in 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 his way; not the smallest fruit or excrescence of the earth, scarce a berry or a mushroom can escape him.-Addison.

CCLXXXVII.

Grief hath two tongues, and never woman yet
Could rule them both, without ten women's wit,
Shakspeare.

CCLXXXVIII.

As riches and favour forsake a man, we discover him to be a fool, but nobody could find it out in his prosperity.-Bruyere.

CCLXXXIX.

Fernando. You have, then, a mistress, And thrive upon her favours-but thou art My brother: I'll deliver thee a secret:

I was at St. Sebastian's, last Sunday,

At vespers.

Francisco. It is a secret that you went to church? You need not blush to tell your ghostly father.

Fernando. I prithee leave thy impertinence: there I

saw

So sweet a face, so harmless, so intent
Upon her prayers; it frosted my devotion
To gaze upon her, till by degrees I took
Her fair idea, through my covetous eyes,
Into my heart, and know not how to ease
It since of the impression.

Her eye did seem to labour with a tear,
Which suddenly took birth, but, overweigh'd
With its own swelling, dropped upon her bosom,
Which, by reflection of her light appear'd
As Nature meant her sorrow for an ornament.
After, her looks grew cheerful, and I saw
A smile shoot graceful upward from her eyes,
VOL II.

G

As if they gain'd a victory o'er grief;
And with it many beams twisted themselves,
Upon whose golden threads the angels walk
To and again from heaven.

CCXC.

The Brothers Shirley.

What is said by the chemists of their darling mercury, is perhaps true of every body through the whole creation, that, if a thousand lives should be spent upon it, all its properties would not be found out.-Johnson.

CCXCI.

It is a common thing to screw up justice to the pitch of an injury. A man may be over-righteous, and why not over-grateful too? There is a mischievous excess, that borders so close upon ingratitude, that it is no easy matter to distinguish the one from the other: but there is goodwill at the bottom of it (however distempered) for it is effectually but kindness out of the wits.-Se

песа.

ССХСІІ.

Nothing is more silly than the pleasure some people take in "speaking their minds." A man of this make will say a rude thing, for the mere pleasure of saying it, when an opposite behaviour, full as innocent, might have preserved his friend, or made his fortune.-Steele.

CCXCIII.

Unnumber'd maladies (man's) joints invade,
Lay siege to life, and press the dire blockade;
But unextinguish'd avarice still remains,
And dreaded losses aggravate his pains;
He turns with anxious heart and crippled hands,
His bonds of debt and mortgages of lands;
Or views his coffers with suspicious eyes,
Unlocks his gold, and counts it till he dies.

CCXCIV.

Johnson.

As the sword of the best tempered metall is most

flexible; so the truly generous are most pliant and courteous in their behaviour to their inferiors.-Fuller.

CCXCV.

It is hard for a haughty man ever to forgive one that has caught him in a fault, and whom he knows has reason to complain of him: his resentment never subsides till he has regained the advantage he lost, and found means to make the other do him equal wrong.Bruyere.

CCXCVI.

Irregularity and want of method are only supportable in men of great learning or genius, who are often too full to be exact, and therefore choose to throw down their pearls in heaps before the reader, rather than be at the pains of stringing them.-Addison.

CCXCVII.

There is not any benefit so glorious in itself, but it may yet be exceedingly sweetened, and improved by the manner of conferring it. The virtue, I know, rests in the intent; the profit in the judicious application of the matter; but, the beauty and ornament of an obligation, lies in the manner of it.-Seneca.

CCXCVIII.

The modern device of consulting indexes, is to read books hebraically, and begin where others usually end. And this is a compendious way of coming to an acquaintance with authors; for authors are to be used like lobsters, you must look for the best meat in the tails, and lay the bodies back again in the dish. Your cunningest thieves (and what else are readers, who only read to borrow, i. e. to steal) use to cut off the portmanteau from behind, without staying to dive into the pockets of the owner.-Swift.

CCXCIX.

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 smooth the paths of life, to terrify opposition, and fortify tranquillity; but 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 Anacreon calls upon his companions to give him for present use the wine and garlands which they purpose to bestow upon his tomb.-Johnson.

CCC.

Silence! coeval with eternity;

Thou wert, ere Nature's self began to be;

'Twas one vast nothing all, and all slept fast in thee.

The tongue mov'd gently first, and speech was low,
Till wrangling science taught it noise and show,
And wicked wit arose, thy most abusive foe.
But rebel wit deserts thee oft in vain:

Lost in the maze of woods he turns again,

And seeks a surer state, and courts thy gentle reign. Pope-in imitation of the Earl of Rochester.

CCCI.

There is no benefit so large but malignity will still lessen it: none so narrow which a good interpretation 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 avaricious man is naturally ungrateful, for he never thinks he has enough; but without considering what he has, only minds what he covets. Some pretend want of power to make a competent re-. turn, and you shall find in others a kind of graceless modesty, that makes a man ashamed of requiting an obligation, because it is a confession that he has received one.-Seneca.

СССП.

When I myself had twice or thrice made a resolute resistance unto anger, the like befell me that did the Thebans; who having once foiled the Lacedemonians (who before that time had held themselves invincible)

never after lost so much as one battle which they fought against them.-Plutarch.

CCCIII.

Opiniators naturally differ

From other men; as wooden legs are stiffer
Than those of pliant joints, to yield and bow,
Which way soe'er they are design'd to go.

CCCIV.

Butler.

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 perfect 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 intellectual 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 expedition of the feet.-Johnson.

CCCV.

All controversies that can never end, had better perhaps never begin. The best is to take words as they are most commonly spoke and meant, like coin, as it most currently passes, without raising scruples upon the weight of the alloy, unless the cheat or the defect be gross and evident.-Sir W. Temple.

CCCVI.

People seldom improve, when they have no other model but themselves to copy after.-Goldsmith.

CCCVII.

Let honesty and industry be thy constant companions; and,

Spend one penny less than thy clear gains.