736. Guilt of those who refuse to make any sacrifice for the Benefit of their Country.-What must be the guilt of those men, who can calmly contemplate the approach of anarchy or despotism, and rather choose to behold the ruin of their country, than resign the smallest pittance of private emolument and advantage! To reconcile the disaf fected, to remove discontents, to allay animosities, and open a prospect of increasing happiness and freedom, is yet in our power. But if a contrary course be taken, the sun of Great Britain is set for ever, her glory departed, and her history added to the catalogue of the mighty empires which exhibit the instability of all human grandeur, of empires which, after they rose by virtue to be the admiration of the world, sunk by corruption into obscurity and contempt. If anything shall then remain of her boasted constitution, it will display magnificence in disorder, majestic desolation, Babylon in ruins, where in the midst of broken arches and fallen columns, posterity will trace the monuments only of our ancient freedom!-Robert Hall.

737. Simplicity of Style.-Like simplicity of manner, it shows us a man's sentiments and turn of mind, laid open without disguise. More studied and artificial manners of writing, however beautiful, have always this disadvantage, that they exhibit an author, in form, like a man at court, where the splendour of dress, and ceremonial of behaviour, conceal those peculiarities which distinguish one man from another. But reading an author of simplicity, is like conversing with a person of distinction, at home, and with ease, where we find natural manners and a marked character.-Blair.

738. Religious Persecution is the bane of all religion; and the friends of persecution are the worst enemies religion has; and of all persecutions, that of calumny is the most intolerable. Any other kind of persecution can affect our outward circumstances only, our properties, our lives,; but this may affect our characters for ever.—Hazlitt.

739. A Golden Rule.-In reflections on the absent, go no farther than you would go if they were present. "I resolve," says Bishop Beveridge, never to speak of a man's virtues before his face, nor of his faults behind his back." A golden rule, the observation of which, would at one stroke banish from the earth flattery and defamation. Olla Podrida.

740. Moderation.

Man's rich with little, were his judgment true;
Nature is frugal, and her wants are few:
Those few wants answer'd, brings sincere delights;
But fools create themselves new appetites.-Young.

741. Standing Armies and Long Parliaments.—I had in those days (alluding to the period in which he was employed by the Earl of Oxford) a moral antipathy against standing armies in time of peace, because I always took standing armies to be only servants hired by the master of the family, for keeping his own children in slavery. As to Parliament, I adored the wisdom of that Gothic Institution which made them annual, and I was confident our liberty could never be placed on a firm foundation until that ancient law was restored among us. For, who sees not that while such assemblies are permitted to have a longer duration, there grows up a commerce of corruption between the ministry and the deputies, wherein they both find their accounts, to the manifest danger of liberty, which traffic would neither answer the design nor expense, if parliament met once a year. I could never discover the necessity of suspending any law upon which the liberty of the most innocent persons depended; neither do I think that this practice hath made the taste of arbitrary power so agreeable as that we should desire to see it repeated.—Swift.

442. Self Love is the love of self, and of every thing for the sake of self. When fortune gives the means, Self-love makes men idolize themselves, and tyrannize over others. It never rests or fixes anywhere from home. If it settle on external things, it is only as the bee doth on flowers, to extract what may be serviceable. Nothing is so impetuous as its desires; nothing so secret as its designs; nothing so artful as its conduct. Its suppleness is inexpressible; its metamorphoses surpass those of Ovid, and its refinements those of chemistry. We can neither fathom the depth, nor penetrate the obscurity of its abyss. There, concealed from the most piercing eye, it makes numberless turnings and windings; there is it often invisible even to itself; there it conceives, breeds, and cherishes, without being sensible of it, an infinity of different inclinations; some of which are so monstrous, that it either knows them not when brought forth, or cannot prevail on itself to own them. From the gross darkness that envelopes it, springs the ridiculous notion entertained of itself: thence its errors, ignorance, and silly mistakes. Thence it imagines those sensations dead, which are but asleep, sits down quietly, when only taking breath for a new chase; and thinks that it has lost all appetite, because for the present it is rather sated. But the thick mist which hides it from itself, hinders it not from seeing perfectly whatever is without; and thus resembles the eye, that sees all things except itself. In great concerns and important affairs, where the violence of desire summoneth the whole attention, it sees, perceives, understands, invents, suspects, penetrates, and divines all things; one would be tempted to believe that each passion had its respective magic. No cement is so close and strong as its attachments; which in vain it attempts to break or dissolve even upon impending misery. Yet, sometimes, what could not be accom

plished with the cruelest efforts for years, is effected without trouble. Whence we conclude, that by itself are its desires inflamed, rather than by the beauty and merit of the objects; that its own taste heightens and embellishes them; that itself is the game it pursues; and its own inclination what is followed, rather than the things which seem to be the objects of inclination. Composed of contrarieties, it is imperious and obedient, sincere and hypocritical, merciful and cruel, timid and bold. Its inclinations, according to the different tempers that possess and devote it—sometimes to glory, sometimes to wealth, sometimes to pleasure. These are changed as age and experience alter and whether it has many inclinations, or only one, is a matter of indifference; because it can split itself into many, or collect itself into one, just as is convenient or agreeable. It is inconstant; and numberless are the changes, besides those that happen from external causes, which proceed from self. Inconstant through levity, through love, through novelty, through satiety, through disgust, through inconstancy itself. Capricious; and sometimes labouring with eagerness and incredible pains to obtain things that are no ways advantageous, nay, even hurtful; but which are pursued merely as a present affection. Whimsical, and often exerting intense application, in employments the most trifling; taking delight in the most insipid, and preserving all its haughtiness in the most contemptible. Attendant on all ages and conditions; living every where; living on every thing; living on nothing. Easy either in the enjoyment, or the privation, of things; going over to those who are at variance with it; even entering into their schemes: and, wonderful! joining with them, hates itself; conspires its own destruction; labours to be undone; desires only to exist; and, that granted, consents to be its own enemy. We are not therefore to be surprised if sometimes closing with the most rigid austerity, it enters boldly into a combination against itself; because what is lost in one respect is gained in another. When we think it relinquishes pleasares, it only suspends or changes them; and even when discomfited, and we seem to be rid of it, we find it triumphant in its own defeat. Such is self-love! of which man's life is only a strong, a continued agitation. The sea is its representative; in the flux and reflux of whose waves self-love may find a lively expression of the turbulent succession of its thoughts, and of its eternal motion.-Rochefoucault.

