: ^ ; Jfll: \# O v , o « » s\ V **. V * * • °* *c* and P^vent that insatiability which sometimes attends it. Essay on the Passions* Employment.— Men may find matter sufficient to busy their heads and employ their hands with variety, delight, and satisfaction, if they will not boldly quarrel with their own constitutions, and throw away the blessings their hands are filled with, toecause they are not big enough to grasp everv thing.— Locke. J Memory.— Seneca says of himself, that by the mere effort of his natural memory he was able to repeat two thousand words upon once hearing them each in its order. He mentions also, Fortius Latro, who retained in his memory all the declamations he had ever spoken. Pliny says that Cyrus knew every soldier in his army by name, and S. Scipio all the people of Rome. Carneades, when required, would repeat any volume found in his library as readily as if he were reading. Chambers's Dictionary. nm lor Contentment swells a mite into a talent, and makes a man richer than the Indies. Smith's Sermons, Time. — Can it be called living, to pass our lives in doing nothing? Can we be said to make the best improvement of our time, when we let it slip with- out reaping any durable fruit from it, and without procuring any other satisfactions than such as pass away together with it. — Jirt of Thinking. Drunkenness. — A drunken man is a greater monster than any that is to be found among all the creatures that God has made; as, indeed, there is no character which appears more despicable and de- formed in the eyes of all reasonable persons than that of a drunkard. Wine often turns the good na- tured man into an ideot, and the choleric into an assassin. It gives bitterness to resentment ; it makes vanity insupportable, and displays every little spot of the soul in its utmost deformity. — Spectator. All excess is ill, but drunkenness is of the worst sort. It spoils health, dismounts the mind, and un- mans men. It reveals secrets, is quarrelsome, lascivious, impudent, dangerous, and mad. In fine, he that is drunk is not a man ; because he is, so long, void of reason, that distinguishes a man from a beast. — Penn's Works. An old man who has lived in the exercises of virtue, looking back without a blush on the tenor of his past days, and pointing to that better state where alone he can be perfectly rewarded, is a figure the most venerable that can well be imagined. M'Kenzie. 108 Erudition. — M. Balzac calls a heap of ill cho- sen erudition, the luggage of antiquity. Drunkenness is a voluntary madness. — Seneca. Children. — As the vexations which men re- ceive from their children hasten the approach of age and double the force of years, so the comforts which they reap from them are balm to all other sorrows, and disappoint the injuries of time. Parents repeat their lives in their offspring, and their esteem for them is so near, that they feel all sufferings, and taste all enjoyments, as much as if they regarded their own proper persons. — Palmer's Aphorisms. Woman. — Discretion and good-nature have been always looked upon as the distinguishing ornaments of female conversation. The woman whose price is above rubies, has no particular in the character given of her by the wise man, more endearing than that she openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness. — Freeholder. When Anaxagoras was told of the death of his son, he only said — "I knew he was mortal." So we in all casualties of life should say, I knew my riches were uncertain, that my friend was but a man. Such considerations would soon pacify us, because all our troubles proceed from their being unexpected . — Plutarch . The enjoyments of this present short life, which are indeed but puerile amusements, must disappear, when placed in competition with the greatness and durability of the glory which is to come. Baron Hatter. 109 A noble mansion with an avaricious owner, is like a very fine binding to an ill written book; you must not expect to meet with good entertainment within. — WiVs Magazine. Satire should not be like a saw, but a sword; it should cut, not mangle.- — Ibid. There never was any party, faction, sect, or cabal, whatsoever, in which the most ignorant were not the most violent; for a bee is not a busier animal than a blockhead. However, such instruments are necessary to politicians; and perhaps it ma) 7 be with states as with clocks, which must have some dead weight hanging at them to help and regulate the motion of the finer and more useful parts.-— Pope. " That was excellently observed," said I when I read a passage in an author where his opinion agrees with mine: when we differ, there I pronounce him to be mistaken. — Swift. Wine is a turn-coat : first a friend, then an enemy. Old Proverbs. It is never too late to learn what it is always ne- cessary to know; and it is no shame to learn, so long as we are ignorant ; that is to say, so long as we live. — Rule of Life. Good qualities are the substantial riches of the mind, but 'tis good breeding sets them off — Locke. He that understands the weight of each, would rather wield a flail than a sceptre. Art of Contentment* K 110 Knowledge. — No knowledge which terminates in curiosity and speculation is comparable to that which is of use; and of all useful knowledge that is most so which consists in a due care and notion of ourselves.— St. Bernard. He hath no leisure w r ho useth it not. Old English Proverbs. "o Most people read books as children visit a flower garden ; they amuse themselves with this or t'other gaudy knot; the colour calls their eye from one border to another ; the sight of the present banishes the last. It is the man of real taste who takes in the flower and other gardens at one view, who considers me east of the grounds, the crossing lines, the dis- position of the walks, the arrangement of the trees, and the conveniency of the shades and arbours, the propriety of the statues, and perceives the symmetry- resulting from the whole. Letters concerning Mythology. Antiquity. — An Egyptian priest having confer- ence with Solon, said to him, "You Grecians are ever children ; you have no knowledge of antiquity, nor antiquity of knowledge. — Francis Bacon* Friendship. — If it be the part of a friend to rejoice at what redounds to his friend's credit, it is no less so, to attempt to drive from that friend's heart what he judges contrary to it. — Boccacio. Remorse.— Let the virtuous remember, amidst their affliction, that though the heart of a good man may bleed even to death, it will never feel a torment equal to the rendings of remorse. Man of the World. Ill However rich or powerful a man may be, it is the height of folly to make personal enemies from any, but particularly personal motives; for one unguarded moment (and who could support the horrors of a never ceasing vigilance?) may yield you to the re- venge of the most despicable of mankind. Lord Lyttelton. Oaths.- — The regard due to the Divinity could not, according to Plato, be carried too far in this re- spect. It was from this principle he desired that, in trials wherein only the temporal interests were con- cerned, the judges should not require anj? - oath from the parties, in order that they might not be tempted to take any false ones, as it happens, says he, with more than half those who are obliged to swear; it being very uncommon and difficult for a man, when his estate, reputation, or life are at stake, to have so great a reverence for the name of God as not to venture to take it in vain. This delicacy is remark- able in a Pagan, and well worth our serious reflec- tion.— -^//m's Ancient History. We follow the world in approving others, but we go far before it in approving ourselves. — Smith. Anecdote of Lessing.— The celebrated Les- sing was remarked for a frequent absence of mind. Having missed money at different times, without being able to discover who took it, he determined to put the honesty of his servant to a trial, and left a handful of gold on the table. " Of course you counted it," said one of his friends. " Count it," said Lessing rather embarrassed, "I forgot that." The most provident have commonly more to spare than men of great fortunes.' — Johnson. 112 Gaiety. — Gaiety is not a proof that the heart is at ease, for often in the midst of laughter the heart is sad. — De Genlis. That discipline which corrects the eagerness of worldly passions, which fortifies the heart with vir- tuous principles, which enlightens the mind with useful knowledge, and furnishes to it matter of en- joyment from within itself, is of more consequence to real felicity than all the provision which we can make of the goods of fortune.— ,j&/«2>. When the ideas of an} T pleasure strikes your ima- gination, make a just computation between the du-* ration of pleasure and that of the repentance sure to follow it. — -Epictetus. The Hartwolfe, be he never so hungry and ready to eat, yet if he see another prey, he forsakes his meat and follows after it. Such a wolf in the heart is ambitious covetousness ; it makes no use of what it hath gotten, but greedily hunteth after more ; and like iEsop's dog, loseth the morsel in his mouth, by snapping at the shadow in the water. He therefore makethhis bargain ill, that taketh a future hope with a present loss, and parts with a certain possession, to make an uncertain purchase. Aphorisms, hy: Francis Quicciardini. A prudent man desires as much to inform himself as to instruct others.^-itw/e of Life. Title and ancestry render a good man more illus-* triaus, but an ill one more contemptible. Vice is infamous , though in a prince; and virtue honow*. able, though in a pe^znX..-^Mdison% 113 The chief ingredients in the composition of those qualities that gain esteem and praise, are good nature, truth, good sense, and good breeding. — Ibid. Rest satisfied with doing well, and leave others to talk of you what they please. — Pythagoras. No man was ever so completely skilled in the conduct of life, as not to receive new information from age and experience; insomuch that we find ourselves really ignorant of what we fancied our truest interest. — Ter. Jidelph. act v. sc. 4. I once heard a gentleman make a very witty re- ply to one who asserted that he did not believe there was a truly honest man in the whole world: "Sir," said he, " it is quite impossible that any one man should know all the world, but it is quite possible that some one man may know himself." Opinions grounded upon prejudice are always maintained with the greatest violence. Jeffrey 9 s Miscel. Thoughts. Satire is a composition of salt and mercury; and it depends upon the different mixture and prepara- tion of those ingredients, that it comes out a noble medicine, or a rank poison. — Ibid. The disease and its medicine are like two factions in a besieged town — they tear one another to pieces, but both unite against their common enemy, Nature. Ibid. Good-will like a good name, is got by many ac- tions and lost by one. — Ibid. 114 The Vicious.— -The hatred of the vicious will do you less harm than their conversation. — Bentley. Statesman. — The true genius that conducts a state is he, who doing nothing himself, causes every thing to be done ; he contrives, he invents, he fore- sees the future, he reflects on what is past, he dis- tributes and proportions things ; he makes early pre- parations, he incessantly arms himself to struggle against fortune, as a swimmer against a rapid stream of water; he is attentive night and day, that he may leave nothing to chance. — Telemachus. Innocence. — The sweetest ingredient in mirth is innocence; it heightens and refines the humour and doubles the relish of every enjoyment. I have seen many bad men brutally merry ; but never one of them quite open, easy and unchecked in his mirth. That absolute serenity, that supreme ease, is solely the gift of virtue. — Letters concerning Mythology. Death* — A wise and due consideration of our latter end is neither to render us a sad, melancholy,, disconsolate people, nor to render us unfit for the business and offices of our life, but to make us more watchful, vigilant, industrious, sober, cheerful and thankful to that God, that hath been pleased thus to make us serviceable to him, comfortable to ourselves, profitable to others; and after all this to take away the bitterness and sting of death, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Sir Matthew Hale's Contemplations. That Christian loves God in the most eminent degree who keeps his commands, with the fewest deviations and exceptions. Letters between Theophilus and Eugenio. 115 Books. — Books are standing counsellors and preachers, always at hand, and always disinterested; having this advantage over oral instructors, that they are ready to repeat their lesson as often as we please. Chambers's Dictionary. HUMAN LIFE. From the " Pelican Island," by J. Montgomery. What is this mystery of human life % In rude or civilized society, Alike, a pilgrim's progress through this world To that which is to come, by the same stages; With infinite diversity of fortune To each distinct adventurer by the way ! Life is the transmigration of the soul Through various bodies, various states of being. New manners, passions, tastes, pursuits in each; In nothing, save in consciousness, the same, * Infancy, adolescence, manhood, age, Are always moving onward, always losing Themselves in one another, lost at length, Like undulations, on the strand of death. The sage of three score years and ten looks back, With many a pang of lingering tenderness, And many a shuddering conscience fit, on what He hath been, is not, and cannot be again: Nor trembles less with fear and hope, to think What he is now, but cannot long continue, And what he must be through uncounted ages. The Child; — we know no more of happy childhood Than happy childhood knows of wretched old; And all our dreams of its felicity Are incoherent as its own crude visions; We but begin to live from that fine point Which memory dwells on, with the morning star The earliest note we heard the cuckoo sing, Or the first daisy that we ever plucked, When thoughts themselves were stars, and birds and flowers, Pure brilliance, simplest music, wild perfume. Thenceforward mark the metamorphoses ! The Boy, the Girl; — when all was joy, hope, promises 116 Yet who would be a Boy, a Girl again. To bear the yoke, to long for liberty, And dream of what will never come to pass! —The Youth, the Maiden — living but for love; Yet learning soon that life has other cares, And joys less rapturous, but more enduring, ■ — The woman — in her offspring multiplied; A tree of life, whose glory is her branches, Beneath whose shadow, she (both root and stem) Delights to dwell in meek obscurity, That they may be the pleasure of beholders ; -—The Man — as father of a progeny, Whose birth requires his death to make them room, Yet in whose lives he feels his resurrection, And grows immortal in his children's children: —Then the gray Elder — leaning on his staff, And bow'd beneath the weight of years, that steal Upon him with the secresy of sleep, (No snow falls lighter than the snow of age, None with such subtlety benumbs the frame;) Till he forget sensation, and lies down Dead in the lap of his primeval mother; She throws a shroud of turf and flowers around him, Then calls the worms, and bids them do their office; — Man giveth up the ghost — and where is He 1 All the wisdom in the world, will do little, while a man wants presence of mind. He cannot fence well that is not on his guard. Archimedes lost his life by being too busy to give an answer. Most of the religious systems prevailing in the world at the appearance of the Saviour, may, with the exception of that of the Romans, be divided into two branches, viz: those which were founded on political views, and those which were formed for military purposes. — Mosheim. Brave actions are the substance of life, and good sayings the ornament of it. — Jirt of Prudence. 