Sir William Trumbull on Plain Living and the Use of Riches

189 Germany. In this gradual expansion, the University of Göttingen was prominent. At first, anthologies were primarily conceived for the purposes of language teaching, as John Tompson’s important English Miscellanies (Göttingen, 1737), which went through several editions, illustrates . In contrast to Tompson’s anthology , where much space was given to the periodical essay, letters, and religious prose, Philip Pepin’s The Strains of the British Muses (Göttingen, 1779) contains only poetry (Dryden, Pope, Swift, Prior, Young, Addison, Gay, Thomson, and Goldsmith), and turns from the mainly didactic to the aesthetic . The 1790s anthologies indicated a growing interest in English literary history . In J. W. H. Nolte’s and C. L. Ideler ’s Handbuch der Englischen Sprache und Literatur (1796), which is based on an extensive concept of literature, the novel (Fielding, Smollett, Goldsmith, Richardson, and Sterne), is no longer ignored . Eighteenth-century English literature had found solid footing. Heinz-Joachim Müllenbrock University of Göttingen SIR WILLIAM TRUMBULL ON PLAIN LIVING AND THE USE OF RICHES Adrian Lashmore-Davies The following draft ‘‘essay’’ by Sir William Trumbull (1639–1716),1 eminent civil lawyer and former Secretary of State to William III, on plain living and the use of riches is written on the inside leaf of a letter from Sir William to his solicitor and trusted friend, William Dobyns, n.p. dated 4th August 1708, British Library, Add. ms. 72509, fols. 147v-148.2 I have been ye longer in answering yors o[f] ye 11th , bec.[ause] I hopd to send you word of my wifes being deliverd.3 Besides, I was once thinking of yor dispute wth my Ld T.4 upon this Qu.[estion] Whethr one may be Happy with out Riches or not: & p[er]haps might have told you ⬍my⬎ opinion. But since I considered how unfit a Judge I am in ye Case; Having had it long in my Inclina[ti]ōn, before I put it into Execution, to renounce ye Honour & Profit of all Pub.[lic] Imploymts, & consequently did so, when I was not onely pressed to stay in office, wth great offers of an ⬍an⬎ Additional Grants & othr Favours, But venturd all ye displeasure & censure of ye Court by forcing my way & (if I may use a Military Terme) Charging through all ye opposition yt was made to my Retirem[en]t .5 Neither do I mean any thing by Riches, but a Competency enjoyd by a Man Wise enough to be Content. And this to me seemes ye Way to Happiness; to yt degree; yt all ye Great & Learned Men o[f] most Ages (as far as my reading goes) have agreed upon this point, (in which my poor & shallow judgment has yet made me follow ym ) To place Wealth & true Riches in wanting Little, rathr yn in possessing much, & continually deserving more.6 It has ever been thought ye greatest Felicity of a reasonable Creature to subdue, if not wholly, yet to be able to be Master his Passions;7 nor by ye sensless Professions 190 o[f] ye Stoicks, who would & have a man be (or be thought) insensible, declare his Wisedom by contrary to Nature; But or, in othr words, That a Man run[n]ing to be Wise, should not be a Man.8 But by enjoying Peace & Tranquility o[f] Mind;9 Living wth out those desires or Feares, wch Passions raise; To live with a good deal of Ind[iffe]re to ye nce co Accid[en]ts o[f] Life, & wth Constancy upon ye greatest Turns fr m[m]on o[m] Chance or Providence;10 To place o[u]r greatest Pleasure in Temperance, bey[on]d all sensuall Excesses, To live wth out anxious Cares, or eager Hopes of w[ha]t is past, p[rese]nt or to come, & neithr to wish for Death nor be afraid of it.11 There would be no end in making such Co observa[ti] Therefore I conm [m]on ons. clude from hence, That Riches ca make us happy; If we judg according to n[n]ot o[u]r own opinion & not by other mens. ⬍For⬎ It is nothing ⬍without⬎ but something within us, & wch dwells within...