'Well, Mr. John,' said a footman, addressing himself to the man
whose pocket I had just left, 'how fare you? Are you pretty
hearty? You look well, I am sure.' 'Aye, and so I am, replied
he. 'I never was better in all my life; I live comfortably, have
a good master and mistress, eat and drink bravely, and what can a
man wish for more? For my part I am quite contented, and if I do
but continue to enjoy my health, I am sure I shall be very
ungrateful not to be so.' 'That's true,' said the other, 'but the
misfortune of it is, people never know when they are well off, but
are apt to fret and wish and wish and fret, for something or other
all their lives, and so never have any enjoyment. Now for my own
part, I must needs confess, that I cannot help wishing I was a
gentleman, and think I should be a deal happier if I was.'
'Pshaw!' replied John, 'I don't like now to hear a man say so; it
looks as if you are discontented with the state in which you are
placed, and depend upon it, you are in the one that is fittest for
you, or you would not have been put into it. And as for being
happier if you were a gentleman, I don't know what to say to it.
To be sure, to have a little more money in one's pocket, nobody
can deny that it would be very agreeable; and to be at liberty to
come in and go out when one pleased, to be sure would be very
comfortable. But still, Bob, still you may assure yourself, that
no state in this world is free from care, and if we were turned
into lords, we should find many causes for uneasiness. So here's
your good health,' said he, lifting the mug to his mouth,
'wishing, my lad, you may be contented, cheerful, and good
humoured; for without these three requisites, content,
cheerfulness, and good humour, no one person upon earth, rich or
poor, old or young, can ever feel comfortable or happy; and so