117 A true and faithful friend is a living treasure, in- estimable while we have him, and never enough to be lamented when he is gone. There is nothing more ordinary than to talk of a friend, nothing more difficult than to find one,no-where more wanted than where there seems to be the greatest store. Human Prudence, Dryden. — Of Dryden's works it was said by Pope, that " he could select from them better speci- mens of every mode of poetry than any other En- glish writer could supply." Perhaps no nation ever produced a writer, that enriched her language with such a variety of models. To him we owe the im- provement, perhaps the completion of our metre, the refinement of our language, and much of the correctness of our sentiments. By him we were taught "supereet fari," to think naturally and ex« press forcibly. Though Davies has reasoned in rhyme before him, it may be perhaps maintained, that he was the first who joined argument with poetry. He showed us the true bounds of a trans- lator's liberty. What was said of Rome adorned by Augustus, may be applied, by an easy metaphor, to English poetry embellished by Dryden ; lateri- tiam invenit, marmoream reliquit. He found it bricks, and he left it marble. — Johnson's Lives. Conversation.— -Th is rule should be observed in all conversation, that men should not talk to please themselves, but those that hear them. This would make them consider, whether what they speak be worth hearing? whether there be either wit or sense in what they are about to say? and whether it be adapted to the time when, the place where, the person to whom it is spoken, 118 Reputation. — We must not take up a rash pre- judice, or entertain a sinister apprehension of any upon slight grounds. Do not represent a man, his words or actions at a disadvantage, make the best of every thing, a man's good name is like a looking- glass, nothing is sooner cracked, and every breath can sully it. Handle every man's reputation with the same tenderness thou vvouldst have every man use towards thine. Do not slander or defame any man, or rejoice to hear other men's miscarriages ript open. Birch's Life of Tillotson. Milton. — The highest praise of genius is original invention. Milton cannot be said to have contrived the structure of an epic poem, and therefore owes reverence to that vigour and amplitude of mind, to which all generations must be indebted for the art of poetical narration, for the texture of the fable, the variations of incidents, the interposition of dialogue, and all the stratagems that surprise and enchain at- tention. But of all the borrowers from Homer, Milton is perhaps the least indebted. He was na- turally a thinker for himself,, confident of his own abilities, and disdainful of help or hindrance; he did not refuse admission to the thoughts or images of his predecessors, but he did not seek them. From his contemporaries he neither courted nor received support; there is in his writings nothing by which the pride of other authors might be grati- fied, or favour gained ; no exchange of praise, nor solicitation of support. His great works were per- formed under discountenance, and in blindness; but difficulties vanished at his touch ; he was born for whatever is arduous ; and his work is not the greatest ©f heroic poems, only because it is not the first. Johnson's Lives, 119 Cowley. — It may be affirmed without any enco- miastic fervour, that Cowley brought to his poetic labours a mind replete with learning, and that his pages are embellished with all the ornaments which books could supply; that he was the first who im- parted to English numbers the enthusiasm of the greater ode, and the gaiety of the less ; that he was equally qualified for sprightly sallies, and for lofty flights; that he was among those who freed trans- lation from servility, and, instead of following his author at a distance, walked by his side; and that, if he left versification yet improveable he left like- wise from time to time such specimens of excellence as enabled succeeding poets to improve it. Johnson's Liv&s, ON COWLEY. To him no author was unknown, Yet what he wrote was all his own: Horace's wit, and Virgil's state, He did not steal but emulate! And when he would like them appear, Their garb but not their clothes did wear. Denham. The true art of conversation seems to be this ; aa agreeable freedom and openness, with a reserve as little appearing as possible.— Archbishop Tillotson. Some are so slow of speech, and so very dull and tedious, that their heads may be compared to an alembic which gives you, drop by drop, an extract ©f the simples in it. — Balzac. ? Tis a fair step towards happiness and virtue, to delight in the conversation of good and wise men; and where that cannot be had, the next point is to keep no company at all. — Seneca. 120 Riches and Reputation.— -A man who suc- ceeds to his father's reputation, must be greater than him, to be considered as great ; but he that succeeds to his father's riches, will have to encounter no such deduction. The popular opinion adds to our means, but diminishes our merits ; and it is not an unsafe rule, to believe less than you hear with respect to a man's fortune, and more than you hear with respect to his fame. — Anon. Halley and Sir Isaac Newton.— Halley the great mathematician dabbled not a little in infidelity ; he was rather too fond of introducing this subject; and once when he had descanted somewhat freely on it, in the presence of his friend sir Isaac Newton, the latter cut him short with this observation. " I always attend to you, Dr. Halley, with the greatest deference when you do us the honour to converse on astronomy or the mathematics, because these are sub- jects you have industriously investigated, and which you well understand ; but Religion is a subject on which I always hear you with pain, because it is one which you have not seriously examined, and there- fore do not comprehend ; you despise it because you have not studied it, and you will not study it because you despise it." The greatest actions when they are not animated by Religion, have no other principle than pride ; and consequently they are poisoned by the root which produces them.— Marquis of Halifax. Good nature is the very air x of a good mind ; the sign -of a large and generous soul, and the peculiar soil in which virtue prospers. Goodman 's Winter Evenings. 121 The following epitaph, evidently intended for himself, was written by Sir William Jones, a short time only before his decease. It displays some striking features of his character ; resignation to the will of his Creator, love and good will to mankind, and is moderately silent upon his intellectual attain- ments. " Here was deposited, the mortal part of a man who feared God but not death ; and main- tained independence but sought not riches; who thought none below him, but the base and unjust, none above him but the wise and virtuous ; who loved his parents, kindred, friends, country, with an ardour, which was the chief source of all his pleasures and all his pains, and who having devoted his life to their service and to the improvement of his mind, resigned it calmly, giving glory to its Creator, wishing peace on earth, and with good-will to all creatures, on the (twenty '-seventh) day of (Jipril,) in the year of our blessed Redeemer, one thousand seven hundred (and ninety-four.) Life of Sir W« Jones, by Lord Teignmouth, VIRTUE. Virtue alone can give true joy, The sweets of virtue never cloy; To take delight in doing good, In justice, truth and gratitude, In aiding those whom cares oppress, Administering comfort to distress; These, these are joys which all who prove Anticipate the bliss above; These are the joys, and these alone We ne'er repent or wish undone. Dodsley. Enquiry after True Pleasure. Men of the noblest dispositions think themselves happiest when others share with them in their hap- piness.— Bishop Taylor. 122 The Sick. — All sick persons (in Babylon) are brought out into the most frequented places, for they use no Physicians, and as those who come hither inquire concerning the disease of the patient, when they find that they have been afflicted with the same, or have seen others in a like condition, they advise him to do as they did to cure themselves, or as others they knew had done in the same case. For to pass silently before the sick without inquiring into the nature of the distemper is among them accounted a crime. — Herodotus. Savage. — Those are no proper judges of his conduct who have slumbered away their time on the down of plenty ; nor will any wise man presume to say " had I been in Savage's condition, I should have lived or written better than Savage." The relation of his life will not be without its use, if those who languish under any part of his sufferings shall be enabled to fortify their patience by reflecting that they feel only those afflictions from which the abili- ties of Savage did not exempt him; or those who in confidence of superior capacities or attainments, disregard the common maxims of life, shall be re- minded that nothing will supply the want of pru- dence; and that negligence and irregularity long continued will make knowledge useless, wit ridicu- lous, and genius contemptible. — Johnson's Lives. A wicked man reduced to hardships and misfor- tunes, is truly in a miserable case ; he has lost all the enjoyments his heart was formerly set upon ; and having no relish for those of another kind, is left altogether dead to any sense of pleasure, and must of course languish and sink under the weight of a joyless and wearisome being. — Hibernicus's Letters, 123 MILTON. And every greatly amiable muse; Of elder ages in thy Milton met; His was the treasure of two thousand years, Seldom indulg'd to man; a God-like mind, Unlimited, and various, as his theme; Astonishing as Chaos; as the bloom Of blowing Eden fair; soft as the talk Of our grand parents, and as Heaven sublime. Thomson's Seasons. Rashness. — Rashness is a great enemy to pru- dence. The natural vivacity and warmth of youth and of people of sanguine tempers, makes this folly very conspicuous in them. It is remarkable that on most points of decorum, the female sex have the advantage of us. This cannot be owing to any dif- ference in natural abilities, or to greater experience or knowledge of the world — but to the natural timi- dity of their tempers, joined with the delicacy of their education, which prevents their behaving in the forward and precipitate manner we often do, to the disparagement of our prudence and the disap- pointment of our designs. The Dignity of Human Nature. Poverty has not always the nature of an affliction or judgment, but is rather merely a state of life, ap- pointed by God, for the proper trial and exercise of the virtues of contentment, patience and resignation ; and for one man to murmur against God, because he possesses not those riches he sees given to another, is " the wrath that killeth the foolish man, and the envy that slayeth the silly one." — Ibid. When a man hath forfeited the reputation of his integrity, he is set fast, and nothing will then serve his turn, neither truth nor falsehood.— Steele. 124 Prosperity has this property, it puffs up narrow- souls, makes them imagine themselves high and mighty, and look down upon the world with con- tempt; but a truly noble and resolved spirit appears greatest in distress, and then becomes more bright and conspicuous. — Plutarch's Lives. SPRING. Fled now the sullen murmur of the north, The splendid raiment of the spring peeps forth ; His universal green, and the clear sky, Delight still more and more the gazing eye. Wide o'er the fields, in rising moisture strong, Shoots up the simple flower, or creeps along The mellow'd soil; imbibing fairer hues, Or sweets from frequent show'rs and evening dews; That summon from its shed the slumb'ring ploughs, While health impregnates every breeze that blows. Bloomjield, The Farmer's Boy. They who suffer the persuasion of a future hap- piness to operate as it ought on their practice, con- stantly experience their practice adding strength tc* their persuasion— the better they become by their belief, the more confirmed they become in it. Essays on the Employment of Time. Truth. — "There is nothing," says Plato, "so delightful as the hearing or the speaking of truth" — for this reason there is no conversation so agreeable as that of the man of integrity, who hears without any intention to betray, and speaks without any in- tention to deceive.— Dean Sherlock. Preserve your conscience always soft and sensible. If but one sin force its way into frhat tender part of the soul, and dwell easy there, the road is paved for a thousand iniquities. PFatts's Miscellaneous Thoughts* 125 Eternity. — The following question is started by one of the schoolmen : Supposing the whole body of the earth were a great ball or mass of the finest sand, and that a single grain or particle of this sand should be annihilated every thousand years; sup- posing then that you had it in your choice to be happy all the while this prodigious mass of sand was consuming by this slow method, until there was not a grain of it left, on condition you were to be mise- rable ever after ? or supposing that you might be hap- py for ever after, on condition you would be mise rable until the whole mass of sand were thus anni- hilated, at the rate of one grain in a thousand years : — which of these two would you make your choice ? It must be confessed in this case so many thou- sands of years are to the imagination as a kind of eternity, though in reality they do not bear so great a proportion, to that duration which is to follow them, as an unit does to the greatest number, which you can put together in figures, or as one of those sands to the supposed heap. Reason therefore tells us, without any manner of hesitation, which would be the better part in this choice. * * * * But when the choice we actually have before us is this, whether we will choose to be happy for the space of three score and ten, nay perhaps of only twenty or ten years, I might say of only a day or an hour, and miserable to all eternity; or on the contrary miserable for this short term of years, and happy for a whole eternity ; what words are sufficient to ex- press that folly and want of consideration which in such a case makes a wrong choice. — Addison. Raillery and wit serve only to cover nonsense with shame, when reason has first proved it to be mere nonsense.— Watts. L2 126 Pope. — New sentiments and new images others may produce ; but to attempt any farther improve- ment of versification will be dangerous. Art and diligence have now done their best, and what shall be added will be the effort of tedious toil and need- less curiosity. After all this it is surely superfluous to answer the question that has been asked, whether Pope was a poet, otherwise than by asking in return, if Pope be not a Poet, where is poetry to he found ? To circumscribe poetry by a definition will only show the narrowness of the definer, though a defini- tion which will exclude Pope will not easily be made. Let us look round upon the present time, and back upon the past; let us inquire to whom the voice of mankind has decreed the wreath of poe- try ; let their productions be examined, and their claims stated, and the pretensions of Pope will no longer be disputed. Had he given the world only his version, the name of poet must have been allowed him ; if the writer of the " Iliad " were to class his successors, he would assign a very high place to his translator, without requiring any other evidence of genius. — Johnson's Lives. Conscience has strictly nothing to do as a judge ? but as a witness against me, that I am in a sinful practice : I must forbear that practice. My conscience is God's: God will judge me for acting against my conscience ; where my conscience is witness, I act against law.- — Remarks on bishop Burners Hislo?*y* A good conscience is to the soul what health is to the body ; it preserves a constant ease and serenity within us, and more than countervails all the calami- ties and afflictions which can possibly befall us. Guardian, No. 135. 