CCLVIII. Not to detract from the just praise which belongs to orators, they ought to consider that nature, which gave us two eyes to see, and two ears to hear, has given us but one tongue to speak; wherein, however, some do so abound, that the virtuosi, who have been so long in search for the perpetual motion, may infallibly find it there.-Swift. CCLIX. Gaiety is to good-humour as animal perfumes to vegetable fragrance. The one overpowers weak spirits, the other recreates and revives them. Gaiety seldom fails to give some pain; the hearers either strain their faculties to accompany its towerings, or are left behind in envy or despair. Good-humour boasts no faculties, which every one does not believe in his own power, and pleases principally by not offending.-Johnson. CCLX. Such is the encouragement given to flattery in the present times, that it is made to sit in the parlour, while honesty is turned out of doors. Flattery is never so agreeable as to our blind side: commend a fool for his wit, or a knave for his honesty, and they will receive you into their bosom.-Fielding. CCLXI. All affectation is the vain and ridiculous attempt of poverty to appear rich.-Lavater. CCLXII. Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.-Lord Bacon. CCLXIII. The true art of being agreeable, is to appear well pleased with all the company, and rather to seem well entertained with them, than to bring entertainment to them. A man thus disposed, perhaps, may have not much learning, nor any wit; but if he has common sense and something friendly in his behaviour, it conciliates men's minds more than the brightest parts without this disposition; and when a man of such a turn comes to old age, he is almost sure to be treated with respect. It is true indeed that we should not dissemble and flatter in company; but a man may be very agreeable, strictly consistent with truth and sincerity, by a prudent silence, where he cannot concur, and a pleasing assent where he can. Now and then you meet with a person so exactly formed to please, that he will gain upon every one that hears or beholds him; this disposition is not merely the gift of nature, but frequently the effect of much knowledge of the world, and a command over the passions.-Spectator. CCLXIV. A tale of scandal is as fatal to the credit of a prudent lady, as a fever is generally to those of the strongest constitutions. But there is a sort of puny sickly reputation, that is always ailing, yet will wither the robuster characters of a hundred prudes.-Sheridan. CCLXV. Great turns are not always given by strong hands, but by lucky adaptation, and at proper seasons; and it is of no import where the fire was kindled, if the vapour has once got up into the brain.-Swift. CCLXVI. The solving of riddles is an art which I would recommend to the encouragement of both the universities, as it affords the easiest and shortest method of conveying some of the most useful principles of logic, and might therefore be introduced as a very proper substitute in the room of those dry systems which are at present in vogue in those places of education.-Fitzosborne's Letters. CCLXVII. We, ignorant of ourselves, Beg often our own harm's, which the wise powers By losing of our prayers. CCLXVIII. Shakspeare. In Westminster Hall, you may outlaw a man for forty shillings, which is their excommunication; and you can do no more for forty thousand pounds.-Selden. CCLXIX. It is not poetry, that makes men poor; For few do write, that were not so before; And those that have writ best, had they been rich, Had lov'd their ease too well, to take the pains CCLXX. Butler. No condition passes for servitude that is accompanied with great riches, with honours, and with the service of many inferiors. This is but a deception of the sight through a false medium; for if a groom serve a gentleman in his chamber, that gentleman a lord, and that lord a prince; the groom, the gentleman, and the lord, are as much servants one as the other; the circumstantial difference of the one's getting only his bread and wages, the second a plentiful, and the third a superfluous estate, is no more intrinsical to this matter, than the difference between a plain, a rich, and gaudy livery. I do not say, that he who sells his whole time and his own will for one hundred thousand, is not a wiser merchant than he who does it for one hundred pounds; but I will swear they are both merchants, and that he is happier than both, who can live contentedly without selling that estate to which he was born.-Cowley. CCLXXI. There are a multitude of ready-coined phrases which we lay up as in a magazine, using them as we have occasion to congratulate one another: though they are often spoken without affection, and accordingly heard without acknowledgment, yet we must not omit them, being, at least, the imagery of the best thing in the world, which is friendship; and since men cannot depend on one another for reality, they seem to have agreed that its appearance should be current.-Bruyere. CCLXXII. Whoe'er has travelled life's dull round, May sigh to think he still has found CCLXXIII. Shenstone. Equity is a roguish thing; for law we have a measure, and know what to trust to: equity is according to the conscience of him that is chancellor, and as that is larger or narrower, so is equity. 'Tis all one as if they should make his foot the standard for the measure, we call a chancellor's foot, what an uncertain measure this would be! One chancellor has a long foot, another a short foot, a third an indifferent foot: 'tis the same thing in the chancellor's conscience.-Selden. CCLXXIV. It has been observed, that not one favourite of the muses has ever been able to build a house since the days of Amphion, whose art it would be fortunate for them if they possessed; and that the greatest punishment that can possibly be inflicted upon them, is to oblige them sup in their own lodgings.-Adventurer. to CCLXXV. The morality of an action depends upon the motive from which we act. If I fling half-a-crown to a beggar with intention to break his head, and he picks it up and buys victuals with it, the physical effect is good; but with respect to me, the action is very wrong.—Johnson. CCLXXVI. Among other services I have met with from some critics, the cruellest for an old man is, that they will not let me be quiet in my bed, but pursue me to my very dreams.-Swift. CCLXXVII. The virtue which we gather from a fable or an allegory, is like the health we get by hunting; as we are engaged in an agreeable pursuit that draws us on with pleasure, and makes us insensible of the fatigues that accompany it.-Addison. CCLXXVIII. "A fool and his words are soon parted;" for so should the proverb run.-Shenstone. CCLXXIX. Let every one but dive into his own bosom, and he will find his private wishes spring, and his secret hopes grow up, at another's expense. Upon which consideration it comes into my head, that nature in this does not swerve from her general polity; for physicians hold that the birth, nourishment, and increase of every thing is the corruption and dissolution of another.-Montaigne. CCLXXX. There are very few original thinkers in the world, or ever have been; the greatest part of those who are called philosophers, have adopted the opinions of some who went before them, and so having chosen their respective guides, they maintain with zeal what they have thus imbibed.-Encyc. Brit. CCLXXXI. He who sedulously attends, pointedly asks, calmly speaks, coolly answers, and ceases when he has no more to say, is in possession of some of the best requisites of -Lavater. man. |