The good old Patriarch upon record, Hold the fleet angel fast, until he bless thee. 277. Dr. Cotton. (England) Island of bliss! amid the subject seas Public zeal, 278. Thomson. Who throws o'er all an equal wide survey, 279. Ib. The natural and moral constitution and government of the world, are so connected as to make up together but one scheme; and it is highly probable that the first is formed and carried on merely in subserviency to the latter: as the vegetable is for the animal, and organized body for minds.-Butler's Analogy. 280. It is absurd, absurd to a degree of being ridiculous, if the subject were not of so serious a kind, for men to think themselves secure in a vicious life; or even in that immoral thoughtlessness which far the greatest part of them are fallen into.-Ib. 281. The bravest man placed in a situation in which he is surrounded by suspicious persons, and removed from all counsel and assistance (except those afforded by a valiant heart and a strong arm,) experiences a sinking of the heart, a consciousness of abandonment, which for a moment chills his blood, and depresses his natural gallantry of disposition.-Walter Scott. 282. Wit too profuse, is not appreciated.-Lemaire. 283. If you cannot be one of those great wits who are the charms of conversation-be not of the number of those who are insipid and incommodious: at least take care not to be insupportable-Ib. 284. We place in the ranks of great prattlers, that species of men and women, who, in company, have their mouths always open; and whose conversation, like that of Anaximenes, the ancient philosopher, consists in pouring forth upon the company, a river of words, and one drop of sense.-Ib. 285. A blockhead that aspires to play the wit, never unsays his sayings-but he is a blockhead.-Ib. 286. It is necessary that each person should have his turn of wit, but it is a proof of a want of it, to seek to exhibit only ours.-7b. 287. Women, above all, have an extreme foible for little animals, which they have taken into their good graces. It is a real littleness of mind that does them no great honour in the estimation of sensible people, but how much more inexcusable are they, when they give themselves up to a ridiculous excess of afflic tion, or to violent transports of rage, if they happen to lose them!—Ib. 288. The sum of our wisdom consists in two parts—the knowledge of God, and of ourselves.-Calvin. 289. You have it in your power to be invincible; never enter into a contest in which you cannot conquer.— Epict. 290. Discourses of morality and reflections upon human nature, are the best means we can make use of to improve our minds, and gain a true knowledge of ourselves.-Addison. 291. Nothing is more gratifying to the mind of man than power or dominion.-Ib. 292. Affectation is to be always distinguished from hypocrisy, as being the art of counterfeiting those qualities, which we might with innocence and safety, be known to want. Hypocrisy is the necessary burthen of villany; affectation part of the chosen trappings of folly.-Johnson. 293. Every man speaks and writes with an intent to be understood; and it seldom happens, but he that understands himself, might easily convey his meaning to another, if, content to be understood, he did not seek to be admired, but when once he begins to contrive how his sentiments may be received, not with most ease to his reader, but with most advantage to himself, he then transfers his consideration from words to sounds, from sentences to periods; and as he grows more elegant, becomes less intelligible.Ib. 294. Of nations as of individuals, the first blessing is independence; neither the man nor the people can be happy, to whom any human power can deny the necessaries or conveniencies of life. There is no way of living without foreign assistance, but by the product of our own land improved by our own labour.-Ib. 295. We are more inclinable to commend things we have heard of, than such as we have seen ourselves. -Velleius Paterculus. 296. They who give a shock to a state, are ready to be the first who are swallowed up in the ruin; the fruits of a public commotion are seldom enjoyed by the person who fomented it; he only disturbs the water for others to catch the fish.-Montaigne. 297. The youth who follows his appetites, too soon seizes the cup, before it has received its best ingredients, and by anticipating his pleasures, robs the remaining parts of life of their share, so that his eagerness only produces a manhood of imbecility and an age of pain.—Goldsmith. 298. Truth is the most powerful thing in the world, since even fiction itself must be governed by it, and can only please by its resemblance. The appearance of reality is necessary to make any passion agreeably represented, and to be able to move others we must be moved ourselves, or at least seem to be so, upon some probable grounds.-Shaftsbury. 299. Justness of thought and style, refinement in manners, good breeding, and politeness of every kind, can come only from the trial and experience of what is best.-Ib. 300. Gravity is of the very essence of imposture; it does not only make us mistake other things, but is apt perpetually almost to mistake itself.—Ib. 301. Nothing is so contemptible as that affectation of wisdom, which some display, by universal incredulity. -Goldsmith. 302. The true perceptions of a child are the objects that surround him: these are the instructors to whom he owes almost all his ideas.-Helvetius. 303. The most striking characters are sometimes the produce of an infinity of little accidents.-Ib. 304. By annihilating the desires, you annihilate the mind. Every man without passions, has within him no principle of action, nor motive to act.-Ib. 305. A man without desire and without want, is without invention and without reason.-Ib. |