127 Religion. — Religion is the great ornament artd glory of human nature; that which principally dis- tinguishes men from the inferior orders of creatures, and upon which alone are grounded all the hopes of life and happiness hereafter, when this short and transitory life shall be passed away. In a matter of so great importance, therefore, 'tis very wonderful that any man who calls himself a reasonable creature, should be careless and indifferent; careless whether he has any religion or none ; indifferent whether his religion, when he does possess any, be true or false ; careless when he has embraced the true reli- ligion, whether he makes any improvement in his practice, answerable to it or no. Dr. Samuel Clarke's Se? , mo?is. Death to a good man is but passing through a dark entry, out of one little dusky room of his father's house, into another that is fair and large, lightsome and glorious, and divinely entertaining. — Ibid. A wise man that lives up to the principles of re- ligiou and virtue, if one considers him in his solitude as taking in the system of the universe, observing the mutual dependence and harmony by which the whole frame of it hangs together, bearing down his passions, or swelling his thoughts with magnificent ideas of Providence, makes a nobler figure in the eye of an intelligent being than the greatest con- queror amidst all the solemnities and pomps of a triumph. — Taller, No. III. There is as much difference between the counsel that a friend giveth and that a man giveth himself, as there is between the counsel of a friend and of a flatterer. — Bacon* _ 128 • Levellers are generally the dupes of designing men, who taking advantage of their superior abili- ties, are for pulling all above them down, in order to set themselves up. Thus too, freethinkers, who are naturally impatient of all religious control, de- cry revelation — not doubting that, if reason be allow- ed as king, they shall get into the first places of its -Dillwyri's Reflections. The best service we seem capable of rendering to our friends in their dying moments, is, to keep our minds quietly resigned to the event. — Ibid. The master of a vessel may make a pretty re- spectable figure on deck, with a leading gale and small sea ; but the time for trying his courage and competency for his command, is in violent head winds and midnight storms, when one error in management or direction, would be fatal to ship and cargo. The mere theory of navigation makes but a poor seaman. — Ibid. External pomp and visible success Sometimes contributes to our happiness; But that which makes it genuine, refin'd, Is a good conscience and a soul resign'd. Pomfrst's Poems. LIFE. Nor love thy life, nor hate, but while thou liv'st Live well, how long or short permit to Heav'n. Milton. No better cosmetics than a severe temperance and purity, modesty and humility, a gracious temper and calmness of spirit ; no true beauty without the sig- natures of these graces in the very countenance. Bay on the Creation. 129 The best people need afflictions for trial of their virtue. How can we exercise the grace of content- ment, if all things succeed well ; or that of forgive- ness, if we have no enemies. JlrchbishopTillotson's Common Place Book. Of all parts of wisdom, the practice is the best Socrates was esteemed the wisest man of his time, because he turned his acquired knowledge into mo- rality, and aimed at goodness more than greatness. Ibid. Integrity. — Integrity is a great and commend- able virtue — a man of integrity is a true man, a bold man and a steady man. He is to be trusted and relied upon. No bribes can corrupt him, no fear daunt him. His word is slow in coming but sure. He shines brightest in the fire, and his friend hears of him most when he most needs him. His courage grows with danger, and conquers opposition by constancy. As he cannot be flattered or frighted into that he dislikes, so he hates flattery and tempo- rizing in others. He runs with truth and not with the times — with right and not with might — his rule is straight, soon seen, but too seldom followed. TVm. Perm's Jldvice to his Children. Repentance. — Repentance is an hearty sorrow for our past misdeeds, and a sincere resolution and endeavour to the utmost of our power to conform all our actions to the law of God. So that repentance does not consist in one single act of sorrow, (though that being the first and leading act, gives denomi- nation to the whole,) but in doing works meet for repentance, in a sincere obedience to the law of Christ the remainder of our lives,— Locke* 130 There are many who by arithmetic, learn to divide every thing into the most minute fractions, and yet do not know how to divide an halfpenny with a poor afflicted brother in the way of charity. Boulainvilliers. Quotations. — The man whose book is filled with quotations, has been said to creep along the shore of authors, as if he were afraid to trust himself to the free compass of reasoning. I would rather defend such authors by a different allusion, and ask whether honey is the worse for being gathered from many flowers. — Jlnon. When ancient opinions and rules of life are taken away, the loss cannot possibly be estimated. From that moment we have no compass to govern us ; nor «an we know distinctly to what port we steer. Burke. The esteem of wise and good men is the greatest of all temporal encouragement to virtue, and 'tis a mark of an abandoned spirit to have no regard to it.— Ibid. Worship. — I shall here only take notice of that habitual worship and veneration which we ought to pay to this Almighty Being. We should often re- fresh our minds with the thought of him, and anni- hilate ourselves before him, in the contemplation of our own worthlessness, and of his transcendent ex- cellency and perfection. This would imprint in our minds such a constant and uninterrupted awe and veneration as is in reality a kind of incessant prayer, and a reasonable humiliation of the soul, before him who made it.— Jlddison. Spectator, 131 Society. — The pleasures of society amongst friends is cultivated by a similarity of inclinations as to manners, and by some difference of opinion as to sciences; the one confirms us in our sentiments, to other exercises and instructs us by disputation. A Garden. — A garden has ever had the praise and affection of the wise. What is requisite to make a wise and happy man but reflection and peace, and both are the natural growth of a garden. Nor is a garden only a promoter of a good man's happiness, but the picture of it, and in some sort shows him to himself. Its culture, order, fruitfulness and seclusion from the world, compared to the weeds, wilderness and exposure of a common field, is no bad emblem of a good man compared to the multitude. A gar- den weeds the mind, it weeds it of worldly thoughts, and sows celestial seeds in their stead. For what do we see there but what awakens our gratitude to Heaven ? A garden to the virtuous is a paradise still extant, a paradise unlost. What a rich present from Heaven of sweet incense to man was wafted in that breeze? what a delightful entertainment of sight glows on yonder bed, as if in kindly showers the watery bow had shed all its most celestial colours on it? Here are no objects that fire the passions, none that do not instruct the understanding and better the heart, while they delight the sense. Centaur not Fabulous, Comforts. — It is a great mark of the corruption of our natures, and what ought to humble us ex- tremely, and excite the exercise of our reason to a nobler and juster sense, that we cannot see the use and pleasure of our comforts, but by the want of them. — Penn. 132 PUNISHMENT. A Spartan once the Oracle besought To solve a scruple which perplex'd his thought, And plainly tell him if he might forswear A purse of gold entrusted to his care. Shuddering the Pythian answered—" Waverer, no : (l Nor shalt thou, for the doubt unpunish'd go." With that, he hastened to restore the trust; But fear alone, not virtue, made him just: Hence he soon proved the Oracle divine, And all the answer worthy of the shrine; For plagues pursued his race, without delay, And swept them from the earth, like dust away. By such dire sufferings did the wretch atone The crime of meditated fraud alone ! For, in the eye of Heaven, a wicked deed Devis'd is done; how then if he proceed To perfect his device, how will th' offender speed ? Gifford's Juvenal, Sat. xiii. DEATH. One world the ambitious youth of Pella found Too small; and toss'd his feverish limbs around, And gasp'd for breath, as if confin'd the while, Unhappy prince, in Gyarse's rocky isle ; But entering Babylon, found ample room Within the scanty limits of a tomb ! Death, the great teacher, death alone proclaims The true dimensions of our puny frames. Ibid. Sat. x; There is a nobility without heraldry. Though I want the advantage of a noble birth, said Marius, yet my actions afford me a greater one ; and they who upbraid me with it, are guilty of an extrerm injustice, in not permitting me to value myself upon my own virtue as much as they value themselve upon the virtue of others. — Sallust He who foresees calamities, suffers them twice over. — Porteus, 133 Temperance.*— Temperance, that virtue without pride, and fortune without envy, that gives vigor of frame and tranquillity of mind ; the best guardian of youth and support of old age, the precept of rea- son as well as religion, and physician of the soul as well as the body, the tutelar goddess of health, and universal medicine of life. — Sir. Wm. Temples Sketches on 'various Subjects. Rather wink at small injuries, than be too forward to avenge them ; he that to destroy a single bee, should throw down the hive, instead of one enemy would make a thousand. Present for an Apprentice. Orator.— The great rule which the masters of rhetoric press much, can never be enough remem- bered, that to make a man speak well and pronounce with a right emphasis, he ought thoroughly to un- derstand all that he says, be fully persuaded of it, and bring himself to have those affections which he desires to infuse into others. He that is per- suaded of the truth of what he says, and has a con- cern about it in his mind, will pronounce with a natural vehemence that is far more lively than all the strains that art can lead him to. An orator must be an honest man, and speak always on the side of truth, and study to feel all that he says, and then he will speak it so as to make others feel it likewise, Cambray's Dialogues on Eloquence. Self Love. — Nothing is more unmanly than to reflect on any man's profession, or natural infirmity. He who stirs up against himself another's self-love, provokes the strongest passion in human nature. The Dignity of Human Nature. M 134 Epitaph on Sir Isaac Newton, Approach, ye wise of soul, with awe divine — 'Tis Newton's name that consecrates this shrine ! That sun of knowledge whose meridian ray Kindled the gloom of nature into day ! That soul of conscience — that unbounded mind — That genius which ennobled human kind; Confess'd supreme of men, his country's pride; And half esteem'd an angel — till he died; Who in the eye of Heaven like Enoch stood, And through the paths of knowledge walk'd with God: Whose fame extends — a sea without a shore ! Who but forsook one world to know the laws of more, Anon. BURKE. -In resistless prose Leave Burke alone to thunder on our foes. Pursuits of Literature. Burke to Mr. Matthew Smith. — Speaking of his visit to Westminster Abbey, he says, some would imagine that all these monuments were so many monuments of folly ; — I don't think so ; what useful lessons of morality and sound philosophy do they not exhibit! When the high born beauty sur- reys her face in the polished parian, though dumb the marble, yet it tells her that it was placed to guard the remains of as fine a form, and as fair a face as her own. They show besides how anxious we are to extend our loves and friendship beyond the grave, and to snatch as much as we can from oblivion, — such is our natural love of immortality ; but it is here that letters obtain the noblest triumphs; it is here that the swarthy daughters of Cadmus may hang their trophies on high ; for when all the pomp of the chisel and pomp of heraldry yield to the silent touches of time, a single line, a half worn out in- scription, remain faithful to their trust. Blest b€ 135 the man that first introduced these strangers into our islands, and may they never want protection or merit ! I have not the least doubt that the finest poem in the English language, I mean Milton's II Pen- seroso, was composed in the long resounding aisle of a mouldering cloister or ivy'd abbey. Yet after all, do you know that I would rather sleep in the sou- thern corner of a little country church yard, than in the tomb of the Capulets. I should like, however, that my dust should mingle with kindred dust. The good old expression, ' family burying ground,' has something pleasing in it, at least to me. Prior's Life of Burke. All things have some kind of standard by which the natural goodness of them is to be measured ; wq do not therefore esteem a ship to be good because, it is curiously carved, painted and gilded, but because it is fitted for the purposes of navigation, which is the proper end of a ship. It should be so likewise in our esteem of men, who are not so much to be valued for the grandeur of their estates or titles, as by their inward goodness and excellence. — Seneca* Contempt. — There is no action in the behaviour of one man towards another, of which human na- ture is more impatient than of contempt, it being a thing made up of these two ingredients, an under- valuing of a man upon a belief of his utter useless- ness and inability, and a spiteful endeavour to engage the rest of the world in the same belief and slight esteem of him. — South. Dispute. — There is no dispute managed without passion, and yet there is scarce a dispute worth a passion. — Sherlock. 136 Glory. — Pliny gives this character of true glory 7 " the doing what deserves to be written, add writing what deserves to be read/' and making the world the happier and the better for having lived in it. MidMetor£s Life of Cicero, Impatience. — In all evils which admit a remedy ^ impatience is to be avoided, because it wastes that time and attention in complaints, whieh if properly applied, might remove the cause. Turenne, among the compliments which he used to pay in conversa- tion, to the memory of those by whom he had been instructed in the art of war, mentioned one with honour, who taught him not to spend his time in regretting any mistake which he had made, but to set himself immediately and vigorously to repair it Rambler. Riches.— As despicable as riches may appear m some people's eyes, and as little worthy to be pur- sued for their own sakes, yet they serve to relieve us from the many wants and sufferings to which human nature Is exposed ; they enable men to do acts of kindness and compassion to others, and by this means make them taste the generous pleasure of relieving the needy and distressed ; and in short they are things without which very few satisfac- tions of any kind are to be obtained : but as they are not good in themselves, but only the means of procuring what is really good, and all the advantage lying in a right use and application of them, it fol- lows that to pursue and admire them, as excellent in themselves, without any view to their use, is al- together ridiculous and absurd; it is employing all our endeavours to obtain the means, and at the same- time neglecting the end. Netthtouy on Virtue and Happiness^ 137 Amusement. — It is doing some service to hu- manity, to amuse innocently, and they know very little of society, who think it can bear to be always employed, either in the exercise of its duties, or in high and important meditations. Preface to Wesfs Pindar. Complaisance. — Complaisance pleases all, pre- judices none, adorns wit, renders humour agreeable, augments friendship, redoubles love, and complying with justice and generosity, becomes the secret charm of the society of all mankind. M. de Scudery. Employ. — Amasis, King of Egypt, established a law commanding that every Egyptian should an- nually declare before the governor of the province by what means he maintained himself; and if he omitted to go, or gave not a satisfactory account of his way of living, he should be punished with death. This law Solon the Athenian brought from Egypt, and introduced into Athens, where 'tis inviolably observed as a most equitable constitution. Herodotus. Good. — He is a good man who grieves rather for kirn that injures him, than for his own suffering; who prays for him that wrongs him, forgiving all his faults; who sooner shows mercy than anger; who offers violence to his appetite to subdue the flesh to the spirit. — Taylor's Guide to Devotion. Acquisition.-— An unjust application is like a barbed arrow, that must be drawn backward with feorrible anguish; else it will be your destruction. Ibid. M 2 138 A man of true piety that has no designs to carry on, like one of established fortune, always makes the least noise. One never pulls out his money, the other never talks of religion, but when there is occasion for it. — Useful Miscellanies. Let prudence always attend your pleasures, it is the way to enjoy the sweets of them, and not to be afraid of the consequences. — Ibid. Company.