This, this, the saving doctrine preach'd to alf,
From low St. James's up to high St. Paul;
From him whose quills stand quiver'd at his ear,
To him who notches sticks at Westminster.

CCCXCV.

Pope-imit. Horace.

Reason cannot show itself more reasonable, than to leave reasoning on things above reason.-Sir P. Sidney.

CCCXCVI.

They course the glass, and let it take no rest;
They pass and spy who gazeth on their face;
They darkly ask whose beauty seemeth best;
They hark and mark who marketh most their grace;
They stay their steps, and stalk a stately pace;
They jealous are of every sight they see;

They strive to seem, but never care to be.

What grudge and grief our joys may then suppress,
To see our hairs, which yellow were as gold,
Now gray as glass; to feel and find them less;
To scrape the bald skull which was want to hold
Our lovely locks with curling sticks controll'd;
To look in glass, and spy Sir Wrinkle's chair
Set fast on fronts which erst were sleek and fair.
On Beauty-Gascoigne.

CCCXCVII.

Virtue, like fire, turns all things into itself: our actions and our friendships are tinctured with it, and whatever it touches becomes amiable.-Seneca.

CCCXCVIII.

Truth is so important and of so delicate a nature, that every possible precaution should be employed to extenuate its violation, although the sacrifice be made to duties which supersede its obligation.-Percival.

CCCXCIX.

If we consider lavish men carefully, we shall find it always proceeds from a certain incapacity of possessing

themselves, and finding enjoyment in their own minds. Mr. Dryden has expressed this very excellency in the character of Zimri:

A man so various that he seem'd to be
Not one, but all mankind's epitome.
Stiff in opinion, always in the wrong,
Was every thing by starts, and nothing long!
But in the course of one revolving moon,
Was chymist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon.
Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking,
Besides ten thousand freaks, that died in thinking;
Bless'd madman, who could every hour employ
In something new to wish, or to enjoy!
In squand'ring wealth was his peculiar art,
Nothing went unrewarded but desert.

CCCC.

Spectator.

Experience keeps a dear school; but fools will learn in no other, and scarce in that; for it is true, we may give advice, but we cannot give conduct. However, they that will not be counselled, cannot be helped, and if you will not hear reason, she will surely rap your knuckles.-Franklin.

CCCCI.

Ambition thinks no face so beautiful as that which looks from under a crown.-Sir P. Sidney.

CCCCII.

Crabbed age and youth,
Cannot live together;
Youth is full of pleasance,
Age is full of care:

Youth like summer morn,
Age like winter weather;
Youth like summer brave,

Age like winter bare,
Youth is full of sport,
Age's breath is short,

Youth is nimble, age is lame,

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Youth is hot and bold,
Age is weak and cold;
Youth is wild, and age is tame.
Age, I do abhor thee;
Youth I do adore thee;

O, my love, my love is young:
Age I do defy thee;

O sweet shepherd, hie thee,

For methinks thou stay'st too long.

CCCCII.

Shakespeare.

It is not perhaps much thought of, but it is certainly a very important lesson, to learn how to enjoy ordinary life, and to be able to relish your being without the transport of some passion, or gratification of some appetite. For want of this capacity, the world is filled with whetters, tipplers, cutters, sippers, and all the numerous train of those who, for want of thinking, are forced to be ever exercising their feeling, or tasting. It would be hard on this occasion to mention the harmless smokers of tobacco, and takers of snuff-Steele.

CCCCIV.

Nothing tends so much to produce drunkenness, or even madness, as the frequent use of parenthesis in conversation.-Shenstone.

CCCCV.

"It is a hard and nice subject for a man to speak of himself," says Cowley: "it grates his own heart to say any thing of disparagement, and the reader's ears to hear any thing of praise from him." Let the tenour of his discourse be what it will upon this subject, it generally proceeds from vanity. An ostentatious man will rather relate a blunder or an absurdity he has committed, than be debarred from talking of his own dear person.Addison.

CCCCVI.

By your father's worth if yours you rate, Count me those only who were good and great.

Go! if your ancient but ignoble blood

Has crept through scoundrels ever since the flood;
Go! and pretend your family is young,

Nor own your fathers have been fools so long.
What can ennoble sots, or slaves, or cowards?-
Alas! not all the blood of all the Howards.

CCCCVII.

Pope.

A man is never the less an artist for not having his tools about him; or a musician because he wants his fiddle: nor is he the less brave because his hands are bound, or the worse pilot for being upon dry ground. If I only have will to be grateful, I am so.-Seneca.

CCCCVIII.

Knowledge, wisdom, erudition, arts, and elegance, what are they, but the mere trappings of the mind, if they do not serve to increase the happiness of the possessor? A mind rightly instituted in the school of philosophy, acquires at once the stability of the oak, and the flexibility of the osier. The truest manner of lessening our agonies, is to shrink from the pressure-is to confess that we feel them.-Goldsmith.

CCCCIX.

Gather the rose-buds while ye may,
Old Time is still a flying;

And that same flower that blooms to-day,

To-morrow shall be dying.

CCCCX.

Herrick.

A young man of rank should not glide through the world, without a distinguished rage; or as they call it in England, a hobby-horse; that is, every man of figure determines on setting out in life, in that land of liberty, in what line to ruin himself; and that choice is called his hobby-horse. One makes the turf his scene of action; another drives tall phatons, to pop into their neighbour's garret windows; and a third rides his hobby-horse in parliament, where it jerks him sometimes on one side, and sometimes on the other; sometimes in, and

sometimes out; till at length, he is jerked out of his ho nesty, and his constituents out of their freedom. "Tis a wonder that with such hobby-horses they should still out-ride all the world to the gaol of glory.-Mrs. Cowley.

CCCCXI.

The intense and eager passion of ambition is not unlike the ardour of that which Evangelus, the piper, in Lucian, possessed, who blew his pipe so long, that he fell down dead. The ambition of Cæsar and Alexander were two fires or torrents to ravage the world by several ways.-Burton.

CCCCXII.

Music! the greatest good that mortals know,
And all of heav'n we have below.

Music can nobler hints impart,

Engender fury, kindle love,

With unsuspected eloquence can move,
And manage all the man with secret art.

CCCCXIII.

Addison.

True love can no more be diminished by showers of evil-hap, than flowers are marred by timely rains.-Sir P. Sidney.

CCCCXIV.

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 happens with such ease and indifference of mind, as to hazard as little as may be. This is the true temperate climate fitted for us by nature, and in which every wise man would wish to live.-Sterne.