gencrate patrician, "I am the first of my family, but you are the last of your's." And since his time, those who value themselves merely on their ancestry, have been compared to potatoes, all that is good of them is under the ground; perhaps it is but fair that nobility should have descended to them, since they never could have raised themselves to it.

IX.

AN upright minister asks, what recommends a man ; a corrupt minister who.

X.

THE first consideration with a knave, is how to help himself, and the second, how to do it, with an appearance of helping you. Dionysius the tyrant, stripped the statue of Jupiter Olympius, of a robe of massy gold, and substituted a cloak of wool, saying, gold is too cold in winter, and too heavy in summer;-It behoves us to take care of Jupiter.

XI.

IF hypocrites go to hell by the road to heaven, we may carry on the metaphor, and add, that as all the virtues demand their respective tolls, the hypocrite has a bye-way to avoid them, and to get into the main road again. And all would be well, if he could escape the last turnpike in the journey of life, where all must pay, where there is no byepath, and where the toll is death.

XII.

In great matters of public moment, where both parties are at a stand, and both are punctilious, slight condescensions cost little, but are worth much. He that yields them is wise, in as much as he purchases guineas with farthings.

A few drops of oil will set the political machine at work, when a tun of vinegar would only corrode the wheels, and canker the movements.

XIII.

WERE we as eloquent as angels, yet should we please some men, some women, and some children much more by listening, than by talking.

XIV.

WHEN Mahomet forbids his followers the use of wine, when the grand Sultan discourages learning, and when the Pope denies the scriptures to the laity, what are we to infer from hence? not the danger of the things forbidden, but the fears of those that forbid. Mahomet knew that his was a faith strictly military, and to be propagated by the sword; he also knew that nothing is so destructive of discipline as wine; therefore Mahomet interdicted wine. The grand Sultan knows that despotism is founded on the blindness and weakness of the governed; but that learning is light and power; and that the powerful and the enlightened make very troublesome slaves; therefore the Sultan discourages learning. Leo the Xth knew that the pontifical hierarchy did support, and was reciprocally supported by a superstition that was false; but he also knew that the scriptures are true, and that truth and falsehood assimilate not; therefore, Leo withheld the scriptures from the laity.

XV.

A WISE minister would rather preserve peace, than gain a victory; because he knows that, even the most successful war leaves nations generally more poor, always more profligate than it found them. There are real evils that cannot be brought into a list of indemnities, and the demora

lizing influence of war is not the least of them. The triumphs of truth are the most glorious, chiefly because they are the most bloodless of all victories, deriving their highest lustre, from the number of the saved, not of the slain.

XVI.

THE great examples of Bacon, of Milton, of Newton, of Locke, and of others, happen to be directly against the popular inference, that a certain wildness of eccentricity and thoughtlessness of conduct, are the necessary accompaniments of talent, and the sure indications of genius. Because some have united these extravagancies with great demonstrations of talent, as a Rousseau, a Chatterton, a Savage, a Burns, or a Byron, others, finding it less difficult to be eccentric, than to be brilliant, have therefore adopted the one, in the hope that the world would give them credit for the other. But the greatest genius is never so great, as when it is chastised and subdued by the highest reason; it is from such a combination, like that of Bucephalus, reined in by Alexander, that the most powerful efforts have been produced. And be it remembered, that minds of the very highest order, who have given an unrestrained course to their caprice, or to their passions, would have been so much higher, by subduing them; and that so far from presuming that the world would give them credit for talent, on the score of their aberrations and their extravagancies, all that they dared hope or expect has been, that the world would pardon and overlook those extravagancies, on account of the various and manifold proofs they were constantly exhibiting of superior acquirement and inspiration We might also add, that the good effects of talent are universal, the evil of its blemishes confined. The light and heat of the sun benefit all, and are by all enjoyed; the spots on his surface are discoverable only to the few. But the

lower order of aspirers to fame and talent, have pursued a very different course; instead of exhibiting talent in the hope that the world would forgive their eccentricities, they have exhibited only their eccentricities, in the hope that the world would give them credit for talent.

XVII.

THE enthusiast has been compared to a man walking in a fog; every thing immediately around him, or in contact with him, appears sufficiently clear and luminous ; but beyond the little circle of which he himself is the centre, all is mist, and error and confusion. But he himself is nevertheless as much in the fog as his neighbours, all of whom have also cantoned out their little Goshens of perspicacity. Total freedom from error is what none of us will allow to our reighbours, however we may be inclined to flirt a little with such spotless perfection ourselves. Sir Richard Steele has observed, that there is this difference between the church of Rome and the church of England; the one professes to be infallible—the other to be never in the wrong. Such high pretensions are extremely awkward wherever the points of difference happen to be more numerous than those of agreement. A safer mode of proceeding would be to propose with diffidence, to conjecture with freedom, to examine with candour, and to dissent with civility; in rebus necessariis sit unitas; in non necessariis liberalitas; in omnibus, charitas. This ought to teach all enthusiasts moderation, many of whom begin to make converts from motives of charity, but continue to do so from motives of pride; like some rivers which are sweet at their source but bitter at their mouth. The fact is, that charity is contented with exhortation and example, but pride is not to be so easily satisfied. An enthusiast, therefore, ought above all things to guard against this error, arising from a mor

bid association of ideas, directed to view and examine all things through one medium alone. The best intentioned may be exposed to this infirmity, and there is one infallible symptom of the disorder, which is this: whenever we find ourselves more inclined to persecute than to persuade, we may then be certain that our zeal has more of pride in it than of charity, that we are seeking victory rather than truth, and are beginning to feel more for ourselves, than for our master. To lose our charity in the defence of our religion, is to sacrifice the citadel to maintain the outworks; a very imprudent mode of defence. There is an old poet who has said, "Nullum Numen abest si sit Prudentia tecum," but your thorough-paced enthusiast would make a trifling alteration in the letter, but a most important one in the spirit of the line, which he would read thus-" Nullum Numen habes si sit Prudentia tecum."

XVIII.

IN all societies it is adviseable to associate if possible with the highest; not that the highest are always the best, but, because if disgusted there, we can at any time descend; -but if we begin with the lowest, to ascend is impossible. In the grand theatre of human life, a box ticket takes us through the house.

XIX.

HE that has never suffered extreme adversity, knows not the full extent of his own depravation; and he that has never enjoyed the summit of prosperity, is equally ignorant how far the iniquity of others can go. For our adversity will excite temptations in ourselves, our prosperity in others. Sir Robert Walpole observed, it was fortunate that few men could be prime ministers, because it was for