— As the slightest touch will defile a clean garment, which is not to be cleaned again without a great deal of trouble; so the conversation of the wicked and debauched will in a very short time defile the mind of an innocent person, in a manner that will give him a great trouble to recover his former purity. You may therefore more safely venture into company with a person infected with the plague, than with a vicious man ; for the worst consequence of the first is death, but of the last the hazard of a worse destruction. For vicious people generally have a peculiar ambition to draw in the innocent to their party ; and many of them are fur- nished with artifices and allurements but too effectual for ensnaring. — Burgh. The prospect of a future state is the secret comfort and refreshment of my soul ; it is that which makes nature look gay about me*, it doubles all my plea- sures and supports me under all my afflictions. I can look at disappointments and misfortunes, pain and sickness, death itself, and what is worse than death, the loss of those who are dearest to me, with indifference, so long as I keep in view the pleasures of eternity, and the state of being in which there will be no fears nor apprehensions, pains nor sorrow, sickness nor separation. — Spectator, No. 186. 139 The hours of a wise man are lengthened by his ideas, as those of a fool are by his passions; the time of the one is long because he does not know what to do with it ; so is that of the other because he distinguishes every moment of it with useful or amusing thoughts ; or in other words, because the one is always wishing it away, and the other always enjoying it. — Spectator, No. 94. The most illiterate man who is touched with de- votion, and uses frequent exercises of it, contracts a certain greatness of mind, mingled with a noble simplicity, that raises him above those of the same condition ; and there is an indelible mark of good- ness in those who sincerely possess it. It is hardly possible it should be otherwise, for the fervors of a pious mind will naturally- contract such an earnest- ness and attention towards a better being, as will make the ordinary passages of life go off with a becoming indifference. By this, a man in the lowest condition will not appear mean, or in the most splendid fortune insolent. — -Tatler, No* 3. Death. — Sir Henry Vane says, it is no small re- proach to a Christian, whose faith is in immortality, and the blessedness of another life, to fear Death much, which is the necessary passage thereunto. Health and Money. — There is this difference between health and money ; money is the most en- vied, but the least enjoyed; health is the most en- joyed, but the least envied ; and this superiority of the latter is still more obvious when we reflect that the poorest man would not part with health for money, but that the richest would gladly part with their money for health. — Lacon. 140 The oratorical style of Mr. Burke is not only of the very highest order, but it possesses the first cha- racteristic of genius — originality. We have nothing that is very similar to it, and little perhaps equal to it, in our language; though of its nature and power, its vigour and variety, its novelty of thought, and Intellectual brilliancy, which flashes athwart every subject, and transmutes all objects that it meets with into auxiliaries to his main purpose, a very inade- quate idea can be conveyed by description, and no specimen can do it justice. When Johnson was asked whether Mr. Burke resembled Tullius Cicero, " No, sir," was the reply ; " he resembles Edmund Burke.' 5 Prior's Life of Edmund Burke. Education. — What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the human soul. The phi- losopher, the saint and the hero, the wise and the good, or the great, very often lie hid and concealed in a plebeian, which a proper education might have disinterred, and have brought to light. — Jlddison. Junius is the first of his class, but that class is not the highest. Junius's manner is the strut of a petit- maitre, Burke's the stalk of a giant ; if grandeur is not to be found in Burke, it is to be found nowhere. Hazlitt. Scripture was not given to make work for in- terpreters, nor to teach men how to doubt, but how to live. The Holy Spirit has made undeniably clear and manifest all those precepts, that enjoin faith and obedience, which are the great points of religion, and weak men cannot correct him and do it better 1 h e m sel yes.— Independent Whig. 141 What can the man fear who takes care in all his actions to please a being that is omnipotent, a being who is able to crush all his adversaries, a being that can divert any misfortune from befalling him, or turn any misfortune to his advantage; the person who lives with this constant and habitual regard to the great superintendent of the world, is indeed sure that no real evil can come into his lot. Blessings may appear under the shape of pains, losses and disappointments, but let him have patience, and he will see them in their proper figures. Dangers may threaten him, but he may rest satisfied that they will either not reach him, or that if they do, they will be the instruments of good to him. In short he may look upon all the crosses and accidents, suf*. ferings and afflictions, as means which are made use of to bring him to happiness. — Guardian, No. 117. RHYMERS.—- Feelings they excite. Marry, and I am glad of it with all my heart. I had rather be a kitten, and cry — mew, Than one of those same metre ballad mongers; I had rather hear a brazen cahstick turn'd, Or a dry wheel grate on an axletree; And that would set my teeth nothing on edge, Nothing so much as mincing poetry: 3 Tis like the forc'd pace of a shuffling nag. Shakspeare. Let us not approach before God's holy altar before we have made peace with our offended brother ; for to what end should we come to the God of peace, without peace? — for the remission of our own sins, without any intention to forgive one another? How can he, that is not pleased with his brother, think to please the God of his brother; seeing that God commands him not to he angry, but to forgive him. 142 Theatrical virtue. — It has been shrewdly said, that when men abuse us we should suspect ourselves, and when they praise us, them. It is a rare instance of virtue to despise censure, which we do not deserve; and still more rare, to despise praise which we do. But that integrity that lives only on opinion would starve without it, and that theatrical kind of virtue which requires publicity for its stage and an applauding world for its audience, could not be depended on in the secrecy of solitude, or the retirement of a desert. — Lacon. I had rather live in a narrow circle, united with a man distinguished by feeling, virtue and truth, than be the ornament of courts and the envy of kingdoms. St, Julian's Letters, RESIGNED OLD AGE. Cover'd in fortune's shade I rest reclin'd, My griefs all silent, and rny joys resign'd, With patient eye life's evening gloom survey, Nor shake the out-hast'ning sands, nor bid them stay. A. Hill. He that feasts his body with banquets and delicate fare, and starves his soul for want of spiritual food, is like him that feasts his slave and starves his own wife. The Chinese have a saying, that an unlucky word dropped from the tongue cannot be brought back again by a coach and six horses. Humility. — Sense shines with the greatest beauty, when it is set in humility. An humble able man is a jewel worth a kingdom. Wm. Perm's Works, 143 Devotion. — It is of the utmost importance to season the passions of a child with devotion, which seldom dies in a mind that has received an early- tincture of it. Though it may seem extinguished for a while, by the cares of the world, the heats of youth, or the allurements of vice, it generally breaks out and discovers itself again as soon as discretion, consideration, age, or misfortunes have brought the man to himself. The fire may be covered and over- laid, but cannot be entirely quenched and smothered. Spectator, No. 201. A wise man will desire no more, than what he may get justly, use soberly, distribute cheerfully, and leave contentedly. Integrity. — In all things preserve integrity; the consciousness of thy own uprightness will alle- viate the toil of business, and soften the harshness of ill success and disappointments, and give thee an humble confidence before God, when the ingratitude of man, or the iniquity of the times may rob thee of other due reward. — Paley. Moral virtues themselves, without religion, are but cold, lifeless and insipid ; it is religion only which opens the mind to great conceptions, fills it with the most sublime ideas, and warms the soul more than sensual pleasures. — Addison. That writer does the most who gives his reader the most knowledge, and takes from him the least time. The less wit a man has, the less he knows he wants it. 144 Custom to do well, is like the dyer's scouring, it cleanseth and purgeth the mind of vicious dregs, by education ; and then reason and exercise, finding a subject so well prepared, giveth it the tincture of virtue in grain. — Guicciardini. Reputation. — Regard your good name as the richest jewel you can possibly be possessed of — for credit is like fire, when once you have kindled it you may easily preserve it, but if you once extin- guish it, you will find it an arduous task to rekindle it again.— -Easy Guide, fyc. We may do a very good action, and not be a good man ; but we cannot do a very ill one, and not be an ill man. — Jeffrey's Miscellaneous Thoughts. A man must beware of straining piety to a pitch he cannot maintain throughout; 'tis like beginning a tune too high ; he must take it a note or two lower/or give disgust before he comes to the end of it, by downright squeaking.— Ibid. The works of art appear coarsest, but those of nature with the greatest delicacy, beheld through a telescope ; — and the same effect will follow from a narrow and nice examination into true and counter- feit virtue.< — Ibid. MODESTY. The blushing cheek, that virtue of the face. The gentle look, coy air, and modest grace; The fearful voice, the chaste and trembling eye, That views with pain, the slaves that round it die, Are female stratagems, victorious still; The surest shafts that beauty takes to kill. The Manners of the Age- 145 Would you be exempt from uneasiness ; do no one thing you know or suspect to be wrong. Would you enjoy the purest pleasure ; do every thing in your power you are convinced is right. Letters concerning Mythology. The Athenians raised a noble statue to the me- mory of iEsop, and placed a slave on a pedestal, that men might know the way to honour was open to all. AGE. — Its deafness. But lo ! another loss; the warbling choir. In him no sentiments of joy inspire; The sweetest airs escape him; and the lute That thrills the general ear, to him is mute. He sits, perhaps, too distant: bring him near; Alas, 'tis still the same; he scarce can hear The deep-ton'd horn, the trumpet's clanging sound, And the loud blast that shakes the benches round. E'en at his ear his boy, to tell the hour, • Or who's arriv'd, must shout with all his power. GiffbrtPs Juvenal, Sat. x. It is vanity, most fatal and stupid, to determine our thoughts and cares to this life present, and never look forward to that which is to come ; to doat upon things that fly swiftly from us, and cling fast about imaginary and transitory delights, while we suffer ourselves by these to be detained and* diverted from the pursuit of substantial and eternal joys. Stanhope's Thomas a Kempis. Whoever will appeal to the general strain of the Christian exhortations, will find disinterested love more inculcated, and motives of gratitude more frequently suggested, than any others.— Hutchin- son's Enquiry into Beauty and Virtue. N 146 A wicked book is the worse because it can't re- pent. No external circumstances of fortune, no invo- luntary disadvantages, can exclude any mortal from the most heroic virtue. The most decisive proof of an heroic heart is when a man has his enemy in his power and can revenge himself as he pleases, but instead of gratifying a passion which common men give a loose to on such an occasion, he overlooks his unjust hatred against him and returns him good for evil. GraciarCs Hero. " True friendship," as Tully observes, " proeeeds from a reciprocal esteem and a virtuous resemblance of manners. When such is the basis, the variety in certain tenets and opinions is of no ill conse- quence to the union, and will scarcely ever unloose the social ties of love, veneration, and esteem. Swift. Death seems to enter a cottage only as a gentle deliverer from the miseries of human life ; but into courts and the seats of grandeur, with insult and terror. To languish under a gilded canopy, to ex- pire on soft and downy pillows, and give up the ghost in state, has a more gloomy aspect, than at the call of nature to expire on a grassy turf and resign the breathless clay back to its proper element. What does a crowd of friends or flatterers signify in that important hour, to the most glorious mortal ? Which of his numerous attendants would stand the arrest of death, descend into the silent prison of the grave for him, or answer the summons of the supreme tribunal ? — Burton's Jlnatomy of Melancholy. 147 People may talk like good christians at their ease, but pretty sentences and formal speeches are very trifling remedies to a real and unaffected sorrow. Miscellanies. A mind formed upon the principles of the gospel may look down with contempt upon the lustre of a throne, and yet know the value and feel a sense of gratitude in the possession of a crum. The most exalted situation in the present life is exposed to the fascinating allurements of temptation ; and who- ever shall look needfully upon those who are emi- nent for their riches, will not think their condition such as that he should hazard his quiet, and much less his virtue to obtain it. The rich and the poor have their hours of sorrow and their intervals of joy ; neither poverty nor wealth exempt them from feel- ing" the common calamities of life, nor confer that happiness we so eagerly pursue, but which we must not experience till our race is finished and our work done. — tflnon. Goldsmith. — Barring a little vanity and a little jealousy, which, however, from the manner they were shown, excited rather laughter than anger, it was difficult to know Goldsmith without liking him, even if the warm regards of Burke, Johnson and Reynolds, were not alone a sufficient stamp of the sterling value of any man. Humane in disposition, generous to imprudence, careless of his own inter- ests, a chaste and elegant writer, who advocated the interests of religion and morals, and who com- bined with his exhortations as much of practical be- nevolence as falls to the lot of most men, he was worthy of such friends ; at once a rival of their fame and their virtues. An author by profession, he was 148 characterized by the imprudence often attendant on genius. He thought not of the morrow ; the " hea- viest of metals "" was so light in his estimation as to be carelessly parted with, though laboriously earned. He and poverty had been so long acquainted; that even when an opportunity offered of casting her off by the success of his pen, they knew not how to separate. He lived too much in pecuniary difficul- ties, and he died so. He died at the age of forty- six, an age at which Johnson was little more than beginning to become known to the public, and after which that great writer completed several of those books which render him the pride of our nation. Had poor Goldsmith lived to attain an equally vene- rable term of years, there is no doubt, both from his necessities and thirst for distinction, that the na- tional literature would be enriched much more than- it is, by the labours of his pen. Prior's Life of BurJce. Patience. — An Emperor of China, making a progress, discovered a family, in which the master with his wives, children, grand-ehildren, daughters in law and servants, all lived in peace and harmony. The emperor admiring this, inquired of the old man what means he employed to preserve quiet among such a number of persons; the man taking out a pencil wrote only these words: Patience, Patience-) Patience. Care is no cure, but rather corrosive For things that are not to be remedied.