Children. — Byron. LOOK! how he laughs and stretches out his arms, To hail his Father: while his little form Children. Oehlenschläger. THE plays of natural lively Children are the infancy of art. Children live in the world of imagination and feeling. They invest the most insignificant object with any form they please, see in it whatever they wish to see. Children. Thomson. MEANTIME a smiling Offspring rises round, Choice of Life. — Cicero. and THE number is small of those persons, who, either by extraordinary pre-eminence of genius, or by superior erudition and knowledge, or who, endowed with either of these, have enjoyed the privilege of deliberately deciding what Mode of Life they would the most wish to embrace. The Choleric.— Fuller. THOSE Passionate Persons who carry their heart in their mouth are rather to be pitied than feared; their threatenings serving no other purpose than to forearm him that is threatened. Christianity. — Anon. THERE is only one way in which Philosophy can truly become popular, that which Socrates tried, and which centuries after was perfected in the Gospel,-that which tells men of their Divine Origin and Destiny, of their Heavenly Duties and Calling. This comes home to men's hearts and bosoms, and, instead of puffing them up, humbles them. But to be efficient, this should flow down straight from a higher sphere. Even in its Socratic form, it was supported by those higher principles, which we find set forth with such power and beauty by Plato. In Christian Philosophy, on the other hand, the ladder has come down from heaven, and the angels are continually descending and ascending along it. Christianity. Channing. SINCE its introduction, human nature has made great progress, and society experienced great changes; and in this advanced condition of the world, Christianity, instead of losing its application and importance, is found to be more and more congenial and adapted to man's nature and wants. Men have outgrown the other institutions of that period when Christianity appeared, its philosophy, its modes of warfare, its policy, its public and private economy; but Christianity has never shrunk as intellect has opened, but has always kept in advance of men's faculties, and unfolded nobler views in proportion as they have ascended. The highest powers and affections which our nature has developed, find more than adequate objects in this religion. Christianity is indeed peculiarly fitted to the more improved stages of society, to the more delicate sensibilities of refined minds, and especially to that dissatisfaction with the present state, which always grows with the growth of our moral powers and affections. Church. Burns. HERE some are thinkin' on their sins, Ane curses feet that fyl'd his shins, On this hand sits a chosen swatch, That dread th' encroachment of our growing streets, Tight boxes, neatly sash'd, and in a blaze With all a July sun's collected rays, Delight the citizen, who gasping there Breathes clouds of dust, and calls it country air. OR at some Banker's desk, like many more, Content to tell that two and two make four, And prudent dulness mark'd him for a Mayor. Civility.- Chesterfield. THE insolent Civility of a proud man is, if possible, more shocking than his Rudeness could be; because he shows you, by his Manner, that he thinks it mere Condescension in him; and that his goodness alone bestows upon you what you have no pretence to claim. Civility. —Tillotson. A GOOD Word is an easy Obligation; but not to speak ill, requires only our silence, which costs us nothing. WE Civilization. Burke. E are but too apt to consider things in the state in which we find them, without sufficiently adverting to the causes by which they have been produced, and possibly may be upheld. Nothing is more certain than that our Manners, our Civilization, and all the good things which are connected with Civilization, have, in this European world of ours, depended for ages upon two principles; and were indeed the result of both combined; I mean the spirit of a Gentleman and the spirit of Religion. The Nobility and the Clergy, the one by profession, the other by patronage, kept learning in existence even in the midst of arms and confusion, and whilst governments were rather in their causes than formed. Learning paid back what it received to Nobility and Priesthood, and paid it with usury, by enlarging their ideas and by furnishing their minds. Civilization. — Anon. But IN the Bible the Body is said to be more than Raiment. many people still read the Bible Hebrew-wise, backward: and thus the general conviction now is that Raiment is more than the Body. There is so much to gaze and stare at in the Dress, one's eyes are quite dazzled and weary, and can hardly pierce through to that which is clothed upon. So too is it with the mind and heart, scarcely less than with