Things to be remembered in daily life : with personal experiences and recollections / by John Timbs.

  • Timbs, John, 1801-1875.
Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Things to be remembered in daily life : with personal experiences and recollections / by John Timbs. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    the cliief blessings of life, and are approacliing, by a rapid progress, that mortal bourn from whence no traveller re- turns,* How much of our time would be saved by the cultiva- tion of the habit of being content to be ignorant of certain subjects ! Nothing can be more beneficial to the mind than this habit; since it has thereby a more free and open access to matters of the highest importance. How much of our time is wasted in paying visits of insincerity! Boileau being one day visited by an indolent person of rank, who reproached him with not having re- turned his former call; You and I, replied the satirist, are upon unequal terms : I lose my time when I pay you a visit; you only get lid of yours when you pa}^ me one. One of the most familiar methods of taking note of time is by what are usually termed family jDarties. When these are given on public holidays, the eflPect is doubtless bene- ficial. Southey has well remarked : Festivals, when duly observed, attach men to the civil and religious institutions of their country: it is an evil, therefore, when they fall into disuse. They do more, — in reminding us of the fewer anniversaries we have to witness. Boyle has these wholesome reflections upon profuse talkers: he tells us that easiness of admitting all Kind of Company, provided men have boldness enough to intrude into ours, is one of the uneasiest Hardships (not to say Mai'tyrdoms) to which Custom has expos'd us, and does really do more Mischief than most Men take notice of; since it does not only keep impertinent Fools in coun- tenance, but encourages them to be very troublesome to Wise Men. The World is pester'd with a certain sort of Praters, who make up in Loudness what their Discourses want in Sense; and because Men are so easie natur'd as to allow the hearing to their Impertinencies, they presently presume that the things they speak are none ; and most Men are so little able to discern in Discourse betwixt Con- fidence and Wit, that to any that will but talk loud enough they will be sure to afibrd answers. And (which is worse) this readiness to hazard our Patience, and certainly lose our Time, and thereby incourage others to multiply idle * Brewster's Meditations/or the Aged.