— Shakspeara. Sad accidents and a state of affliction, is a school of virtue; it corrects levity and interrupts the con- fidence of sinning. — Jltterbury,. 149 Time.— In all actions that a man ''performs some part of his life passes. We die with doing that for which only our sliding life was granted. Nay, though we do nothing, Time keeps his constant pace, and flies as fast in idleness, as in employment; whether we play, or labour, or sleep, or dance, or study, the sun posts on, and the sand runs. An hour of vice is as long as an hour of virtue. But the difference which follows upon good actions, is infinite from that of ill ones. The good, though it diminish our time here, yet'it lays up a pleasure for eternity, and will recompense what it takes away, with a plentiful return at last. When we trade with virtue, we do but buy pleasure with expense of time. — Felt ham's Resolves. 'Tis a shame when the church itself is a ceme- terium, where the living sleep above ground as the dead do beneath. Fuller's Holy and Profane States. Absence lessens small passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes tapers, and kindles fire. It is impossible that an ill-natured man can have a public spirit ; for how should he love ten thousand men who never loved one? Let us not love those things much which we are not sure to live long to love, nor to have if we should, Of the shortness of Time by Francis Fuller. Qualifications. — Five things are requisite to a good officer. Ability, clean hands, despatch, pa- tience and impartiality, — Wm. Fenn. N 2 150 Reproach. — Does a man reproach thee for being proud or ill-natured, envious or conceited, ignorant or detracting: Consider within thyself whether his reproaches are true? if they are not, consider that thou art not the person whom he reproaches, but that he reviles an imaginary being, and perhaps loves what thou really art, though he hates what thou appearest to be. If his reproaches are true, if thou art the envious, ill-natured man he takes thee for, give thyself another turn, beeome mild, affable and obliging, and his reproaches of thee will naturally cease, or, if they continue, thou art no longer the person he reproach zs.— Spectator. JUSTICE. Justice must be from violence exempt, But fraud's her only object of contempt y Fraud in the fox, force in the lion dwells, But justice both from human hearts expels; But he's the greatest monster without doubt, Who is a wolf within, a sheep without. — Denham. FREEDOM. These teach in homespun clothes, with tastes refinM To dine on humble food, but feast the mind; To dare be poor and free, with just disdain, To scorn the wretch that drags a willing chain; In proper bounds my wishes to confine, Though disappointed never to repine; With silence and contempt unmov'd to see The flatt'rer or buffoon preferred to me; To eat at common hours, nor fasting wart, That other folks may see me dine in state; For pride convenience never to forego, Or sacrifice a substance to a show. Satires of Ludovico Ariosio, Virtue. — Learn to pursue virtue from the mara that is blind, who never makes a step without first examining the ground with his staE 151 Needy. — God, the Lord and Father of all, has given no one of his children such a property in his peculiar portion of the things of this world, but that he has given his needy brother a right in the sur- plusage of his goods, so that it cannot justly be de- nied him when his pressing wants call for it. Locke. Extremes. — Extremes meet, it seems difficult therefore to pronounce whether the statesman at the top of the world, or the ploughman at the bottom, labours hardest. — Maxims, Characters^ fyc. Idleness is the hot-bed of temptation, the cradle of disease, and the canker-worm of felicity. In a little time, to the man who has no employment, life will have no novelty, and when novelty is laid in the grave, the funeral of comfort .will enter the church yard. From that moment it is the shade, and not the man, who creeps along the path of mor- tality. On the contrary, what solid satisfaction does the man of diligence possess? What health in his countenance? What strength in his limbs? What vigor in his understanding? With what a zest does he relish the refreshments of the day? With what pleasure does he seek the bed of repose at night? It is not the accidental hardness of a pillow that can make him unhappy, and rob him of sleep. He earns his maintenance and he enjoys it. He has faithfully labored in the day, and the slumbers of the night are a sweet retribution to him. — To the diligent man every day is a little life, and every night is a little heaven. The toil has been honest and the reward is sure. No wise man ever wished to be younger. — Swift* 152 Supineness and effeminacy have ruined more con- stitutions than were ever destroyed by excessive labours ; moderate exercise, far from prejudicing, strengthens and consolidates the body. — Dr. Rush. Life. — To complain that life has no joys while there is a single creature whom we can relieve by our bounty, assist by our councils, or enliven by our presence, is to lament the loss of that which we possess, and is just as rational as to die of thirst with the cup in our hands. Sir Thomas Fitzosborne's Letters. He who would pass the latter part of life with honour and decency, must, when he is young con- sider that he shall one day be old, and lay up know- ledge for his support, when his powers of acting shall forsake him, and remember when he is old that he has once been young, and forbear to animad- vert with unnecessary rigour on faults which expe- rience only can correct. — Rambler. Friendship. — Crito must be a miserable man, who never was known to have a friend even of his own degree. He is rich, he is great, he has wit ; any of these three qualities would have got another man either friends or folio wers.— He has not good nature. — Rowe. Greatness. — When a man who is not indolent himself, sees with pleasure the talents of another of the same profession with himself — the excellent use he makes of them, and the fruits he receives from them, — this generous part which he takes in the in- terests of another, is in my opinion one of the most incontestable proofs of the greatness of his soul, and of the purity of his virtues. — Crousaz. 153 Judge of thy improvement, not by what thou speakest or by what thou writest, but by the firm- ness of thy mind, and the government of thy pas- sions and affections. — Fuller's Prudentia. DREAM. The Soldier's. Oar bugles sang truce, for the night cloud had lowered, And the sentinel stars set their watch in the sky; And thousands had sunk on the ground overpowered, The weary to sleep, and the wounded to die. When reposing that night on my pallet of straw, By the wolf-scaring faggot that guarded the slain; At the dead of the night a sweet vision I saw, And thrice ere the morning I dreamt it again. Methought from the battle-field's dreadful array, Far, far I had roam'd on a desolate track; 'Twas autumn — and sunshine arose on the way To the home of my fathers, that welcom'd me back. I flew to the pleasant fields, travers'd so oft In life's morning march, when my bosom was young; I heard my own mountain goats bleating aloft, And knew the sweet strain that the corn-reapers sung. Then pledged we the wine-cup, and fondly 1 swore, From my home and my weeping friends never to part; My little ones kiss'd me a thousand times o'er, And my wife sobb'd aloud in her fulness of heart. Stay, stay with us — rest, thou art weary and worn; And fain was their war-broken soldier to stay — But sorrow returned with the dawning of morn, And the voice in my dreaming ear melted away. Campbell. Virtue. — Virtue is certainly the most noble and secure possession a man can have. Beauty is worn out by time or impaired by sickness — riches lead youth rather to destruction than welfare, and with- out prudence are soon lavished away ; while virtue alone, the only good that is ever durable, always remains with the person that has once entertained her. She is preferable both to wealth, and a noble extraction. Savage's Letters of the ^foments. 154 If men would think that a moment lost can never be recalled, that time moves on with unalterable regularity, and, yet, that we have it under our con- trol for the future, I feel assured many would Jde- vote their time to some laudable and useful pursuit; and if our capacities did not obtain something useful and pleasing, we should, at least, set that example to those of superior talents and abilities, which other- wise might have lain dormant for want of stimulation, and deprived the world of all their useful researches and inquiries, which seldom fail to increase the hap- piness and well-being of society, and never to afford us the pleasing and permanent reflection of having spent our time usefully and rationally. Contemplation. — When once the soul by con- templation is raised to any right apprehension of the divine perfections, and the foretastes of celestial bliss, how will this world and all that is in it vanish and disappear before his eyes ? With what holy dis- dain will he look down upon things which are the brightest objects of other men's ambitious desires ? All the splendour of courts, all the pageantry of greatness, will no more dazzle his eyes, than the faint lustre of a glowworm will trouble the eagle after it hath been beholding the sun. Henry ScougaVs Works, The book of all books is your own heart, in which are written and engraven the deepest lessons of di- vine instruction ; learn therefore, to be deeply atten- tive to the presence of God in your hearts, who is always speaking, always instructing, always illumi- nating that heart that is attentive to him. Law's Answer to Trapp., 155 He that buys a house ready wrought has many a pin and nail for nought. We ought not to judge of men's merits by their qualifications, but by the use they make of them. Charron. Time. — Time is lent us to be laid out in God's service to his honour, and we cannot be too diligent in it, if we consider that time is precious, short, passing, uncertain, irrevocable when gone, and that for which we must be accountable. — Ibid, Having thus considered, I resolved, that I could not spend my time more manly and philosophically, than in an enquiry, what the happiness of man is, and how attainable; every advance towards this is an accession to my life and being, and all travail which doth not lead me on towards this end is but so much of life misspent and lost. What a silliness were it to load my memory with terms and words, with numerous instances of matters of fact. To martial up in order lines and figures; to talk of un- known seas, and distant shores ; to tumble over each page in nature's system; what a trifling cunning to study the trifling mysteries of trade? what solemn and laborious foppery to penetrate into all the sub- tleties of government and arts of conversation; if after all I have no receipt for a troubled mind, no cure for distempered passions. If I have no prin- ciple to support my mind under a sinking fortune, or govern it in a rising one; if I have nothing to arm me against my fears, or to disperse my griefs; would any one think 1 had spent my time well or stocked myself with useful knowledge? Enquiry after Happiness, by J. Lucas. SJB 156 'Tis of little consequence to read eternal truthsj it we pray not to obtain the gift of understanding them aright. Cambray's Self-examination for a King-, Charity and fine dressing are things very different ; but if men give alms for the same reasons that others dress fine, only to be seen and admired, charity is then but like the vanity of fine clothes. Law's Serious Call. Truth. — He that would make a real progress in knowledge must dedicate his age as well as youth, the latter growth as well as the first fiuils, at the altar of truth. — Berkley's Siris. Conduct to inferiors. — He who finds himself superior toothers by whatever advantage it happens, may by a gracious and courteous behaviour to them, make them content with themselves at the same time that they know themselves to be his inferiors: He may also by a contrary and haughty usage make them yet more wretched. The choice is in his power; but then he should consider, that the differ- ence of his choice makes in himself the difference of a man of honour from a brute. Crousaz' Jlrl of Thinking. Discourses of Morality, and reflection upon hu- man nature, are the best means we can make use of to improve our minds, and gain a true knowledge of ourselves, and consequently to recover our souls out of the vice, ignorance, and prejudice, which naturally cleave to them. — Spec. He who increases the endearments of life, increases at the same time the terrors of death. — Dr. Young, 157 The first consideration a wise man fixeth upor^ is the great end of his creation ; what it is, and wherein it consists-^ the next is, of the most pro- per means to that end. — Walker. He that maketh any thing his chiefest good, wherein virtue, reason, and humanity, do not bear a part, can never do the offices of friendship, justice, or liberality. — Cicem* Wisdom allows nothing to be good, that will not be so for ever; no man to be happy, but he that needs no other happiness than what he has within himself; no man to be great or powerful, that is not master of himself, — Seneca. Every state and condition of life, if attended with virtue, is undisturbed and delightful ; but when vice is intermixt, it renders even things that appear splendid,* sumptuous, and magnificent, distasteful and uneasy to the possessor.-— Plutarch. Whatever can create in any intelligent being a constant flowing series or train of mental enjoy- ments or pleasures of the mind, is more consider- able to his happiness, than that which can create to him a like constant course or train of sensual en- joyments or pleasures of the body.— E. of Shafts- bury. One of the greatest artifices the devil nscs to en- gage men in vice and debauchery, is to fasten names of contempt on certain virtues; and to fill weak souls with a foolish fear of passing for scrupulous, should they desire to put them in practice. M. Pascal 158 Virtue commands good men's respect, and all Trien^s honour; and banishes every kind of defor- mity from the person in whom it resides. It is said of Socrates, Whether he is teaching the rules of a strict morality, whether he is answer- ing his corrupt judges, whether he Is receiving sen- tence of death, or swallowing the poison, he is still the same man; that is to say, calm, quiet, undis- turbed, intrepid j in a word^ wise to the last. When a man has got such a great and exalted soul, as that he can look upon life and death, riches and poverty with indifference ; and closely adheres to honesty in whatever shape she presents herself; then it is, that virtue appears with such a brightness^ as that all the world must admire her beauties. Cictro* In human life there is a constant change of for- tune ; and it is unreasonable to expect an exemption from the common fate: Life itself, and all things are daily on the change — Plutarch. We ought to think ourselves very happy, in that we know enough to make us happy. If we are not so happy as we desire, 'tis well we are not so mise- rable as we deserve. There is none but have re- ceived more good than they, have done, and done more evil than they have suffered. Were angels, if they look into the ways of men, to give in their catalogue of worthies, how different would it be from that which any of our own specie* would draw up ? We are dazzled with the splendour »f titles, the ostentation of learning, the noise of 159 Victories: They, on the contrary, see the philosc*- pher in the cottage, who possesses his soul in pa- tience and thankfulness, under the pressures of what little minds call poverty and distress. The evening's walk of a wise man is more- illustrious in their sight, than the march of a general at the head of a hun- dred thousand men. A contemplation of God's works, a generous concern forthe good of mankind, and unfeigned exercise of humility, only denomi- nate men great and glorious. — Jlddison. Several who have tasted all the pleasures of sin,. Forsake it, and come over to virtue : but there is scarce an instance to be found of any that had been well experimented in the delights of virtue, that ever could be drawn off from it, or find ki his heart to .fall back to his former course.. A firm faith is the best divinity,, a good life the best philosophy,- a clear conscience the best law,, honesty the best policy, and temperance the best physic. I take it for a rule, that the natural, and not th& acquired man, is the companion. Learning, wit, gallantry, and good breeding are all but subordinate qualities in society, and are of no value, but as they are subservient to benevolence, and tend to a certain manner of being or appearing equal to the rest of the company; for conversation is composed of an assembly of men, as they are men, and not as they are distinguished by fortune : therefore he who brings his quality with him into conversation, should always pay the reckoning: for he came to receive .iiomage, and. not to meet his friends. — Taller. 