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REGNARD’S JOURNEY TO LAPLAND. 153
we make at having nothing to do; every thing vexes us, company is troublefome, folit
tude frightful, light is difagreeable, darknefs diftrefling, exercife fatigues, repofe pro-
duces fleep, the whole world is odious to us, and we become at length infupportable to
ourfelves. ‘There is nothing which men of this defcription do not defire; and the high
opinion which they entertain of themfelves leads them to attempt every thing : ambition
makes them fuppofe all things poilible; but they want courage, and irrefolution {tops
them. The fuccefs of others, which is always in their view, ferves at one time to fo-
ment their vague defigns, and to excite their ambition; and at other times it expofes
them to the gnawings of jealoufy: they perceive with impatience the fuccefs of others ;
they with their debafement, becaufe they cannot rife to the fame level; and the deftruc-
tion of their fortune, becaufe they defpair of being able to acquire one equally good.
Thefe men conftantly cry up the cruelty of their fate, and complain of the infenfibility
of the age, and the depravation of human nature: they undertake diftant journies,
tear themfelves from their country, and feek climates warmed by another fun: at one
time they expofe themfelves to the tempeftuous ocean ; at another time, difgulted either
with its calm or its ftorms, they return once more to land: to-day the voluptuoufnefs
of Italy enchants them ; but no fooner do they arrive in that country than they figh
again for France, with all its delights. ‘* Let us leave the city,’ exclaims a man of
this defcription, ‘* where virtue is oppreffed, where vice and luxury reign, and of which
*¢ Tam unable to fuffer the noife.”” Immediately after he fays, ‘* Let us go back to the
€¢ city ; I languifh in folitude; man was not made to live with beafts; and it is a long
* time fince I heard the pleafing buftle which the confufion of a city excites.” A jour-
ney is no fooner finifhed than he undertakes another. In this manner, though always
flying from himfelf, he cannot avoid himfelf: he carries his inconftancy always about
with him; and the fource of his uneafinefs is in himfelf, without being confcious of it.
JOURNEY TO LAPLAND.
Travevuince has its toils as well as its pleafures ; but the fatigue which we experi-
ence, far from difgufting us, generally increafes our defire of travelling. This paflion,
irritated by obftacles, engages us infenfibly to go farther than we intended; and when
we fometimes fet out for the purpofe of vifiting Holland, we find ourfelyes, we know not
how, at the end of the world. ‘This circumftance, Sir, has actually happened to me.
I underftood at Amfterdam that the court of Denmark was at Oldenburg, which is
only three days’ journey diftant from that place; and if I had not gone thither to fee it,
I fhould either have difplayed very little curiofity, or confiderable contempt for that
court. I therefore fet out for Oldenburg ; but Fortune, who wifhed to take me {till
farther, fo ordained that the King had departed two days before my arrival. I was
told that I fhould find him at Altona, which is only at the diftance of a mufket-fhot from
Hamburg. I believed myfelf bound in honour to follow my defign, and to travel two
or three days’ journey farther, in order to enjoy the fight which I wifhed. Befides,
Hamburg isa Hanfeatic town, famous for its commerce with the whole world, and re-
fpectable on account of its fortifications and its government. I fhould have found at
Altona the Danifh court; but I only found a part of what I wifhed to fee: I only faw
the Queen-mother and Prince George her fon, who were going to the waters of Pyr-
mont. I vifited Hamburg, which pleafed me highly: and after having gone fo far to
fee the King, I thonght that I was bound to vifit him in his capital city, where I was fure
to find him. JI fet out for Copenhagen: the ambaflador prefented me to the King,
VOL. I. x an
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