GRIEF AND REMORSE, 476. closely allied to sorrow and remorse; or a painful remembrance of criminal a ctions and pursuits; casts down the counten a n ce, clouds it with anxiety; hangs down the head, shakes it with regret, just raises the eyes as if to look up, and suddenly casts them down again with sighs; the right hand sometimes beats the heart or head, and the whole body writhes as if in self-aversion. The voice has a harshness, as in hatred, and inclines to a low and reproachful tone: weeps, stamps, hurries to and fro, runs distracted, or faints away. When it is violent, grovels on the ground; tears the clothes, hair or flesh; screams; sometimes it produces torpid sullen silence, resembling total apathy. Freedom of the Press. The liberty of the press-is the true measure of the liberty of the people. The one cannot be attacked, without injury to the other. Our thoughts ought to be perfectly free; to bridle them, or stifle them in their sanctuary, is the crime of perverted humanity. What can I call my own, if my thoughts are not mine. Anecdote. Prize of Immortality. On its being remarked to Zeuxis, a celebrated painter, that he was very long in finishing his works, he replied, "I am, indeed, a long time in finishing my works; but what I paint is for ETERNITY." Varieties. 1 Many projects, which, at the first, appear plausible and inviting, in the end-prove to be very injurious. 2. Science, philosophy and religion, are our food in youth, and our delight in more advanced life; they are ornaments to prosperity, and a comfort and refuge, in adversity; armor at home, and abroad, they pass their days and nights with us, accompany us in our travels, and in rural retirements. 3. Which is more to be dreaded, a false friend or an open ene477. REMORSE FOR DRUNKENNESS. I my? 4. Guard against being led into impruremember a mass of things, but nothing dis- dence, by yielding to an impetuous temper. tinctly; a quarrel, nothing wherefore. O that 5. There is no virtuous person, who has not men should put an enemy in their mouths to some weakness or vice; nor is there a visteal away their brains; that we should with cinus one, who cannot be said to possess joy, pleasure, revel, applause, transform our- some virtue. 6. What a difficult thing it is, selves into beasts: I will ask him for my not to betray guilt in the countenance, when place again; he shall tell me-I am a drunk- it exists in the mind! 7. The strength of ard: had I as many mouths as Hydra, such one vital faculty is sometimes the occasion of an answer would stop them all. To be now a weakness in another; but, that it may not a sensible man, by and by a fool-and pres-exist, exercise no faculty or principle beyond ently-a beast! O strange! every inordinate cup is unbless'd, and the ingredient is a devil. GRIEF DEPLORING LOSS OF HAPPINESS. I had been happy, if the general camp, Farewell the neighing steed. and the shrill trump, Он, when the last account 'twixt heaven and earth How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds its strength or bounds. 8. Science-relates to Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home! To grace, in captive bonds, his chariot-wheels? Makes ill deeds done! Hadst not thou been by, To hear the replication of your sounds, A fellow by the hand of Nature marked, Made in his concave shores? And do you now put on your best attire? Run to your houses; fall upon your knees, 477. As a condemned criminal, or one who has lost all hope of salvation, bends the eyebrows downward, clouds the forehead, rolls the eyes around fretfully, eyeballs red und inflamed ike a rabid dog; opens the mouth horizontally, bites the lips, widens the DESPAIR. nostrils, and gnashes the teeth; the head is pressed down upon the breast; heart too hard to permit tears to flow; arms are sometimes bent at the elbows; the fists clench'd hard; the veins and muscles swollen; the skin livid; the whole body strained and violently agitated; while groans of inward torture are more frequently uttered than words. If any words are spoken, they are few, and expressed with a sullen eager bitterness; the tones of the voice often loud and furious, and sometimes in the same pitch for a considerable time. This state of human nature is too terrible, too frightful to look, or dwell upon, and almost improper for representation: for if death cannot be counterfeited without too much shocking our humanity, despair, which exhibits a state ten thousand times more terrible than death, ought to be viewed with a kind of reverence to the great Author of Nature, who seems sometimes to permit this agony of mind, as a warning to avoid that wickedness, which produces it: it can hardly be over-acted. Bring me to my trial when you will. Died he not in his bed? where should he die? To what we fear of death. Critics are like a kind of flies, that breed Virtue and Vice. Every man has actually within him, the seeds of every virtue and every vice; and the proportion, in which they thrive and ripen, depends, in general, upon the situations in which he has been, and is placed, and his life. Anecdote. Filial Piety. Valerius Maximus relates, that a woman of distinction, having been condemned to be strangled, was carried to prison, in order to be put to death; but the jailor was so struck with compunction, that, resolving not to kill her, he chose to let her die with hunger; meanwhile, he permitted her daughter to visit her in prison, taking care that she brought nothing to eat. Many days passing by, and the prisoner still living, the jailor at length,suspecting something, watched the daughter, and discovered that she nourished her mother with her own milk. He informed the authorities, and they the people; when the criminal was pardoned, and the mother and daughter maintained at the public expense; while a temple was erected-SACRED TO FILIAL PIETY. Varieties. 