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Affected dispatch is one of the most dangerous things to business that can be. It is like that which the physicians call predigestion, or hasty digestion; which is sure to fill the body full of crudities, and secrete seeds of diseases. Therefore measure not dispatch by the times of sitting, but by the advancement of the business. And, as in races, it is not the large stride, or high lift, that makes the speed; so, in business, the keeping close to the matter, and not taking of it too much at once, procureth dispatch. It is the care of some, only to come off speedily for the time, or to contrive some false periods of business, because they may seem men of dispatch but it is one thing to abbreviate by contracting, another by cutting off; and business so handled at several sittings or meetings goeth commonly backward and forward in an unsteady manner. I knew a wise man that had for a by-word, when he saw men hasten to a conclusion, "Stay a little, that we may make the end the sooner."

On the other side, true dispatch is a rich thing. For time is the measure of business, as money is of wares; and business is bought at a dear hand where there is small dispatch. The Spartans and Spaniards have been noted to be of small dispatch: "Mi venga la muerte de Spagua ;" "Let my death come from Spain;" for then it will be sure to be long in coming-Lord Bacon.

Cast an eye into the gay world, what see we for the most part, but a set of querulous, emaciated, fluttering, fantastical beings, worn out in the keen pursuit of pleasure; creatures that know, own, condemn, deplore, yet still pursue their own infelicity? The decayed monuments of error! The thin remains of what is called delight! Dr. Young.

A long life may be passed without finding a friend in whose understanding and virtue we can equally confide, and whose opinion we can value at once for its justness and sincerity. A weak man, however honest, is not qualified to judge. A man of the world, however penetrating, is not fit to counsel. Friends are often chosen for similitude of manners, and therefore each palliates the other's failings, because they are his own. Friends are tender, and unwilling to give pain, or they are interested and fearful to offend.-Johnson.

Ceremonies are different in every country; but true politeness is every where the same. Ceremonies which take up so much of our attention, are only artificial helps, which ignorance assumes in order to imitate politeness, which is the result of good sense and good nature. A person possessed of these qualities, though he had never seen a court, is truly agreeable; and if without them, would continue a clown, though he had been all his life a gentleman usher.—Goldsmith.

Our pleasures for the most part, are short, false, and deceitful; and like drunkenness, revenge the jolly madness of one hour, with the sad repentance of many.

Corruption is like a ball of snow, when once set a rolling it must increase. It gives momentum to the activity of the knave, but it chills the honest man, and makes him almost weary of his calling; and all that corruption attracts, it also retains; for it is easier not to fall, than only to fall once, and not to yield a single inch, than having yielded, to regain it.

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176

OF RICHES.-I cannot call riches better than the "baggage" of virtue; the Roman word is better, "impedimenta." For as the baggage is to an army, so are riches to virtue. It cannot be spared nor left behind, but it hindereth the march; yea, and the care of it sometimes loseth or disturbeth the victory. Of great riches there is no real use, except it be in the distribution; the rest is but conceit. So saith Solomon; "Where much is, there are many to consume it; and what hath the owner but the sight of it with his eyes?" The personal fruition in any man cannot reach to feel great riches: there is a eustody of them; or a power of dole and donative of them or a fame of them; but no solid use to the owner. Do you not see what feigned prices are set upon little stones and rarities? And what works of ostentation are undertaken, because there might seem to be some use of great riches? But then you will say they may be of use to buy men out of dangers and troubles. As Solomon saith, "Riches are as a strong hold in the imagination of the rich man.” But this is excellently expressed, that it is in imagination, and not always in fact. For certainly, great riches have sold more men than they have bought out.-Lord Bacon,

Let us so employ our youth that the very old age, which will deprive us of attention from the eyes of the women, shall enable us to replace what we have lost with something better from the ears of

men.

Idleness is a constant sin, and labour is a duty; idleness is but the devil's home for temptation, and for unprofitable, distracting musings: labour profiteth others, and ourselves.-Baxter.

There is a jewel which no Indian mines can buy,
No chemic art can counterfeit;

It makes men rich in greatest poverty,

Makes water wine, turns wooden cups to gold,
The homely whistle to sweet music's strain ;
Seldom it comes, to few from heaven sent,
That much in little-all in nought-Content.

From Wilbye's Madrigals, 1598.

They who stand still in the current of worldly fashions, must in a little time appear singular to those who are carried away by it; for the reason given by an eminent philosopher to one who on his taking part in the revolutionary measures, reproached him with fickleness in his principles: "Nay, sir, you quite mistake the matter, the people are fickle-not I-I go straight on; and, when we meet at the crossings of the road which they are continually deserting, they imagine it is I, and not themselves, that deviate."

Dillwyn's Reflections.

Give good hearing to those that give the first information in business, and rather direct them in the beginning than interrupt them in the continuance of their speeches; for he that is put out of his own order will go forward and backward, and be more tedious while he waits upon his memory, than he could have been if he had gone on in his own course. But sometimes it is seen that the moderator is more troublesome than the actor.

Lord Bacon.

The prerogatives of good men appear plainly in this, that men bear more honour to the sepulchres of the virtuous, than to the boasted palaces of the wicked.-Fr. Acad.

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