But then again, as we should all of us be men of great judgment, we
should make up matters as fast as ever they went wrong; and though we
should abominate each other ten times worse than so many devils or
devilesses, we should nevertheless, my dear creatures, be all courtesy
and kindness, milk and honey--’twould be a second land of promise--a
paradise upon earth, if there was such a thing to be had--so that upon
the whole we should have done well enough.
All I fret and fume at, and what most distresses my invention at
present, is how to bring the point itself to bear; for as your worships
well know, that of these heavenly emanations of _wit_ and _judgment_,
which I have so bountifully wished both for your worships and
myself--there is but a certain _quantum_ stored up for us all, for the
use and behoof of the whole race of mankind; and such small _modicums_
of ’em are only sent forth into this wide world, circulating here and
there in one bye corner or another--and in such narrow streams, and at
such prodigious intervals from each other, that one would wonder how it
holds out, or could be sufficient for the wants and emergencies of so
many great estates, and populous empires.
Indeed there is one thing to be considered, that in _Nova Zembla_,
_North Lapland_, and in all those cold and dreary tracts of the globe,
which lie more directly under the arctick and antarctick circles, where
the whole province of a man’s concernments lies for near nine months
together within the narrow compass of his cave--where the spirits are
compressed almost to nothing--and where the passions of a man, with
everything which belongs to them, are as frigid as the zone
itself--there the least quantity of _judgment_ imaginable does the
business--and of _wit_----there is a total and an absolute saving--for
as not one spark is wanted--so not one spark is given. Angels and
ministers of grace defend us! what a dismal thing would it have been to
have governed a kingdom, to have fought a battle, or made a treaty, or
run a match, or wrote a book, or got a child, or held a provincial
chapter there, with so _plentiful a lack_ of wit and judgment about us!
For mercy’s sake, let us think no more about it, but travel on as fast
as we can southwards into _Norway_--crossing over _Swedeland_, if you
please, through the small triangular province of _Angermania_ to the
lake of _Bothnia_; coasting along it through east and west _Bothnia_,
down to _Carelia_, and so on, through all those states and provinces
which border upon the far side of the _Gulf of Finland_, and the
north-east of the _Baltick_, up to _Petersbourg_, and just stepping into
_Ingria_; --then stretching over directly from thence through the north
parts of the _Russian_ empire--leaving _Siberia_ a little upon the left
hand, till we got into the very heart of _Russian_ and _Asiatick
Tartary_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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