Indeed, so universal is this desire,
that James Mill has argued that it was to prevent its indulgence
at the expense of society at large, that the expedient of
Government was originally invented. (2)
Indolence is equally degrading to individuals as to nations.
Sloth never made its mark in the world, and never will. Sloth
never climbed a hill, nor overcame a difficulty that it could
avoid. Indolence always failed in life, and always will. It is
in the nature of things that it should not succeed in anything.
It is a burden, an incumbrance, and a nuisance--always useless,
complaining, melancholy, and miserable.
Burton, in his quaint and curious, book--the only one, Johnson
says, that ever took him out of bed two hours sooner than he
wished to rise--describes the causes of Melancholy as hingeing
mainly on Idleness. "Idleness," he says, "is the bane of body and
mind, the nurse of naughtiness, the chief mother of all mischief,
one of the seven deadly sins, the devil's cushion, his pillow and
chief reposal.... An idle dog will be mangy; and how shall an
idle person escape? Idleness of the mind is much worse than that
of the body: wit, without employment, is a disease--the rust of
the soul, a plague, a hell itself. As in a standing pool, worms
and filthy creepers increase, so do evil and corrupt thoughts in
an idle person; the soul is contaminated.... Thus much I dare
boldly say: he or she that is idle, be they of what condition they
will, never so rich, so well allied, fortunate, happy--let them
have all things in abundance and felicity that heart can wish and
desire, all contentment--so long as he, or she, or they, are
idle, they shall never be pleased, never well in body or mind, but
weary still, sickly still, vexed still, loathing still, weeping,
sighing, grieving, suspecting, offended with the world, with every
object, wishing themselves gone or dead, or else carried away with
some foolish phantasie or other.
Pages:
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130