1. The mind should shine through the casket, that contains it; its eloquence must speak in the cheek; and so distinctly should it be wrought in the whole countenance, that one might say, the body thinks, as well as feels; such oratory will never cloy; it is always enchanting, never the same. 2. A gentleman, lecturing before a lyceum, remarked: a lady, when she married, lost her personal identity-her distinctive character-and was like a dew-drop, swallowed by a sunbeam. 3. Let ignorance talk, learning hath its value. 4. Where mystery is practiced, there is generally something bad to conceal, or something incompatible with candor, or ingenuousness, which form the chief characteristic of genuine innocence. 5. The worst man is often he, who thinks himself the best. 6. A benefit is a good office, done with intention and judgment. 7. He, who punishes an enemy, has a momentary delight; but he who forgives him, has an abiding satisfaction. Despair shall round their souls be twin'd, A gem, that shone like fire by night; I clomb the peak, and found it soon In wild fig-trees, and, when they're grown up, feed Favors to none, to all, she smiles extends, Oft she rejects,-but never once-offends. the eyes are cast down,the arms hang lax, sometimes a little raised, suddenly to fall again; the hands open, the fingers spread, the voice plaintive, and frequently inter rupted with sighs. But when immoderate, it Say that again; the shadow of my sorrow! 'Tis very true, my grief lies all within; There-lies the substance; For the great bounty, that not only giv'st Now, had he seen her in her winding-sheet, The voice of pity-sooth'd, and melted her, For forms of government, let fools contest; For modes of faith-let graceless zealots fight; Love of Justice. A sense of justice should be the foundation of all our social qualities. In our most early intercourse with the world, and even in our most youthful amusements, no unfairness should be found. That sacred rule, of doing all things to others, according as we wish they would do unto us, should be engraved on our minds. For this end, we should impress ourselves with a deep sense of the original and natural equality of man. Anecdote. When king Agrippa was in a private station, he was accused, by one of his servants, of speaking ill of Tiberius, and was condemned by the emperor to be exposed in chains before the palace gate. The weather being hot, he was thirsty, and called to Caligula's servant, Thaumastus, who was passing with a pitcher of water, to give him some drink; assuring him, if he got out of his captivity, he would pay him well. Tiberius dying, Caligula succeeded him, and set Agrippa at liberty, making him king of Judea; in which situation, he remembered the glass of water, sent for Thaumastus, and made him controller of his household. Varieties. 1. The following is the title of a book, published in England, in Cromwell's time: "Curious custards, carefully conserved for the chickens of the covenant, and sparrows of the spirit, and the sweet swallows of salvation." 2. Superabundant prosperity, tends to involve the human mind in darkness: it takes away the greatest stimulus to exertion, represses activity, renders us idle, and inclines us to vice. 3. Venture not on the precipice of temptation; the ground may be firm as a rock under your feet, but a false step, or a sudden blast, may be your destruction. 4. Discretion has been termed the better part of valor; and diffidence, the better part of knowledge. 5. To combine profundity with perspicuity, wit with judgment, sobriety with vivacity, truth with novelty, and all of them with liberality, are six very difficult things. 6. Disguise it as we will, tyranny is a bitter thing. 7. What accident gains, accident may take away. Seems, madam! nay, it is: I know not seems. Its solitude, and nothing more diverts it ATTENTION, LISTENING, &c, 497. A T TENTION-to an esteemed or superior character, has nearly the same aspect as INQUIRY, and requires silence: the eyes are often cast upon the ground, sometimes fixed upon the speaker; but not too pertly, or familiarly; when looking at ob Maxims. 1. We shall never be free from debt, till we learn not to be ashamed of industry and economy. 2. All should be taught how to earn, save and enjoy money. 3. Teach children to save everything; not for their own use exclusively, for this would make them selfish; teach them to share everything with their associates, and never to destroy anything. 4. True economy can be as comfortable with a little, as extravagance can with much. 5. Never lessen good actions, nor aggravate evil ones. 6. Good works are a rock; ill ones a sandy foundation. 7. Some receive praise, who do not deserve it. 8. It is safer to learn, than to teach. 9. He, who conceals his opinion, has nothing to answer for. 10. Reason, like the is comsun, mon to all. Anecdote. The late king of England, being very fond of Mr. Whiston, celebrated for his various strictures on religion, happened to be walking with him one day, in Hampton Court gardens, during the heat of his persecution. As they were talking upon this subject, his majesty observed, "That however right he might be in his opinions, it would be better, if he kept them to himself." "Is your majesty really serious in your advice?" answered the old man. "I really am," replied the king. "Why, then," says Whiston," had Martin Luther been of this way of thinking, where would your majesty have been at this time?" Varieties. 1. What are the three learned professions? 2. Great minds can attend to little things; but little minds cannot attend to great things. 3. To marry a rake, in hopes of reforming him, and to hire a hightouch'd-wayman, in hopes of reclaiming him, are two very dangerous experiments. 