perfection, but slothfully languishes; for it was not with his tongue that Apelles performed his noble works. 26. The ascent to greatness, however steep and dangerous, may entertain an active spirit with the consciousness and exercises of its own power; but the possession of a throne could never yet afford a lasting satisfaction to an ambitious mind. This melancholy truth was felt and acknowledged by Severus. Fortune and merit had, from an humble station, elevated him to the first place among mankind. "He had been all things," as he said of himself," and all was of little value." Omnia fuit et nihil expedit. Distracted with the care, not of acquiring, but of preserving an empire, oppressed with age and infirmities, careless of fame, and satiated with empire, all his prospects of life were closed.-Gibbon, i. 130. 27. "Though I suffer," said Augustine when sick, "yet I am well, because I am as God would have me to be; for when we will not what he wills, it is we that are in the fault, and not he, who can neither do nor permit anything but what is just."-Letter Xxxviii. edit. Benedict. 28. "It is incomparably better," says he in the same letter, "to shut the door of our heart against just anger, when it offers to come in, than to give it entrance; being uncertain, whether it may not grow too powerful for us to turn it out again." 29. "Non est episcopatus artificium transidgendæ vitæ fallacis.-Episcopacy ought not to be looked upon as an establishment, or a means to procure the deceitful pleasures of life."-Letter lviii. 30. Nectarius, an heathen, interceding with Augustine for some of his fellow-citizens, who had committed some crime, urges this reason to prevail with him: "That it is the duty of a bishop to do nothing but good to mankind: not to meddle with their affairs, unless it be to make them better, and to intercede with God to pardon their faults." Letter xc. SERPENTS. The effects of their poison are wonderful; as of that called the Copper-head in South America. A man stung by one became like a serpent: spots of various colors alternately appeared and vanished on different parts of his body rage filled his eyes, which darted the most menacing looks on all present: he thrust out his tongue as the snakes do, and h'ssed through his teeth with inconceivable force. A striking picture of our great adversary, and the manner in which by his suggestions he acts on the human mind, and fills it with his own temper and disposition. These effects from the bite of a serpent are not more extraordinary, than the foamings and barkings, and disposition to bite, which have been observed in cases of canine madness.-See Letters from an American Farmer, by J. Hector St. John, letter x. Crit. Rev. April, 1782, p. 267. See in the same place the account of a battle between two snakes, a black snake and a water snake, each six feet long, till they both fell into the ditch, where one kept the head of the other under water till he was suffocated. SEVERITY PROFITABLE. Children are the better for the severity of their parents; and the reproaches of an enemy serve often to correct and improve the person who is the object of them. The case, if we credit Erasmus, is pretty much the same in the republic of letters.-"Unius Laurentii Vallæ mordacitas non paulo plus conduxit rei literariæ, quam plurimorum ineptus candor, omnia omnium sine delectu mirantium, sibique invicem plaudentium, ac mutuum (quod aiunt) scabentium."-Epist. iii. 96.— The severity of Laurentius Valla did more service to the cause of letters, than the absurd indulgence of those, who, giving indiscriminate praise to the works of others, expect the same for their own, and, to use the words of the proverb, agree in scratching one another. SHAKSPERE'S GENIUS. Shakspere was perhaps in some instances less inventive than is commonly imagined. It appears from Dr. Farmer's pamphlet, that there was an astonishing mass of materials before him, in old translations of the classics, of Italian tales, romances, &c. Some of these are still extant; but many others, the names of which are preserved, have perished. From the former he is seen continually borrowing. The celebrated speech of Volumnia to her son is a piece of such remaining prose, only thrown into blank verse. In most cases, however, though the clay pre-existed, he was the Prometheus who animated it. SHYNESS. Mr. Loveday used to style shyness the English madness. If indulged it may be the cause of madness, by driving men to shun company and live in solitude, which few heads are strong enough to bear-none, if it be joined with idleness. Or