DESOLATION.

dition, and whatever may be our expectations to live within the compass of what we actually possess.-It will be time enough to enjoy an estate when it comes into our hands; but if we anticipate our good fortune we shall lose the pleasure of it when it arrives, and may possibly never possess what we have so foolishly counted on.Addison.

DESOLATION.-No one is so utterly desolate, but some heart, though unknown, responds unto his own.-Longfellow.

None are so desolate but something dear,-dearer than self,-possesses or is possessed.—Byron.

No soul is desolate as long as there is a human being for whom it can feel trust and reverence.-George Eliot.

My desolation begins to make a better life.-Shakespeare.

What is the worst of woes that wait on age? What stamps the wrinkle deeper on the brow? To view each loved one blotted from life's page, and be alone on earth.Byron.

Unhappy he, who from the first of joys— society-cut off, is left alone, amid this world of death!-Thomson.

DESPAIR. What we call despair is often only the painful eagerness of unfed hope.-George Eliot.

He that despairs measures Providence by his own little contracted model and limits infinite power to finite apprehensions.-South.

Considering the unforeseen events of this world, we should be taught that no human condition should inspire men with absolute despair.-Fielding.

It is impossible for that man to despair who remembers that his Helper is omnipotent.-Jeremy Taylor.

Despair is like froward children, who, when you take away one of their playthings, throw the rest into the fire for madness. It grows angry with itself, turns its own executioner, and revenges its misfortunės on its own head.-Charron.

Despair is the offspring of fear, of laziness, and impatience; it argues a defect of spirit and resolution, and often of honesty too. I would not despair unless I saw my misfortune recorded in the book of fate, and signed and sealed by necessity.-Collier.

Despair gives courage to the weak.Resolved to die, he fears no more, but rushes on his foes, and deals his deaths around.-Somerville.

Beware of desperate steps.-The darkest

day, live till to-morrow, will have passed away. Cowper.

He that despairs degrades the Deity, and seems to intimate that He is insufficient, or not just to his word ; in vain hath he read the Scriptures, the world, and manFeltham.

He who despairs wants love and faith, for faith, hope, and love are three torches which blend their light together, nor does the one shine without the other.-Metastasio.

Despair gives the shocking ease to the mind that mortification gives to the body.Greville.

Despair is the damp of hell, as joy is the serenity of heaven.-Donne.

The fact that God has prohibited despair gives misfortune the right to hope all things, and leaves hope free to dare all things.-Mad. Swetchine.

Religion converts despair, which destroys, into resignation, which submits.Lady Blessington.

DESPONDENCY.-To despond is to be ungrateful beforehand.-Be not looking for evil. Often thou drainest the gall of fear while evil is passing by thy dwelling.— Tupper.

Life is a warfare; and he who easily desponds deserts a double duty-he betrays the noblest property of man, which is dauntless resolution; and he rejects the providence of that all-gracious Being who guides and rules the universe.-Jane Porter.

To believe a business impossible is the way to make it so.-How many feasible projects have miscarried through despondency, and been strangled in their birth by a cowardly imagination.-Collier.

In the lottery of life there are more prizes drawn than blanks, and to one misfortune there are fifty advantages. Despondency is the most unprofitable feeling a man can indulge in.-De Witt Talmage.

Despondency is not a state of humility.On the contrary, it is the vexation and despair of a cowardly pride; nothing is worse. Whether we stumble, or whether we fall, we must only think of rising again and going on in our course.-Fenelon.

Despondency is ingratitude; hope is God's worship.-H. W. Beecher.

Some persons depress their own minds, despond at the first difficulty, and concludé that making any progress in knowledge, further than serves their ordinary business, is above their capacity.-Locke.

As to feel that we can do a thing is often

DESPOTISM.

success, so to doubt and despond is a sure step to failure.

DESPOTISM.-I will believe in the right of one man to govern a nation despotically when I find a man born into the world with boots and spurs, and a nation born with saddles on their backs.-Algernon Sidney.

Despotism can no more exist in a nation until the liberty of the press be destroyed, than the night can happen before the sun is set.-Colton.

It is odd to consider the connection between despotism and barbarity, and how the making one person more than man makes the rest less.-Addison.

In times of anarchy one may seem a despot in order to be a savior.—Mirabeau.

Despots govern by terror. They know that he who fears God fears nothing else, and therefore they eradicate from the mind, through their Voltaire and Helvetius, and the rest of that infamous gang, that only sort of fear which generates true courage.-Burke.

As virtue is necessary in a republic, and honor in a monarchy, fear is what is required in a despotism.-As for virtue, it is not at all necessary, and honor would be dangerous there.-Montesquieu.

All despotism is bad; but the worst is that which works with the machinery of freedom.-Junius.

