Composition. Never be in haste in writing. Let that thou utterest be of nature's flow, Not art's; a fountain's, not a pump's. But once About earth, lashing it day and night. And leave the stamp of thine own soul in it As thorough as the fossil flower in clay. The theme shall start and struggle in thy breast, Like to a spirit in its tomb at rising, Rending the stones, and crying, Resurrection !-Bailey. Conceit. Conceit is the most contemptible, and one of the most odious qualities in the world. It is vanity driven from all other shifts, and forced to appeal to itself for admiration. It is the extreme of selfishness and folly. An assumption which is to nature what paint is to beauty, not only needless, but a detriment to that which it is meant to improve.-Pope. Conduct. Be slow in choosing a friend, and slower to change him courteous to all; intimate with few; slight no man for his mean origin, nor esteem any for their wealth and greatness. Confidence. Trust him with little, who, without proof, trusts you with everything- -or when he has proved you, with nothing.Lavater. Is not always the growth of time. There are minds that meet each other with a species of affinity that resembles the adhesive properties of matter, and with a promptitude and faith that only belongs to the purer essence of which they are composed. Conscience. A good conscience is better than two witnesses-it will consume your grief as the sun dissolves ice. It is a spring when you are thirsty-a staff when you are weary—a screen when the sun burns you-a pillow in death. Men feast, men dance, men revel, but I come. But what though jollity and riot shout, My knock is heard, and let me in they must. Virgin Widow. The conscience is the most elastic material in the world. To-day you cannot stretch it over a molehill, to-morrow it hides a mountain. - Oh, poverty of earth, That men do deeds which win them evil names, And spurn the names, but not the deeds which win them. Content. I have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content.-St. Paul. Great is he who enjoys his earthenware as if it were plate; and not less great is the man to whom all his plate is no more than earthenware. Content not always waits upon success, And more may he enjoy who profits less.-Crabbe. Content converts everything near it to the highest perfection it is capable of. It irradiates every metal, and enriches lead with the properties of gold; it heightens smoke into flame, flame into light, and light into glory; a single ray of it dissipates pain and melancholy from the person on whom it falls. In short, its presence naturally changes every place into a kind of heaven.-Spectator. He that is uneasy merely because he hath not all he would, never will he easy till he grows wiser.-Secker. Thought reposing on a bed of roses. A contented mind and good conscience will make a man happy in all conditions :-"He knows not how to fear who dares to die." -Happy the man whose wish and care In his own ground. Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread, Blest, who can unconcernedly find Quiet by day. Sound sleep by night; study and ease, Thus let me live unseen, unknown; Steal from the world, and not a stone Tell where I lie.-Pope. The philosophy of life, and the principal ingredient in the cup of happiness; a commodity that is undervalued in consequence of the very low price it can be obtained for. Controversy. All controversies that can never end had better perhaps never begin. The best is to take words as they are most commonly spoken and meant, like coin as it most currently passes, without raising scruples upon the weight of the alloy, unless the cheat of the defect be gross and evident. Conversation. Conversation is the daughter of reasoning, the mother of knowledge, the breath of the soul, the commerce of hearts, the bond of friendship, the nourishment of content, and the occupation of men of wit. E I never, with important air, Can grave and formal pass for wise, Who listens to the chattering pye ? Kites, hawks, and wolves deserve their fate. Do not we just abhorrence find Against the toad and serpent kind? But envy, calumny, and spite, Can furnish hints to contemplation; And from the most minute and mean, A virtuous mind can morals glean.-Gay. Conversation should be pleasant without scurrility, witty without affectation, free without indecency, learned without conceitedness, novel without falsehood. - There are few occasions in life in which we are more called upon to watch ourselves narrowly, and to resist the assaults of various temptations, than in conversation.-H. More. The first ingredient in conversation is truth; the next, good sense; the third, good humour; and the fourth, wit.Sir W. Temple. - There must, in the first place, be knowledge-there must be materials; in the second place, there must be a command of words; in the third place, there must be imagination to place things in such views as they are not commonly seen in; and, in the fourth place, there must be a presence of mind, and a resolution that is not to be overcome by failures-this last is an essential requisite: for want of it, many people do not excel in conversation.-Dr. Johnson. Co-operation. No man ever prospered in the world without the co-operation of his wife. If she unites in mutual endeavours, or rewards his labours with an endearing smile, with what confidence will he resort to his merchandise or his farm, fly over lands, sail upon the seas, meet difficulty, encounter danger, if he knows he is not spending his strength in vain, but that his labour will be rewarded by the sweets of home! Solicitude and disappointment enter into the history of every man's life; and he is but half provided for his voyage who finds but an associate for happy hours; while, for his months of darkness and distress, no sympathizing partner is prepared. Cottages. The cottage homes of England! By thousands on her plains, They are smiling o'er her silvery brooks, As the birds beneath their eaves.-Hemans. Counsel. Ask counsel of both times-of the ancient time what is best, and of the latter time what is fittest.-Bacon. "Remember," said a Quaker to his son, "in making thy way in the world, a spoonful of oil will go further than a quart of vinegar." Countenance. It is the common wonder of all men, how among so many millions of faces, there should be few alike now, on the contrary, we wonder as much how there should be any. He who shall consider how many thousand different words have been carelessly, and without study, composed out of twentyfour letters; withal, how many hundred lines there are to be drawn in the fabric of one man-shall easily find that this |