160 Sir W. Raleigh, discoursing wfth some frrends isi the Tower, of Happiness, urged, that it was not only a freedom from diseases and pains of the body? but from anxiety and vexation -of spirit ; not only to enjoy the pleasures of sense, but peace of con- science, and inward tranquillity : And this happi- ness, so suitable to the immortality of our souls, and the eternal state we must live in, is only to be met with in religion. som Every virtue gives a man a degree -of felicity in me kind : Honesty gives a man a good report 4 justice, estimation; prudence, respect ; courtesy and liberality affection; temperance gives health ; forti- tude, a quiet mind, not to be moved by any adver- sity. — Sir Fra. Walsingham. Daughter of time, sincere posterity, Always new-born, yet no man knows thy birth* The arbitress cf p:ire sincerity, Yet changeable (like Proteus) on the earth, Sometimes in plenty, sometimes joiri'd with dearth': Always to come, yet always present here, Whom all run after, none come after here. Impartial judge of all, save present state, Truth's idioma of the things are past, But still pursuing present things with hate, And more injurious at the first than last, Preserving others, while their own do waste: True Treasurer of all antiquity, Whom all desire, yet never one could see. From England's Parnassu*, Since, dearest friend, 'tis your desire to see • A true receipt of happiness from me; These are the chief ingredients, if not all; Take an estate neither too great nor small, Which quantum aufficit the doctor? call. 161 Sset this estate from parent's care descend; •The getting it too much of life does spend, Take such a ground, whose gratitude may be A fair encouragement for industry. Let constant fires the winter's fury tame;. And let thy kitchens- be a vestal flame. Thee to the town let never suit at law, .And rarely* very rarely, business draw. Thy active mind in equal temper keep, In undisturbed peace, yet not in sleep. Let exercise a vigorous health maintain, Without which-. all the composition's vain. In the same weight prudence and innocence take; And one of each does the just mixture make. But a few friendships wear* and let, them be By nature and by fortune fit for thee. Instead of art and luxury in food, Let mirth and freedom make thy table good. If any cares into thy day-time creep, At nigh^, without wine's opium, let them sleep. Be satisfied„and pleased with what thou art, Act cheerfully and well the allotted part; Enjoy the present hour, be thankful for the past, .And neither fear, nor wish, the approaches of the last. MartiaL Curiosity, from its nature, is a very active prin- ciple; it quickly runs over the greatest part of its objects, and soon exhausts the variety which is com- mon to be met with in nature.: the same things make frequent returns, and they return with less and less of any agreeable effect. In short, the occur- rences of life, by the time we come to know it a little, would be incapable of affecting the mind with any other sensations than those of loathing and wea- riness, if many things were not adapted to aifect the mind by means of other passions besides curiosity in ourselves. Some degree of novelty must be one ©f the materials in almost every instrument which works upon the mind, and curiosity blends itself, more or less, with all our pleasures.— Burke, 2 16% What is more reasonable, than that they who take pains for any thing, should get most in that particu- lar for which they take pains? They have taken pains for power, you for right principles ; they for riches, you for a proper use of the appearances of things : see whether they have the advantage of you :n that for which they have taken pains, and which they neglect. If they are in power, and you not, why will not you speak the truth to yourself, that you do nothing for the sake of power, but that they do every thing? No, but since I take care to have right principles, it is more reasonable that I should nave power. Yes, in respect to what you take care about,— your principles. But give up to others the things in which they have taken more care than you. Else it is just as if, because you have right principles, you should think it fit when you shoot an arrow, you should hit the mark better than the archer, or that you should forge better than a smith, Epictetus, It appears evident that frugality is necessary even to complete the pleasure of expense; for it may be generally remarked of those who squander what they know their fortune not sufficient to allow, that in their most jovial expense, there always breaks out some proof of discontent and impatience; they either scatter with a kind of wild desperation and affected lavishness, as criminals brave the gallows when they cannot escape it, or pay their money with a peevish anxiety, and endeavour at once to spend idly, and to save meanly : having neither firmness to deny their passions, nor courage to gratify them, they murmur at their own enjoyments, and poison >tbf bowl of pleasure by reflection on the cost. Johnson. 163 The mere philosopher is a character which h commonly but little acceptable in the world, as being supposed to contribute nothing either to the advan- tage or pleasure of society; while he lives remote from communication with mankind, and is wrapped up in principles and notions equally remote from their comprehension. On the other hand, the mere ignorant is still more despised; nor is any thing deemed a surer sign of an illiberal genius in an age and nation where the sciences flourish, than to be entirely destitute of all relish for those noble enter- tainments. The most perfect character is supposed to lie between those extremes ; retaining an equal ability and taste for books, company, and business ; preserving in conversation, that discernment and de- licacy which arise from polite letters; and in busi- ness, that probity and accuracy which are the natural result of a just philosophy. -In-order to diffuse and cultivate so accomplished a character, nothing can be more useful than compositions of the easy style and manner, which draw not too much from life, re- quire no deep application or retreat to be compre- hended, and send back the student among mankind full of noble sentiments and wise precepts, applica- ble to every exigence of human life. By means of such compositions, virtue becomes amiable, science agreeable, company instructive^ and retirement en- tertaining. — _ How many bright And splendid lamps shine in heaven's temples high ! Day hath her golden sun, her moon the night, Her fix'd and wand'ring stars the azure sky; **So fram'd all by their creator's might, That still they live and shine, and ne'er shall die; Till in a moment, with the last day's brand, -They burn, and with them burn sea, air, and land. Fairfax — Tasso's Jerusalem delivered, 164 Tt is wonderful that the frequent exercise of read- ing the Common Prayer should not make the per- formers of that duty more expert in it. This ina- bility, as I conceive, proceeds from the little care that is taken of their reading while boys, and at school, where, when they have got into Latin, they are looked upon as above English, the reading of which is wholly neglected, or at least read to very li-ttle purpose, without any due observations made U them of the proper accent and manner of reading. Steele. Temper your heat, And lose not, by too sudden rashness, that Which, be but patient, will be offer'd to you, Of an enemy three T parts vanquished, with desire And greediness of spoil, have often wrested A certain victory from the conqueror's gripe. Discretion is the-vicior of the war, Valour the pupil; and,, when we command .With lenity, and our directions follow'd With cheerfulness, a prosperous end must crown Our works well undertaken. Mass-inger. Xet any one who knows what it is to have passed much time in a series of jollity, mirth, wit, or hu* morons entertainments, look back at what he was ail that while a doing, and he will find that he has been at oneinstant sharp to some man he is sorry to have offended, impertinent to some one it was cruelty to treat with such freedom, ungratefully noisy at such a time, unskilfully open at such a time, un- mercifully calumnious at such a time; and from the whole course of his applauded satisfactions, unable in the end to recollect any circumstance which ca» add -to -the enjoyment of his mind alone, or which he would put his character upon, with other men, Sleeko 165 Such is The present state of our literature, that 'the ancient sage, who thought a great book a great evil, would now think the multitude of books a multitude of evils, lie would consider a bulky writer Who engrossed a year, and a swarm of pam- pheteers who stole each sn hour, as equal wasters of human life, and would make no other difference between them, than hetween a beast of prey and a flight of locusts. — Johnson. Health is certainly more valuable than money, because it is by health that money is procured ; but thousands and millions are of small avail to alleviate the protracted tortures of the gout, to repair the broken organs of sense, or resuscitate the powers of digestion. Poverty is, indeed, an evil from which we naturally fly ; but let us not run from one enemy t6 another, nor take shelter in the arms of sickness- Johnson. l^Sone has more frequent conversations with disa- greeable self than the man of pleasure; his enthu- siasms are but few and transient; his appetites, like angry creditors, continually making fruitless de- mands for what he is unable to pay; and the greater his former pleasures, the more strong his regret, the more impatient his expectations. A life of plea- sure is, therefore, the most unpleasing life. Goldsmith, longevity ought to be highly valued by men of piety and parts, as it will enable them to be much more useful to mankind, and especially to their own country. As to others, it is of no great matter, since they are a disgrace to mankind, and their death is rather a service. — Cornaro. *66 It is one thing to take God and heaven for your ■portion, ^as believers do, and another thing to be de- sirous of it, as a reserve when you can keep the world no longer. It is one thing to submit to hea- ven, as a lesser evil than heH ; and another thing to desire it as a greater good than earth. It is one thing to lay up treasures and hopes in heaven, and •seek it first ; and another thing to be contented with it in our necessity, and to seek the world before it, and give God that the flesh can spare. Thus differ- eth the religion of serious christians., and of carnal worldly hypocrites. — Baxter.. To gain the favour, and hear the applauses of our contemporaries, is, indeed, equally desirable with any other prerogative of superiority, because fame may be of use to smoot'b'the paths of life, to terrify opposition^ and fortify tranquility ; bt*t to what end shall we be the darlings of mankind, when we can no longer receive any benefits from their favour? It is more reasonable to wish for reputation, while it may yet be enjoyed, as Anaereon calls upon his com- panions to give him for present use the wine and garlands which they purpose to bestow upon hi* tomb. — Johnson* •When I behold a fashionable table set out in all its magnificence, I fancy that I see gouts and drop- sies, fevers and lethargies, with other innumerable distempers, lying in ambuscade among the dishes. Nature delights an the most plain and simple diet. Every animal, but man, keeps to one dish. Herbs are the food of this species, fish of that, and flesh of a third. Man falls upon every thing that comes in kis way ; not the smallest fruit or excrescence of the earth, scarce a berry or a mushroom can escape him.— Ttdddisotu Running has ©nTy private selfish aims, and sfticte at nothing which may make them succeed. Discre- tion has large and extended views, and, like a welt formed eye, commands a whole horizon : cunning is a kind of short-sightedness, that discovers the minutest objects which are near at hafid r but is not able to discern things at a distance* Discretion, the more it is discovered, gives a greater authority to the person who possesses it: cunning, when it is once delected, loses its force, and makes a man in- capable of bringing about even those events which he might have done, had he passed only for a plain man. Discretion is the perfection of reason, and a guide to us in all the -duties of life: cunning is a kind of instinct, that only looks out after our im- mediate interest and welfare. Discretion is only found in men of strong sense and good understand- ings : cunning is often to be met with in brute* themselves, and in persons who are but the fewest removes from them. In short, cunning is only th© mimic of discretion, and may pass upon weak men,, in the same manner as vivacity is often mistaken for wit, and gravity for wisdom, — *ftddisoru There is no benefit so large but malignity will still lessen it : none so narrow which a good inter- pretation will not enlarge. No man can ever be grateful that views a benefit on the wrong side ; or takes a good office by the wrong handle. The ava- ricious man is naturally ungrateful, for he never thinks he hasenough ; but without considering what he has, only minds what he covets. Some pretend want of power to make a competent return, and you shall find in others a kind of graceless modesty, that make3 a man ashamed of requiting an obligation r because it is a confession that he has received one. Seneca* 168 Sleep is a god too proud to wait in palaces, And yet so humble too, as not to scorn The meanest country cottages: " His poppy grows among the corn." The halcyon sleep will never build his nest In any stormy breast, Tis not enough that he does find Clouds and darkness in the mind; Darkness but half his work will do : *Tis not enough; he must find quiet too. Cowley — dmit. H&ract. When I myself had twice of thrice made a reso- lute resistance unto anger, the like befel me thai did the Thebans ; who having once foiled the Lace- demonians (who before that time had held them- selves invincible) never after lost so much as one battle which they fought against them. Plutarch* It is said by modern philosophers, that not only the great globes of matter are thinly scattered through the universe, but the hardest bodies are so porous, that if all matter were compressed to per- fect solidity, it might be contained in a cube of a few feet. In like manner, if all the employment of life were crowded into the time which it really occupied, perhaps a few weeks, days, or hours, would be sufficient for its accomplishment, so far as the mind was engaged in the performance. For such is the inequality of our corporeal to our intel- lectual faculties, that we contrive in minutes what we execute in years, and the soul often stands an idle spectator of the labour of the hands and expe- dition of the feet. — Johnson, Reason cannot show itself more reasonable, than to leave reasoning on things above reason. Sir P. Sidney, 169 We are born to trouble ; and we may depend upon it whilst we live in this world we shall have it,, though with intermissions — that is, in whatever state we are, we shall find a mixture of good and evil ; and therefore the true way to contentment is to know how to receive these certain vicissitudes of life, — the returns of good and evil, so as neither to be exalted by the one, or overthrown by the other, but to bear ourselves towards every thing which hap- pens with such ease and indifference of mind, as to hazard as little as may be. This is the true tempe- rate climate fitted us by nature, and in which every wise man would wish to live. — Sterne. Short-sighted