another, and by which mankind are knit together in a general correspondence; they are like the pegs and nails in a great building, which though they are but little valued in themselves, are absolutely necessary to kee the whole frame together.-Spectator.

M.

Nothing lowers a great man so much, as not seizing the decisive moment of raising his reputation. This s seldom neglected, but with a view to fortune: by which mistake, it is not unusual to miss both.-De Retz.

MI.

Wer't possible that wit could turn a penny,
Poets might then grow rich as well as any:
For 'tis not wit to have a great estate,
The blind effect of fortune and of fate;
Since oft we see a coxcomb dull and vain,
Brim-full of cash, yet empty in his brain:
Nor is it wit that makes the lawyer prize
His dag led gown; it's knavery in disguise:
Nor is it wit that drills the statesman on
To waste the sweets of life, so quickly gone:
For 'tis not wit that brings a man to hanging,
That goes not further than a harmless banging.
Buckingham.

MII.

The world is nothing but babble; and I hardly ever yet saw the man who did not prate too much, and speak too little and yet half of our age is embezzled in this way. We are kept four or five years to learn words only, and to tack them together into clauses; as many more to make exercises, and to divide a continued discourse into so many parts; and other five years, at least, to learn succinctly to mix and interweave them after a subtle and intricate manner.-Montaigne.

MIII.

There is nothing so bad for the face as party zeal. It ves an ill-natured cast to the eye, and a disagreeable

sourness to the look: besides that it makes the hues too strong, and flushes them worse than brandy. I have seen a woman's face break out in heats, as she has been talking against a great lord, whom she had never seen in her life; and indeed, I never knew a party woman that kept her beauty for a twelvemonth.--Addison.

MIV.

The seat of pride is in the heart, and only there; and if it be not there, it is neither in the look, nor in the clothes.-Lord Clarendon.

MV.

He who prorogues the honesty of to-day till to-morrow, will probably prorogue his to-morrow's to eternity. -Lavater.

MVI.

Nothing is more generally exploded than the folly of talking too much; yet I rarely remember to have seen five people together, where some one among them has not been predominant in that kind, to the great constraint and disgust of all the rest. But among such as deal in multitudes of words, none are comparable to the sober deliberate talker, who proceeds with much thought and caution, makes his preface, branches out into several digressions, finds a hint that puts him in mind of another story, which he promises to tell you when this is done; comes back regularly to his subject, cannot readily call to mind some person's name, holding his head, complains of his memory: the whole company all this while is in suspense; at length, he says it is no matter, and so goes on. And, to crown the business, it perhaps proves at last a story the company has heard fifty times before; or, at best, some insipid adventure of the relater.Swift.

MVII.

There is some rust about every man at the beginning: in Britain it often goes with a man to his grave; nay, he dares not even pen a hic jacet to speak out for him after his death.-Mackenzie.

MVIII.

As it is barbarous in others to rally a man for natural defects, it is extremely agreeable when he can jest upon himself for them.-Steele.

MIX.

By struggling with misfortunes, we are sure to receive some wounds in the conflict; but a sure method to come off victorious is by running away.-Goldsmith.

MX.

No man can possibly improve in any company, for which he has not respect enough to be under some degree of restraint.-Chesterfield.

MXI.

No part of conduct asks for skill more nice,
Though none more common, than to give advice:
Misers themselves in this will not be saving,
Unless the knowledge makes it worth the having;
And where's the wonder when we will obtrude
A useless gift, it meets ingratitude.

MXII.

Stilling fleet.

If any lucky wit chances to say what is called a good thing, and the table applauds it, it is damper's duty to ask an explanation of the joke; or whether that was all, and what t'other gentleman said, who was the butt of the jest, and other proper questions of the like sort.Cumberland.

MXIII.

Assure yourself that he has not the most distant scent of human nature, who weens that he is able to alter it, or thinks to obtain that easily of others, which he can never obtain of himself.-Lavater.

MXIV.

O blessed health! thou art above all gold and treasure; 'tis thou who enlargest the soul, and openest all its powers to receive instruction, and to relish virtue.He that has thee has little more to wish for! and he that is so wretched as to want thee, wants every thing with thee.-Sterne.

MXV.

A good name will wear out: a bad one may be turned: a nickname lasts for ever.-Zimmerman,

MXVI.

'Tis not the title, whether handed down
From age to age, or flowing from the crown
In copious streams, on recent men, who came
From stems unknown, and sires without a name;
'Tis not the star, which our brave Edward gave
To mark the virtuous and reward the brave,
Blazing without, whilst a base heart within
Is rotten to the core with filth and sin;
'Tis not the tinsel grandeur taught to wait
At custom's call to mark the fool of state
From fools of lesser note, that soul can awe
Whose pride is reason, whose defence is law.
Churchill.

MXVII.

Waste cannot be accurately told, though we are sensible how destructive it is. Economy on the one hand, by which a certain income is made to maintain a man genteelly; and waste on the other, by which, on the same income, another man lives shabbily, cannot be defined. It is a very nice thing; as one man wears his coat out much sooner than another, we cannot tell how.-John

son.

MXVIII.

It is not so hard to meet with wit, as with people that make a good use of their own, or countenance that of another man.-Bruyere.

MXIX.

All politeness is owing to liberty. We polish one another, and rub off our corners and rough sides by a sort of amicable collision. To restrain this is inevitably to bring a rust upon men's understandings.-Shaftesbury.

MXX.

Speech! is that all?-and shall an actor found
A universal fame on partial ground?

Parrots themselves speak properly by rote,
And in six months my dog shall howl by note.
I laugh at those who when the stage they tread,
Neglect the heart to compliment the head;
With strict propriety their care's confined
To weigh out words, while passion halts behind:
To syllable-dissectors they appeal,

Allow them accent, cadence-fools may feel;
But spite of all the criticising elves,

Those who would make us feel, must feel themselves.

MXXI.

Churchill.

He who goes round about in his requests, wants commonly more than he chooses to appear to want.-Lavater.

MXXII.

Idleness is a disease that must be combated; but I would not advise a rigid adherence to a particular plan of study. I myself have never persisted in any plan for two days together. A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good. A young man should read five hours in a day, and so may acquire a great deal of knowledge.-Johnson.

MXXIII.

There are few countries, which, if well cultivated, would not support double the number of their inhabitants, and yet fewer where one-third part of the people are not extremely stinted even in the necessaries of life. I send out twenty barrels of corn, which would maintain a family in bread for a year, and I bring back in return a vessel of wine, which half a dozen good fellows would drink in less than a month, at the expense of their health and reason.-Swift.

MXXIV.

A man who tells nothing, or who tells all, will equally have nothing told him.-Chesterfield.

MXXV.

What though wit tickles? Tickling is unsafe,
If still 'tis painful while it makes us laugh.