which they prolong their festivity; they debilitate their bodies, wear out their spirits, and cut themselves off from the comforts and duties of life.

SECT. 5.

By what I have already expressed, the reader will perceive the business upon which I am to proceed.

May the happy message be applied to us in all its virtue, strength, and comfort.

Generosity is a showy virtue, of which many persons are very fond.

These arguments were, without hesitation, and with great eagerness, embraced.

It is proper to be long in deliberating; but we should execute speedily.

Form thy measures with prudence; but divest thyself of anxiety about the issue.

We are struck, we know not how, with the symmetry of any thing we see; and immediately acknowledge the beauty of an object, without inquiring into the cause of that beauty.

With Cicero's writings, these persons are more conversant, than with those of Demosthenes, who, by many degrees, as an orator at least, excelled the other.

SECT. 6.

Our British gardeners, instead of following nature, love to deviate from it as much as possible. Or-instead of humouring &c. love to thwart it, &c.

I have observed of late the style of some great ministers, very much to exceed that of any other writers.

The old may inform the young; and the young may animate the old.

The account is generally balanced; for what we lose on the one hand, we gain on the other.

The laughers will be for those who have most wit; the serious, for those who have most reason on their side.

If men of eminence are exposed to censure, on the one hand, they are as much exposed to flattery on the other. If they receive reproaches which are not due, they likewise receive praises that are not due.

He can bribe, but he cannot seduce. He can buy, but he cannot gain. He can lie, but he cannot deceive.

He embraced the cause of liberty faintly, and pursued it irresolutely; he grew tired of it, when he had much to hope, and gave it up, when he had nothing to fear.

There may remain a suspicion that we overrate the greatness of his genius, in the same manner as we overrate the greatness of bodies that are disproportioned and misshapen.

SECT. 7.

Sobriety of mind suits the present state of man.

As supporters of unlawful assemblies, these people were seized and punished.

To use the Divine name habitually, and without serious consideration, is highly irreverent.

From the kindness with which he was at first received, great hopes of success were entertained.

They conducted themselves craftily, and ensnared us before we had time to escape.

To our confined and humble station it belongs not to censure, but to submit, trust, and adore.

The solace of the mind, under all its labours, is hope; and there are few situations which exclude it entirely.

The humiliation of the mighty, and the fall of ambition from its towering height, little concern the bulk of mankind. Tranquillity, order, and magnanimity, dwell with the pious and resigned man.

Idleness, ease, and prosperity, have a natural tendency to generate folly and vice.

By a cheerful, candid, and uniform temper, he conciliated general favour.

We reached the mansion before noon. It was a strong, magnificent, Gothic edifice.

I had a long and perilous journey, but a pleasing companion, who relieved the fatigue of it.

The speech was introduced in a sensible manner, which made a favourable impression.

The Commons made a warm remonstrance against so arbitrary a requisition.

The truly illustrious are they who do not court the praise of the world, but who perform the actions which deserve it.

By means of society, our wants are supplied, and our lives are rendered comfortable; our capacities are enlarged, and our virtuous affections called forth into proper exercise.

Life cannot but prove vain to them who affect a disrelish of every pleasure, that is not both exquisite and new; who measure enjoyment, not by their own feelings, but by the standard of fashion; who think themselves miserable if others do not admire their state.

By the experience of distress, an arrogant insensibility of temper is most effectually corrected; as the remembrance of

our own sufferings, naturally prompts us to feel for others when they suffer. But if Providence has been so kind as not to subject us to much of this discipline in our own lot, let us draw improvement from the harder lot of others. Let us sometimes step aside from the smooth and flowery paths in which we are permitted to walk, in order to view the toilsome march of our fellows through the thorny desert.

As no one is without his failings, few also are void of amiable qualities.

Providence delivered them up to themselves, and they became their own tormentors.

From disappointments and trials, we learn the insufficiency of temporal things to happiness, and are taught to seek it in religion and virtue.

CHAP. IV.

Corrections of the errors that relate to Figures of Speech. Exercises, p. 203.

No human happiness is so pure as not to contain any alloy. There is a time when factions, by their vehemence, confound and disable one another.

I intend to make use of these words in my following speculations. Or in the course of my speculations.

Hope, the cheering star of life, darts a ray of light through the thickest gloom.

This scheme was highly expensive to him, and proved the gulf of his estate.

He was so much skilled in the exercise of the oar, that few could equal him.

The death of Cato has, if I may be allowed to say so, rendered the Senate an orphan.

Let us be careful to suit our sails to the wind and weather; and to steer our vessel aright, that we may avoid the rocks and shoals, which lie every where around us.

At length Erasmus, that great injur’d name,
(The glory of the priesthood, and the shame,)
Stemm'd the wild torrent of a barb'rous age,
And drove those holy Vandals off the stage.

In this our day of proof, our land of hope,
The good man has his clouds that intervene ;
Clouds that may dim his sublunary day,
But cannot darken; ev'n the best must own,
Patience and resignation are the pillars
Of human peace on earth.

On the wide sea of letters, 'twas thy boast
To crowd each sail, and touch at ev'ry coast:
From that rich deep how often hast thou brought
The pure and precious pearls of splendid thought!
How didst thou triumph on that subject-tide,
Till vanity's wild gust, and stormy pride,

Drove thy strong bark, in evil hour, to split
Upon the fatal rock of impious wit.

Since the time that reason began to exert her powers, thought, during our waking hours, has been active in every breast, without a moment's suspension or pause. The current of ideas has been always flowing. The wheels of the spiritual engine have circulated with perpetual motion.

The man who has no rule over his own spirit, possesses no defence against dangers of any sort. He lies open to every

H