it may be the effect of madness, which is misanthropic and malignant. Some say pride is always at the bottom. You do not like company, you are An expect it from us, cannot be excused by allotting those hours to meditation, to prayer, to religious studies, which belong properly to society, and to the exercise of social virtues. Jortin's Sermons, iii. 238. SOCINIANS. uneasy in it. Why? You are conscious of some infirmity which disqualifies you from shining, and making that figure you wish to do. Others excel you in breeding, conversation, and the arts of pleasing. You feel selfabasement and vexation at being thus abashed and kept under: you fly from the scene of torment, hating your tormentors, and abusing They projected a league with the churches them either to yourself, or in society of an of Algiers and Morocco, in the time of Charles inferior sort, among those who will join you, II. See their proposal to the ambassador, in having perhaps suffered the same, or worse; the works of Leslie.-Adam Neuser, who and so you relieve and comfort one another. was employed to introduce Socinianism into -All this, I am afraid, is too true. Germany, being disappointed, went into TurEnglishman is upon the reserve, according to key, and enlisted among the Janisaries. Mrs. Piozzi, by way of security, lest he should Mosheim, iv. 192, 8vo. where see an excelsay something open to the censure and ridi- lent account of the rise and progress of Socule of others, and so his character should cinianism and its principles. Socinus thought suffer. This is upon the same principle: and Christ was to be worshipped. (Stillingfleet, so, if he cannot say something fine and witty, 149.) Some of his followers went farther, and worthy of himself, he sits sullen, and says and denied that article: he tried to reclaim nothing. Thus a whole company among us them, but in vain.-See Stillingfleet on the is often silent for a considerable time together, Trinity, preface, p. 59. At p. 62 there is a till they wish themselves and one another quotation from a Socinian writer, who styles farther. The Italians it seems, talk freely and the Tartar-"the shield and sword of that easily all that occurs, having no such thoughts way of worshipping God." Paulus Alciatus and fears. "A Frenchman," says Ganganelli, is there mentioned, who from an Unitarian "is superficial and lively; an Englishman turned a Mahometan. profound and gloomy."-Which is the best? În a social light, and as a companion, certainly the former. SUICIDE. A scorpion, when he finds himself inclosed, and no way left him to escape, will bend his head. And it is remarkable, that this is the tail round, and sting himself through the only animal in the creation, man excepted, that can be made to commit suicide. SUN. If the sun were intelligent, he would see and know all, even to the intimate substance of things, as his rays penetrate to and affect every atom of matter. Thus is the Deity intimate to the spirits and thoughts of men. Cudworth adduces the instance of the sun, as furnishing an idea how all things may be viewed and governed by the Deity without pain, labor, or fatigue, in answer to the objection of the atheists against Providence (Bibl. Chois. ix. 64.): and a noble illustration it is as was ever conceived by man. curious passage on the subject of God's omniscience is cited by Le Clerc, in the same place, from Xenophon's Mem. c. iv. 17 edit. Oxon. 8vo. God's glory consists in the communication of his goodness to his creatures, as the light diffused from the sun is the glory of the celestial luminary. Cudworth, B. C. ix. 69. SUNDAY SCHOOLS. A The different sects may instruct each its own children in a school of its own; but I do not see how the children of different sects can be instructed together in one school, as their doctrines, catechisms, &c. are different, and the children are to be conducted to separate places of worship: the parents of one sort will not approve of their children being carried to the church or meeting-house of another. How can you bring them all up in a catholic way, unless you have one catholic, i. e. universal, general, common religion, in which to bring them up? To be of a catholic spirit, is to unite in that one religion; not to jumble together the errors, inconsistencies, and heresies of all. This must end in indifference. It may bring the people of the church nearer to the sects; but the present times do not give us any hope that it will bring the sects nearer to the church. -See Bruce, v. i. p. 519-523. TARTARS-THEIR CUSTOMS. 