"_Make them like unto a wheel_," is a bitter sarcasm, as all the learned know, against the _grand tour_, and that restless spirit for making it, which _David_ prophetically foresaw would haunt the children of men in the latter days; and therefore, as thinketh the great bishop _Hall_, 'tis one of the severest imprecations which _David_ ever utter'd against the enemies of the Lord--and, as if he had said, "I wish them no worse luck than always to be rolling about" --So much motion, continues he (for he was very corpulent)--is so much unquietness; and so much of rest, by the same analogy, is so much of heaven.
Now, I (being very thin) think differently; and that so much of motion, is so much of life, and so much of joy----and that to stand still, or get on but slowly, is death and the devil----
Hollo! Ho! ----the whole world's asleep! ----bring out the horses----grease the wheels--tie on the mail----and drive a nail into that moulding ----I'll not lose a moment----
Now the wheel we are talking of, and _whereinto_ (but not _whereunto_, for that would make an Ixion's wheel of it) he curseth his enemies, according to the bishop's habit of body, should certainly be a post-chaise wheel, whether they were set up in _Palestine_ at that time or not----and my wheel, for the contrary reasons, must as certainly be a cart-wheel groaning round its revolution once in an age; and of which sort, were I to turn commentator, I should make no scruple to affirm, they had great store in that hilly country.
I love the Pythagoreans (much more than ever I dare tell my dear _Jenny_) for their " , "---- [their] "_getting out of the body, in order to think well_." No man thinks right, whilst he is in it; blinded as he must be, with his congenial humours, and drawn differently aside, as the bishop and myself have been, with too lax or too tense a fibre ----REASON is, half of it, SENSE; and the measure of heaven itself is but the measure of our present appetites and concoctions----
----But which of the two, in the present case, do you think to be mostly in the wrong?
You, certainly: quoth she, to disturb a whole family so early.
'Make them like unto a wheel' is a bitter sarcasm, as all the learned know, against the grand tour, and the restless spirit for making it, which David foresaw would haunt the children of men; and therefore, (thinks the great bishop Hall), 'tis one of the severest imprecations which David ever uttered against the enemies of the Lord. For motion, says he, is unquietness; and rest is heavenly.
Now, I think differently; that motion is so much of life, and joy - and that to stand still, or move slowly, is death and the devil-
Hollo! the whole world's asleep! - bring out the horses - grease the wheels - tie on the mail - I'll not lose a moment-
Now the wheel we are talking of, with which he curseth his enemies, should certainly be a post-chaise wheel, whether they had them in Palestine at that time or not - and my wheel must as certainly be a cart-wheel groaning round once in an age; and of which I dare say they had great store in that hilly country.
I love the Pythagoreans (much more than ever I dare tell my dear Jenny) for their 'getting out of the body, in order to think well.' No man thinks right, whilst he is in it; blinded as he must be, with his humours, and either too lax or too tense. - Reason is half Sensation; and the measure of heaven itself is but the measure of our present appetites-
- But which of the two do you think to be mostly in the wrong?
'You, certainly,' quoth she, 'to disturb a whole family so early.'
Book 7 - Chapter 13