Page:A Discourse of Constancy in Two Books Chiefly containing Consolations Against Publick Evils.pdf/172

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Chap. 3.
of Conſtancy.
151

stupid, or rather so dead, that I should cloyster up, and (as it were) bury my self in these Garden shades: For even in these retirements, I find business, and my Mind doth here meet with something which it may performe without action. I am never less alone than when alone (said one;) nor ever less at leisure than when so. An excellent saying, and which I dare affirm had its birth in such Gardens as these, which are intended for the Mind, not the Body; to recreate that, not to dissolve and soften this; and for a safe retreat both from Company and Cares. Is company troublesome? Here you shall be with your self: Have employments exhausted your Spirits? Here they shall be repayr'd, where the Mind shall be refresh'd with its proper food of quiet, and where from this purer air, you shall have as it were the inspiration of a new life. If you look therefore upon the ancient Sages, they dwelt

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