Surely nothing can be more unreasonable than to lofe the will to pleafe, when we are confcious of the power, or fhew more cruelty than to choose any kind of influence before that of kindness and good-humour. He that regards the welfare of others, fhould make his virtue approachable, that it may be loved and copied; and he that confiders the wants which every man feels, or will feel, of external affiftance, muft rather wifh to be furrounded by thofe that love him, than by thofe that admire his excellencies, or folicit his favours; for admiration ceafes with novelty, and intereft gains its end and retires. A man whofe great qualities want the ornament of fuperficial attractions, is like a naked mountain with mines of gold, which will be frequented only till the treasure is exhausted.

Ditto, ditto, p. 105.

GOOD-HUMOUR,
(Compared with Gaiety.)

GAIETY is to good-humour as animal perfumes to vegetable fragrance. The one overpowers weak (pirits, the other recreates and revives them. Gaiety feldom fails to give

I 2

give fome pain; the hearers either ftrain. their faculties to accompany its towerings, or are left behind in envy or defpair. Goodhumour boafts no faculties, which every one does not believe in his own power, and pleases principally by not offending.

Rambler, v. 2, p. 102.

J.

JEALOUSY.

That natural jealousy which makes every man unwilling to allow much excellence in another, always produces a difpofition to believe that the mind grows old with the body, and that he whom we are now forced to confefs fuperior, is haftening daily to a level with ourselves. Intellectual decay, doubt!efs, is not uncommon, but it is not univerfal. Newton was in his eighty fifth year improving his chronology, and Waller at eighty-two, is thought to have loft none of his poetical powers.

Life of Waller.

JUDGE

JUDGEMENT.

THOSE who have no power to judge of paft times, but by their own, fhould always doubt their conclufions.

Life of Milton.

As laws operate in civil agency, not to the excitement of virtue, but the repreffion of wickedness, fo judgment, in the operations of intellect, can hinder faults, but not produce excellence.

Life of Prior.

Nothing is more unjust than to judge of a man by too short an acquaintance, and too flight infpection; for it often happens, that in the loose and thoughtlefs, and diffipated, there is a fecret radical worth, which may fhoot out by proper cultivation. That the fpark of heaven, though dimmed and obftructed, is yet not extinguifhed, but may, by the breath of counsel and exhortation, be kindled into a flame. To imagine that every one who is not completely good, is irrevo cably abandoned, is to fuppofe that all are capable of the fame degree of excellence; it is, indeed, to exact from all, that perfection

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tion which none ever can attain. And fince the purest virtue is confiftent with fome vice, and the virtue of the greatest number, with almost an equal proportion of contrary qualities, let none too haftily conclude that all goodness is loft, though it may for a time be clouded and overwhelmed; for most minds are the flaves of external circumstances, and conform to any hand that undertakes to mould them, roll down any torrent of cuftom in which they happen to be caught; or bend to any importunity that bears hard against them.

Rambler, v. 2, p. 94•

Thofe that have done nothing in life, are not qualified to judge of thofe that have done little.

Plan of an English Dictionary, p. 49.

It is impoffible for thofe that have only known affluence and profperity, to judge rightly of themfelves and others. The rich and powerful live in a perpetual masquerade, in which all about them wear borrowed characters; and we only difcover in what eftimation we are held, when we can no longer give hopes or fears.

Rambler, v. 2, p. 124.

JUSTICE.

JUSTICE.

ONE of the principal parts of national felicity, arifes from a wife and impartial administration of juftice. Every man reposes upon the tribunals of his country, the stability of profeffion, and the ferenity of life. He therefore who unjustly exposes the courts of judicature to fufpicion, either of partiality, or error, not only does an injury to those who difpenfe the laws, but diminishes the public confidence in the laws themselves, and shakes the foundation of public tranquility.

Convicts Addrefs, p. 20.

"In

Of justice, one of the heathen fages has fhewn, with great acuteness, that it was impreffed upon mankind only by the inconveniencies wich injuftice had produced. the first ages, fays he, men acted without any rule but the impulfe of defire; they practised injustice upon others, and fuffered it from others in return; but, in time, it was difcovered that the pain of fuffering wrong, was greater than the pleasure of doing it, and mankind by a general compact, submitted to the restraint of laws, and refigned the pleasure to escape the pain.

Idler, v. 2 p. 208.