It is difficult for power to avoid despotism. The possessors of rude health-the characters never strained by a doubt-the minds that no questions disturb and no aspirations put out of breath-there, the strong, are also the tyrants.-Gasparin.

When the savages wish to have fruit they cut down the tree and gather it.-That is exactly a despotic government.—Montesquieu.

There is something among men more capable of shaking despotic power than lightning, whirlwind, or earthquake; that is, the threatened indignation of the whole civilized world.-Daniel Webster.

DESTINY.-Man proposes, but God disposes.-Thomas à Kempis.

We are but the instruments of heaven; our work is not design, but destiny.— Owen Meredith.

No man of woman born, coward or brave, can shun his destiny.-Homer.

Destiny is the scape-goat which we make responsible for all our crimes and follies; a necessity which we set down for invin

cible when we have no wish to strive against it.-Balfour.

The acts of this life are the destiny of the next.-Eastern Proverb.

That which God writes on thy forehead, thou wilt come to it.-Koran.

Destiny is but a phrase of the weak human heart-the dark apology for every error. The strong and virtuous admit no destiny.-On earth conscience guides; in heaven God watches.-And destiny is but the phantom we invoke to silence the one and dethrone the other.-Bulwer.

Philosophers never stood in need of Homer or the Pharisees to be convinced that everything is done by immutable laws; that everything is settled; that everything is the necessary effect of some previous cause.- Voltaire.

The clew of our destiny, wander where we will, lies at the cradle foot.-Richter.

Nothing comes to pass but what God appoints. Our fate is decreed, and things do not happen by chance, but every man's portion of joy or sorrow is predetermined.Seneca.

That which is not allotted the hand cannot reach; and what is allotted you will find wherever you may be.—Saadi.

Man supposes that he directs his life and governs his actions, when his existence is irretrievably under the control of destiny.-Goethe.

If the course of human affairs be considered, it will be seen that many things arise against which heaven does not allow us to guard.-Machiavelli.

Death and life have their determined appointments; riches and honors depend upon heaven.-Confucius.

The wheels of nature are not made to roll backward: everything presses on toward eternity: from the birth of time an impetuous current has set in, which bears all the sons of men toward that interminable ocean. Meanwhile heaven is attracting to itself whatever is congenial to its nature, is enriching itself by the spoils of earth, and collecting within its capacious bosom whatever is pure, permanent, and divine.— Robert Hall.

I do not mean to expose my ideas to ingenious ridicule by maintaining that everything happens to every man for the best; but I will contend, that he who makes the best use of it, fulfills the part of a wise and good man.-Cumberland.

Thoughts lead on to purposes; purposes go forth in actions; actions form habits;

DETRACTION.

habits decide character; and character fixes our destiny.—Tryon Edwards.

DETRACTION.-(See "SLANDER.") The detractor may, and often does, pull down others, but by so doing he never, as he seems to suppose, elevates himself to their position. The most he can do is, maliciously to tear from them the blessings which he cannot enjoy himself.

To be traduced by ignorant tongues, is the rough brake that virtue must go through.-Shakespeare.

Those who propagate evil reports frequently invent them; and it is no breach of charity to suppose this to be always the case, because no man who spreads detraction would have scrupled to produce it, as he who should diffuse poison in a brook would scarce be acquitted of a malicious design, though he should allege that he received it of another who is doing the same elsewhere.—Adventurer.

To make beads of the faults of others, and tell them over every day, is infernal. If you want to know how devils feel, you do know if you are such an one.-H. W. Beecher.

Happy are they that hear their detractions, and can put them to mending.Shakespeare.

In some dispositions there is such an envious kind of pride that they cannot endure that any but themselves should be set forth for excellent; so that when they hear one justly praised, they will either seek to dismount his virtues, or, if they be like a clear light, they will stab him with a "but" of detraction.-Feltham.

Much depends upon a man's courage when he is slandered and traduced. Weak men are crushed by detraction; but the brave hold on and succeed.

He whose first emotion, on the view of an excellent work, is to undervalue or depreciate it, will never have one of his own to show.-Aikin.

Base natures joy to see hard hap happen to them they deem happy.-Sir P. Sidney.

Whoever feels pain in hearing a good character of his neighbor, will feel pleasure in the reverse; and those who despair to rise to distinction by their virtues are happy if others can be depressed to a level with themselves.-J. Barker.

The man that makes a character, makes foes.-Young.

If we considered detraction to be bred of envy, and nested only in deficient minds, we should find that the applauding of virtue

would win us far more honor than seeking to disparage it. That would show we loved what we commended, while this tells the world we grudge at what we want ourselves.-Feltham.

