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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: I compose myself to tranquillity; endeavour to abstract my thoughts
from hopes and cares which, though reason knows them to be vain,
still try to keep their old possession of the heart; expect, with
serene humility, that hour which nature cannot long delay, and hope
to possess in a better state that happiness which here I could not
find, and that virtue which here I have not attained."
He arose and went away, leaving his audience not much elated with
the hope of long life. The Prince consoled himself with remarking
that it was not reasonable to be disappointed by this account; for
age had never been considered as the season of felicity, and if it
was possible to be easy in decline and weakness, it was likely that
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