"And yet there are sadder things in life than that," returned the
other. "Short as our time is, there is no man, whether it be here
among this multitude or elsewhere, who is so happy, as not to have
felt the wish I will not say once, but full many a time-that he were
dead rather than alive. Calamities fall upon us; sicknesses vex and
harass us, and make life, short though it be, to appear long. So
death, through the wretchedness of our life, is a most sweet refuge
to our race: and God, who gives us the tastes that we enjoy of
pleasant times, is seen, in his very gift, to be envious.”