There is no readier way for a man to bring his own worth into question, than by endeavoring to detract from the worth of other men.-Tillotson.

Unjustifiable detraction always proves the weakness as well as nieanness of the one who employs it.-To be constantly carping at, and exaggerating petty blemishes in the characters of others, putting an unfavorable construction on their language, or 'damning with faint praise" their deeds, betrays, on the part of the detractor, a conscious inability to maintain a reputable standing on legitimate and honorable ground.—E. L. Magoon.

DEVIATION.-When people once begin to deviate, they do not know where to stop.-George III.

Ah! to what gulfs a single deviation from the track of human duties leads!-Byron.

Deviation from either truth or duty is a downward path, and none can say where the descent will end.-"He that despiseth small things shall fall by little and little."Tryon Edwards.

DEVIL.-The devil is no idle spirit, but a vagrant, runagate walker, that never rests in one place. The motive, cause, and main intention of his walking is to ruin man.-T. Adams.

No sooner is a temple built to God, but the devil builds a chapel hard by.-Herbert.

As no good is done, or spoken, or thought by any man without the assistance of God, working in and with those that believe in him, so there is no evil done, or spoken, or thought without the assistance of the devil, who worketh with strong though secret power in the children of unbelief.-All the works of our evil nature are the work of the devil.-J. Wesley.

What, man! Defy the devil! Consider he's an enemy to mankind.-Shakespeare. He who would fight the devil with his own weapons, must not wonder if he finds him an overmatch.-South.

The devil knoweth his own, and is a particularly bad paymaster.-F.M. Crawford.

The devil has at least one good quality, that he will flee if we resist him.-Though cowardly in him, it is safety for us.― Tryon Edwards.

Talk of devils being confined to hell, or hidden by invisibility !—We have them by

DEVOTION.

shoals in the crowded towns and cities of the world.-Talk of raising the devil !— What need for that, when he is constantly walking to and fro in our streets, seeking whom he may devour.-Anon.

DEVOTION.--All is holy where devotion kneels.-O. W. Holmes.

The most illiterate man who is touched with devotion, and uses frequent exercises of it, contracts a certain greatness of mind, mingled with a noble simplicity, that raises him above others of the same condition. By this, a man in the lowest condition will not appear mean, or in the most splendid fortune insolent.-Johnson.

The private devotions and secret offices of religion are like the refreshing of a garden with the distilling and petty drops of a waterpot; but addressed from the temple, they are like rain from heaven.-Jeremy Taylor.

Satan rocks the cradle when we sleep at our devotions.—Bp. Hall.

It is of the utmost importance to season the passions of the young with devotion, which seldom dies in the mind that has received an early tincture of it. Though it may seem extinguished for a while. by the cares of the world, the heats of youth, or the allurements of vice, it generally breaks out and discovers itself again as soon as discretion, consideration, age, or misfortunes have brought the man to himself. The fire may be covered and overlaid but cannot be entirely quenched and smothered.—Addison.

All the duties of religion are eminently solemn and venerable in the eyes of children. But none will so strongly prove the sincerity of the parent; none so powerfully awaken the reverence of the child; none so happily recommend the instruction he receives, as family devotions, particularly those in which petitions for the children occupy a distinguished place.—Dwight.

The secret heart is devotion's temple; there the saint lights the flame of purest sacrifice, which burns unseen but not unaccepted.--Hannah More.

The inward sighs of humble penitence rise to the ear of heaven, when pealed hymns are scattered to the common air.Joanna Baillie.

Solid devotions resemble the rivers which run under the earth-they steal from the eyes of the world to seek the eyes of God; and it often happens that those of whom we speak least on earth, are best known in heaven. Caussin.

The best and sweetest flowers in paradise,

God gives to his people when they are on their knees in the closet.-Prayer, if not the very gate of heaven, is the key to let us into its holiness and joys.-T. Brooks.

Once I sought a time and place for solitude and prayer; but now where'er I find thy face I find a closet there.

DEW. The dews of evening - those tears of the sky for the loss of the sun.— Chesterfield.

Stars of the morning-dew-drops-which the sun impearls on every leaf and flower. -Milton.

Dew-drops-nature's tears, which she sheds on her own breast for the fair which die. The sun insists on gladness; but at night, when he is gone, poor nature loves to weep.-Bailey.

Dew-drops are the gems of morning, but the tears of mournful eve.- — Coleridge.

Earth's liquid jewelry, wrought of the air.-Bailey.

DICE. I look. upon every man as a suicide from the moment he takes the dicebox desperately in his hand; all that follows in his career from that fatal time is only sharpening the dagger before he strikes it to his heart.—Cumberland.

I never hear the rattling of dice that it does not sound to me like the funeral bell of the whole family.—Jerrold.