people, I mean such as have but narrow conceptions, never extended beyond their own little sphere, cannot comprehend the univer- sality of talents which is sometimes observable in one person. They allow no solidity in whatever is agreeable; or when they see in any other the graces of the body, activity, suppleness, and dexterity, they conclude he wants the endowments of the mind, judgment, prudence, and perspicacity. Let history say what it will, they will not believe that Socrates ever danced. — Bruyere. They who think too well of their own perform- ances, are apt to boast in their preface how little time their works have cost them, and what other business of more importance interfered; but the reader will be apt to ask the question, why they allowed not a longer time to make their works more perfect ? and Why they had so despicable an opinion of their judges, as to thrust their undigested stuff apon them, as if they deserved no better. Dryden. P 170 Cheerfulness is always to be supported if a mas* is out of pain, but mirth to a prudent man should always be accidental. It should naturally arise out of the occasion, and the occasion seldom be laid for it; for those tempers who want mirth to be pleased? are like the constitutions which flag without the use of brandy. Therefore, I say, let your precept be, " be easy." That mind is dissolute and ungoverned, which must be hurried out of itself by loud laugh- ter or sensual pleasure, or else be wholly inactive. " Steele. In reading histories, which is every body's sub- ject, I used to consider what kind of men are the authors ; which, if persons that profess nothing but mere learning, I in and from them principally ob- serve and learn the style and language ; if physi- cians, I upon that account the rather incline to credit what they report of the temperature of the air, of the health and complexion of princes, of wounds and diseases; if lawyers, we are from them to take notice of the controversies of right and title, the establishment of laws and civil government, and the like ; if divines, the affairs of the church, ecclesias- tical censures, marriages, and dispensations; if cour- tiers, manners and ceremonies ; if soldiers, the things' that properly belong to their trade, and principally the accounts of such actions and enterprises, wherein they were personally engaged ; and if ambassadors, we are to observe their negotiations, intelligences, and practices, and the manner how they are to be carried on. — Montaigne. There is a mean in all things; even virtue itself hath its stated limits; which not being strictly ob- served, it ceases to be virtue. — Horace. 171 " The great and tedious debates," says a sensible French writer of the old political school, " about the best form of society, are only proper for the ex- ercise of wit; and have their being only in agita- tion and controversy. A new form of government might be of some value in a new world ; but ours is a world ready made to our hands, and in which each distinct form is blended by custom. We do not, like Pyrrho and Cadmus, make the world ; and by whatever authority it is we assert the privilege of setting it to rights, and giving it a new form of go- vernment, it is impossible to twist it from its wonted bent, without breaking all its parts. In truth and reality, the best and most excellent government for every nation, is that under which it is maintained ; and its form and essential convenience depends upon custom. We are apt to be displeased at the present condition ; but I do nevertheless maintain, that, to desire any other form of government than that which is already established, is both Vice and Folly. When any thing is out of its proper place, it may be propped ; and the alterations and corruptions natural to all things, obviated so as to prevent their being carried too far from their origin and princi- ples ; but to undertake to cast anew so great a mass, and to change the foundation of so vast a building as every government is, is reforming particular defects oy an universal confusion, and like curing a disor- der by death." Notes to Burton's Jlnatomy of Melancholy. What if a body might have all the pleasure in the world for the asking? Who would so unman himself, as by accepting of them to desert his soul, and become a perpetual slave to his senses? Seneca. 172 It was said of the learned bishop Sanderson, thatj when he was preparing his lectures, he hesitated so much, and rejected so often, that, at the time of reading, he was often forced to produce, not what was best, but what happened to be at hand. This will be the state of every man, who, in the choice of his employment, balances all the arguments on every side ; the complication is so intricate, the mo- tives and objections so numerous, there is so much play for the imagination, and so much remains in the power of others, that reason is forced at last to rest in neutrality, the decision devolves into the hands of chance, and after a great part of life spent in inquiries which can never be resolved, the rest must often pass in repenting the unnecessary delay, and can be useful to few other purposes than to warn others against the same folly, and to show, that of two states of life equally consistent with religion and virtue, he who chooses earliest chooses best. Johnson. It would be thought a bad government that should tax its people one-tenth part of their time, to be em- ployed in their service; but idleness taxes many of us much more, if we reckon all that is spent in ab- solute sloth, or doing of nothing, with that which is spent in idle employments, or amusements that amount to nothing. Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labour wears, while the key often used is al- ways bright. — Franklin. Among many other evils that attend gaming, are these, loss of time, loss of reputation, loss of health, loss of fortune, loss of temper, ruin of families, defrauding of creditors, and, what is often the ef- fect of it, the loss of life itself. 173 What a wonderful creature is man, endowed as he is with faculties by which he can comprehend and explain the material system to which he belongs; show the relation of the planets- te-tbe central sun, and to each other; and prove to the meanest capa- city the correctness of his knowledge, by ascertain- ing with precision, and long before they occur, the eclipses of the sun and planets. Hence he can form a probable idea of the mystic dance which myriads of such systems are performing, with invariable or- der and harmony, ia illimitable space; and thence infer the existence of an infinitely wise, good, and all-powerful First Cause, — the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of the stupendous whole ! But not- withstanding this evidence of man's mental powers, — when he shuts his eyes to the outward view of things, and closely considers how transient is his own existence, he is at a stand! He finds it difficult to conceive, how such a diminutive creature can be more an object of divine notice and care, than the insects, which he himself is heedlessly and conti- nually crushing under his feet, are of his , — nor is there any effectual relief from the doubt and anxiety into which such a humiliating reflection casts the mind, but the immediate sense excited in it by Om- niscience itself. This, animating, raising, and unit- ing the soul to its first Principle, gives it a percep- tion and comprehension, of which, in the independ- ent exercise of the rational faculty and bodily senses, it is utterly incapable; for its knowledge then, is not the result of laborious inquiry, but intuitive; the medium of its perceptions being light itself, all doubt and uncertainty are necessarily excluded ; — it sees, — and feels assured. DHlwyn's Reflections, O 2 174 A long life may be passed without finding a friend in whose understanding and virtue we can equally confide, and whose opinion we can value at once for its justness and sincerity. A weak man, how- ever honest, is not qualified to judge. A man of the world, however penetrating, is not fit to coun- sel. Friends are often chosen for similitude of man- ners, and therefore each palliates the other's failings, because they are his own. Friends are tender, and unwilling to give pain, or they are interested and fearful to offend. — Johnson.* Ceremonies are different in every country; but true politeness is every where the same. Ceremo- nies which take up so much of our attention, are only artificial helps, which ignorance assumes in order to imitate politeness, which is the result of good sense and good nature. A person possessed of these qualities, though he had never seen a court, is truly agreeable ; and if without them, would con- tinue a clown, though he had been all his life a gen- tleman usher. — Goldsmith. Our pleasures for the most part, are short, false, and deceitful; and like drunkenness, revenge the jolly madness of one hour, with the sad repentance of many. Corruption is like a ball of snow, when once set a rolling it must increase. It gives momentum to the activity of the knave, but it chills the honest man, and makes him almost weary of his calling i and all that corruption attracts, it also retains; for it is easier not to fall, than only to fall once, and not to yield a single inch, than having yielded, to re- gain it 175 Affected dispatch is one of the most dangerous things to business that can be. It is like that which the physicians call predigestion, or hasty digestion ; which is sure to fill the body full of crudities, and secrete seeds of diseases. Therefore measure not dispatch by the times of sitting, but by the advance- ment of the business. And, as in races, it is not the large stride, or high lift, that makes the speed ; so, in business, the keeping close to the matter, and not taking of it too much at once, procureth dis- patch. It is the care of some, only to come off speedily for the time, or to contrive some false pe- riods of business, because they may seem men of dispatch : but it is one thing to abbreviate by con- tracting, another by cutting off-; and business so handled at several sittings or meetings goeth com- monly backward and forward in an unsteady man- ner. I knew a wise man that had for a by-word, when he saw men hasten to a conclusion, " Stay a little, that we may make the end the sooner." On the other side, true dispatch is a rich thing. For time is the measure of business, as money is of xvares ; and business is bought at a dear hand where there is small dispatch. The Spartans and Spaniards have been noted to be of small dispatch : " Mi Tenga la muerte de Spagua ;" " Let my death come from Spain ;" for then it will be sure to be long in eoming. — Lord Bacon. Cast an eye into the gay world, what see we for the most part, hut a set of querulous, emaciated, flut- tering, fantastical beings, worn out in the keen pur- suit of pleasure ; creatures that know, own, con- demn, deplore, yet still pursue their own infelicity? The decayed monuments of error! The thin re- mains of what is called delight! Dr. Young, 176 Of Riches. — I cannot call riches better than the "baggage" of virtue; the Roman word is better, "impedimenta." For as the baggage is to an army, so are riches to virtue. It cannot be spared nor left behind, but it hindereth the march ; yea, and the care of it sometimes loseth or disturbeth the victory. Of great riches there is no real use, except it be in the distribution ; the rest is but conceit. So saith Solomon ; " Where much is, there are many to con- sume it ; and what hath the owner but the sight of it with his eyes?" The personal fruition in any man cannot reach to feel great riches : there is a custody of them ; or a power of dole and donative of them : or a fame of them ; but no solid use to the owner. Do you not see what feigned prices are set upon little stones and rarities ? And what works of ostentation are undertaken, because there might seem to be some use of great riches? But then you will say they may be of use to buy men out of dan- gers and troubles. As Solomon saith, " Riches are as a strong hold in the imagination of the rich man." But this is excellently expressed, that it is in imagi- nation, and not always in fact. For certainly, great riches have sold more men than they have bought out. — Lord Bacon* Let us so employ our youth that the very old age, which will deprive us of attention from the eyes of the women, shall enable us to replace what we have lost with something better from the ears of men. Idleness is a constant sin, and labour is a duty ; idleness is but the devil's home for temptation, and for unprofitable, distracting musings: labour pro- fiteth others, and ourselves. — Baxter. 177 There is a jewel which no Indian mines can buy, No chemic art can counterfeit; It makes men rich in greatest poverty, Makes water wine, turns wooden cups to gold, The homely whistle to sweet music's strain ; Seldom it comes, to few from heaven sent, That much in little — all in nought — Content. From Wilbye's Madrigals, 1598. They who stand still in the current of worldly fashions, must in a little time appear singular to those who are carried away by it ; for the reason given by an eminent philosopher to one who on his taking part in the revolutionary measures, reproach- ed him with fickleness in his principles: "Nay, sir, you quite mistake the matter, the people are fickle — not I — I go straight on ; and, when we meet at the crossings of the road which they are con- tinually deserting, they imagine it is I, and not themselves, that deviate." Dillwyrts Reflections. Give good hearing to those that give the first in- formation in business, and rather direct them in the beginning than interrupt them in the continuance of their speeches ; for he that is put out of his own order will go forward and backward, and be more tedious while he waits upon his memory, than he could have been if he had gone on in his own course. But sometimes it is seen that the modera- tor is more troublesome than the actor. Lord Bacon. The prerogatives of good men appear plainly in this, that men bear more honour to the sepulchres of the virtuous, than to the boasted palaces of the wicked. — Fr. Jlcad, > 178 A phlegmatic insensibility sometimes passes for patience ; but they are as different as a pool from a port : into the one indolence naturally sinks us ; but if we arrive at the other, it is by encountering many an adverse wind, and rough wave, with a more skilful pilot at the helm than self, and a company under better command than the passions. Dillwyrfs Reflections. Medicine. — Medicine has been defined to be the art or science of amusing a sick man with fri- volous speculations about his disorder, and of tem- porizing ingeniously till nature either kills or cures him. The English Language. — The difficulty of ap- plying rules to the pronunciation of our language, may be illustrated in two lines, where the combina- tion of the letters ough is pronounced in no fewer than seven different ways, viz. o, uf of, up, ow, oo, ock. Though the tough cough and hiccough plough me through. O'er life's dark lough my course I still pursue. There are cases in which a man would have been ashamed not to have been imposed upon ; there is a confidence necessary to human intercourse, and with- out which men are often more injured by their own suspicions, than they could be by the perfidy of others. — Burke, The best astronomers are agreed that the distance of many of the fixed stars may be such, that since they were first created, the first beam of light which they emitted, has not yet arrived within the limits of our system. 