N° 31 .
THE GUARDIAN
179
to make our happineſs wholly depend upon another perfon ; a truſt for which no human
creature, however excellent, can poſſibly give us a ſufficient ſecurity. The man therefore who would be truly hap py, muſt, beſides an habitual virtue, attain to
ſuch a · ſtrength of mind,' as to confine his hap pineſs within himſelf, and keep it from being dependent upon others .
A man of this make
will perform all thoſe good-natured offices that could have been expected from the moſt bleeding
pity, without being ſo far affected at the com mon misfortunes of human life, as to diſturb his
own repoſe. His actions of this kind are ſo much more meritorious than another's, as they
flow purely from a principle of virtue, and a ſenſe of his duty ; whereas a man ofa fofter tem per, even while he is aſſiſting another, may in fome meaſure be faid to be relieving himſelf. A man endowed with that ſtrength of mind
I am here fpeaking of, tho’ he leaves it to his friend or miſtreſs to make him ftill more happy,
does not put it in the power of either to make him miferable.
From what has been already faid it will alſo appear that nothing can be more weak than to
place our happineſs in the applauſe of others, lince by this means we make it wholly indepen dent of ourſelves. People of this humour, who
place their chief felicity in reputation and ap plauſe, are alſo extremely ſubject to envy , the moſt painful as well as the moſt abfurd of all paſſions.
The fureſt means to attain that ſtrength of N 2
