1044. Princes are only men.-There is no more inward value in the greatest emperor, than in the meanest of his subjects. His body is composed of the same substance, the same parts, and with the same or greater infirmities: His education is generally worse, by flattery, idleness, and luxury, and those evil dispositions that early power is apt to give. It is therefore against common sense, that his private personal interest, or pleasure, should be put in the balance, with the safety of millions, every one of which is his equal by nature.-Swift.

1045. Rich and Poor.

Ah little think the gay licentious proud,

Whom pleasure, power, and affluence surround;
They who their thoughtless hours in giddy mirth,
And wanton, often cruel riot waste;

Ah little think they, how many feel, this very
moment, death,

And all the sad variety of pain:

How many pine in want, and dungeon glooms,
Shut from the common air, and common use
Of their own limbs: how many drink the cup
Of baleful grief, or eat the bitter bread
Of misery; sore pierc'd by wintry winds,
How many shrink into the sordid hut
Of cheerless poverty :-Thought fond man
Of these-

The conscious heart of charity would warm,
And her wide wish benevolence dilate;
The social tear would rise, the social sigh;
And into clear perfection, gradual bliss,
Refining still, the social passions work.

Thomson's Seasons-Winter.

1046. No Effort Fruitless. My firm belief in the moral government of the world will not suffer me to think that any good effort is ever entirely lost, or that any strenuous and honest endeavour to improve the condition of man is ultimately made in vain. One effort may seem insulated and inefficacious, one endeavour may appear steril and fruitless, but many make an aggregate that is always sooner or later productive of a corresponding benefit. The moral and physical world will furnish abundant evidence of this cheering and salutary truth.-Rev. R. Fellowes.

1047. Tragedies.-The pleasure arising from an extraordinary agitation of the mind, is frequently so great as to stifle humanity: hence arises the entertainment of the common people at executions, and of the better sort at tragedies.-Abbe du Bois.

1048. The Conduct of the Understanding in the ordinary course of human Actions.-IF we consider the ordinary course of human actions, we shall find that the mind restrains not itself by any general and universal rules; but acts on most occasions as it is determined by its present motives and inclinations, As each action is a particular individual event, it must proceed from particular principles, and from one immediate situation with. in ourselves, and with respect to the rest of the universe. If, on some occasions, we extend our motives beyond those very circumstances which gave rise to them, and from something like general rules for our conduct, it is easy to observe, that these rules are not inflexible, but allow of many exceptions. Were men, therefore, to take the liberty of acting with regard to the laws of society, and its essential duties, as they do in every other affair, they would conduct themselves, on most occasions by particular judgments, and would take into consideration the character and circumstances of the persons, as well as the general nature of the question. Whence is it that some men far surpass others in understanding?

1. One man has a better memory than another, and can apply his attention better; which leads him to reason better, from what he has read and learnt.

2. One man in complicated causes, is better able to comprehend the whole system of objects than another, and, of course, can infer more justly their consequences.

3. One man is able to carry on a chain of consequences to a greater length than another.

4. Few men can think long, without running into a confusion of ideas, and mistaking one thing for another; and there are various degrees of this infirmity.

5. The circumstance on which the effect depends is frequently involved in other circumstances, which are foreign and extrinsic; the separation of it often requires attention, accuracy and subtlety.

6. Forming of general maxims from particular observation, is a very nice operation, and nothing is more common, from haste and narrowness of mind, than to commit mistakes in this particular.

7. In reasoning from analogy, he who has the greatest experience, or the greatest promptitude of suggesting analogies, will be the better reasoner.

8. Biasses from prejudice, education, passion, party, &c., hang more on one mind than another. After we have acquired a confidence in human testimony, books and conversation enlarge more the sphere of one man's experience and thought, than those of another.

It would be easy to discover many other circumstances that make a difference in the understandings of men.- -Hume.

1049. Injury.--An injury unanswered in course grows weary of itself, and dies away in a voluntary remorse.

In bad dispositions, capable of no restraint but fear, it has a different effect the silent digestion of one wrong provokes a second.

Sterne's Sermons.

1050 On Government.

All power being originally inherent in, and consequently derived from, the people, therefore all officers of government, whether legislative or executive are their trustees and servants, and at all times accountable to them.

Government is, or ought to be instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation, or community, and not for the particular emolument or advantage of any single man, family or set of men, who are part only of that community.

1052.

Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights.

1051. The World.

Ah world unknown! how charming is thy view
Thy pleasures many and each pleasure new.
Ah world experienced! what of thee is told---
How few thy pleasures, and those few how old!

Crabbe's Tales.

Wise Men and Fools.-Wise men do foolish things it is true, but it is because they are men, and it is the nature of man to be imperfect. But this is not all; an error in a man of understanding is magnified into an egregious folly, while a fool, from whom nothing is expected, excites no wonder though he commit every moment follies of the greatest magnity. Again, sensible men, to their honour, attempt more than fools, and thereby expose themselves to the commission of follies which fools, for want of capacity, cannot be liable to. Thus fools, instead of exposing, ought to venerate the very follies of sensible men. But there will be eternally this difference, that while men of sense pity fools, fools must envy men of sense. The By-Stander.

1053. Duty of Old Age.-A material part of the duty of the aged consists in studying to be useful to the race who succeeds them. Here opens to them an extensive field, in which they may so employ themselves as considerably to advance the happiness of mankind. To them it belongs to impart to the young the fruit of their long experience; to instruct them in the proper conduct, and to warn them of the various dangers of life; by wise counsel to temper their precipitate ardour, and both by precept and example to form them to piety and virtue.

