The Peril of Wicked Association. I know not any greater misfortune, that can happen to a young fellow at his first setting out in life, than his falling into low company. He that sinks to familiarity with persons much below his own level, will be constantly weighed down by his base connections; and, though he may easily plunge still lower, will find it almost impossible ever to rise again. The Connoisseur, No. 132. Those who lose such friends lose them to their joy, SOPHOCLES, Fragments, 1. 741. HE crow may bathe his coal-black wings in mire, THE And unperceived fly with the filth away; But if the like the snow-white swan desire, The stain upon her silver down will stay.2 Lucrece, 1. 1009. 1 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united. - Gen. xlix. 6. 2 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes be not burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet be not burned? - Prov. vi. 27. There is a thing, Harry, which thou hast often heard of, and is known to many in our land by the name of pitch; this pitch, as ancient writers do report,1 doth defile! so doth the company thou keepest. First Part of King Henry IV., Act ii. Sc. 4, l. 453. King John. O, when the last account 'twixt heaven and earth Is to be made, then shall this hand and seal Witness against us to damnation ! How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds Make deeds ill done! 2 Had'st not thou been by, A fellow by the hand of nature mark'd, Quoted and sign'd to do a deed of shame, I faintly broke with thee of Arthur's death; And thou, to be endeared to a king, Made it no conscience to destroy a prince. Hubert. My lord, King John. Hadst thou but shook thy head or made a pause "When I spake darkly what I purposed, 1 He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled therewith. - Ecclus. xiii. 1. 2 When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them. — Joshua vii. 21. THE PERIL OF WICKED ASSOCIATION. Or turn'd an eye of doubt upon my face, As bid me tell my tale in express words, Deep shame had struck me dumb, made me break off, And didst in signs again parley with sin; Yea, without stop, didst let thy heart consent, The deed which both our tongues held vile to name. 103 King John, Act iv. Sc. 2, 1. 216. The love of wicked men converts to fear; That fear to hate, and hate turns one or both To worthy danger and deserved death. King Richard II., Act v. Sc. 1, 1. 66. Heaven has an end in all: yet, you that hear me, Where you are liberal of your loves and counsels Like water from ye,1 never found again But where they mean to sink ye. All good people, Farewell : 1 My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away. — Job vi. 15. And when you would say something that is sad, Speak how I fell. I have done; and God forgive me! Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see, Julius Cæsar, Act i. Sc. 2, l. 312. Peril of Opportunity. When I've made up my mind that I can't afford to buy a tempting dog, I take no notice of him, because if he took a strong fancy to me, and looked lovingly at me, the struggle between arithmetic and inclination might be-· come unpleasantly severe. I pique myself on my wisdom there. Parson Irwine, in Adam Bede. The close pursuer's busy hands do plant Snares in thy substance; snares attend thy want; Snares in thy sickness; snares in thy death. FRANCIS QUARLES, Emblems. Three reasons occur to me for thinking bodily sins more curable than mental ones. . . . Bodily sins must be connected with certain times and places. Consequently, by a new arrangement of hours, and by abstaining, so far as may be, from the places which have ministered opportunities to a bodily vice, a man may in some degree disable himself from committing Guesses at Truth. it. NRULY blasts wait on the tender spring; UNR Unwholesome weeds take root with precious flowers; The adder hisses where the sweet birds sing; What virtue breeds iniquity devours: |