the body. Civilization. Hare. THE ultimate tendency of Civilization, is toward Barbarism. esse. Civilization. Colton. ALL nations that have reached the highest point of Civilization, may from that hour assume for their motto, videri quam And whenever and wherever we see Ostentation substituted for Happiness, Profession for Friendship, Formality for Religion, Pedantry for Learning, Buffoonry for Wit, Artifice for Nature, and Hypocrisy for every thing; these are the signs of the times which he that runs may read, and which will enable the Philosopher to date the commencement of National Decay, from the consummation of National Refinement. Civilization. Hare. CHRISTIANITY has carried Civilization along with it, whithersoever it has gone: and, as if to show that the latter does not depend on physical causes, some of the countries the most civilized in the days of Augustus are now in a state of hopeless Barbarism. SEMI-CIVILIZED state of Society, equally removed from the extremes of Barbarity and of Refinement, seems to be that particular meridian under which all the reciprocities and gratuities of hospitality do most really flourish and abound. For it so happens that the ease, the luxury, and the abundance of the highest state of Civilization, are as productive of selfishness, as the difficulties, the privations, and the sterilities of the lowest. Classical Studies. - Story. IT is no exaggeration to declare that he who proposes to abolish classical studies proposes to render, in a great measure, inert and unedifying the mass of English literature for three centuries; to rob us of the glory of the past, and much of the instruction of future ages; to blind us to excellences which few may hope to equal and none to surpass; to annihilate associations which are interwoven withour best sentiments, and give to distant times and countries a presence and reality as if they were in fact his own. Cleanliness.-Thomson. EVEN from the Body's Purity, the Mind Climate. Sir W. Temple. OUR Country must be confessed to be, what a great foreign physician called it, the region of spleen; which may arise a good deal from the great uncertainty and many sudden changes of our weather in all seasons of the year: and how much these affect the heads and hearts, especially of the finest tempers, is hard to be believed by men whose thoughts are not turned to such speculations. Climate. — Justus Möser. THE institutions of a Country depend in great measure on the Nature of its Soil and Situation. Many of the wants of man are awakened or supplied by these circumstances. To these wants, manners, laws, and religion must shape and accommodate themselves. The division of Land, and the rights attached to it, alter with the Soil; the laws relating to its Produce, with its Fertility. The manners of its inhabitants are in various ways modified by its Position. The religion of a miner is not the same as the faith of a shepherd, nor is the character of the ploughman so warlike as that of the hunter. The observant legislator follows the direction of all these various circumstances. The knowledge of the Natural Advantages or Defects of a Country thus form an essential part of political science and history. Club Gossip.- Shakspeare. THEY'LL sit by the fire, and presume to know What's done i' the Capitol: who's like to rise, Who thrives, and who declines; side factions, and give out Conjectural marriages; making parties strong, And feebling such as stand not in their liking. Commendation. — Fielding. COMMEND a Fool for his Wit, or a Knave for his Honesty, and they will receive you into their bosom. Commerce. Addison. A WELL-REGULATED Commerce is not, like law, physic, or divinity, to be over-stocked with hands; but, on the contrary, flourishes by multitudes, and gives employment to all its professors. Commerce. Anon. STATESMAN may do much for Commerce, most by leaving it alone. A river never flows so smoothly, as when it follows its own course, without either aid or check. Let it make its own bed it will do so better than you can. LO! from the dread immensity of space Companionship. — Greville. OUR Companions please us less from the charms we find in their conversation, than from those they find in ours. Companionship.-Lessing. THE most agreeable of all Companions is a simple, frank man, without any high pretensions to an oppressive greatness: one who loves life, and understands the use of it; obliging, alike at all hours; above all, of a golden temper, and steadfast as an anchor. For such an one we gladly exchange the greatest genius, the most brilliant wit, the profoundest thinker. Company. — Chesterfield. No man can possibly improve in any Company, for which he has not respect enough to be under some degree of restraint. Company. — Lavater. THE freer you feel yourself in the presence of another, the more free is he. |