count.

are endowed with abilities to bring it in on its own acThis he finds to be good husbandry, and a kind of necessary thrift; for they that have but a little ought to make as much of it as they can. His prologue, which is commonly none of his own, is always better than his play; like a piece of cloth that's fine in the beginning, and coarse afterwards; though it has but one topic, and that's the same that is used by malefactors when they are to be tried, to except against as many of the jury as they can.-Butler.

DCCCCXLVIII.

The long dispute among the philosophers about a vacuum, may be determined in the affirmative; that it is to be found in the critic's head. They are at best but the drones of the learned world, who devour the honey, and will not work themselves; and a writer need no more regard them than the moon does the barking of a little senseless cur. For, in spite of their terrible roaring, you may, with half an eye, discover the ass under the lion's skin.-Swift.

DCCCCXLIX.

Dividing the world into a hundred parts, I am apt to believe the calculation might be thus adjusted:

Poverty has, in large cities, very different appearances. It is often concealed in splendour, and often in extravagance. It is the care of a very great part of mankind to conceal their indigence from the rest. They support themselves by temporary expedients, and every day is lost in contriving for to-morrow.-Johnson.

DCCCCLI.

I find by experience, that the mind and the body are more than married, for they are most intimately united; and when the one suffers, the other sympathizes.-Chesterfield.

DCCCCLII.

The City has always been the province for satire; and the wits of king Charles' time, jested upon nothing else during his whole reign.-Addison.

DCCCCLIII.

Books are pleasant, but if by being over studious we impair our health, and spoil our good humour, two of the best pieces we have, let us give it over; I for my part am one of those who think, that no fruit derived from them can recompense so great a loss.-Montaigne.

DCCCCLIV.

If I keep my son at home, he is in danger of becoming my young master; if I send him abroad, it is scarce possible to keep him from the reigning contagion of rudeness and vice. He will perhaps be more innocent at home, but more ignorant of the world, and more sheep. ish when he comes abroad.-Locke.

DCCCCLV.

Is there a man of an eternal vein,

Who lulls the town in winter with his strain,
At Bath in summer chants the reigning lass,
And sweetly whistles as the waters pass?
Is there a tongue like Delia's o'er her cup,
That runs for ages without winding up?

Such, and such only might exhaust my theme;
Nor would these heroes of the task be glad:
For who can write so fast as men run mad?

DCCCCLVI.

Young,

Simplicity, of all things, is the hardest to be copied, and ease to be acquired with the greatest labour.-Steele.

DCCCCLVII.

A shilling dipt in the bath may go for gold amongst the ignorant, but the sceptres on the guineas show the differencc.-Dryden.

DCCCCLVIII.

The art of scaling has been practised with good success by many military engineers. Stratagems of this nature make parts and industry superfluous, and cut short the way to riches.-Hughes.

DCCCCLIX.

Το pass a hard and ill-natured reflection, upon an undesigning action; to invent, or which is equally bad, to propagate a vexatious report, without colour and grounds; to plunder an innocent man of his character and good name, a jewel which perhaps he has starved himself to purchase, and probably would hazard his life to secure; to rob him at the same time of his happiness and peace of mind; perhaps his bread,-the bread, may be, of a virtuous family; and all this, as Solomon says of the madman, who casteth fire-brands, arrows, and death, and saith, "Am I not in sport?" all this out of wantonness, and oftener from worse motives; the whole appears such a complication of badness, as requires no words or warmth of fancy to aggravate.-Sterne.

DCCCCLX.

Humour is certainly the best ingredient towards that kind of satire which is most useful, and gives the least offence; which, instead of lashing, laughs men out of their follies and vices; and is the character that gives Horace the preference to Juvenal.-Swift.

DCCCCLXI.

Mixed wit is a composition of pun and true wit, and is more or less perfect as the resemblance lies in the ideas or in the words: its foundations are laid partly in falsehood and partly in truth; reason puts in her claim for one half of it, and extravagance for the other. The only province, therefore, for this kind of wit, is epigram,

or those little occasional poems that in their own nature are nothing else but a tissue of epigrams.—Addison.

DCCCCLXII.

Turbulent, discontented men of quality, in proportion as they are puffed up with personal pride and arrogance, generally despise their own order. One of the first symptoms they discover of a selfish and mischievous ambition, is a profligate regard of a dignity which they partake with others. To be attached to the subdivision, to love the little platoon we belong to in society, is the first principle (the germ as it were) of public affections. It is the first link in the series by which we proceed towards a love to our country and to mankind.-Burke.

DCCCCLXIII.

An old courtier, with veracity, good sense, and a faithful memory, is an inestimable treasure; he is full of transactions and maxims; in him one may find the history of the age, enriched with a great many curious circumstances, which we never meet with in books; from him we may learn such rules for our conduct and manners, of the more weight, being founded on facts, and illustrated by striking examples.-Bruyere.

DCCCCLXIV.

The most disagreeable thing at sea is the cookery; for there is not, properly speaking, any professed cook on board. The worst sailor is generally chosen for that purpose, who for the most part is equally dirty. Hence comes the proverb used among the English sailors, that "God sends meat, and the devil sends cooks."-Frunklin.

DCCCCLXV.

Surmise is the gossamer that malice blows on fair reputations; the corroding dew that destroys the choice blossom. Surmise is primarily the squint of suspicion, and suspicion is established before it is confirmed.Zimmerman.

DCCCCLXVI.

One argument to prove that the common relations of

ghosts and spectres are generally false, may be drawn from the opinion held, that spirits are never seen by more than one person at a time; that is to say, it seldom happens to above one person in a company to be possessed with any high degree of spleen or melancholy.— Swift.

DCCCCLXVII.

Since 'tis a curse which angry fate impose,
To mortify man's arrogance, that those
Who're fashioned of some better sort of clay
Much sooner than the common herd decay.
What bitter pangs must humble genius feel
In their last hours to view a Swift and Steele!

With curious art the brain, too finely wrought, Preys on herself, and is destroy'd by thought! Constant attention wears the active mind, * Blots out her pow'rs, and leaves a blank behind.

DCCCCLXVIII.

Churchill.

The passion of fear (as a modern philosopher informs me) determines the spirits to the muscles of the knees, which are instantly ready to perform their motion, by taking up the legs with incomparable celerity, in order to remove the body out of harm's way.-Shaftesbury.

DCCCCLXIX.

However academies have been instituted to guard the avenues of their languages; to retain fugitives and repulse intruders; their vigilance and activity have hitherto been vain. Sounds are too volatile and subtile for legal restraints; to enchain syllables and lash the wind are equally the undertakings of pride, unwilling to measure its desires by its strength.-Johnson.

DCCCCLXX.

Folly consists in the drawing of false conclusions from just principles, by which it is distinguished from madness, which draws just conclusions from false principles.-Locke.