zling show, to turn the eye from a direct and steady survey of his piece.-Shaftesbury.

DXXXVII.

In general mankind, since the improvement of cookery, eat about twice as much as nature requires. Suppers are not bad, if we have not dined; but restless nights naturally follow hearty suppers, after full dinners. Indeed, as there is a difference in constitutions, some rest well after these meals; it costs them only a frightful dream and an apoplexy, after which they sleep till doomsday. Nothing is more common in the newspapers, than instances of people, who, after eating a hearty supper, are found dead a-bed in the morning.—Franklin.

DXXXVIII.

How frequently is the honesty and integrity of a man disposed of, by a smile or a shrug:-how many good and generous actions have been sunk into oblivion, by a distrustful look, or stamp with the imputation of proceeding from bad motives, by a mysterious and seasonable whisper.-Sterne.

DXXXIX.

Wit must describe its proper circumference, and not go beyond it, lest, like little boys when they straggle out of their own parish, it may wander to places where it is not known, and be lost.-Steele.

DXL.

Learn the value of a man's words and expressions, and you know him. Each man has a measure of his own for every thing; this he offers you inadvertently in his words. He who has a superlative for every thing, wants a measure for the great or small.—Lavater.

DXLI.

The business of constancy chiefly is, bravely to stand to, and stoutly to suffer those inconveniences which are not otherwise possible to be avoided.-Montaigne.

DXLII.

There is no use of money equal to that of beneficence; here the enjoyment grows on reflection, and our money is most truly ours when it ceases to be in our possession. -Mackenzie.

DXLIII.

Cold-blooded critics, by enervate sires

Scarce hammer'd out, when nature's feebler fires
Glimmer'd their last: whose sluggish blood, half froze,
Creeps lab'ring thro' their veins; whose heart ne'er glows
With fancy-kindled heats:-a servile race,
Who in mere want of fault all merit place;
Who blind obedience pay to ancient schools,
Bigots to Greece; and slaves to musty rules;
With solemn consequence declared that none
Could judge that cause but Sophocles alone:
Dupes to their fancied excellence, the crowd,
Obsequious to the sacred dictate, bow'd.-Churchill.

DXLIV.

The usual conversation of ordinary women very much cherishes the natural weakness of being taken with outside appearance. Talk of a new married couple, and you immediately hear whether they keep their coach and six, or eat in plate. Mention the name of an absent lady, and it is ten to one but you learn something of her gown and petticoat. A ball is a great help to discourse, and a birthday furnishes conversation for a twelvemonth after. A furbelow of precious stones, a hat buttoned with a diamond, a brocade waistcoat or petticoat, are standing topics.-Addison.

DXLV.

We only toil and labour to stuff the memory, and in the mean time leave the conscience and the understanding unfurnished and void. And, as old birds who fly abroad to forage for grain, bring it home in their beak, without tasting it themselves, to feed their young; so our pedants go picking knowledge here and there, out of several authors, and hold it at their tongues' end, only to distribute it among their pupils.-Montaigne. VOL. I.

K

DXLVI.

The most pernicious and vehement demonstrator may be wearied, in time by continual negation, and incredulity, which an old poet, in his address to Raleigh, calls "the wit of fools," obtunds the arguments which it cannot answer, as woolsacks deaden arrows, though they cannot repel them.-Johnson.

DXLVII.

Till critics blame, and judges praise,
The poet cannot claim his bays.
On me when dunces are satiric,
I take it for a panegyric.

Hated by fools, and fools to hate,
Be that my motto, and my fate.

DXLVIII.

Swift.

If the prudence of reserve and decorum dictates silence in some circumstances, in others prudence of a higher order may justify us in speaking our thoughts.-Burke.

DXLIX.

Cards, if one may guess from their appearance, seem invented for the use of children; and among the toys peculiar to infancy, the bells, the whistle, the rattle, and the hobby-horse deserved their share of commendation. By degrees, men who came nearest to children in understanding and want of ideas, grew enamdered of them as a suitable entertainment: others also, pleased to reflect on the innocent part of their lives, had recourse to this amusement, as what recalled it to their minds. A knot of villains increased the party: who, regardless of that entertainment which the former seemed to draw from cards; considered them in a more serious light, and made use of them as a more decent substitute to robbing on the road, or picking pockets.—Shenstone.

DL.

What a large volume of adventures may be grasped within the little span of life, by him who interests his heart in every thing, and who, having his eyes to see

what time and chance are perpetually holding out to him as he journeyeth on his way, misses nothing he can fairly lay his hands on.

If this wo'n't turn out something-another will-no matter-'tis an essay upon human nature-I get my labour for my pains-'tis enough-the pleasure of the experiment has kept my senses, and the best part of my blood awake, and laid the gross to sleep.-Sterne.

DLI.

Modesty is to merit as shades to figures in a picture; giving it strength and beauty.-Bruyere.

DLII.

The lust of dominion innovates so imperceptibly, that we become complete despots before our wanton abuse of power is perceived: the tyranny first exercised in the nursery, is exhibited in various shapes and degrees in every stage of our existence.-Zimmerman.

DLIII.

In what the world calls a suit of clothes, embroidery is sheer wit; gold fringe is agreeable conversation; gold lace, repartee; a huge long peruke, humour; and a coat full of powder very good raillery: all which require abundance of finesse and delicatesse to manage with advantage, as well as a strict observance of the times and fashions.-Swift.

DLIV.

It is in conversation, as in a tennis-court, benefits are to be tossed like balls; the longer they rest, the better are the gamesters. The giver in some respects has the odds, because (as in a race) he starts first, and the other must use great diligence to overtake him.-Seneca.

DLV.

Atheists put on a false courage and alacrity in the midst of their darkness and apprehensions, like children who, when they fear to go in the dark, will sing for fear. Pope.

DLVI.

Unheedful vows may heedfully be broken;
And he wants wit, that wants resolved will
To learn his wit t' exchange the bad for better.
Shakspeare.

DLVII.

The effect of liberty to individuals, that they may do what they please: we ought to see what it will please them to do, before we risk congratulations which may be soon turned into complaints.—Burke.

DLVIII.

Books (says Lord Bacon) can never teach the use of books; the student must learn by commerce with mankind to reduce his speculations to practice. No man should think so highly of himself, as to think he can receive but little light from books, nor so meanly as to believe he can discover nothing but what is to be learned from them.-Johnson.

DLIX.

The pride of nature would as soon admit
Competitors in empire as in wit;

Onward they rush at Fame's imperious call,
And less than greatest, would not be at all.

DLX.

Churchill.

It is some loss of liberty to resolve on schemes beforehand.-Shenstone.

DLXI.

Pedantry and bigotry are mill stones, able to sink the best book which carries the least part of their dead weight. The temper of the pedagogue suits not with the age; and the world, however it may be taught, will not be tutored.-Shaftesbury.

DLXII.

He is good that does good to others. If he suffers for the good he does, he is better still; and if he suffers from them, to whom he did good, he is arrived to