IV.

F DRESS, &c.—A creature who spends its whole time in dressing, gaming, prating, and gadding, is a being originally indeed of the rational make, but who has sunk itself beneath its rank, and is to be considered at present as nearly on a level with the monkey species.-Constant.

V.

YMPATHY.-It is by this passion we enter into the concerns of others, that we are moved as they are moved, and are never suffered to be indifferent spectators of almost any thing which men can do or suffer; for sympathy must be considered as a sort of substitution, by which we are put into the place of another man, and affected in many respects as he is affected.—Burke.

VI.

ONVERSATIONS. -If you would trace the faults of conversation up to their original source, most of

them might, I believe, be resolved into this, that men would rather appear shining than be agreeable in com、 pany; they are endeavouring to raise admiration, instead of gaining love and good will; whereas the latter is in every body's power, the former in that of very few.

In company, it is our duty to adapt ourselves to the innocent humours and ways of thinking of those with whom we converse; and it is indelicate to obtrude our concerns upon them, or to give scope to any of those peculiarities of beha

viour that distinguish our own profession, or the small societies to which we are accustomed.

That conversation which promotes the innocent amusement of our friends, and so contributes to their health and happiness; or which, by expressing our benevolence towards them, cherishes that temper in us, and gives an example for the encouragement of it in others,-conversation of this character is not idle, because it is favourable to virtue and friendly to mankind.-Dr. Beattie.

VII.

HE JUDGMENT.-It is not in our power to judge as we will. The judgment is carried along necessarily by the evidence, real or seeming, which appears to us at the time. But in propositions that are submitted to our judgments there is this great difference,—some are of such a nature that a man of ripe understanding may apprehend them distinctly, and perfectly understand their meaning, without finding himself under any necessity of believing them to be true or false, probable or improbable. The judgment remains in suspense until it is inclined on one side or another by reasons or arguments.

But there are other propositions which are no sooner understood than they are believed. The judgment follows the apprehension of them necessarily, and both are equally the work of nature, and the result of our original powers. There is no searching for evidence, no weighing of arguments; the proposition is not reduced or inferred from another. It has the light of truth in itself, and has no occasion to borrow it elsewhere.-Reid.

VIII.

ROUND FOR TOLERANCE.- Whenever we cease to hate, to despise, and to persecute those who think

differently from ourselves, whenever we look on them calmly, we find among them men of pure hearts and unbiassed judgments, who, reasoning on the same data with ourselves, have arrived at different conclusions on the subject of the spiritual world.-Sismondi.

DVICE.

IX.

- In giving advice, we must consult the gentlest manner, and softest reasons of address; our advice must not fall, like a violent storm, bearing down, and making that to droop which it was meant to cherish and refresh; it must descend as the dew upon the tender herb, or like melting flakes of snow; the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon and the deeper it sinks into the mind.

If there are few who have the humility to receive advice as they ought, it is often because there are few who have the discretion to convey it in a proper vehicle, and to qualify the harshness and bitterness of reproof, against which nature is apt to revolt, by an artful mixture of sweetening and agreeable ingredients.-Anon.

X.

HE END AND USE of Knowledge.-Men have entered into a desire of learning and knowledge sometimes

upon a natural curiosity and inquisitive appetite; sometimes to entertain their minds with variety and delight; sometimes for ornament and reputation; sometimes to enable

them to obtain the victory of wit and contradiction, and sometimes for lucre and profession: but seldom sincerely to give a true account of their gift of reason for the benefit and use of man, as if there were sought in knowledge a couch whereupon to rest a searching and restless spirit, or a terrace for a wandering and variable mind to walk up and down with a fair prospect, or a tower of state for a proud mind to raise itself upon, or a fort or commanding ground for strife and contention, or a shop for profit and sale, and not a rich storehouse for the glory of the Creator and the relief of man's estate.-Bacon.

XI.

HE MIDDLE AND LOWER CLASSES.-The middle and lower ranks, too numerous to be bribed by a minister, and almost out of reach of court corruption, constitute the best bulwarks of liberty. They are a natural and most efficacious check on the strides of power. They ought, therefore, to know their consequence, and to preserve it with unshrinking vigilance. They have a stake, as it is called, a most important stake, in the country; let not the overgrown rich only pretend to have a stake in the country, and claim from it an exclusive privilege to regard its concerns. The middle ranks have their native freedom to preserve; their birthright to protect from the dangerous attacks of enormous and overbearing affluence. Inasmuch as liberty and security are more conducive to happiness than excessive riches, it must be allowed that the poor man's stake in the country is as great as the rich man's. If he should lose this stake, his poverty, which was consoled by the consciousness of his liberty and security, becomes an evil infinitely aggravated.

He has nothing left to defend him "from the oppressor's wrong, and the proud man's contumely." He may soon degenerate to a beast of burden; for the mind sinks with the slavery of the condition. But while a man feels that he is free, and fills a respectable rank, as a freeman in the community, he walks with upright port, conscious, even in rags, of comparative dignity.-Knox.

XII.

ow.-Now is the constant syllable ticking from the clock of time. Now is the watchword of the wise. Now is on the banner of the prudent. Let us keep this little word always in our minds, and whenever any thing presents itself to us in the shape of work, whether mental or physical, we should do it with all our might, remembering that Now is the only time for us-that Now is ours; that Then may never be.-Anon.

XIII.

OLITUDE.-Those beings only are fit for solitude who like nobody, are like nobody, and are liked by nobody.-Zimmermann.

M

XIV.

ORALITY OF ACTIONS.-The morality of an action depends upon the motive from which we act. If I

fling half-a-crown to a beggar with intention to

break his head, and he picks it up and buys victuals with it, the physical effect is good; but with respect to me the action is very wrong.-Johnson.