A little real respect for truth, and desire to follow it at all times aided by a little reflection on the meaning of the words we are about to utter, would.save us from falsehoods of this kind.

6. There is yet another species of falsehood, which consists in saying one thing but meaning another; this ought to be at all times avoided, the same as positive lying. Persons who resort to this mean practice think that, because they do not lie in the words which they use, they do not commit any actual sin or crime. But this is a mere delusion. The lie is committed by the attempt to convey a false or wrong meaning, for the purpose of misleading; and such a mode of speaking is therefore both deceitful and sinful.

7. In the whole business of the world, truth is of great importance. We should not only observe it in everything relating to ourselves and our neighbors, but we should seek to ascertain it, and hold fast by it, in all things. If we study history, we should endeavor to get the books of best authority. If we cultivate science, we should make sure that we receive nothing which is not satisfactorily proved. Nothing but good testimony can prove the truth of an event; and nothing but experiment, and a careful observation of facts, can prove the truth of anything in science.

8. We should allow no opinion to rest in our minds unless w are certain, and have taken pains to make ourselves conscientiously certain, that it is right, and not founded in error. Every wrong opinion, or supposition of what is false, tends to do harm in the world; while everything we know for truth, and every opinion and sentiment that we know to be rightly founded, tends to the good of mankind. Chambers.

LXXIII.

SHORT POETICAL EXTRACTS.

1. TIME NOT TO BE RECALLED.

MARK that swift arrow, how it cuts the air,
How it out-runs the following eye!
Use all persuasions now, and try

If thou canst call it back, or stay it there.

That way it went, but thou shalt find
No track is left behind.

Fool! 't is thy life, and the fond archer thou!
Of all the time thou 'st shot away

I'll bid thee fetch but yesterday,
And it shall be too hard a task to do.

Besides repentance, what canst find
That it hath left behind?

One part, one little part, we dimly scan,

Through the dark medium of life's feverish dream, Yet dare arraign the whole stupendous plan, If but that little part incongruous seem; Nor is that part, perhaps, what mortals deem. Oft from apparent ill our blessings rise: O! then renounce that impious self-esteem That aims to trace the secrets of the skies; For thou art but of dust, — be humble and be wise.

3. THE PENALTY OF EMINENCE. - Byron.
He who ascends to mountain-tops shall find
The loftiest peaks mōst wrapt in clouds and snow,
He who surpasses or subdues mankind

Must look down on the hate of those below.
Though high above the sun of glory glow,
And far beneath the earth and ocean spread,
Round him are icy rocks, and loudly blow
Contending tempests on his naked head,

And thus reward the toils that to those summits led.

From the low prayer of Want and plaint of Woe, O never, never turn away thine ear!

Forlorn, in this bleak wilderness below,

Ah! what were man, should Heaven refuse to hear! To others do (the law is not severe,)

What to thyself thou wishest to be done;
Forgive thy foes; and love thy parents dear,

And friends and native land; -nor these alone;

All human weal and woe learn thou to make thine own.

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society where none intrudes
By the deep sea, and music in its roar;
I love not man the less, but nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the universe, and feel

What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.

6 HUMBLE AND UNNOTICED VIRTUE. - Hannah More.

O my son!

The ostentatious virtues which still press

For notice and for praise; the brilliant deeds
Which live but in the eye of observation —

These have their meed at once; but there's a joy
To the fond vōtaries of fame unknown,

To hear the still small voice of conscience speak
In whispering plaudit to the silent soul.
Heaven notes the sigh afflicted goodness heaves,
Hears the low plaint by human ear unheard,
And from the cheek of patient Sorrow wipes
The tear, by mortal eye unseen, or scorned.

7. FAREWELL. · Barton.

Nay, shrink not from the word " Farewell,"
As if 't were friendship's final knell !

Such fears may prove but vain;
So changeful is life's fleeting day,
Where'er we sever, Hope may say
We part to meet again!

Mr. H. HA! Steward, how are you, my old boy? How do things go on at home?

Steward. Bad enough, your honor, the magpie's dead. Mr. H. Poor Mag! so he's gone. How came he to die?

Stew. Over-ate himself, sir.

Mr. H. Did he, indeed? a greedy villain! Why, what did he get he liked so well?

Stew. Horse-flesh, sir; he died of eating horse-flesh.

Mr. H. How came he to get so much horse-flesh?

Stew. All your father's horses, sir.

Mr. H. What! are they dead, too?

Stew. Ay, sir; they died of over-work.

Mr. H. And why were they over-worked, pray?

Stew. To carry water, sir.

Mr. H. To carry water! and what were they carrying waterfor?

Stew. Sure, sir, to put out the fire.

Mr. H. Fire! what fire?

Stew. O, sir, your father's house is burned down to the ground.

Mr. H. My father's house burned down! and how came it set on fire?

Stew. I think, sir, it must have been the torches.

Mr. H. Torches ! what torches ?

Stew. At your mother's funeral.

Mr. H. Alas! my mother dead?

Stew. Ah, poor lady, she never looked up after it'

Mr. H. After what?

Stew. The loss of your father.

Mr. H. My father gone, too?

Stew. Yes, poor gentleman, he took to his bed as soon as he heard of it.

Mr. H. Heard of what?

Stew. The bad news, sir, and please your honor.

Mr. H. What! more miseries? more bad news? No! you can add nothing more!

Stew. Yes, sir; your bank has failed, and your credit is lost, and you are not worth a shilling in the world. I made bold, sir, to come to wait on you about it, for I thought you would like to hear the news. ANONYMOUS.

LXXV. THE DESTINY OF MAN.

1. THE solicitudes, the afflictions, the aspirations of this life, are a proof that Man, less contented here than the brute, has another destiny. If our end were here, if we had nothing after this life to expect, — if here were our country, our final home, and the only scene of our felicity, — why does not our present lot fill the measure of our happiness and our hopes?

2. If we are born only for the pleasures of the senses, why do not these pleasures suffice? Why do they always leave such a void of weariness and dejection in the heart? If man have no higher destiny than that of the beast, why should not his existence, like the beast's, flow on without a care, without an inquietude, without a disgust, in the felicity of the senses and of the flesh?

3. If man may hope for a temporal184 happiness only, why does he find it nowhere, permanently, on the earth? Whence comes it that riches only bring disquiet; that honors speedily lose their charm; that pleasures fatigue; and that knowledge confounds him, and, far from satisfying, piques his curiosity? Whence is it that all these things collectively cannot fill the im