Goldsmith has somewhat sarcastically lamented that the appetites of the
rich do not increase with their wealth; in like manner, it would be a
grievous thing could liberty be monopolized or scraped into heaps like
wealth; a petty tyrant may persecute and imprison thousands, but he cannot
thereby add one hour or inch to his own liberty.
Another and a very common loss of liberty is by pleasure and the love of
fame, especially by the slaves of fashion and the lovers of great place;
Whose lives are others' not their own.
Pleasure for the most part, consists in fits of anticipation; since, the
extra liberty or license of a debauch must be repaid by the iron fetters
of headache, and the heavy hand of _ennui_ on the following day: even
the purblind puppy of fashion will tell you, if you make free with your
constitution, you must suffer for it; and this by a species of slavery. To
dance attendance upon a great man for a small appointment, and to _boo_
your way through the world, belongs to the worst of servitude. Congreve
compares a levee at a great man's to a list of duns; and Shenstone still
more ill-naturedly says, "a courtier's dependant is a beggar's dog."
Making free, or taking liberties with your fortune, brings about the
slavery, if not the sin, of poverty; and to take a liberty with the wealth
of another is about as sure a road to slavery as picking pockets is to
house-breaking.
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