...Fontenelle. His choice is approved by the eloquent historian of Nature, who fixes our moral happiness to the mature season, in which our passions are supposed to be calmed, our duties fullfilled, our ambition satisfied, our fame and fortune established on a solid basis. ... I am far...

...Fontenelle. His choice is approved by the eloquent historian of nature, who fixes our moral happiness to the mature season in which our passions are supposed...our fame and fortune established on a solid basis. In private conversation, that great and amiable man added the weight of his own experience; and this...

...neither know nor see." — Book xiii. chap. i. passions are supposed to be calmed, our duties fullfilled, our ambition satisfied, our fame and fortune established on a solid basis." I am far more inclined to embrace than to dispute this comfortable doctrine: I will not suppose any...