DCXXI.

Extempore discourses are full of much ordinary and loose stuff: nor do such speakers well know how to begin, or when to make an end. And besides other

faults which those who speak suddenly are commonly guilty of, they are commonly liable to this great one, that they multiply words without measure, whereas premeditation will not suffer a man to enlarge his discourse beyond a due proportion.—Plutarch.

DCXXII.

We receive but little advantage from repeated protestations of gratitude, but they cost them very much from whom we exact them in return; exacting a grateful acknowedgment, is demanding a debt by which the creditor is not advantaged, and the debtor pays with reluctance.-Goldsmith.

DCXXIII.

A king, when he presides in council, let him beware how he opens his own inclination too much in that which he propoundeth; for else counsellors will but take the wind of him, and instead of giving free counsel, will sing him a song of "placebo."-Lord Bacon.

DCXXIV.

Authority intoxicates,

And makes mere sots of magistrates;
The fumes of it invade the brain,
And make men giddy, proud, and vain:
By this the fool commands the wise,
The noble with the base complies,
The sot assumes the rule of wit,
And cowards make the base submit.

DCXXV.

Butler.

O God! what is man?-even a thing of naught-a poor, infirm, miserable, short-lived creature, that passes away like a shadow, and is hastening off the stage where the theatrical titles and distinctions, and the whole mask

of pride which he has worn for a day will fall off, and leave him naked as a neglected slave.—Sterne.

DCXXVI.

When we see the avaricious and crafty taking companions to their tables and their beds, without any inquiry but after farms and money; or the giddy and thoughtless uniting themselves for life to those whom they have only seen by the light of tapers; when parents make articles for children without inquiring after their consent; when some marry for heirs to disappoint their brothers; and others throw themselves into the arms of those whom they do not love, because they have found themselves rejected where they were more solicitous to please; when some marry because their servants cheat them; some because they squander their own money; some because their houses are pestered with company; some because they will live like other people; and some because they are sick of themselves, we are not so much inclined to wonder that marriage is sometimes unhappy, as that it appears so little loaded with calamity; and cannot but conclude, that society has something in itself eminently agreeable to human nature, when we find its pleasures so great, that even the ill choice of a companion can hardly overbalance them.—Those, therefore, of the above description, that should rail against matrimony, should be informed, that they are neither to wonder, or repine; that a contract begun on such principles has ended in disappointment.-Johnson.

DCXXVII.

According to right military discipline, you must never drive your enemy into despair. For that such a strait doth multiply his force and increase his courage, which was before broken and cast down. Neither is there any better help for men that are out of heart, toiled, and spent, than to hope for no favour at all. How many victories have been taken out of the hands of the victors by the vanquished, when they would not rest satisfied with reason, but attempt to put all to the sword, and totally to

destroy all their enemies, without leaving so much as one to carry home news of the defeat of his fellows. Open, therefore, unto your enemies all the gates and ways, and make to them a bridge of silver rather than fail, that you may be rid of them.-Rabelais.

DCXXVIII.

Bedlam cures not more madmen in a year Than one of the Compters does. Men pay more dear There for their wit than any where. A CompterWhy 'tis an university.-Who not sees?

As scholars there, so here men take degrees,
And follow the same studies, all alike.
Scholars learn first logic and rhetoric,
So does a prisoner; with fine honied speech,
At his first coming in, he doth persuade, beseech
He may be lodg'd;

To lie in a clean chamber;

But when he has no money, then does he try,
By subtle logic, and quaint sophistry,

To make the keepers trust him.

Say they do.

Then he's a graduate.

Say they trust him not.

Then he is held a fresh man and a sot,

And never shall commence, but being still barr'd
Be expell'd from the master's side to the twopenny yard,
Or else in the hole-beg plac'd.

When then, I pray, proceeds a prisoner?
When money being the theme,

He can dispute with his hard creditor's hearts,
And get out clear, he's then a master of arts.
Send your son to Wood-street college;
A gentleman can nowhere get more knowledge.
The Roaring Girl.-T. Middleton.

DCXXIX.

Wherever desirable superfluities are imported, industry is excited, and thereby plenty is produced. Were only necessaries permitted to be purchased, men would

work no more than was necessary for that purpose.Franklin.

DCXXX.

A French author has advanced this seeming paradox, that very few men know how to take a walk; and, indeed, it is true, that few know how to take a walk with a prospect of any other pleasure, than the same company would have afforded them at home.-Johnson.

DCXXXI.

Fire and sword are slow engines of destruction, in comparison of the babbler in the case of the merchant. -Steele.

DCXXXII.

Simple diet is best;-for many dishes bring many diseases; and rich sauces are worse than even heaping several meats upon each other.-Pliny.

DCXXXIII.

No man will take counsel, but every man will take money: therefore money is better than counsel.-Swift.

DCXXXIV.

The Europeans are themselves blind who describe, fortune without sight. No first-rate beauty ever had finer eyes, or saw more clearly; they who have no other trade than seeking their fortune, need never hope to find her; coquette-like, she flies from her close pursuers, and at last fixes on the plodding mechanic, who stays at home and minds his business.-Goldsmith.

men.

DCXXXV.

Other sins only speak, murder shrieks out.
The element of water moistens the earth,

But blood flies upwards and bedews the heavens.

DCXXXVI.

Webster.

Women are better qualified to succeed in oratory than It is certain too, that they are possessed of some springs of rhetoric which men want, such as tears, fainting fits, and the like, which I have seen employed upon occasion, with good success.-Spectator.

DCXXXVII.

Three removes are as bad as a fire; and keep thy shop, and thy shop will keep thee; and again, if you would have your business done, go, if not, send. Again,

He that by the plough would thrive,
Himself must either hold or drive.

And again, the eye of the master will do more work than both his hands; and again, want of care does us more damage than want of knowledge: and again, not to oversee workmen is to leave them your purse open. -Franklin.

DCXXXVIII.

"Tis a shame when the church itself is a cemeterium, wherein the living sleep above the ground as the dead do beneath.-Fuller.

DCXXXIX.

The safe and general antidote against sorrow, is employment. It is commonly observed, that among soldiers and seamen, though there is much kindness, there is little grief; they see their friend fall without any of that lamentation which is indulged in security and idleness, because they have no leisure to spare from the care of themselves; and whoever shall keep his thoughts equally busy, will find_himself equally unaffected with irretrievable losses.-Johnson.

DCXL.

'Tis not the bared-pate, the bended knees, Gilt tipstaves, Tyrian purple, chairs of state, Troops of pied butterflies, that flutter still In greatness' summer, that confirm a prince; 'Tis not th' unsavoury breath of multitudes, Shouting and clapping with confused din, That makes a prince. No, he's a king, A true right king that dares do aught save wrong, Fears nothing mortal but to be unjust; Who is not blown up with the flattering puffs VOL. II.