, as at the hour of death, when all the
friendship in the world shall bid him adieu, and the whole creation
turns its back upon him, shall dismiss the soul and close his eyes with
that blessed sentence, 'Well done thou good and faithful servant, enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord.'

_On Contentment_.

SPECTATOR, No. 574.

1. I was once engaged in discourse with a Rosicrucian about the _great
secret_. As this kind of men (I mean those of them who are not professed
cheats) are over-run with enthusiasm and philosophy, it was very amusing
to hear this religious adept descanting on his pretended discovery. He
talked of the secret as of a spirit which lived within an emerald, and
converted every thing that was near it to the highest perfection it is
capable of.

2. It gives a lustre, says he, to the sun, and water to the diamond. It
irradiates every metal, and enriches lead with all the properties of
gold. It heightens smoke into flame, flame into light, and light into
glory. He further added, that a single ray of it dissipates pain, and
care, and melancholy, from the person on whom it falls. In short, says
he, its presence naturally changes every place into a kind of heaven.

3. After he had gone on for some time in this unintelligible cant, I
found that he jumbled natural and moral ideas together in the same
discourse, and that his great secret was nothing else but content.

4. This virtue does indeed produce, in some measure, all those effects
which the alchymist usually ascribes to what he calls the philosopher's
stone; and if it does not bring riches, it does the same thing, by
banishing the desire of them. If it cannot remove the disquietudes
arising out of a man's mind, body or fortune, it makes him easy under
them. It has indeed a kindly influence on the soul of man, in respect of
every thing to whom he stands related. It extinguishes all murmur,
repining and ingratitude towards that Being who has allotted him his
part to act in this world. It destroys all inordinate ambition, and
every tendency to corruption, with regard to the community wherein he is
placed. It gives sweetness to his conversation, and a perpetual serenity
to all his thoughts.

5. Among the many methods which might be made use of for the acquiring
of this virtue, I shall only mention the two following: First of all, a
man should always consider how much more unhappy he might be than he
really is.

6. First of all, a man should alwa