179 It is remarkable, that in all ages and countries hos- pitality has been allowed as the virtue of those whom the civilized were pleased to call Barbarians. The Greeks celebrated the Scythians for it; the Sara- cens possessed it eminently ; and it is to this day the reigning virtue of the wild Arabs. St. Paul, too, in the relation of his voyage and shipwreck on the island of Malta, says, "The barbarous people showed us no little kindness, for they kindled a fire and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold." Pleasures are like poppies spread, You seize the flower, its bloom is shed; Or like the snow-falls in the river, A moment white — then melts for ever; Or like the borealis race, That flit ere you can point their place; Or like the rainbow's lovely form Evanishing amid the storm — . Nae man can tether time or tide. Burns. Religion is so far from barring men any innocent pleasure, or comfort of human life, that it. purifies the pleasures of it, and renders them more grateful am! generous ; and besides this, it brings mighty pleasures of its own, those of a glorious hope, a se- rene mind, a calm and undisturbed conscience, which do far out-relish the most studied and artificial luxu- ries. — Dean Shirley. There is a sweet pleasure in contemplation : all others grow flat and insipid npon frequent use ; and when a man hath run through a set of vanities, in the declension of his age he knows not what to do with himself, if he cannot think. Sir T. P. Blount, 180 What is a man the worse for the last year's plain diet; or what now the better for the last great feast? What's a voluptuous dinner, and the frothy vanity of discourse that commonly attends these pompous entertainments? What is it but a mortification to a man of sense and virtue, to spend his time among such people ? — Sir R. IS Estrange. The man whose hardy spirit shall engage To lash the vices of a guilty age, At his first setting forward ought to know, That ev'ry rogue he meets must be his foe; That the rude breath of satire will provoke Many who feel, and more who fear the stroke. Churchill. Those orators who give us much noise and many words but little argument and less wit, and who are most loud when they are least lucid, should take a lesson from the great volume of Nature ; she often gives us the lightning even without the thunder, but never the thunder without the lightning. The virtue of prosperity, is temperance ; the vir- tue of adversity is fortitude; which in morals is the more heroical virtue. Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament, adversity of the New, which car- rieth the greater benediction, and the clearer Reve- lation of God's Favour. — Lord Bacon. After all, the most natural beauty in the world is honesty and moral truth. For all beauty is truth. True features make the beauty of a face ; and true proportions the beauty of architecture ; as true mea- sures that of harmony and music. In poetry, which is all fable, truth still is the perfection. Shaftesbury. 181 Natural history is no work for one that loves his chair or his bed. Speculation may be pursued on a soft couch, but Nature must be observed in the open air. I have collected materials with indefatigable pertinacity. I have gathered glow-worms in the even- ing, and snails in the morning; I have seen the daisy close and open ; I have heard the owl shriek at midnight, and hunted insects in the heat of noon. Johnson. EPITAPH ON SIR THOMAS HANMER, BART. Thou who survey'st these walls with curious eye, Pause at this tomb where Hanmer's ashes lie; His various worth through varied life attend, And learn his virtues, whilst thou mourn'st his end. His force of genius burn'd in early youth, With thirst of knowledge, and with love of truth; His learning, join'd with each endearing art, Charrn'd every ear, and gain'd on every heart. Thus early wise, th' endanger'd realm to aid, His country call'd him from the studious shade; In life's first bloom his public toils began, At once commenc'd the senator and man. In business dexterous, weighty in debate, Thrice ten long years he labour'd for the state; In every speech persuasive wisdom flow'd, In every act refulgent virtue glow'd; Suspended faction ceas'd from rage and strife, To hear his eloquence, and praise his life. Resistless merit fix'd the senate^ choice, Who hail'd him Speaker with united voice. Illustrious age! how bright thy glories shone, When Hanmer fill'd the chair — and Ann the throne! Then when dark arts obscur'd each fierce debate, When mutual frauds perplex'd the maze of state, The moderator firmly mild appear'd — Beheld with love — with veneration heard. This task perform' d — he sought no gainful post, Nor wish'd to glitter at his country's cost; Strict on the right he fix'd his steadfast eye, With temperate zeal, and wise anxiety; Q 182 Nor e'er from Virtue's paths was lur'd aside. To pluck the flowers of pleasure or of pride. Her gifts despised, Corruption blush'd and fled, And fame pursued him where Conviction led. Age call'd, at length, his active mind to rest* With honour sated, and with cares opprest; To letter'd ease retir'd and honest mirth, To rural grandeur and domestic worth: Delighted still to please mankind, or mend, The patriot's fire yet sparkled in the friend. Calm Conscience then his former life survey'd. And recollected toils endear'd the shade, Till Nature call'd him to the general doom, And Virtue's sorrow dignified his tomb. Johnson. EPITAPH on the Monument of the Hon. R. Digby and of his Sister Mary, erected by their father Lord Digby , in the Church of Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, 1727. Go! fair example of untainted youth, Of modest wisdom and pacific truth: Compos'd in sufferings, and in joy sedate, Good without noise, without pretension great: Just to thy word, in every thought sincere, Who knew no wish but what the world might hear: Of softest manners, unaffected mind, Lover of peace, and friend of human-kind! Go live! for Heaven's eternal year is thine; Go, and exalt thy moral to divine. And thou, bless'd maid! attendant on his doom, Pensive had folio w'd to the silent tomb, Steei'd the same course to the same quiet shore, Not parted long, and now to part no more! . Go then, where only bliss sincere is known! Go, where to love and to enjoy are one! Yet take these tears, mortality's relief, And till we share your joys, forgive our grief: These little rites, a stone, a verse, receive; 'Tis all a father, all a friend, can give! — Pope. True friendship is like sound health, the value of it is seldom known until it is lost. 183 There are two things that speak as with a voice from heaven, that He that fills that eternal throne, must be on the side of virtue, and that which he befriends must finally prosper and prevail. The first is, that the bad are never completely happy and at ease, although possessed of every thing that this world can bestow ; and that the good are never completely miserable although deprived of every thing that this world can take away. For there is one reflection. that will obtrude itself, and which the best would not, and which the worst cannot dismiss; that the time is fast approaching to both of them, when, if they have gained the favour of God, it matters little what else they have lost ; but if they have lost his favour, it matters little tvhat else they Lave gained. The second argument in support of ihe ultimate superiority of virtue is this : We are so framed and constituted, that the most vicious cannot but pay a secret though unwilling homage to virtue, inasmuch, as the worst men cannot bring themselves thoroughly to esteem a bad man, al- though he may be their dearest friend, nor can they thoroughly despise a good man, although he may be their bitterest enemy. From this inward esteem of virtue, which the noblest cherish, and which the basest cannot expel, it follows that virtue is the only bond of union, on which we can thoroughly depend. Even differences of opinion on minor points, cannot shake those combinations which have virtue for their foundation and truth fortheirend, Such friendships like those of Luther and Melancthon, should they cease to be friendships of agreement, will continue to be friendships of alliance; approaching each other by angular lines, when they no longer proceed to- gether by parallel, and meeting at last in one com- mon centre,- — the good of the cause in which they are embarked. — Lacon. 184 The vain is the most distinguished son of folly. In what does this man lay out the faculties of an immortal soul? That time, on which depends eter- nity ? That estate, which, well disposed of, might in some measure purchase heaven ? What is his se- rious labour, subtle machination, ardent desire, and reigning ambition ? — To be seen. This ridiculous, but true answer, renders all grave censure almost superfluous. — Dr. Young. The Bible. — A nation must be truly blessed if it were governed by no other laws than those of this blessed book : it is so complete a system, that nothing can be added to it, or taken from it : it con- tains every thing needful to be known or done j it affords a copy for a king, Deut. xvii. 18, and a rule for a subject ; authority and direction for a magis- trate ; it cautions a witness ; requires an impartial verdiat of a jury, and furnishes the judge with his sentence ; it sets the husband as lord of the house- hold, and the wife as mistress of the table ; tells him how to rule, and her how to manage : it entails ho- nour to parents, and enjoins obedience to children; it prescribes and limits the sway of the sovereign, the rule of the ruler, and authority of the master ; commands the subjects to honour, and the servants to obey ; and promises the blessing and protection of its Author to all that walk in its rules. It gives di- rections for weddings, and for burials ; it promises food and raiment, and limits the use of both ; it points out a faithful and an Eternal Guardian to the departing husband and father ; tells him with whom to leave his fatherless children, and in whom his widow is to trust, Jeremiah, xlix. 11 ; and promises a father to the former, and a husband to the latter ; it teaches a man how to set his house in order, and 185 how to make his will ; it appoints a dowry for a wife, and entails the right of the first-born, and shows how the younger branches shall be left; it defends the rights of all ; and reveals vengeance to every defrauder, over-reacher, and oppressor. It is the first book, the best book, and the oldest book in the world : it contains the choicest matter; gives the best instruction ; and affords the greatest plea- sure and satisfaction that ever was revealed : it con- tains the best laws, and profoundest mysteries that ever were penned. It brings the best of tidings, and affords the best of comfort to the inquiring and disconsolate ; it exhibits life and immortality, and shows the way to glory ; it is a brief recital of all that is past, and a certain prediction of all that is to come ; it settles all matters in debate, resolves all doubts, and eases the mind and conscience of all their scruples. It reveals the only living and true God, and shows the only way to him ; and sets aside all other gods, and describes the vanity of them. In short, it is a book of laws, to show right and wrong; a book of wisdom that condemns all folly, and makes the foolish wise ; and a book of truth, that detects all lies, and confutes all errors ; and a book of life, and shows the way from everlasting death. It is the most compendious book in all the world, the most authentic and the most entertaining history that ever was published ; it contains the most ancient antiquities, strange events, wonderful occurrences, heroic deeds, unparalleled wars. It de- scribes the celestial, terrestial, and infernal worlds ; and the origin of the angelic myriads, human tribes, and devilish legions. It will instruct the most ac- complished mechanic, and profoundest artist; it will teach the best rhetorician, and exercise every power 186 of the most skilful arithmetician, Revelation, xiii. 18; puzzle the wisest anatomist, and exercise the nicest critic. It corrects the vain philosopher, and confutes the wise astronomer; it exposes the subtle sophist, and makes diviners mad. It is a complete code of laws, a perfect body of divinity, an un- equalled narrative, a book of lives, a book of travels, and a book of voyages ; it is the best covenant that ever was agreed on, the best deed that ever was sealed, the best evidence that ever was produced, the best will that ever was made, and the best tes- tament that ever w T as signed. To understand it, is to be wise indeed ; to be ignorant of it, is to be destitute of wisdom; it is the king's best copy, the Ittagistrate's best rule, the housewife's best guide, the servant's best directory, and the young man's best companion. It is the school-boy's spelling- book, and the learned man's master-piece ; it con- tains a choice grammar for a novice, and a profound mystery for a sage; it is the ignorant man's dic- tionary, and the wise man's directory ; it affords knowledge of witty inventions for the humorous, and dark sayings for the grave; and it is its own interpreter. It encourages the wise, the warrior, the swift, and the overcomer, and premises an eter- nal reward to the excellent, the conqueror, the win- ner, the prevalent. And that which crowns all is, that the Author is without partiality, and without hypocrisy. In whom is no variableness, nor sha~ dow of turning. J. L. R. As lamps burn silent, with unconscious light, So modest ease in beauty shines most bright; Unaiming charms with edge resistless fall, And she who means no mischief does it all. A< BUI 187 A3 a man of pleasure, by a vain attempt to be more happy than any man can be, is often mora miserable than most men are, so the sceptic, in a vain attempt to be wise, beyond what is permitted to man, plunges into a darkness more deplorable, and a blindness more incurable than that of the common herd, whom he despises and would fain in- struct. For the more precious the gift, the more pernicious the abuse of it, as the most powerful- medicines are the most dangerous if misapplied, and no error is so remediless as that which arises, not from the exclusion of wisdom, but from its perver- sion. The sceptic, when he plunges into the depths of infidelity, like the miser who leaps from the shipwreck, will find that the treasures which he bears about him, will only sink him deeper in the abyss, Lacon. Agar said, " give me neither poverty nor riches ;" and this will ever be the prayer of the wise. Our incomes should be like our shoes, if too small, they will gall and pinch us, but, if too large, they will cause us to stumble, and to trip. But wealth, after all, is a relative thing, since he that has little, and wants less, is richer than he that has much, but wants more. True contentment depends not upon what we have; a tub was large enough for Dioge- nes, but a world was too little for Alexander. — Ib.\ There have been many laws made by men, which swerve from honesty, reason, and the dictates of na- ture. By the law of arms, he is degraded from all honour, who puts up an affront; and by the civil law, he that takes vengeance for it, incurs a capital punishment : he that seeks redress by law for an affront, is disgraced ; and he that does not seek re- dress this way, is punished by the laws. Montaigne. i486 326 188 It is a serious doubt whether a wise man ought to accept of a thousand years of life, even provided that these three important advantages of health, youth and riches could be securely guaranteed unto him. But this is an offer that can never be refused, for it will never be made. Taking things as they really are, it must be confessed that life, after forty, is an anti-climax, gradual indeed, and progressive with some, but steep and rapid with others. It would be well if old age diminished our percepti- bilities to pain, in the same proportion that it does our sensibilities to pleasure; and if life has been termed a feast, those favoured few are the most fa- vourite guests, who are not compelled to sit at the table, when they can no longer partake of the ban- quet. But the misfortune is that body and mind, like man and wife, do not always agree to die to- gether. It is bad when the mind survives the body; and worse still when the body survives the mind ; but, when both these survive our spirits, our hopes, and our health, this is worst of all. — Lacon. PROEM. Just as the bee collects her sweets From every flower and shrub she meets, So, what from various books I drew, I give, though not the whole as new. It is not vainly my design To publish others' thoughts as mine, But profitably employ my ink To make my readers learn to think, Amply rewarded for my pains, So my collection entertains. — Anon. THE END. V V :■ _■-■■• * o „ o V U ** /%. ** % 4* -^:»^ Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide <}v Treatment Date: Jan. 2008 PreservationTechnologies A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 111 Thomson Park Drive Cranberry Township, PA 16066 (724)779-2111 .& ,o»o rtV *° ,*° ~7V ' M «tf * .... °^ "^ "*° °o A<3fc *& V ^"a* "<6 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 020 895 059 9 i