his Extravagancies: but old people devote themselves to their Humour as if it was a virtue; and take pleasure in their own defects, because they carry a false resemblance of the most commendable qualities. In effect, as they grow more difficult, they vainly imagine that they become more delicate. They take up an aversion to Pleasure, believing that they are justly opposing the current of Vice. A serious air passes with them for judgment; phlegm for wisdom: and hence proceeds that supercilious authority they allow them selves to censure every thing: Spleen supplying the place of indignation against sin; and Gravity of sufficiency.
The only sure remedy when we are come to this pass, is to consult our Reason in the intervals, when she is disengag'd from our humour; and to take a resolution to conceal our defects from the sight of the world. 'Tis all that our wisdom can do at this juncture to hide them, and it would be a superfluous labour to endeavour wholly to get clear of them. 'Tis at this point of our Life that we ought to assign some time between it and Death, and to chuse a convenient place to pass it in Devotion if possible, at least with Prudence; either with a devotion that gives us confidence, or with reason that promises us repose. When our Reason, which qualified us for the world, is, if I may use the expression, worn out with long using, a wise man forms another out of it to serve him in his Retreat, which of ridiculous fools, as we were growing in conversation, makes us truly wise in respect of our selves.
Of all the Retreats that a man can chuse when he is Old, I should infinitely prefer that of a Convent to all the rest, if their Rules were less severe. 'Tis certain that old age shuns a crowd, out of a nice and retired humour, that cannot endure to be either importun'd or tired; and yet it avoids solitude