443. Thinking Justly.-If we only think justly, we shall always easily foil all the advocates of tyranny.-Hazlitt.

744. The World would be more happy, if persons gave up more time to an intercourse of friendship. But money engrosses all our deference; and we scarce enjoy a social hour, because we think it unjustly stolen from the main business of life.-Shenstone.

745. Invective and Personalities in Parliament.—The invective, and the ridicule, and retort, and personality, which are frequently indulged within the walls of a Parliament, and from which much amusement appears to be derived to the members and to the public, imply a sufficient degree of forgetfulness of the purpose for which Parliaments meet. A spectator might sometimes imagine that the object of the assembly was to witness exhibitions of intellectual gladiators, rather than to debate respecting the welfare of a great nation. Nor can it be supposed that if this welfare were sufficiently, that is to say, constantly dominant in the recollection, there would be so much solicitude to expose individual weaknesses and absurdity, or to obtain personal triumph.

Dymond's Essays.

746. A Hint to Critics.-To those critics who are prompt to decide upon philosophical truths, upon which their previous pursuits and studies do not render them competent to pronounce a sound judgment, I recommend the perusal of the article in the British Critic, October, 1808, upon "An Heroic Epistle to Mr. Winsor, the Patentee of the Hydro-carbonic Gas Lights," commencing thus: "We hail this effusion as one of the happiest, most pointed, and most witty pieces of . satire on a temporary delusion, which has appeared since the days of Swift. The individual to whom it is addressed, the subject which has engaged his attention, the curiosity of the public towards him, and their repeated disappointments, are all matters of sufficient notoriety." If the critic is still living, it is to be hoped that he is improved in modesty.-Reproof of Brutus.

747. Reasons why Wages do not Rise.-Upon general principles, the great superiority in the efficacy of British labour, aided, as it is, by better machinery, cheaper fuel, and cheaper carriage, should give an extensive margin, enabling the operatives of England to obtain a considerable increase of wages above those of their continental brethren, without depriving the British manufacturer of his superiority in the foreign market, or exposing him to the danger of foreign competition. But we find, by the evidence given before the Committee of the Session of 1833, that the British manufacturer is already standing upon that extreme and dangerous verge, beyond which his foreign rival can encounter him upon equal terms; and that an increase of wages, relatively to the wages obtained upon the continent, would depirve him of his footing in the foreign market. What then is the counteracting circumstance which takes from the operative classes of England the power of obtaining an increase of wages, within the limits of the great superiority in the efficacy of their labour arising from the extraordinary advantages, natural and acquired, which they possess? This counteracting circumstance is the high price of food; and the cause of the high price of food, is the existing Corn Laws. A very brief illustration will

be sufficient to demonstrate, that while the price of corn in England remains nearly twice as high as upon the continent, it is morally impossible for the English operative to obtain either an increase of wages, or a diminution in the hours of his toil.-Colonel Torrens.

748. Changes Necessary to Perfection. Perfection is immutable. But for things imperfect, change is the way to perfect them. It gets the name of wilfulness when it will not admit of a lawful change to the better. Therefore, constancy without knowledge cannot be always good. In things ill, it is not virtue, but an absolute vice.-Feltham.

749. Prudence. Of all the qualities of the mind, prudence is the most useful. It is the virtue of civilized nations. What is prudence? It is

"A sly slow thing with circumspective eyes."

It takes a full view of the ground and advances with caution. It subdues all violent emotions, of whatever nature they may be. It forms no friendships but profitable ones; and these are preserved no longer than they continue so. It studies the character of its neighbour: it marks his dispositions, propensities and passions; and avails itself of every advantage that may be drawn from knowledge thus acquired. It hurries its friend into a paroxysm of rage, and deliberately notes down every extravagance of the moment. It then soothes the irritated passions of its openhearted dupe, and reaps the full harvest of his returning kindness. It worms itself into the confidence of the unsuspecting, and waits the proper moment to betray it. In fine its constant business is to mark out the defects of others, and coolly take advantage of every weakness. It digs a pit for the stranger, and lays a stumbling block before the blind. O for "a hundred tongues, and a voice of iron," that we might curse thee Prudence.—The Savage.

750. Truth, like medicine, must be qualified for the weak and infantine.-Zimmerman.

751. Past and Present. -My Lord Bacon compares times to ways, some more plain and easy to pass; others more rugged and more hard. The former is better for him who lives in them. The latter is better for the reader, not only in the pleasure of reading the variety of accidents in them; but because, in their contests, fine notions arise, which, otherwise, might have been concealed, and which may be beneficial to the readers in succeeding times. Also, in shewing the causes of these distempers, succeeding generations may be admonished to prevent them. Roger Coke.

452. Taste is pursued at a less expense than fashion.—Shenstone.