Gaul, or any other knight errant of old romance most cordially curses the malignant enchanter, who by the touch of a talisman, causes the gorgeous castle to dwindle to a cot or the wrinkle of a witch to mar the brow of peerless damsel. The dupe, whom the unreflecting "million" too often deride for being gulled, would have equal reason to upbraid that impertinent and pretended friend, who, in the game of human artifice, should stand behind his chair, and incessantly tell him, that he was cheated. Although, I cannot agree with that eccentric orator, who harangued in praise of Ignorance; although, I cannot print paradoxes, like Rousseau's pronouncing the arts and sciences useless, and barbarism a blessing, yet I would fervently implore those gamesome genii, who delight in the mockery of mortals, that they would never unblind from my eyes, that fillet, which conceals from their view the foibles of the friend I respect, and the frailties of the woman I love. In life's pilgrimage, curiosity must be sparingly indulged; and, let dejection invade, we should not scarcely see, till less contemplate the deformities of ZAARA, or The Desert. One of the most amiable weaknesses, as the world calls them, in uncle Toby's character, as delineated by Sterne was, that you might cheat him ten times a day, if nine times were not sufficient for your purpose.

The author of Hudibras acknowledges, that Doubtless the pleasure is as great, Of being cheated, as to cheat; but I affirm that the satisfaction is greater, and that the dupe is happier than the knave. It is better to be the merry punch of the puppet show, than the master juggler, who comprehends the whole trick. How foolishly conducts that curious impertinent, who wears that the glittering crown of the theatric monarch is nothing but tinsel, and rushes behind the scenes to view the actors in an undress. The naked skeleton even of delight, to adopt a happy phrase of Dr. Johnson, is loathsome; and those inquisitive beings, who wish to survey every object stripped of its trappings, resemble children, who dash their gilded toys to pieces, to know what is inside.