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The first may be forgotten,

Be discreet in your discourse,

represented, as convey distinct religious, moral, or
practical lessons, valuable and important in them-
selves, and within the comprehension of the youthful
readers for whom they are intended. A wide range
of subjects has been selected, and occasionally the
same matters are treated by two or more authors.
The experiences narrated or conclusions arrived at,
in several cases, do not correspond; but it is, never-
theless, interesting and important to observe in what
varied aspects the same subject may be viewed by
different writers, while their several deductions may
be equally valuable.

The wise, terse, and pithy proverbial PRECEPTS
FOR PRACTICE which encompass each page contain
many valuable lessons, which, from their brevity and
conciseness of expression, readily commend them-
selves, and can be easily committed to memory,
where they may be retained as moral ammunition
for service in every department of future life.

The BOOK OF GOOD DEVICES is offered to all who interest themselves in the welfare of youth, and who desire, by means of counsel and advice, to

But more in your actions:

The latter endure for ever.

A wise man's heart is at his right hand;

Let your example be the Son of man.

protect them from the many snares and temptations
which beset them on their entrance to, and in their
progress through life, more especially those in large
towns and great cities.

In the words of Dr. Mather, who has been already
referred to, the Editor commends the BOOK OF GOOD
DEVICES to all concerned, as "full of reasonable and

serviceable things; and it would be well for us if such
things were regarded."

The Editor of "THE BOOK OF GOOD DEVICES" desires to thank SAMUEL SMILES, Esq., for permission, readily granted, to make use of passages from his admirable and valuable books for youth, "Character" and "SelfHelp;" and Messrs. STRAHAN and Co., for the like favour from Principal TULLOCH'S "Beginning Life."

NOTE.-The First Edition of this Work was published under the title of "The Book of Good Devices."

See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh.

But a fool's is at his left.

Mercy and truth shall be to them

A good maxim

My son, if thou wilt receive my words,
And hide my commandments with thee;

So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom
And apply thine heart to understanding ;
Bea, if thou criest after knowledge,
And liftest up thy voice for understanding;

If thou seckest her as silver,

And searchest for her as for hid treasures;

Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord,
And find the knowledge of God.

Is never out of season.

That devise good.

Hear the instruction of thy father.

A wise son maketh a glad father:

THE

BOOK OF GOOD

DEVICES.

SIR HENRY SIDNEY TO HIS SON.

ET your first action be the lifting up of your mind to Almighty God, by hearty prayer, and feelingly digest the words you speak in prayer, with continual meditation, and thinking of Him to whom you pray, and of the matter for which you pray. And use this as an ordinary, and at an ordinary hour; whereby the time itself will put you in remembrance to do that which you are accustomed to do. In that time apply your study to such hours as your discreet master doth assign you, earnestly; and the time he will so limit, as shall be both sufficient for your learning and safe for your health. And mark the sense and the matter of that you read, as well as the words. So shall you both enrich your tongue with words, and your wit with matter; and judgment will grow as your years

But a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.

Forsake not the law of thy mother.

If sinners entice thee, consent thou not.

Be temperate in all things.

groweth with you.

Be humble and obedient to

your master, for unless you frame yourself to obey
others, yea, and feel in yourself what obedience is,
you shall never be able to teach others how to obey
you.

Be courteous of gesture, and affable to all men,
with diversity of reverence, according to the dignity
of the person. There is nothing that winneth so much
with so little cost. Use moderate diet, so that
after your meat you may find your wit fresher, and
not duller, and your body more lively, and not more
heavy. Seldom drink wine, and yet sometimes do,
lest being enforced to drink upon the sudden, you
should find yourself inflamed. Use exercise of body,
but such as is without peril of your joints or bones.
It will increase your force and enlarge your breath.
Delight to be cleanly, as well in all parts of your
body, as in your garments. It shall make you
grateful in each company, and otherwise loathsome.
Give yourself to be merry, for you degenerate from
your father if you find not yourself most able in wit
and body to do anything, when you be most merry:
but let your mirth be ever void of all scurrility, and
biting words to any man; for a wound given by a
word is oftentimes harder to be cured than that which
is given with the sword. Be you rather a hearer and
bearer away of other men's talk, than a beginner or
procurer of speech, otherwise you shall be counted to

A blustering man is a coward.

Incline thine ear unto wisdom.

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