The best throw with the dice, is to throw them away.-Old Proverb.

DIET.-Regimen is better than physic. Every one should be his own physician. We should assist, not force nature.-Eat with moderation what you know by experience agrees with your constitution. Nothing is good for the body but what we can digest. What can procure digestion -Exercise.-What will recruit strength.Sleep. What will alleviate incurable evils? -Patience.- Voltaire.

In general, mankind, since the improvement of cookery, eat twice as much as nature requires.—Franklin.

All courageous animals are carnivorous, and greater courage is to be expected in a people whose food is strong and hearty, than in the half-starved of other countries. -Sir W. Temple.

Food improperly taken, not only produces diseases, but affords those that are already engendered both matter and sustenance; so that, let the father of disease be what it may, intemperance is its mother.-Burton.

Simple diet is best; for many dishes

DIFFERENCE.

bring many diseases; and rich sauces are worse than even heaping several meats upon each other.-Pliny.

The chief pleasure in eating does not consist in costly seasoning, or exquisite flavor, but in yourself. Do you seek for sauce by labor ?-Horace.

If thou wouldst preserve a sound body, use fasting and walking; if a healthful soul, fasting and praying.-Walking exercises the body; praying exercises the soul; fasting cleanses both.-Quarles.

One meal a day is enough for a lion, and it ought to be for a man.-G. Fordyce.

A fig for your bill of fare; show me your bill of company.—Swift.

DIFFERENCE.-It is remarkable that men, when they differ in what they think considerable, are apt to differ in almost everything else. Their difference begets contradiction; contradiction begets heat; heat rises into resentment, rage, and illwill. Thus they differ in affection, as they differ in judgment, and the contention which began in pride, ends in anger.- Cato.

In all differences consider that both you and your opponent or enemy are mortal, and that ere long your very memories will be extinguished.-Aurel.

If men would consider not so much wherein they differ, as wherein they agree, there would be far less of uncharitableness and angry feeling in the world.-Addison.

DIFFICULTY.-What is difficulty? Only a word indicating the degree of strength requisite for accomplishing particular objects; a mere notice of the necessity for exertion; a bugbear to children and fools; only a stimulus to men.-Samuel Warren.

It has been the glory of the great masters in all the arts to confront and to overcome; and when they had overcome the first difficulty, to turn it into an instrument for new conquests over new difficulties; thus to enable them to extend the empire of science.

Difficulty is a severe instructor, set over us by the Supreme guardian and legislator, who knows us better than we know ourselves, and loves us better too. He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill.-Our antagonist is our helper.-Burke.

The greatest difficulties lie where we are not looking for them.-Goethe.

The weak sinews become strong by their conflict with difficulties.-Hope is born in the long night of watching and tears.— Faith visits us in defeat and disappoint

ment, amid the consciousness of earthly frailty and the crumbling tombstones of mortality.-E. H. Chapin.

It is not every calamity that is a curse, and early adversity is often a blessing.Surmounted difficulties not only teach, but hearten us in our future struggles.-Sharp.

Difficulty is the soil in which all manly and womanly qualities best flourish; and the true worker, in any sphere, is continually coping with difficulties. His very failures, throwing him upon his own resources, cultivate energy and resolution ; his hardships teach him fortitude; his successes inspire self-reliance.

It cannot be too often repeated that it is not helps, but obstacles, not facilities, but difficulties that make men.-W. Mathews.

Difficulties are God's errands; and when we are sent upon them we should esteem it a proof of God's confidence—as a compliment from him.-H. W. Beecher.

Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.-Seneca.

There is no merit where there is no trial and till experience stamps the mark of strength, cowards may pass for heroes, and faith for falsehood.-A. Hill.

The greater the obstacle, the more glory we have in overcoming it; the difficulties with which we are met are the maids of honor which set off virtue.—Moliere.

Difficulties show men what they are.-In case of any difficulty God has pitted you against a rough antagonist that you may be a conqueror, and this cannot be without toil.-Epictetus.

Our energy is in proportion to the resistance it meets.-We attempt nothing great but from a sense of the difficulties we have to encounter; we persevere in nothing great but from a pride in overcoming them.-Hazlitt.

There are difficulties in your path.-Be thankful for them.-They will test your capabilities of resistance; you will be impelled to persevere from the very energy of the opposition. But what of him that fails? What does he gain?-Strength for life. The real merit is not in the success, but in the endeavor; and win or lose, he will be honored and crowned.-W. M. Punshon.

DIFFIDENCE.-Persons extremely reserved and diffident are like the old enamelled watches, which had painted covers that hindered you from secing what time it was.- Walpole.

We are as often duped by diffidence as by confidence.-Chesterfield.