Then he went go to her sister and bade bid her good-bye too .

He bade bid me observe it , and I should always find that the calamities of life were shared among the upper and lower part of mankind , but that the middle station had the fewest disasters , and was not exposed to so many vicissitudes as the higher or lower part of mankind ; nay , they were not subjected to so many distempers and uneasinesses , either of body or mind , as those were who , by vicious living , luxury , and extravagances on the one hand , or by hard labour , want of necessaries , and mean or insufficient diet on the other hand , bring distemper upon themselves by the natural consequences of their way of living ; that the middle station of life was calculated for all kind of virtue and all kind of enjoyments ; that peace and plenty were the handmaids of a middle fortune ; that temperance , moderation , quietness , health , society , all agreeable diversions , and all desirable pleasures , were the blessings attending the middle station of life ; that this way men went silently and smoothly through the world , and comfortably out of it , not embarrassed with the labours of the hands or of the head , not sold to a life of slavery for daily bread , nor harassed with perplexed circumstances , which rob the soul of peace and the body of rest , nor enraged with the passion of envy , or the secret burning lust of ambition for great things ; but , in easy circumstances , sliding gently through the world , and sensibly tasting the sweets of living , without the bitter ; feeling that they are happy , and learning by every day ’s experience to know it more sensibly .