CCLXXVIII.

It is a common shift to charge that upon the ingratitude of the receiver, which, in truth, is most commonly the levity and indiscretion of the giver; for all circumstances must be duly weighed to consummate the action. -Seneca.

CCLXXIX.

It is the glory and merit of some men to write well, and of others not to write at all.-Bruyere.

CCLXXX.

Words are but lackeys to sense, and will dance at tendance without wages or compulsion: Verba non invita sequentur.-Swift.

CCLXXXI.

Learned men oft greedily pursue

Things that are rather wonderful than true,
And in their nicest speculations, chuse
To make their own discoveries strange news,
And natʼral hist'ry rather a Gazette
Of rarities stupendous and far-fet;

Believe no truths are worthy to be known,
That are not strongly vast and overgrown,
And strive to explicate appearances,
Not as they're probable, but as they please,
In vain endeavour nature to suborn,

And, for their pains, are justly paid with scorn.

CCLXXXII.

Butler.

Rural esquires are to the last degree excessive in their food: an esquire of Norfolk eats two pounds of dumpling every meal, as if obliged to do it by order: an esquire of Hampshire is as ravenous in devouring hogs' flesh: one of Essex has as little mercy on calves. I must take the liberty to protest against them, and acquaint those persons, that it is not the quantity they eat, but the manner of eating, that shows an esquire.-Steele.

CCLXXXIII.

Let princes gather

My dust into a glass, and learn to spend

But

Their hour of state-that's all they have-for when
That's out, Time never turns the glass again.
The Traitor-Shirley.

CCLXXXIV.

A system-monger, who without knowing any thing of the world by experience, has formed a system of his own in his dusty cell, lays it down for example, that (from the general nature of mankind) flattery is pleasing. He will therefore flatter. But how? Why, indiscriminately. And instead of preparing and heightening the piece judiciously, with soft colours, and a delicate pencil, with a coarse brush, and a great deal of white-wash, he daubs and besmears the piece he means to adorn.Chesterfield.

CCLXXXV.
Deem as ye list upon good cause,
I may or think of this or that;
But what or why myself best knows,
Whereby I think and fear not.
But thereunto I well may think

The doubtful sentence of this clause,

I would it were not as I think;

I would I thought it were not.

For if I thought it were not so,
Though it were so, it griev'd me not;
Unto my thought it were as tho'
I hearkened though I hear not.
At that I see I cannot wink,

Nor from my thought so let it go:
I would it were not as I think;

I would I thought it were not.

Sir T. Wyatt-doubting his Lady's faith.

CCLXXXVI.

When I behold a fashionable table set out in all its magnificence, I fancy that I see gouts and dropsies, fevers and lethargies, with other innumerable distempers, lying in ambuscade among the dishes. Nature delights

in the most plain and simple diet.

Every animal, but man, keeps to one dish. Herbs are the food of this species, fish of that, and flesh of a third.

Man falls

upon every thing that comes in his way; not the smallest fruit or excrescence of the earth, scarce a berry or a mushroom can escape him.-Addison.

CCLXXXVII.

Grief hath two tongues, and never woman yet
Could rule them both, without ten women's wit,
Shakspeare.

CCLXXXVIII.

As riches and favour forsake a man, we discover him to be a fool, but nobody could find it out in his prosperity.-Bruyere.

CCLXXXIX.

Fernando. You have, then, a mistress, And thrive upon her favours-but thou art

My brother: I'll deliver thee a secret:

I was at St. Sebastian's, last Sunday,

At vespers.

Francisco. It is a secret that you went to church? You need not blush to tell your ghostly father.

Fernando. I prithee leave thy impertinence: there I

saw

So sweet a face, so harmless, so intent
Upon her prayers; it frosted my devotion
To gaze upon her, till by degrees I took
Her fair idea, through my covetous eyes,
Into my heart, and know not how to ease
It since of the impression.

Her eye did seem to labour with a tear,
Which suddenly took birth, but, overweigh'd
With its own swelling, dropped upon her bosom,
Which, by reflection of her light appear'd
As Nature meant her sorrow for an ornament.
After, her looks grew cheerful, and I saw
A smile shoot graceful upward from her eyes,
VOL II.

G

As if they gain'd a victory o'er grief;
And with it many beams twisted themselves,
Upon whose golden threads the angels walk
To and again from heaven.

CCXC.

The Brothers Shirley.

What is said by the chemists of their darling mercury, is perhaps true of every body through the whole creation, that, if a thousand lives should be spent upon it, all its properties would not be found out.-Johnson.

CCXCI.

It is a common thing to screw up justice to the pitch of an injury. A man may be over-righteous, and why not over-grateful too? There is a mischievous excess, that borders so close upon ingratitude, that it is no easy matter to distinguish the one from the other: but there is goodwill at the bottom of it (however distempered) for it is effectually but kindness out of the wits.-Se

neca.

CCXCII.

Nothing is more silly than the pleasure some people take in "speaking their minds." A man of this make will say a rude thing, for the mere pleasure of saying it, when an opposite behaviour, full as innocent, might have preserved his friend, or made his fortune.-Steele.

CCXCIII.

Unnumber'd maladies (man's) joints invade,
Lay siege to life, and press the dire blockade;
But unextinguish'd avarice still remains,
And dreaded losses aggravate his pains;
He turns with anxious heart and crippled hands,
His bonds of debt and mortgages of lands;
Or views his coffers with suspicious eyes,
Unlocks his gold, and counts it till he dies.

CCXCIV.

Johnson.

As the sword of the best tempered metall is most

flexible; so the truly generous are most pliant and courteous in their behaviour to their inferiors.-Fuller.

CCXCV.

It is hard for a haughty man ever to forgive one that has caught him in a fault, and whom he knows has reason to complain of him: his resentment never subsides till he has regained the advantage he lost, and found means to make the other do him equal wrong.Bruyere.

CCXCVI.

Irregularity and want of method are only supportable in men of great learning or genius, who are often too full to be exact, and therefore choose to throw down their pearls in heaps before the reader, rather than be at the pains of stringing them.-Addison.

CCXCVII.

There is not any benefit so glorious in itself, but it may yet be exceedingly sweetened, and improved by the manner of conferring it. The virtue, I know, rests in the intent; the profit in the judicious application of the matter; but, the beauty and ornament of an obligation, lies in the manner of it.-Seneca.

CCXCVIII.

The modern device of consulting indexes, is to read books hebraically, and begin where others usually end. And this is a compendious way of coming to an acquaintance with authors; for authors are to be used like lobsters, you must look for the best meat in the tails, and lay the bodies back again in the dish. Your cun

ningest thieves (and what else are readers, who only read to borrow, i. e. to steal) use to cut off the portmanteau from behind, without staying to dive into the pockets of the owner.-Swift.

CCXCIX.

To gain the favour, and hear the applauses of our contemporaries, is, indeed, equally desirable with any other prerogative of superiority, because fame may be of use