lady's chamber, und tell her, let her paint an inch thick; to this favour she must come; make her laugh at that. Shakspeare.

CCCXI.

All jealousy

Must still be strangled in its birth; or time
Will soon conspire to make it strong enough
To overcome the truth.

Sir William Davenant.

CCCXII.

A vein which has entered, and helped to corrupt our modern poesy, is that of ridicule; as if nothing pleased but what made one laugh, which yet comes from two very different affections of the mind; for, as men have no disposition to laugh at things they are most pleased with, so they are very little pleased with many things they laugh at.-Sir W. Temple.

CCCXIII.

In days of old, when Arthur fill'd the throne,
Whose acts and fame to foreign lands were blown,
The king of elves, and little fairy queen,

Gambol'd on heaths, and danc'd on ev'ry green:
And where the jolly troop had led the round,
The grass unbidden rose, and mark'd the ground:
Nor darkling did they dance, the silver light
Of Phoebe serv'd to guide their steps aright,
And with their tripping pleas'd, prolong'd the night.
Her beams they follow'd, where at first she play'd,
Not longer than she shed her horns she stay'd;
From thence with airy flight to distant parts convey'd,
Above the rest our Britain held they dear,

More solemnly they kept their sabbaths here,

And made more spacious rings, and revell'd half the

year.

I speak of ancient times, for now the swain
Returning late, may pass the woods in vain,
And never hope to see the nightly train.
In vain the dairy now with mint is drest,

The dairy-maid expects no fairy guest,

To skim the bowls, and after pay the feast.
She sighs, for ah! she shakes her shoes in vain,
No silver penny to reward her pain.

CCCXIV.

Dryden.

When I was young, and in some idle company, it was proposed that every one should tell what their three wishes should be, if they were sure to be granted: some were very pleasant, and some very extravagant; mine were health, and peace, and fair weather; which, though out of the way among young men, yet perhaps might pass well enough among old: they are all of a strain; for health in the body is like peace in the state, and serenity in the air: the sun, in our climate at least, has something so reviving, that a fair day is a kind of sensual pleasure, and of all others the most innocent.Sir W. Temple.

CCCXV.

K. Rich. I have been studying how I may compare This prison, where I live, unto the world: And, for because the world is populous, And here is not a creature but myself, I cannot do it:-Yet, I'll hammer it out. My brain I'll prove the female to my soul; My soul, the father: and these two beget A generation of still-breeding thoughts, And these same thoughts people this little world In humours, like the people of this world: For no thought is contented.

*

*

Thoughts tending to ambition, they do plot
Unlikely wonders: how these vain weak nails
May tear a passage through the flinty ribs
Of this hard world, my ragged prison walls;
And, for they cannot, die in their own pride.
Thoughts tending to content, flatter themselves,
That they are not the first of fortune's slaves,
Nor shall not be the last; like silly beggars,
Who, sitting in the stocks, refuge their shame,

That many have, and others must sit there:
And in this thought they find a kind of ease,
Bearing their own misfortune on the back
Of such as have before endured the like.
Thus play I, in one person, many people,
And none contented: sometimes am I king;
Then treason makes me wish myself a beggar,
And so I am: then crushing penury
Persuades me I was better when a king:
Then am I king'd again: and by-and-by,
Think that I am unking'd by Bolingbroke,
And straight am nothing:-But, whate'er I am,
Nor I, nor any man, that but man is,

With nothing shall be pleased, till he be eased
With being nothing.-Shakspeare-Richard II.

CCCXVI.

There are two capital faults in our law with relation to civil debts. One is, that every man is presumed solvent; a presumption in innumerable cases, directly against truth. Therefore the debtor, is ordered, on a supposition of ability and fraud, to be coerced his liberty until he makes payment. By this means, in all cases of civil insolvency, without a pardon from his creditor, he is to be imprisoned for life:-and thus, a miserable mistaken invention of artificial science, operates to change a civil into a criminal judgment, and to Scourge misfortune or indiscretion with a punishment which the law does not inflict on the greatest crimes.

The next fault is, that the inflicting of that punishment is not on the opinion of an equal and public judge, but is referred to the arbitrary discretion of a private, nay interested and irritated individual. He, who formally is, and substantially ought to be, the judge, is in reality no more than ministerial, a mere executive instrument of a private man, who is at once judge and party. Every idea of judicial order is subverted by this procedure. If the insolvency be no crime, why is it punished with arbitrary imprisonment? If it be a crime, why is it delivered into private hands, to pardon

without discretion, or to punish without mercy and without measure.-Burke.

CCCXVII.

There is something so attractive in riches, that the large heap generally collects from the smaller; and the poor find as much pleasure in increasing the enormous mass, as the miser, who owns it, sees happiness in its increase. Nor is there in this any thing repugnant to the laws of true morality. Seneca himself allows, that in conferring benefits, the present should always be suited to the dignity of the receiver. Thus the rich receive large presents, and are thanked for accepting them. Men of middling stations are obliged to be content with presents something less; while the beggar, who may be truly said to want indeed, is well paid if a farthing rewards his warmest solicitations.-Goldsmith.

CCCXVIII.

Life is a weary interlude

Which doth short joys, long woes include:
The world the stage, the prologue tears;
The acts vain hopes and varied fears;

The scene shuts up with loss of breath,

And leave no epilogue but death!-H. King.

CCCXIX.

Let thy love be to the best, so long as they do well; but take heed that thou love God, thy country, thy prince, and thine own estate, before all others; for the fancies of men change, and he that loves to day, hateth to-morrow; but let reason be thy school-mistress, which shall ever guide thee aright.-Sir W. Raleighto his Son.

CCCXX.

Confidence in one's self, is the chief nurse of magnanimity. Which confidence, notwithstanding, doth not leave the care of necessary furniture for it, and therefore, of all the Grecians, Homer doth ever make Achilles the best armed.-Sir P. Sidney.

CCCXXI.

A promise may be broke;

Nay, start not at it-'tis an hourly practice:
The trader breaks it, yet is counted honest;
The courtier keeps it not-yet keeps his honour;
Husband and wife in marriage promise much,
Yet follow sep'rate pleasures, and are-virtuous.
The churchmen promise too, but wisely they
To a long payment stretch the crafty bill,
And draw upon futurity: a promise!

"Tis the wise man's freedom, and the fool's restraint;
It is the ship in which the knave embarks,

Who rigs it with the tackle of his conscience,

And sails with ev'ry wind.

Havard's King Charles I.

CCCXXII.

As Gardening has been the inclination of kings and the choice of philosophers, so it has been the common favourite of public and private men; a pleasure of the greatest, and the care of the meanest; and, indeed, an employment and a possession, for which no man is too high nor too low.-Sir W. Temple.

CCCXXIII.

There is need of a sprightly and vigilant soul to discern and to lay hold on favourable junctures; a man must look before him, descry opportunities at a distance, keep his eye constantly upon them, observe all the motions they make towards him, make himself ready for their approach, and when he sees his time, lay fast hold, and not let go again, till he has done his business.-Charron.

CCCXXIV.

A good traveller is something at the latter end of a dinner; but one that lies three thirds, and uses a known truth to pass a thousand nothings with, should be once heard, and thrice beaten.-Shakspeare.