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the hand of the master. Some of which may be of his drawing, but he is not allowed to touch the principal figure. Art may make a man a suit of clothes, but nature must produce a man.—Hume.

LXXII.

Physic, for the most part, is nothing else but the substitute of exercise or temperance.-Addison.

LXXIII.

It is with wits as with razors, which are never so apt to cut those they are employed on, as when they have lost their edge.-Swift.

LXXIV.

There are few people who have not, at particular seasons, experienced the effect of certain accidental associations, which obtrude one impertinent idea, or set of ideas, on the mind, to the exclusion of every other. Mr. Locke has noticed this weakness, and he humorously describes it "as a childishness of the understanding, wherein, during the fit, it plays with and dandles some insignificant puppet, without any end in view." Thus, a tune, a proverb, a scrap of poetry, or some other trivial object, will steal into the thoughts, and continue to possess them long after it ceases to be amusing. Persuasives to dismiss a guest that proves so troublesome, can hardly be necessary; and bodily exertion is generally the best remedy for this mental infirmity.-Percival.

LXXV.

Exile is no evil: mathematicians tell us that the whole earth is but a point compared to the heavens. To change one's country then is little more than to remove from one street to another. Man is not a plant, rooted to a certain spot of earth: all soils and all climates are suited to him alike. Plutarch.

LXXVI.

The real honest man, however plain or simple he appears, has that highest species, honesty itself, in view; and instead of outward forms or symmetries, is struck with

that of inward character, the harmony and numbers of the heart, and beauty of the affections, which form the man ners and conduct of a truly social life.—Shaftesbury.

LXXVII.

An experiment very frequent among modern authors, is to write upon nothing: when the subject is utterly ex. hausted, to let the pen still move on; by some called the ghost of wit, delighting to walk after the death of its body. And to say the truth, there seems to be no part of knowledge in fewer hands, than that of discerning when to have done.-Swift.

LXXVIII.

Between the best and the worst, there are, you say, innumerable degrees and you are right; but admit that I am right too, in saying that the best and the worst differ only in one thing-in the object of their love.-Lavater.

LXXIX.

As we see soine grounds that have long lain idle and untilled, when grown rank and fertile by rest, to abound with and spend their virtue in the product of innumerable sorts of weeds and wild herbs, that are unprofitable, and of no wholesome use; even so it is with wits, which if not applied to some certain study that may fix and restrain them, run into a thousand extravagancies, and are eternally roving here and there in the inextricable labyrinth of restless imagination.-Montaigne.

LXXX.

To tell a man he lies, though but in jest, is an affront that nothing but blood can expiate. The reason perhaps may be because no other vice implies a want of courage so much as the making of a lie; and therefore telling a man he lies, is touching him in the most sensible part of honour, and indirectly calling him a coward. I cannot omit under this head what Herodotus tells us of the ancient Persians, "That from the age of five years to twenty, they instruct their sons only in three things, to manage

the horse, to make use of the bow, and to speak truth.”— Addison.

LXXXI.

The amiable and the severe, Mr. Burke's sublime and beautiful, by different proportions, are mixed in every character. Accordingly, as either is predominant, men imprint the passions of love or fear. The best punch depends on a proper mixture of sugar and lemon.-Shen

stone.

LXXXII.

Life is short yet tedious, spent in wishes, schemes, and desires; we refer to the time to come enjoyment and repose, often to an age, when our best blessings, youth and health, have totally left us. That time comes and surprises us, still bustling in the hurry of impatient desires: this is our case when a fever seizes us, and puts an end to our being: if we recover, it is to no better purpose than to desire longer.—Bruyere.

LXXXIII.

The richest genius, like the most fertile soil, when uncultivated, shoots up into the rankest weeds; and instead of vines and olives for the pleasure and use of man, produces to its slothful owner, the most abundant crop of poisons.-Hume.

LXXXIV.

It is but to venture your lungs, and you may preach against pride and dissimulation and bribery at Whitehall: you may expose rapine and injustice in the inns of court; and in a city pulpit be as fierce as you please against avarice, hypocrisy, and extortion. "Tis but a ball bandied to and fro, and every man carries a racket about him to strike it from himself among the rest of the company. -Swift.

LXXXV.

The scripture may have more senses besides the literal; because God understands all things at once; but a man's writing has but one true sense, which is that which the author meant when he wrote it.-Selden.

LXXXVI.

The covetous man is a downright servant, a draughthorse without bells or feathers; ad metalla damnatus, a man condemned to work in mines, which is the lowest and hardest condition of servitude; and, to increase his misery, a worker there for he knows not whom : "He heapeth up riches, and knows not who shall enjoy them;" it is only sure, that he himself neither shall nor can enjoy them. He is an indigent needy slave; he will hardly allow himself clothes and board-wages:

Unciatim vix de demenso suo,

Suum defraudans genium, comparsit miser.

He defrauds not only other men, but his own genius; he cheats himself for money. But the servile and miserable condition of this wretch is so apparent, that I leave it, as evident to every man's sight as well as judgment.— Cowley.

LXXXVII.

So fruitful is slander in variety of expedients, to satiate as well as disguise itself. But if these smoother weapons cut so sore, what shall we say of open and unblushing scandal, subjected to no caution, tied down to no restraints? If the one, like an arrow shot in the dark, does nevertheless so much secret mischief, this, like the pestilence, which rages at noon-day, sweeps all before it, levelling without distinction the good and the bad; a thousand fall beside it, and ten thousand on its right hand; they fall, so rent and torn in this tender part of them, so unmercifully butchered, as sometimes never to recover either the wounds, or the anguish of heart which they have occasioned.-Sterne.

LXXXVIII.

Perhaps if we could examine the manners of different nations with impartiality, we should find no people so rude as to be without any rules of politeness; nor any so polite as not to have some remains of rudeness.-Franklin

LXXXIX.

He that would please in company, must be attentive to what style is most proper. The scholastic should never be used but in a select company of learned men. The didactic should seldom be used, and then only by judicious aged persons, or those who are eminent for piety or wisdom. No style is more extensively acceptable than the narrative, because this does not carry an air of superiority over the rest of the company, and therefore is most likely to please them; for this purpose we should store our memory with short anecdotes and entertaining pieces of history. Almost every one listens with eagerness to extemporary history. Vanity often cooperates with curiosity, for he that is an hearer in one place, wishes to qualify himself to be a principal speaker in some inferior company, and therefore more attention is given to narrations than any thing else in conversation. It is true indeed, that sallies of wit and quick replies are very pleasing in conversation, but they frequently tend to raise envy in some of the company, but the narrative way neither raises this, nor any other evil passion, but keeps all the company nearly upon an equality, and if judiciously managed, will at once entertain and improve them all.Johnson.

XC.

There appears to exist a greater desire to live iong than to live well! Measure by man's desires, he cannot live long enough; measure by his good deeds, and he has not lived long enough; measure by his evil deeds, and he has lived too long.-Zimmerman.

XCI.

Economy is the parent of integrity, of liberty, and of ease; and the beauteous sister of temperance, of cheerfulness, and health and profuseness is a cruel and crafty demon, that gradually involves her followers in dependence and debts; that is, fetters them with "irons that enter into their souls."-Adventurer.

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