243.

Wine is like anger; for it makes us strong,
Blind and impatient, and it leads us wrong,

The strength is quickly lost, we feel the error long!

244.

Crabbe.

Evil and strong, seducing passions prey
On soaring minds and win them from their way,
Who then to vice the subject spirits give
And in the service of the conqueror live;
Like captive Sampson making sport for all,
Who feared their strength and glory in their fall.

245.

Should we a foul, ungenerous action dread
Because a law condemns th' adulterous bed?
Or fly pollution, not for fear of stain,
But that some statute tells us to refrain?
The grosser herd in ties like these we bind,

Ib.

IN VIRTUE'S FREEDOM MORE'S TH' ENLIGHTENED

MIND.

246.

Ib.

Who often reads, will sometimes wish to write.

247.

Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks

Invisible, except to God alone,

Ib.

By his permissive will, through heaven and earth.

248.

Milton.

Oft though wisdom, wake suspicion sleeps

At wisdom's gate, and to simplicity

Resigns her charge, while goodness thinks no ill

Where no ill seems.

Ib.

D

249.

Know that in the soul

Are many lesser faculties that serve

REASON as chief.

250.

Ib.

Reason the power

To guess at right and wrong, the twinkling lamp Of wand'ring life, that winks and wakes by turns, Fooling the follower betwixt shade and shining.

251.

Wits, just like fools, at war about a name,
Have full as oft no meaning, or the same.

252.

Pleasure, or wrong or rightly understood,
Our greatest evil, or our greatest good!

Congreve.

Pope.

Ib.

253.

One MASTER PASSION in the breast

Like Aaron's serpent, swallows up the rest.

254.

Ib.

The same ambition can destroy or save
And makes a patriot, as it makes a knave!

Ib.

255.

Vice is a monster of so frightful mien
As, to be hated, needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with the face,
We first endure, then PITY, then EMBRACE!
Virtuous and vicious, every man must be,
Few in the extreme, but all in a degree.

Ib.

256.

Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense,
Lie in three words, HEALTH, PEACE and COMPETENCE.

257.

Ib.

Know then this truth (enough for man to know)
Virtue alone is happiness below.

258.

Be good yourself, nor think another's shame
Can raise your merit, or adorn your fame.

259.

Ib.

Lyttleton.

Seek to be good, but aim not to be great,
A woman's noblest station is retreat:
Her fairest virtues fly from public sight,
DOMESTIC WORTH, that shuns too strong a light.

260.

A cunning woman is a knavish fool.

261.

Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear;
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its fragrance in the desert air.

262.

Those who in quarrels interpose,
Must often wipe a bloody nose.

263.

All upstarts, insolent in place,
Remind us of their vulgar race.

Ib.

Ib.

Gray.

Gay.

Ib.

264.

An

open foe may prove a curse, But a pretended friend is worse.

Ib.

265.

Without a name reprove and warn,

Here none are hurt, and all may learn.

Ib.

Of all the fools that pride can boast,
A coxcomb claims distinction most.

Ib.

270.

I hold it rash at any time,

To deal with fools disposed to rhyme.

271.

Wilkie.

Heaven from all creatures hides the book of fate, All but the page prescribed, their present state.

272.

Begin with gentle toils; and, as your nerves
Grow firm, to harder by just steps aspire.

Pope.

Akenside.

273.

May my song soften, as thy daughters I
Britannia, hail! for beauty is their own,
The feeling heart, simplicity of life,
And elegance, and taste; the faultless form,
Shap'd by the hand of harmony; the cheek,
Where the live crimson, thro' the native white,
Soft shooting, o'er the face diffuses bloom,
And every nameless grace: the parted lip,
Like the red rose, but moist with morning dew,
Breathing delight; and, under flowing jet,
Or sunny ringlets, or of circling brown,
The neck slight shaded, and the swelling breast;
The look resistless, piercing to the soul,
And by the soul inform'd, when drest in love,
She sits high-smiling in the conscious eye.

274.

As all is dulness, when the fancy's bad,
So, without judgment, fancy is but mad.

275.

Thomson.

Buckingham.

Be wise to-day; 'tis madness to defer;
Next day the fatal precedent will plead;
Thus on, till wisdom is pushed out of life.
Procrastination is the thief of time;
Year after year it steals, till all are fled,
And to the mercies of a moment leaves
The vast concerns of an eternal scene.

276.

Young.

Then stay the present instant, dear Horatio;
Imprint the marks of wisdom on its wings,

'Tis of more worth than kingdoms! far more precious
Than all the crimson treasures of life's fountain.
O! let it not elude thy grasp, but like