Aged wisdom, when joined with acknowledged virtue, exerts an authority over the human mind, greater even than that which arises from power and station. It can check the most forward, abash the most profligate, and strike with awe the most giddy and unthinking.—Dr. Blair.

1054. Virtue. If we take a general view of the world, we shall find that a great deal of virtue, at least outward appearance of it, is not so much from any fixed principle as the terror of what the world will say, and the liberty it will take upon the occasions we shall give it.-Sterne.

1055. Downing Street.—There is a fascination of the very air of that little cul de sae--an hour's inhalation of its atmosphere affects some men with giddiness-others with blindness-and very frequently with the most oblivious forgetfulness.—A residence in it for half a year will convert the most violent reformer into the most immovable vindicator of public abuses: change a republican into a satrap; set a philanthropist flogging soldiers; convert the reviler of courtly honors into a knight of the garter; change a public demagogue into an imposer of taxes, and metamorphose the yelling denouncer of a profligate government into the holder of numberless sinecures and the dispenser of unaccountable pluralities.

Theodore Hook.--Love and Pride.

1056. Of Savages.-Nations which depend on hunting are in a great measure strangers to the idea of property. Where the labor or danger of the chase requires the united efforts of a Tribe, what is killed is common stock belonging equally to all who have by their skill or courage contributed to the success of the excursion. No individual arrogates a right to any hunting district in preference to his fellow-citizens. They belong alike to all, and even agriculture has not introduced among them a complete idea of property. As the men hunt, the women labor together, and after they have shared the toils of the seed time, they enjoy the harvest in common. Among others though they lay up separate stores, they do not acquire such an exclusive right of property, that they can enjoy superfluity, whilst those around them suffer want. Thus the distinctions arising from inequality of possessions are unknown. The terms Rich and Poor enter not into their language. People in this state retain a high sense of equality and independence. Wherever the idea of property is not established there can be no distinctions, but what arises from personal qualities. These can be conspicuous only on such occasions as call them forth into exertion. In times of danger, or in affairs of intricacy, the wisdom and experience of age is consulted, and prescribe the measures which ought to be pursued. When a tribe of savages take the field against the enemies of their country, the warrior of most approved courage leads the youth to the combat. If they go forth in a body to the chase the most expert hunter directs their motions. But during seasons of tranquillity all pre-eminence ceases. Every circumstance indicates that the members of the community are on a level. They are clothed in the same simple garb, they feed on the same simple fare. Their houses and furniture are exactly similar. No distinctions can arise from inequality of possessions. Whatever forms dependence on one part, or constitutes superiority on the other, is unknown. All are free-men, all feel themselves to be such and assert with firmness the rights which belong to that condition. This sentiment of independence is imprinted so deeply in their nature, that no change of condition can eradicate it, and bend their minds to servitude.

Many of the Americans when they found that they were treated as slaves by the Spaniards, died of grief, and many destroyed themselves in despair. Robertson's History of America.

1057. Politeness. To say the truth, the world is filled with cheats, who, however, were not born but are become so. Nature intended we should act openly, and shew ourselves such as we are. Experience has shewn that this is inconvenient, and that to mix with the world our inclinations must be moderated and regulated. This has taught men wariness and dissimulation. This is a state of violence and slavery to which a good mind accustoms itself with pain. Habit cannot destroy nature, and he who succeeds best in acquired politeness, can never be guarded against but by those who have learnt the same dissimulation, and the same unfeeling courage to use it. The By-Stander.

1058. Of Talkers.-Nothing is more generally exploded than the folly of talking to much; yet I rarely remember to have seen five people together, where some one among them has not been predominant in that kind, to the great constraint and disgust of all the rest. But among such as deal in multitudes of words, none are comparable to the sober deliberate talker, who proceeds with much thought and caution, makes his preface, branches out into several digressions, finds a hint that puts him in mind of another story, which he promises to tell you when this is done; comes back regularly to his subject, cannot readily call to mind some person's name, holding his head, complains of his memory: the whole company all this while is in suspense; at length, he says it is no matter, and so goes on. And, to crown the business, it perhaps proves at last a story the company has heard fifty times before; or, at best, some insipid adventure of the relater.—Swift.

1059. Our Good Qualities.—It is generally admitted and very frequently proved, that virtue and genius and all the natural good qualities which men possess, are derived from their mothers.-Theodore Hook.

1060. Objects of themselves have no Value.-Objects have absolutely no worth or value in themselves. They derive their worth merely from the passion. If that be strong, and steady, and successful, the person is happy. It cannot reasonably be doubted, but a little miss, dressed in a new gown for a dancing-school ball, receives as complete enjoyment as the greatest orator, who triumphs in the splendour of his eloquence, while he governs the passions and resolutions of a numerous assembly.-Hume.

1061. The Perpetuity of the Human Race.-How finely hes Burke described our perpetuity as a whole with our fleeting and perishable state as individuals. "Such" says he "is the mode of existence decreed to a permanent body composed of transitory parts; wherein, by the disposition of a stupendous wisdom, moulding together the great mysterious incorporation of the human race, the whole at one time is never old, or middleaged or young; but in a condition of unchangeable constancy, moves on through the varied tenor of perpetual decay, fall, renovation and progression."