d with abstruse meditations, I nevertheless attended
amusements of all kinds, and often gave fetes of great beauty and
magnificence for the recreation of the people. I was a frequent
attendant at places of amusement, public games, and races, and refreshed
myself almost daily with the sympathetic contact of the numerous society
which my hospitality brought round my table.

When my laws on the subject of social intercourse were first promulgated
there were many wise men who questioned the wisdom of my requiring the
learned to cultivate social relations. These addressed to me many
arguments in support of their views and objected that, without having
their thoughts interrupted by the clang of society, simple changes of
subject, or at least the simplest distractions, would amply suffice to
give the necessary repose. I always encouraged the learned to
communicate to me their opinions, to which I invariably listened with
attention; and in this case the arguments they adduced in support of
their views were so plausible that I resolved to convince them by an
actual experiment.

To satisfy them, and confirm the belief of others, I allowed the chief
opponents of my doctrines to select ten learned men who desired to
pursue their own idea of seclusion, and ten others were selected by me
from those who were converts to my views in matters of recreation and
amusement. The twenty men thus selected were, as nearly as possible,
equal in point of talent, and were all engaged on the same engrossing
subject--one which required great concentration of thought. The utmost
care was taken that the experiment might be fairly and conclusively
tried.

The result of this experiment, which extended over many years, proved
indisputably that I was right; for whilst the productions of the
"amusing and amused" men were equal in all, and in many respects
superior to, those of the "seclusionists," the latter showed visible
marks of the evils of their abstinence.

After a few years their indifference for the world had grown into
positive misanthropy. They refused to receive any visits, became
negligent of their personal appearance, and centred their whole
affection upon the object of their study.

Among those who had lived in seclusion seven out of the ten had lost
their hair and the freshness of their complexion, both of which with us
are highly valued. They were very sallow, and their figures betrayed the
incipient decrepitude of old age, though for