CCCCXCV.

SOME demagogues, like Catiline, can raise a storm, who cannot, like Cromwell, rule it; thus, the Gracchi wishing to make the Agrarian law the ladder of their ascent, found it the instrument of their fall; "fracta compage ruebant.”

CCCCXCVI.

DREAMS ought to produce no conviction whatever on philosophical minds. If we consider how many dreams are dreamt every night, and how many events occur every day, we shall no longer wonder at those accidental coincidences which ignorance mistakes for verifications. There are also numberless instances on record, where dreams have brought about their own fulfilment, owing to the weakness and credulity of mankind. The mother of Abbott, who filled the Archi-episcopal throne of Canterbury, in the reign of James the First, had a dream, that if she could eat a pike, the child with which she was then pregnant, would be a son, and rise to great preferment. Not long after this, in taking a pail of water out of the river Wey, which ran near her house, she accidentally caught a pike, and thus had an opportunity of fulfilling the first part of her dream. This story being much noised about, and coming to the ears of some persons of distinction, they became sponsors to the child, and his future patrons. But I suspect, after all, that this marvellous pike swallowed by the mother, was not so instrumental to the archbishop's preferment as the story of Earl Gowrie's conspiracy against the life of the king, swallowed by the son. It would seem that there are occasions where even churchmen may carry the doctrine of divine right so far as to displease even kings, for thus writeth King James, with his own hand, to Doctor Abbott, then a dean, "you have dipped too deep into what all kings reserve among the arcana imperii; and whatever aversion you may profess against God's being the author of sin, you have stumbled even on the threshold of that opinion, in saying, upon the matter, that even tyranny is God's authority, and

ought to be remembered as such. But, if the King of Spain should return to claim his old pontifical right to my kingdom, you leave me to seek for others to fight for it, for you tell us, upon the matter, before hand, that his authority is God's authority, if he prevail." A man who could go such lengths, was not likely to continue long in a deanery, under the reign of James, nor need we call in the assistance of a dream to account for his promotion.

CCCCXCVII.

AT the restoration of Charles the Second, the tide of opinion set so strong in favour of loyalty, that the principal annalist of that day pauses to express his wonder where all the men came from, who had done all the mischief; but this was the surprise of ignorance; for it is in politics as in religion, that none run into such extremes as renegadoes, or so ridiculously overact their parts. The passions, on these occasions, take their full swing, and react like the pendulum, whose oscillations on one side, will always be regulated by the height of the arc it has subtended on the other.

CCCCXCVIII.

HE that from small beginnings has deservedly raised himself to the highest stations, may not always find that full satisfaction in the possession of his object, that he anticipated in the pursuit of it. But although the individual may be disappointed, the community are benefited, first, by his exertions, and, secondly, by his example; for, it has been well observed, that the public are served, not by what the lord mayor feels, who rides in his coach, but by what the apprentice boy feels who looks at him.

CCCCXCIX.

AS in public life, that minister that makes war with parsimony, must make peace with prodigality, so in private

life, those hostile but feeble measures which only serve to irritate our enemies, not to intimidate them, are by all means to be avoided; for he that has recourse to them, only imposes upon himself the ultimate necessity of purchasing a reconciliation often expensive, always humiliating.

D.

A NOBLE income nobly expended, is no common sight; it is far more easy to acquire a fortune like a knave, than to expend it, like a gentleman. If we exhaust our income in schemes of ambition, we shall purchase disappointment; if in law, vexation; if in luxury, disease. What we lend we shall most probably lose; what we spend rationally, we shall enjoy; what we distribute to the deserving, we shall both enjoy and retain*.

DI.

THE inexhaustible resources of Great Britain, were always an inexplicable mystery to Napoleon, and he was taught their reality only by their effects; there was a period when, to the defence of the noblest cause, England brought the highest valour, while all that were oppressed, drew at sight on her treasure, and on her blood. It would have been glorious if she had evinced a magnanimity that calculated not on return; if she had continued to sow benefits, although she might reap ingratitude. Alas! she found it more easy to conquer others than herself. But her safety requires not the compromise of her honour; for although her prosperity will draw envy †, her power may despise it; she is beset

If there be any truth in the old epitaph,

"What we lent we lost;

"What we spent, we have ;

"What we gave, we had.'

Envy, as is generally the case, is both purblind and impolitic; it is for the general and the true interests of the world, that Great Britain. should hold the sceptre of the seas; for if she ceased to wield it, it must of necessity devolve to France; and, on the fatal consequences of

with difficulties, but it is her own fault if they become dangers; and, although she may suffer somewhat if compared with her former self, she is still gigantic if compared with others. She may command peace, since she has not relinquished the sinews of war; a paradox to all other nations, she will say to America, territory is not power; to India, population is not force; and, to Spain, money is not wealth.

DII.

TO judge by the event, is an error all abuse, and all commit; for, in every instance, courage, if crowned with success, is heroism; if clouded by defeat, temerity. When Nelson fought his battle in the Sound, it was the result alone that decided whether he was to kiss a hand at a court, or a rod at a court-martial.

DIII.

PRINCES rule the people; and their own passions rule princes; but Providence can overrule the whole, and draw the instruments of his inscrutable purposes from the vices, no less than from the virtues of kings. Thus, the Reformation, which was planted by the lust of Henry the Eighth of England, was preserved by the ambition of Philip the Second of Spain. Queen Mary would have sacrificed Elizabeth to the full establishing of the Catholic faith, if she had not been prevented by Philip the Second, her husband, who foresaw, in the death of Elizabeth, the succession of Mary Stewart, who was then married to Francis the Second; and, in that succession, he anticipated the certain union of Great Britain and France; an event that would have dispersed to the winds his own ambitious dream of uni

such a calamity, to the best interests of the civilized world, there can be no necessity to enlarge; not that France would make a worse use of such power than some other nations, but because such an accumulation of it ought not to be vested in any, that are already so powerful by land.

versal monarchy. The consequence was, the life of Elizabeth was preserved, and the Protestant cause prevailed.

DIV.

THE great estate of a dull book maker is biography; but we should read the lives of great men, if written by themselves, for two reasons; to find out what others really were, and what they themselves would appear to be.

DV.

TO quell the pride, even of the greatest, we should reflect how much we owe to others, and how little to ourselves. Philip having made himself master of Potidea, received three messengers in one day; the first brought him an account of a great victory, gained over the Illyrians, by his general Parmenio; the second told him, that he was proclaimed victor at the Olympic games; and the third informed him of the birth of Alexander. But there was nothing in all these events that ought to have fed the vanity, or that would have justified the pride of Philip, since, as an elegant writer remarks," for the first he was indebted to his general; for the second, to his horse; and his wife is shrewdly suspected of having helped him to the third.”

DVI.

SHOULD the world applaud, we must thankfully receive it as a boon; for, if the most deserving of us appear to expect it as a debt, it will never be paid. The world, it has been said, does as much justice to our merits as to our defects, and I believe it; but, after all, none of us are so much praised or censured as we think; and most men would be thoroughly cured of their self-importance, if they would only rehearse their own funeral, and walk abroad incognito

See Lee's Pindar.