If men of eminence are exposed to censure on the one hand, they are as much liable to flattery on the other. If they receive reproaches which are not due to them, they likewise receive praises which they do not deserve. He can bribe, but he is not able to seduce. He can buy, but he has not the power of gaining. He can lie, but no one is deceived by him. He embraced the cause of liberty faintly, and pursued it without resolution; he grew tired of it, when he had much to hope; and gave it up, when there was no ground for apprehension. There may remain a suspicion that we overrate the greatness of his genius, in the same manner as bodies appear more gigantic, on account of their being disproportioned and mishapen. SECT. VII. The seventh rule for promoting the strength and effect of sentences, is, to attend to the harmony and easy flow of the words and members. Grammar, p. 282. Key, p. 135. SOBERMINDEDNESS suits the present state of man. As conventiclers, these people were seized and punished. To use the Divine name customarily, and without serious consideration, is highly irreverent. From the favourableness with which he was at first received, great hopes of success were entertained. They conducted themselves wilily, and ensnared us before we had time to escape. It belongs not to our humble and confined station, to censure, but to adore, submit, and trust. Under all its labours, hope is the mind's solace; and the situations which exclude it entirely are few. The humbling of those that are mighty, and the precipitation of persons who are ambitious, from the towering height that they had gained, concern but little the bulk of men. Tranquillity, regularity, and magnanimity, reside with the religious and resigned man. Sloth, ease, success, naturally tend to beget vices and follies. By a cheerful, even, and open temper, he conciliated general favour. We reached the mansion before noon. It was a strong, grand, Gothic house. I had a long and perilous journey, but a comfortable companion, who relieved the fatigue of it. The speech was introduced by a sensible preamble, which made a favourable impression. The commons made an angry remonstrance against such an arbitrary requisition. The truly illustrious are they who do not court the praise of the world, but who perform such actions as make them indisputably deserve it. By the means of society, our wants come to be supplied, and our lives are rendered comfortable, as well as our capacities enlarged, and our virtuous affections called forth into their proper exercise. Life cannot but prove vain to such persons as affect a disrelish of every pleasure, which is not both new and exquisite, measuring their enjoyments by fashion's standard, and not by what they feel themselves; and thinking that if others do not admire their state, they are miserable. By experiencing distress, an arrogant insensibility of temper is most effectually corrected, from the remembrance of our own sufferings naturally prompting us to feel for others in their sufferings: and if Providence has favoured us, so as not to make us subject in our own lot to much of this kind of discipline, we should extract improvement from the lot of others that is harder; and step aside sometimes from the flowery and smooth paths which it is permitted us to walk in, in order to view the toilsome march of our fellow-creatures through the thorny desert. As no one is without his failings, so few want good qualities. Providence delivered them up to themselves, and they tormented themselves. From disappointments and trials, we learn the insufficiency of temporal things to happiness, and the necessity to godliness. CHAP. IV. Instances of an irregular use of Figures of Speech. No human happiness is so serene as not to contain any alloy. There is a time when factions, by the vehemence of their own fermentations, stun and disable one another. I intend to make use of these words in the thread of my speculations. Hope, the balm of life, darts a ray of light through the thickest gloom. The scheme was highly expensive to him, and proved the Charybdis of his estate. He was so much skilled in the empire of the oar, that few could equal him. The death of Cato has rendered the senate an orphan. Let us be attentive to keep our mouths as with a bridle'; and to steer our vessel aright, that we may avoid the rocks and shoals, which lie every where around us. At length Erasmus, that great injur'd name, In this our day of proof, our land of hope, On the wide sea of letters, 'twas thy boast Since the time that reason began to bud, and put forth her shoots, thought, during our waking hours, has been active in every breast, without a moment's suspension or pause. The current of ideas has been always moving. The wheels of the spiritual engine have exerted themselves with perpetual motion. The man who has no rule over his own spirit, possesses no antidote against poisons of any sort. He lies open to every insurrection of ill-humour, and every gale of distress. Whereas he who is employed in regulating his mind, is making provision against all the accidents of life. He is erecting a fortress into which, in the day of sorrow, he can retreat with satisfaction. Tamerlane the Great, writes to Bajazet, emperor of the Ottomons, in the following terms-"Where is the monarch who dares resist us? Where is the potentate who does not glory in being numbered among our attendants? As for thee, descended from a Turcoman sailor, since the vessel of thy unbounded ambition has been wrecked in the gulf of thy self-love, it would be proper that thou shouldst take in the sails of thy temerity, and cast the anchor of repentance in the port of sincerity and justice, which is the port of safety; lest the tempest of our vengeance make thee perish in the sea of the punishment thou deservest." It is pleasant to be virtuous and good; because that is to ⚫xcel many others: it is pleasant to grow better; because that is to excel ourselves: it is pleasant to command our appetites and passions, and to keep them in due order, within the bounds of reason and religion; because this is empire: nay, it is pleasant even to mortify and subdue our lusts; because that is victory. CHAP. V. Violations of the Rules respecting perspicuous and accurate WHAT is human life to all, but a mixture, with various cares and troubles, of some scattered joys and pleasures? When favours of every kind are conferred speedily, they are doubled. He will soon weary the company, who is himself wearied. He must endure the follies of others, who will have their kindnesses. For the last years of man the first must make provision. Perpetual light-mindedness must terminate in ignorance. In these, and in such like cases, we should, in our alms, generally suffer none to be witnesses, but Him who must see every thing. The reason why he is so badly qualified for the business, is because he neglected his studies, and opportunities of improvement. That Plutarch wrote lives of Demosthenes and Cicero at Cheronea, it is clear from his own account, I wish to cultivate your further acquaintance. He may probably make the attempt, but he cannot possibly succeed. No pains were spared by his tutor, in order to his being improved in all useful knowledge. In no scene of her life was ever Mary's address more remarkably displayed. This was the cause which first gave rise to such a barbarous practice. He craftily endeavoured, by a variety of false insinuations which he made use of, to turn the emperor to his purpose. The beauty in the earth equals the grandeur in the hea vens. In health and vigour of body, and in the state of worldly fortune, all rejoice. What passes in the hearts of men, is generally unknown to the public eye. Many associations are united by laws the most arbitrary. These instances may, it is hoped, be sufficient to satisfy every reasonable mind. By such general and comprehensive rules as this, the clearest ideas are conveyed. He determined not to comply with the proposal, except he should receive a more ample compensation. There can be no doubt but that health is preferable to riches. They declared to their friends, that they believed the perusal of such books had ruined their principles. John's temper greatly indisposed him for instruction. Vegetation is advancing constantly, though no eye can trace the steps of its gradation. The reason of my consenting to the measure, was owing to his importunity. I conceived a great regard for him, and could not but mourn for his loss. The officer apprehended him, and confined him in his own house. Charlotte, the friend of Amelia, to whom no one imputed blame, was too prompt in her vindication. Men who are rich and avaricious, lose themselves in a spring which might have cherished all around them. |