CCCLI.

Longevity ought to be highly valued by men of piety and parts, as it will enable them to be much more useful to mankind, and especially to their own country. As to others it is no great matter, since they are a disgrace to mankind, and their death is rather a service to the public. -Cornaro.

CCCLII.

Let us begin with the great man by break of day: for by that time he is besieged by two or three hundred suitors; and the hall and antechambers (all the outworks) possessed by the enemy: as soon as his chamber opens, they are ready to break into that, or to corrupt the guards, for entrance. This is so essential a part of greatness, that whosoever is without it, looks like a fallen favourite, like a person disgraced, and condemned to do what he pleases all the morning. There are some who, rather than want this, are contented to have their rooms filled up every day with murmuring and cursing creditors, and to charge bravely through a body of them to get to their coach.Cowley.

CCCLIII.

Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry all easy, and he that riseth late must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night; while laziness travels so slowly, that poverty soon overtakes him.-Franklin.

CCCLIV.

To be deprived of the person we love, is a happiness in comparison of living with one we hate.—Bruyere.

Worthy friends,

CCCLV.

You that can keep your memories to know
Your friends in miseries, and cannot frown
On men disgrac'd in virtue.

Pleasure is a necessary reciprocal no one feels, who does not at the same time give it. To be pleased, one

must please. What pleases you in others, will in general please them in you.-Chesterfield.

CCCLVII.

Your hearts make ladders of your eyes,

In show to climb to heaven, when your devotion
Walks upon crutches.

CCCLVIII.

Would you taste the tranquil scene?

Be sure your bosoms be serene:
Devoid of hate, devoid of strife,
Devoid of all that poisons life;

And much it 'vails you, in their place
To graft the love of human race.

CCCLIX.

Massinger.

Shenstone.

A leap into the sea, or into any creek of salt waters, very often gives a new motion to the spirits, and a new turn to the blood; for which reason we prescribe it in distempers which no other medicine will reach.-Addison.

CCCLX.

There is nothing sooner overthrows a weak head, than opinion of authority; like too strong a liquor for a frail glass.-Sir P. Sidney.

CCCLXI.

Ye glittering towns, with wealth and splendour crown'd;
Ye fields, where summer spreads profusion round;
Ye lakes, whose vessels catch the busy gale;
Ye bending swains that dress the flowery vale:
For me your tributary stores combine :

Creation's heir, the world, the world is mine.

CCCLXII.

Goldsmith.

Though sinking in decrepit age, he prematurely falls, whose memory records no benefit conferred on him by man. They only have lived long, who have lived virtuously.-Sheridan.

CCCLXIII.

Among the writers of all ages, some deserve fame, and have it; others neither have nor deserve it; some have it, not deserving; others, though deserving, yet totally miss it, or have it not equal to their deserts.--Milton.

CCCLXIV.

To think well of every other man's condition, and to di like our own, is one of the misfortunes of human

nature:

"Pleas'd with each other's lot, our own we hate."

CCCLXV.

Burton.

There is something in the deportment of all our players infinitely more stiff and formal than among the actors of other nations. Their action sits uneasy upon them; for as the English use very little gesture in ordinary conversation, our English-bred actors are obliged to supply stage gestures by their imagination alone. A French comedian finds proper models of action in every company and in every coffee-house he enters. An Englishman is obliged to take his models from the stage itself; he is obliged to imitate nature from an imitation of nature. I know of no set of men more likely to be improved by travelling than those of the theatrical profession. The inhabitants of the continent are less reserved than here; they may be seen through upon a first acquaintance; such are the proper models to draw from; they are at once striking, and are found in great abundance.-Goldsmith.

CCCLXVI.

Endymion. If it be love

To lose the memory of all things else,
To forget all respect of his own friends,
In thinking of your face; if it be love
To sit cross-arm'd, and sigh away the day,

Mingled with starts, crying your name as loud
And hastily as men i' the streets do fire:
If it be love to weep himself away,
When he but hears of any lady dead,

Or kill'd, because it might have been your chance;
If when he goes to rest, (which will not be)
'Twixt ev'ry prayer he says, to name you once,
As others drop a bead, be any sign

Of love, then madam, I dare swear he loves you.
Araminta. O y' are a cunning boy, and taught to lie
For your lord's service: but thou know'st a lie
That bears this sound, is welcomer to me,

Than any truth that says he loves me not.

The Restoration—Buckingham.

CCCLXVII.

A man who owes a little, can clear it off in a very little time, and, if he is a prudent man, will; whereas a man, who, by long negligence, owes a great deal, despairs of ever being able to pay: and therefore never looks into his accounts at all.-Chesterfield.

CCCLXVIII.

What maintains one vice, would bring up two chil dren. You may think that a little tea, or a little punch now and then, diet a little more costly, clothes perhaps a little finer, and a little entertainment now and then, can be no matter: but remember, many a little makes a meikle; and farther, beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.-Franklin.

CCCLXIX.

The love of variety, or curiosity of seeing new things, which is the same, or at least a sister passion to it-seems wove into the frame of every son and daughter of Adam ; we usually speak of it as one of nature's levities, though planted within us for the solid purposes of carrying forwards the mind to fresh inquiry and knowledge: strip us of it, the mind (I fear) would doze for ever over the pre

friend, rather than the indiscretion of the person who confided in him.-Addison.

CCCLXXVIII.

Ambition, that high and glorious passion which makes such havoc among the sons of men, arises from a proud desire of honour and distinction; and when the splendid trappings in which it is usually caparisoned are removed, will be found to consist of the mean materials of envy, pride, and covetousness. It is described by different authors, as a gallant madness, a pleasant poison, a hidden plague, a secret poison, a caustic of the soul, the moth of holiness, the mother of hypocrisy, and, by crucifying and disquieting all it takes hold of, the cause of melancholy and madness.-Burton.

CCCLXXIX.

Mishapen time, copesmate of ugly night;
Swift subtle post, carrier of grisly care;
Eater of youth, false slave to false delight,

Base watch of woes, sin's pack-horse, virtue's snare:
Thou nursest all, and murderest all that are.

CCCLXXX.

Shakspeare.

People of quality are fine things, indeed, if they had but a little more money; but for want of that, they are (often) forced to do things they are ashamed of.-The Confederacy-Vanbrugh.

CCCLXXXI.

Mankind are all hunters in various degree;
The priest hunts a living-the lawyer a fee,
The doctor a patient-the courtier a place,
Though often, like us, he's flung out in the chase.

The cit hunts a plum-while the soldier hunts fame,
The poet a dinner-the patriot a name;

And the practis'd coquette, though she seems to refuse, In spite of her airs, still her lover pursues.

From a Hunting Song-by Paul Whitehead.