the aspect that indicates good affections. Every indication of candor, gentleness, and benignity, is a beauty; on the contrary, every feature, or aspect of countenance, that indicates pride, envy, or malignity, is a deformity. Nor does it need proof that in frequent instances, the face becomes at length the index of the passions which one habitually harbors, whether they be of the benevolent or the malignant kind.

One remark more, and no trifling one; there scarcely can be a more attractive feature in the character of a woman, than her veiling, or treating with a sisterly candor, those petty blemishes in her female acquaintance, from which she is happily exempt herself.

NUMBER LXXVI

OF ENJOYING INDEPENDENCE AS TO WORLDLY CIRCUMSTANCES WITHOUT POSSESSING WEALTH.

INDEPENDENCE in regard to worldly condition, is an object of rational desire and laudable pursuit. But the word, Independence, must here be understood in a qualified and very limited sense. Strictly speaking, no man living is independent. For not. to mention, that all depend alike on Him in whom we live and have our being; there is amongst mankind a mutual dependence, from the lowest even up to the highest point in the scale of society so that the rich man needs his poor but industrious neighbors well nigh as much as they need him. Should they refuse to sell him their labor, he would be fain to drudge for himself, notwithstanding the vastness of his wealth. This mutual dependence is a salutary restraint both upon the rich and the poor; it curbs the pride of the one, and the envy of the other; and even tends to link them together in mutual amity.

Moreover, that independence of circumstances, which should be made the object of general desire and pursuit, does in no wise

imply large possessions. So far otherwise, one possessed of but barely competent means of support, provided he lives within his means, is hardly less independent than if he were in the enjoyment of a fortune. Does the possessor of an ample fortune enjoy personal independence? So also does the possessor of a small farm, which furnishes him with only the necessaries of life: and so also does the useful laborer, whose labor affords a supply to his real wants. But if the small farmer must needs be a man of fashion or pleasure, he loses his farm, and withal his independence. Or if the laborer neglects his calling, or spends faster than he earns, his independence is quickly gone. Nay, even though the laborer should support himself independently throughout all the days of his health and vigor, yet, assuredly, he must fall into a condition of dependence at last, unless he have the foresight and prudence to lay up some part of his earnings against the seasons of sickness and old age.

"Our views in life," says the celebrated British Junius, "should be directed to a solid, however moderate independence; for without it no man can be happy, nor even honest.'

This sentiment has in it, however, as I humbly conceive, some mixture of error. Virtuousness of disposition depends not upon exterior circumstances. In the deepest shades of poverty, and even in situations of abject dependence, there are persons not only very honest but very pious, and who are happy in the daily enjoyment of the banquet of contentment. There are those, and not a few, in almost every part of the Christianized world, of whom the following lines, in a Scotch ballad, are no less descriptive, than of the happy old couple, in whose mouths. they are put.

"We have lived all our lifetime contented,

Since the day we became first acquainted;
True, we've been but poor,

And we are so to this hour,

Yet we never repin'd nor lamented."

Nevertheless, our views in life should be d rected to a solid, however moderate independence. It is as much our duty as our interest, to employ diligent and prudent endeavors to escape poverty and want; to provide " things honest" for ourselves and our families; to lay up against seasons of sickness and the decay of age; and even to strive hard to put ourselves in a condition, in which we can be rather the dispensers than the receivers of charity. Utter negligence in these matters, so far from evincing nobleness of spirit, is, for the most part, dishonorable and mean, and commonly terminates in abjectness both of circumstances and of mind. The loss or destitution of personal independence or the condition of beggarly want, has no little aptness and likelihood to occasion the loss of integrity and of all moral principle. It was when Esau came from the field, at the point to die of famishment, that he sold his birthright.

It would be impossible to tell what precise quantity of worldly estate is just sufficient, and no more than sufficient; since it would depend upon a variety of circumstances growing out of the particular state of society, and on a number of other items which could not be calculated with precision. The best rule is, to rest satisfied with the appointment which Providence makes, and, having food and raiment, therewith to be content.

The middle state of life has been thought, by the wise, to afford the best means both for the enjoyment of comfort and for the

practice of virtue. Under this impression, a pious sage of old made the following petition to heaven: "Give me neither poverty nor riches." I know of none among the moderns, however much they may differ in points of religion or of politics, who have any objection to the first clause of this prayer of Agur; but in this money-loving age, it is questionable whether many can be found, either male or female, who pray heartily that riches may not fall to their lot, or who would run with all their might to escape from a shower of gold that should threaten to fall into their laps. It is however certain, that riches and poverty are two extremes, each encompassed with peculiar evils; and without saying what none will believe, that extreme riches are as much to be dreaded as extreme poverty, I would wish to impress this useful truth, that people in middling circumstances, if they would only think so themselves, have enough; and have reason to be thankful for their lot, rather than to repine at it.

Sir William Jones, alike eminent for genius, learning, and Christian philosophy, wrote his own epitaph, which begins with these expressions:-"Here was deposited the mortal part of a man who feared God, but not death, and maintained independence but sought not riches."

If any worldly happiness is enviable, it is that of such a mind. They only are truly rich, who are sensible they have enough, and have no disquieting desires after more; a happy condition, which does not necessarily imply large possessions, nor is often the consequence of them.