Praise not the unworthy, though they roll in riches.

Praise nothing but what you know to be worthy of praise.

Praise undeserved is scandal in disguise.

-MAXIM.

-POPE.

"The worst thing that you can do to a nation is to flatter it," said the late Mr. Gladstone. The best thing is to help it.

REPLY OF LUKSHAMANA TO HIS

BROTHER RÄMA.

When Shri Râma expressed his surprise at the great honour which certain people were bent upon doing him, when he was on his way home from the deserts, for the purpose of receiving the crown and governing the coun try-while a short time previously, the very same people. had treated him with the utmost indifference; his physical body being the same all the while, his brother Lukshamana remarked, “Râma, it is the position and not the body that is honored. Then you were a helpless wanderer in the deserts, and now you are an absolute sovereign."*

-"RAMAYANA."

LOUIS XIV AND THE PRIEST.

King Louis XIV found only himself and the priest of Fenelon at the service in the chapel. On inquiring of this, as the chapel was usually full, the priest said,

From Light on the Path, with commentary and annotations by P. Sh: inivas Row, F. T. S.

"It was given out, sire, that your Majesty did not atterd chapel to-day, that you might know who came to worship God, and who to flatter the king."

CANUTE, THE MONARCH, AND HIS
COURTIERS.

Canute, the greatest and most powerful monarch of his time, sovereign of Denmark and Norway as well as of England, could not fail of meeting with adulation from his courtiers; a tribute which is liberally paid even to the meanest and weakest princes. Some of his flatterers, breaking out one day in admiration of his grandeur, exclaimed that everything was possible for him: upon which the monarch ordered his chair to be set on the seashore while the tide was rising and as the waters approached, he commanded them to retire, and to obey the voice of him, who was lord of the ocean. He feigned to sit sometime in expectation of their submission. But when the sea still advanced towards him, and began to wash him with his billows, he turned to his courtiers, and remarked to them, that every creature in the universe was feeble and impotent, and that power resided with one Being alone, in whose hands were` all the elements of Nature; who could say to the ocean, Thus far shalt thou go and no farther; and who could level with His nod the most towering piles of human pride and ambition.

57. FORBEARANCE, FORGIVENESS, &c. The indulgence of revenge tends to make men more savage and cruel.

-KAMES.

In taking revenge a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior; for it is a Prince's part to pardon. And Solomon saith, ‘It is the glory of a man to pass by an offence.'

When scorners scorn, or foes revile,

Or friends look dark and shy,

We'll neither give them scorn for scorn,

Nor pass them coldly by;

We'll check the storm of rising pride,

And keep a temper fair,

Warn'd by the Angel at our side,

That whispers to forbear.

-C. MACKAY.

Revenge not injuries but forgive them.

-MAXIM.

What will the wicked do to the man who has for

giveness for his weapon?

The fire will extinguish of itself when fallen on a

place where there is no grass.

Tukâ says forgiveness is the happiness of all.

Keep it safely and wholly.

A Marathi poet.

-TUKÂRÂM.*

The brave only know how to forgive; it is the most refined and generous pitch of virtue human nature can arrive at. Cowards have done good and kind actions, cowards have even fought, nay, sometimes even conquered; but a coward never forgave: it is not in his nature the power of doing it flows only from a strength and greatness of soul, conscious of its own force and security, and above the little temptations of resenting every fruitless attempt to interrupt its happi

He that cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven.

-LORD HERBERT.

Forgiveness to the injured does belong;

But they ne'er pardon who have done the wrong.

-DRYDEN.

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

"BIBLE-ST. MATTHEW 6."

The man of forgiveness is a host in himself, and the most powerful are unable to injure a single hair of his head, do whatever they may. This virtue carries with it hand in hand the Divine law of compassion to all living creatures, down to the humblest sentient life that lives and breathes.†

*From The Book of Humour, Wit, and Wisdom.

From a Paper read by Manmohandas D. Shroff, F.T.S.

The Prophet (Muhammed) said, "There is no man who is wounded, and pardons the giver of the wound but God will exalt his dignity, and diminish his faults." "MISHCAT-UL-MASABIH."*

To have the power to forgive
Is empire and prerogative,

And 'tis in crowns a nobler gem
To grant a pardon than condemn.

To err is human, to forgive divine.

-BUTLER.

Pardon others but not thyself.

--OLD ENGLISH PROVERB.

Be generous and others will be generous to you.

-ARABIC PROVERB.

Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

That ye may be the children of your Father, which is in Heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

"BIBLE-ST. MATTHEW 5.

Expect from another what you do to another.

-SENECA.

In order to judge of another's feelings, remember your own.

* Translated from Arabic by Captain Matthews.