spirit, when they hear their sons miscall, or see them domineer over a peasant or lacquey, that dares not reply or turn again; and a great sign of wit when they see them cheat and overreach their play-fellows by some malicious trick of treachery and deceit: but for all that, these are the true seed and roots of cruelty, tyranny, and treason. -Montaigne.

CCXII.

Laws cannot prevent extravagance; and perhaps it is not always an evil to the public. A shilling spent idly by a fool may be picked up by a wiser person, who knows better what to do with it; it is, therefore, not lost.Franklin.

CCXIII.

The country is the place in which the court, as in its point of view, appears glorious and admirable; if we approach it, its beauties diminish, like those of a fine piece of perspective viewed too near.—Bruyere.

CCXIV.

I have run the silly rounds of pleasure, and have done with them all. I have enjoyed all the pleasures of the world, I appraise them at their real worth, which is in truth very low: those who have only seen their outside always overrate them, but I have been behind the scenes, I have seen all the coarse pulleys and dirty ropes which move the gaudy machines, and I have seen and smelt the tallow candles which illuminate the whole decoration, to the astonishment and admiration of the ignorant audiWhen I reflect on what I have seen, what I have heard, and what I have done, I can hardly persuade myself that all that frivolous hurry and bustle of pleasure in the world had any reality; but I look upon all that is passed as one of those romantic dreams which opium commonly occasions, and I do by no means desire to repeat the nauseous dose.-Chesterfield.

ence.

CCXV.

Nothing can be more unphilosophical than to be positive or dogmatical on any subject; and even if excessive

scepticism could be maintained, it would not be more destructive to all just reasoning and inquiry. Where men are the most sure and arrogant, they are commonly the most mistaken, and have there given reins to passion, without that proper deliberation and suspense, which can alone secure them from the grossest absurdities.-Hume.

CCXVI.

In the education of children, there is nothing like alluring the appetites and affection, otherwise you make so many asses laden with books, and by virtue of the lash, give them their pocket full of learning to keep; whereas, to do well, you should not only lodge it with them, but make them espouse it.-Montaigne.

CCXVII.

There is nothing displays a genius (I mean a quickness of genius) more than a dispute; as two diamonds, encountering, contribute to each other's lustre. But, perhaps, the odds is much against the man of taste, in this particular.-Shenstone.

CCXVIII.

A wise man is never less alone, than when he is alone: Nunquam minus solus, quam cum solus.-Swift.

CCXIX.

The precept, "Know yourself," was not solely intended to obviate the pride of mankind; but likewise that we might understand our own worth.-Cicero.

CCXX.

The character of the scholars of the present age, will not be much injured or misrepresented by saying that they seem to be superficially acquainted with a multitude of subjects, but to go to the bottom of very few. This appears in criticism and polite learning, as well as in the abstruser sciences: by the diffusion of knowledge its depth is abated.-Adventurer.

CCXXI.

A man of quick and active wit
For drudgery is more unfit,
Compared to those of duller parts,
Than running-nags to draw in carts.

ССХХІІ.

Butler.

If thou art powerful in interest, and standest deified by a servile tribe of dependents,-why shouldst thou be proud, because they are hungry?-Scourge me such sycophants; they have turned the heads of thousands as well as thine.-Sterne.

CCXXIII.

The army of the sciences hath been of late, with a world of martial discipline, drawn into its close order, so that a view or a muster may be taken of it with abundance of expedition. For this great blessing we are wholly indebted to systems and abstracts, in which the modern fathers of learning, like prudent usurers, spent their sweat for the ease of us their children.—Swift.

CCXXIV.

In answering of a book, 'tis but to be short, otherwise he that I write against will suspect that I intend to weary him, not to satisfy him. Besides, in being long, I shall give my adversary a huge advantage; somewhere or other he will pick a hole.-Selden.

CCXXV.

What is the world? a term which men have got
To signify not one in ten knows what.

A term which with no more precision passes
To point out herds of men than herds of asses!
In common use no more it means, we find,
Than many fools in same opinions join'd.

CCXXVI.

Churchill.

Wit loses its respect with the good, when seen in company with malice; and to smile at the jest which

plants a thorn in another's breast, is to become a principal in the mischief.-Sheridan.

CCXXVII.

There is no society or conversation to be kept up in the world without good nature, or something which must bear its appearance, and supply its place. For this reason mankind have been forced to invent a kind of artificial humanity, which is what we express by the word good-breeding. For if we examine thoroughly the idea of what we call so, we shall find it to be nothing else but an imitation and mimicry of good nature, or in other terms, affability, complaisance, and easiness of temper reduced into an art.-Addison.

CCXXVIII.

The soul that has no established limit to circumscribe it, loses itself, as the epigrammatist says,

---

"He that lives every where, does no where live."

CCXXIX.

Montaigne.

In benevolent natures the impulse to pity is so sudden, that like instruments of music which obey the touchthe objects which are fitted to excite such impressions work so instantaneous an effect, that you would think the will was scarce concerned, and that the mind was altogether passive in the sympathy which her own goodness has excited. The truth is-the soul is generally in such cases so busily taken up and wholly engrossed by the object of pity, that she does not attend to her own operations, or take leisure to examine the principles upon which she acts.-Sterne.

CCXXX.

In the youth of a state, arms do flourish; in the middle age of a state, learning; and then both of them together for a time; in the declining age of a state, mechanical arts and merchandise. Learning hath its infan

cy, when it is but beginning, and almost childish; then its youth, when it is luxuriant and juvenile; then its strength of years, when it is solid and reduced; and, lastly, its old age, when it waxeth dry and exhaust; but it is not good to look too long upon these turning wheels of vicissitude, lest we become giddy: as for the philology of them, that is but a circle of tales.-Lord Bacon.

CCXXXI.

Modesty is silent when it would not be improper to speak; the humble, without being called upon, never recollects to say any thing of himself.-Lavater.

ССХХХІІ.

It may happen that good is produced by vice, but not as vice; for instance, a robber may take money from its owner, and give it to one who will make a better use of it. Here is good produced; but not by the robbery as robbery, but as a translation of property.-Johnson.

ССХХХІІІ.

As a certain insensibility in the countenance recommends a sentence of humour and jest, so it must be a very lively consciousness that gives grace to great sentiments. The jest is to be a thing unexpected; therefore your undesigning manner is a beauty in expressions of mirth; and when you are to talk on a set subject, the more you are moved yourself, the more you will move others.-Swift.

CCXXXIV.

Common understandings, like cits in gardening, allow no shades to their picture.-Shenstone.

CCXXXV.

There is no kind of false wit which has been so recommended by the practice of all ages, as that which consists in a jingle of words, and is comprehended under the general name of punning. It is indeed impossible to kill a weed, which the soil has a natural disposi tion to produce. The seeds of punning are in the minds