that height of goodness, that nothing but an increase of his sufferings can add to it; if it proves his death, his virtue is at its summit; it is heroism complete.-Bruyere.

DLXIII.

In modern times, the philosopher's stone seems to have been found by our adventurers in the East, where beggars have become princes, and princes have become beggars; if Ben Jonson was now living, could he have painted these upstart voluptuaries more to the life, than by the following animated description:

"I will have all my beds blown up, not stuffed.
Down is too hard, and then my oval room
Fill'd with such pictures, as Tiberius took
From Elephantis, and dull Aretine
But coldly imitated-My mists

I'll have of perfume, vapour'd 'bout the room,
To lose ourselves in, and my baths, like pits,
To fall into, from whence we will come forth,
And roll us dry in gossamer and roses-
My meat shall all come in Indian shells,
Dishes of agate, set in gold, and studded
With emeralds, sapphires, hyacinths, and rubies
The tongues of carp, dormice, and camel's heels
Boil'd in the spirit of sol and dissolved pearl,
(Apicius' diet 'gainst the epilepsie)

And I will eat these broths with spoons of amber,
Headed with diamond and carbuncle.

My foot-boy shall eat pheasants; I myself will have
The beards of barbels serv'd instead of salads;
-My shirts

I'll have of taffeta sarcenet, soft and light
As cobwebs, and for all my other raiment,
It shall be such as might provoke the Persian,
Were he to teach the world riot anew,

My gloves of fish's and bird's skins perfumed
With gums of paradise, and eastern air.

Q. And do you think to have the stone with this?
A. No, I do think to have all this with the stone.
Alchymist.

DLXIV.

Flowers of rhetoric in sermons and serious discourses are like the blue and red flowers in corn, pleasing to those who come only for amusement, but prejudicial to him who would reap profit from it.-Pope.

DLXV.

When ill news comes too late to be serviceable to your neighbour, keep it to yourself.-Zimmerman.

DLXVI.

Those who quit their proper character to assume what does not belong to them, are, for the greater part, ignorant both of the character they leave, and of the character they assume.-Burke.

DLXVII.

Amongst the sons of men how few are known
Who dare be just to merit not their own!
Superior virtue and superior sense

To knaves and fools will always give offence
Nay, men of real worth can scarcely bear,
So nice is jealousy, a rival there.

DLXVIII.

Churchill.

He who can conceal his joys is greater than he who can hide his griefs.-Lavater.

DLXIX.

It is good discretion not to make too much of any man at the first; because one cannot hold out that proportion. -Lord Bacon.

DLXX.

We never love heartily but once, and that is the first time we love. Succeeding inclinations are less involuntary.-Bruyere.

DLXXI.

For general improvement, a man should read whatever his immediate inclination prompts him to; though to be sure, if a man has a science to learn, he must regu

larly and resolutely advance. What we read with inclination makes a stronger impression. If we read without inclination, half the mind is employed in fixing the at tention, so there is but half to be employed on what we read. I read Fielding's Amelia through without stopping. If a man begins to read in the middle of a book, and feels an inclination to go on, let him not quit it to go to the beginning. He may perhaps not feel again the inclina

tion.-Johnson.

DLXXII.

All human actions seem to be divided like Themistocles and his company: one man can fiddle, and another man can make a small town a great city; and he that cannot do either one or the other, deserves to be kicked out of the creation.-Swift.

DLXXIII.

Though the original cause of love may justly be reckoned among the arcana naturæ, and, as Dryden well observes, can never be assigned, or clearly described; since, Proteus like, it assumes all manner of forms, and often seemingly contradictory appearances; since deformity itself has had its votaries, as well as the admired goddess of beauty, and wit, which lead some captive, has met with open defiance and rebellion from others: if I were asked the reason and foundation of love in general? my reply would be, that it was some excellence or goodness in the object relating to the lover, or some power or capacity in the beloved, of promoting or continuing the lover's happiness, and that the degree of love is proportionable to the opinions we have of this goodness, power, or capacity.-Atterbury.

DLXXIV.

The trouble occasioned by want of a servant, is so much less than the plague of a bad one, as it is less painful to clean a pair of shoes than undergo an excess of anger.-Shenstone.

DLXXV.

Hope calculates its schemes for a long and durable life; presses forward to imaginary points of bliss; and

grasps at impossibilities; and consequently very often ensnares men into beggary, ruin, and dishonour.-Addison.

DLXXVI.

Compliments of congratulation are always kindly taken, and cost one nothing but pen, ink, and paper. I consider them as draughts upon good breeding, where the exchange is always greatly in favour of the drawer. Chesterfield.

DLXXVII.

No woman can be handsome by the force of features alone, any more than she can be witty only by the help of speech-Hughes.

DLXXVIII.

Games of chance are traps to catch school boy novices and gaping country squires, who begin with a guinea, and end with a mortgage; whilst the old stagers in the game keep their passions in check, watch the ebb and flow of fortune, till the booby they are pillaging sees his acres melt at every cast.-Cumberland.

DLXXIX.

The world may be divided into people that read, people that write, people that think, and fox-hunters. ---Shenstone.

DLXXX.

-Wit, like wine, intoxicates the brain,
Too strong for feeble woman to sustain;

Of those who claim it, more than half have none,
And half of those who have it are undone.

It is hard to personate and act a part long; for where truth is not at the bottom, nature will always be endeavouring to return, and will peep out and betray herself one time or other.-Tillotson.

DLXXXII.

Men overloaded with a large estate
May spill their treasure in a nice conceit;

The rich may be polite, but oh! 'tis sad

To say your 're curious, when we swear you're mad.
By your revenue measure your expense,
And to your funds and acres join your sense;
No man is blest by accident, or guess,
True wisdom is the price of happiness;
Yet few without long discipline are sage,
And our youth only lays up sighs for age.

DLXXXIII.

Young.

I live from hand to mouth, and content myself in having sufficient for my present and ordinary expense, for as to extraordinary occasions, all the laying up in the world would never suffice; and 'tis the greatest folly imaginable to expect, that Fortune should ever sufficiently arm us against herself.—Montaigne.

DLXXXIV.

He that will do no good offices after a disappointment, must stand still, and do just nothing at all. The plough goes on after a barren year; and while the ashes are yet warm, we raise a new house upon the ruins of a former.-Seneca.

DLXXXV.

Though truth may be difficult to find, because, as the philosopher observes, she lives in the bottom of a well, yet we need not, like blind men, grope in open day light.-Swift.

DLXXXVI.

There are two distinct sorts of what we call bashfulness: this, the awkardness of a booby, which a few steps into the world will convert into the pertness of a coxcomb; that, a consciousness, which the most delicate feelings produce, and the most extensive knowledge cannot always remove.-Mackenzie.

DLXXXVII.

Shall we not censure all the motley train
Whether with ale irriguous or champaign?