4. A clear idea, produces a stronger effect on the mind, than one that is obscure and indistinct. 5. Those that are teaching the people to read, are doing all they can to increase the power, While Chaos, hush'd, stands listening to the noise, and extend the influence of those that write: And wonders at confusion not his own. I look'd, I listen'd, dreadful sounds I hear, Mourners. Men are often ingenious, in making themselves miserable, by aggravating, beyond bounds, the evils, which they are compelled to endure. "I will restore thy daughter again to life," said an eastern sage to a prince, who grieved immoderately for the loss of a beloved child; "provided, thou art able to engrave on her tomb, the names of three persons, who have never mourned." The prince made inquiry after such persons; but found the inquiry vain, and was silent. for the child-will read to please his teachers, If music be the food of love, play on; SURPRISE, WONDER, AMAZEMENT. 480. An uncommon object produces wonder; if it appears suddenly, it begets surprise, which continued, produces amazement, and if the object of wonder comes gently to the mind, and averts the tion by its beauty and grandeur, it excites admiration, which is a mixture of approbation atten and wonder; so sure is the observation of the poet; Late time shall wonder, that my joys shall raise; For wonder is involuntary praise. WONDER OR AMAZEMENT-opens the eyes and makes them appear very prominent: sometimes it raises them to the skies; but more frequently fixes them upon the object, if it be present, with a fearful look: the mouth is open and the hands held up nearly in the attitude of fear; and if they hold anything, they drop it immediately, and unconsciously; the voice is at first low, but so emphatical that every word is pronounced slowly and with energy, though the first access of this passion often stops all utterance; when, by the discovery of something excellent in the object of wonder, the emotion may be called admiration, the eyes are raised, the hands are lifted up, and clapp'd together, and the voice elevated with expressions of rapture. Thou art, O God the life and light Of all this wondrous world we see ; Its glow by day, its smile by night, Are but reflections caught from thee. Where'er we turn, thy glories shine, And all things fair and bright are Thine! When Day, with farewell beam, delays Among the opening clouds of even, And we can almost think we gaze Through golden vistas into Heaven, Those hues, that make the sun's decline So soft, so radiant, Lord! are Thine. When Night, with wings of starry gloom, O'ershadows all the earth and skies, Like some dark, beauteous bird, whose plume Is sparkling with unnumber'd eyes,That sacred gloom, those fires divine, So grand, so countless, Lord! are Thine. When youthful Spring around us breathes, Thy spirit warms her fragrant sigh; And every flower the Summer wreathes, Is born beneath that kindling eye. Where'er we turn, thy glories shine, And all things fair and bright are Thine! How inexpressibly various are the characteristics impressed by the Creator on all human beings! How has he stamped on each its legible and peculiar properties! How especially visible in this the lowest class of animal life! The world of insects, is a world of itself: how great the distance between it and man! Through all their forms, and gradations, how visible are their powers of destruction, of suffering and resisting, of sensibility and insensibility! Importance of Early Principles. If men's actions are an effect of their principles, that is, of their notions, their belief, their persuasions, it must be admitted, that principles-early sown in the mind, are the seeds, which produce fruit and harvest in the ripe state of manhood. How lightly soever some men may speak of notions, yet, so long as the soul governs the body, men's notions must influence their actions, more or less, as they are stronger or weaker: and to good or evil, as they are better or worse. Anecdote. Cyrus, the great king of Persia, when a boy, being at the court of his grandfather As-ty-a-ges, engaged to perform the office of cup-bearer at table. The duty of this office required him to taste the liquor, before presenting it to the king; but without performing this duty, Cyrus delivered the cup to his grandfather; who observed the omission, which he imputed to forgetfulness. "No," said Cyrus, "I purposely avoided it: because I feared it contained poison: for lately, at an entertainment, I observed that the lords of your court, after drinking it, became noisy, quarrelsome and frantic." Varieties. 1. In every departure from truth, it is the deceit and hypocricy we exert, to compass our purpose, that does the evil, more than the base falsehood, of which we are guilty. 2. It is a strong proof of the want of proper attention to our duty, and of a deficiency of energy and good sense, to let an opportunity pass, of doing or getting good, without improving it. 3. Of all the passions, jealousy is that which exacts the hardest service, and pays the bitterest wages; its service is to watch the success of a rival; its wages-to be sure of it. 4. Base envy withers at another's joy, and hates that excellence it cannot reach. 5. How does the mental and bodily statures of the ancients, compare with those of the moderns? 6. It seems like a law of order, that no one shall be long remembered with affection, by a race whom he has never benefitted. 7. The charity, that relieves distressed minds, is far superior to that, which relieves distressed bodies. 8. Think'st thou-it is honorable-for a noble man still to remember wrong? 9. This is the monstrosity of love, that the will-is infinite, and the execution-confined; that the desire-is boundless, and the act--a slave to limit. What's in a name; that which we call a rose, |