There is nothing men are so anxious to preserve, or so careless about, as life.
We are afraid of old age, and afraid not to attain it.
If some men died, and others did not, death would indeed be a terrible affliction.
There are but three events that happen to men—birth, life, and death. They know nothing of their birth, suffer when they die, and forget to live.
Gilles Ménage, a French philologist, is now best known as the Author of Ménagiana, one of the most excellent and original of the celebrated Ana of France. The following poem bears a remarkable resemblance to Goldsmith’s Madame Blaize, and it is quite possible that the latter may have been suggested by it.