1. In Kardan, a province of Tartary, as soon as a woman is delivered, she rises, washes, and dresses the child. Then the husband, getting into bed with the infant, keeps it there forty days, and receives visits as if he had lain in.-It seemeth not easy to account for this custom. Apply this to the case of authors who publish other people's works as their own, and take the credit to themselves; or to rectors, who value themselves on account of the good done by their curates. 2. Various have been the disputes, in different ages and nations, about the object of adoration. In some parts of Tartary, the inhabitants, to make short work of it, worship the oldest man in the house, as the being from whom the rest of the family have received life and all things.-Apply this to those who dote upon antiquity, as such. TEA. The Mogul Tartars, Abbé Grozier tells us, who feed on raw flesh, are subject to continual indigestions whenever they give over the use of tea. It may be the same in some degree with all who eat so much animal food as we do. It is true, the work of digestion is made easier by fire, in dressing; but then our stomachs are weaker than those of the Tartars. Tea should not be drunk, but when there is something for it to feed upon. TEMPERANCE. 1. Carnivorous animals have more courage, and muscular strength, and activity, in proportion to their bulk; which is evident by comparing the cat-kind, as lions, tigers, | and likewise the dog-kind, with herb-eating animals of the same bulk. Birds of prey excel granivorous in strength and courage. I know more than one instance of irascible passions being much subdued by a vegetable diet.-Arbuthnot. 2. Imitation requires judgment to discern when circumstances are parallel; because, if they are not, it will be absurd and ridiculous; as a goose, that sees another goose drink, will do the same though he is not thirsty.-The custom of drinking for company, when drink is disagreeable and prejudicial, seems to be a case of the same kind, and to put a man (feathers only excepted) upon a footing with a goose. 3. The emperor of Abyssinia, at his meals, has always an officer present, whose business it is, as soon as he perceives in his imperial majesty any tendency to intemperance, to tell him of it; upon which he immediately rises from table, and retires.-See Dr. Poncet's Journey into Ethiopia, in the Jesuits' Travels by Lockman, vol. 1. 4. "You Europeans," say the Hottentots, 66 are madmen. You build great houses, though your bodies take up but little space: you have so great a number of wants, in order for clothing and nourishing yourselves, that, not contented with things sufficient for yourselves in Europe, you come to this and other countries, in order to dispossess the inhabitants of their clothes and food. With regard to ourselves, we want neither money nor wares: as we neither eat nor dress after your manner, there is nothing can oblige us to work and disturb ourselves as you do." 5. Hippocrates and Cornaro did so much honor to physic and temperance, as to insure their bodies from the attack of any disease; nor were they mistaken. 6. Porphyry's comparison is very just, that a full meal is like Sisera's banquet, at the end of which there is a nail struck into a man's temples. See Arnold on Ecclus. xxxi. 20. 7. A man who is determined, either by choice or necessity, to drink rum and water, should keep a jealous eye on his measure; that once violated, his palate becomes vitiated; and, if reason is not exerted to prevent, it will seldom be found equal to the task of correcting a habit formed upon the ruins of fortitude. Mosely on Tropical Diseases, p. 55.-An admirable observation, deserving well to be regarded by all who drink a mixture of any spirits with water-or even of wine and water. TIME. 1. "No man," saith Lord Bacon, "can be so straitened and oppressed with business and an active course of life, but he may have many vacant times of leisure, while he expects the returns and tides of business." The question is, how these shall be filled up; with study and contemplation, or with sensuality and pleasure. A man may be out of his bed for sixteen of the twenty-four hours: what might not be done in that time?" See Rambler, 108, vol. iii. p. 14. 2. "Every day is a year to a silk-worm, and has in it the four seasons: the morning is spring, the middle of the day is summer, the evening autumn, and the night winter." Voyages and Travels, iv. 193, from Navarette. To man life is a year, and a year is a day. See the Idler. 3. Past scenes are generally recollected with a solemn sadness, caused by the thought, that the time is gone which will never more return. Our days must be well and profitably spent, if we would remember them with pleasure. 