while he governs the passions and resolutions of a numerous assembly.-Hume.

LXIII.

Aim at perfection in every thing, though in most things it is unattainable; however, they who aim at it, and persevere, will come much nearer to it, than those whose laziness and despondency make them give it up as unattainable.-Chesterfield.

LXIV.

Old sciences are unravelled like old stockings, by beginning at the foot.—Swift.

LXV.

The figure which a man makes in life, the reception which he meets with in company, the esteem paid him by his acquaintance; all these advantages depend as much upon his good sense and judgment, as upon any other part of his character. Had a man the best intentions in the world, and were the farthest removed from all injustice and violence, he would never be able to make himself be much regarded, without a moderate share, at least, of parts and understanding.-Hume.

LXVI.

Equity in law is the same that the spirit is in religion, what every one pleases to make it: sometimes they go according to conscience, sometimes according to law, sometimes according to the rule of court.-Selden.

LXVII.

While some are willing to wed virtue for her personal charms, others are engaged to take her for the sake of her expected dowry: and since her followers and admirers have so little hopes from her at present, it were pity, methinks, to reason them out of any imagined advantage in reversion.-Fitzosborne. B

VOL. I.

LXVIII.

The continued multiplication of books not only distracts choice, but disappoints inquiry. To him that hath moderately stored his mind with images, few writers afford any novelty; or what little they have to add to the common stock of learning is so buried in the mass of general notions, that like silver mingled with the ore of lead, it is too little to pay for the labour of separation; and he that has been often deceived by the promise of a title, at last grows weary of examining, and is tempted to consider all as equally fallacious.—Johnson.

LXIX.

We see in needleworks and embroideries, it is more pleasing to have a lively work upon a sad and solemn ground, than to have a dark and melancholy work upon a lightsome ground: judge, therefore, of the pleasure of the heart by the pleasure of the eye. Certainly virtue is like precious odours, most fragrant where they are incensed or crushed; for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue.Lord Bacon.

LXX.

If parliament were to consider the sporting with rcputation of as much importance as sporting on manors, and pass an act for the preservation of fame, there are many would thank them for the bill.-Sheridan.

LXXI.

It is a great mortification to the vanity of man, that his utmost art and industry can never equal the meanest of nature's productions, either for beauty or value. Art is only the under-workman, and is employed to give a few strokes of embellishment to those pieces which come from the hand of the master. Some of which may be of his drawing, but he is not allowed to touch the principal figure. Art may make a man a suit of clothes, but nature must produce a man.- -Hume.

LXXII.

Physic, for the most part, is nothing else but the substitute of exercise or temperance.-Addison.

LXXIII.

It is with wits as with razors, which are never so apt to cut those they are employed on, as when they have lost their edge.-Swift.

LXXIV.

There are few people who have not, at particular seasons, experienced the effect of certain accidental associations, which obtrude one impertinent idea, or set of ideas, on the mind, to the exclusion of every other. Mr. Locke has noticed this weakness, and he humourously describes it "as a childishness of the understanding, wherein, during the fit, it plays with and dandles some insignificant puppet, without any end in view." Thus, a tune, a proverb, a scrap of poetry, or some other trivial object, will steal into the thoughts, and continue to possess them long after it ceases to be amusing. Persuasives to dismiss a guest that proves so troublesome, can hardly be necessary; and bodily exertion is generally the best remedy for this mental infirmity.Percival.

LXXV.

Exile is no evil: mathematicians tell us that the whole earth is but a point compared to the heavens. To change one's country then is little more than to remove from one street to another. Man is not a plant, rooted to a certain spot of earth: all soils and all climates are suited to him alike.-Plutarch.

LXXVI.

The real honest man, however plain or simple he appears, has that highest species, honesty itself, in view; and instead of outward forms or symmetries, is struck with that of inward character, the harmony and numbers of the heart, and beauty of the affections, which

form the manners and conduct of a truly social life.Shaftesbury.

LXXVII.

An experiment very frequent among modern authors, is to write upon nothing: when the subject is utterly exhausted, to let the pen still move on; by some called the ghost of wit, delighting to walk after the death of its body. And to say the truth, there seems to be no part of knowledge in fewer hands, than that of discerning when to have done.-Swift.

LXXVIII.

Between the best and the worst, there are, you say, innumerable degrees and you are right; but admit that I am right too, in saying that the best and the worst differ only in one thing-in the object of their love.Lavater.

LXXIX.

As we see some grounds that have long lain idle and untilled, when grown rank and fertile by rest, to abound with and spend their virtue in the product of innumerable sorts of weeds and wild herbs, that are unprofitable, and of no wholesome use; even so it is with wits, which if not applied to some certain study that may fix and restrain them, run into a thousand extravagancies, and are eternally roving here and there in the inextricable labyrinth of restless imagination.—Montaigne.

LXXX.

To tell a man he lies, though but in jest, is an affront that nothing but blood can expiate. The reason perhaps may be because no other vice implies a want of courage so much as the making of a lie; and therefore telling a man he lies, is touching him in the most sensible part of honour, and indirectly calling him a coward. I cannot omit under this head what Herodotus tells us of the ancient Persians, "That from the of five years age to twenty, they instruct their sons only in three things, to manage the horse, to make use of the bow, and to speak truth."-Addison.

LXXXI.

The amiable and the severe, Mr. Burke's sublime and beautiful, by different proportions, are mixed in every character. Accordingly, as either is predominant, men imprint the passions of love or fear. The best punch depends on a proper mixture of sugar and lemons. Shenstone.

LXXXII.

Life is short yet tedious, spent in wishes, schemes, and desires; we refer to the time to come enjoyment and repose, often to an age, when our best blessings, youth and health, have totally left us. That time comes and surprises us, still bustling in the hurry of impatient desires: this is our case when a fever seizes us, and puts an end to our being: if we recover, it is to no better purpose than to desire longer.—Bruyere.

LXXXIII.

The richest genius, like the most fertile soil, when uncultivated, shoots up into the rankest weeds; and instead of vines and olives for the pleasure and use of man, produces to its slothful owner, the most abundant crop of poisons.-Hume.

LXXXIV.

It is but to venture your lungs, and you may preach against pride and dissimulation and bribery at Whitehall: you may expose rapine and injustice in the inns of court; and in a city pulpit be as fierce as you please against avarice, hypocrisy, and extortion. "Tis but a ball bandied to and fro, and every man carries a racket about him to strike it from himself among the rest of the company.-Swift.

LXXXV.

The scripture may have more senses besides the literal; because God understands all things at once; but a man's writing has but one true sense, which is that which the author meant when he wrote it.-Selden.