4. In our Christian course, it is but too generally and too truly observed, that, as we grow older, we grow colder; we become more slack, remiss, and weary in well-doing. The reverse ought to be the case, for the reason assigned by the apostle, when, stirring up his converts to vigor and zeal and alacrity, he says, "For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." In a race, the push is made at last. 5. What enabled Dr. Birch to go through such a variety of undertakings was his being an early riser. By this method he had executed the business of the morning before numbers of people had begun it. And indeed it is the peculiar advantage of rising betimes, that it is not in the power of any interruptions, avocations, or engagements whatever, to deprive a man of the hours which have already been well employed, or to rob him of the consolation of reflecting, that he hath not spent the day in vain. Biog. Brit. ii. 323. grant me ever to consider this, and so to cultivate it, that it may bring forth fruit to life eternal! Amen. TRIUMPH BEFORE VICTORY. Nothing can be got, but much may be lost, by triumphing before a battle. When Charles V. invaded France, he lost his generals and a great part of his army by famine and disease; and returned baffled and thoroughly mortified from an enterprise which he began with such confidence of its happy issue, that he desired Paul Jovius the historian to make a large provision of paper sufficient to record the victories he was going to acquire. TYPES. that must be set in a due light and posture, VAIN CURIOSITY. Many people, instead of minding their own business, and securing their souls, amuse themselves with inquiring what will be the fate of Heathens, Jews, Turks, and other infidels, till they become little better than infidels themselves—" Lord, and what shall this man do?" "What is that to thee? Follow thou me.” UNIVERSITIES. 1. It was a custom with the Gymnosophists, every day, at dinner, to examine their disciples, how they had spent the morning; and every one was obliged to show, that he had discharged some good office, practised some virtue, or improved in some part of learning. If nothing of this appeared, he was sent back without his dinner. A mighty good institution, surely! Pity but it could be revived, and practiced in college-halls! 2. "For one lost by his own passions," says Maty, "I have known at least forty men ruined by not being told of their danger." He proposes for reformation of 6. There is a traditional anecdote concerning Mr. Boyle, that he used sometimes to have it inscribed over his door-" Mr. Boyle is not to be spoken with to-day." This was very proper in one who was often engaged in processes of the utmost importance, and which required an unremitted attention. universities— Indeed, if literary men, in general, could find 1. Expulsion of those who will not suba rational method of preventing the inter-mit to rules and orders and a state of pupilruptions of needless morning visitants, it age. would be of service to the prosecution of many useful designs. Ibid. 514. 7. Cardan's motto was, " Tempus mea pos 2. A rigorous exaction of the stated appearances at chapel and in the hall. 3. To break, by varied hours of lecture, sessio, tempus ager meus." "Time is my the possibility of long junketings. estate, my land that I am to cultivate." Lord, 4. Some feeling lectures from Plato and 138 ESSAYS AND THOUGHTS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS. Epictetus on the dignity and manliness of the | boni vivere parvo; the dependence and servility of debt; the inelegance and future mischiefs of promiscuous concubinage. WIT. 1. He who sacrifices religion to wit, like the people mentioned by Elian, worships a fly, and offers up an ox to it. 2. Wit, like salt, should excite an appetite, not provoke disgust; cleanse wounds, not create them; be used to recommend and preserve that which is sound, not to be thrown away upon that which is arleady rotten. 3. Wit without wisdom is salt without meat, and that is but a comfortless dish to set a hungry man down to. Wit, employed to disguise and prejudice truth, is salt thrown into a man's eyes. 4. Nothing is more absurd than to divert a man who wants to be comforted; for salt, though an excellent relisher, is a miserable cordial. 5. Jocularity should not be obtruded upon company when they are not in the humor for it; as a well bred man would no more force salt than pepper upon his guests, whose constitutions it might not suit. |