DCCLXXXIV.

Education.-Education is to the mind what cleanliness is to the body; the beauties of the one, as well as the other, are blemished, if not totally lost, by neglect: and as the richest diamond cannot shoot forth its lustre wanting the lapidary's skill, so will the latent virtue of the noblest mind be buried in obscurity, if not called forth by precept and the rules of good manners.

That father, says the learned Baudier, who takes care to feed and clothe his son, but neglects to give him such accomplishments as befit his capacity and rank in life, is more than half his murderer; since he destroys the better part, and but continues the other to endure a life of shame. Of all the men we meet with, nine out of ten are what they are, good or evil, useful or not, by their education; it is that which makes the great difference in mankind: the little or almost insensible, impressions on our tender infancy have very important and lasting consequences.

Virtue is the hard and valuable part to be aimed at in education; all other considerations and accomplishments should give way and be postponed to this.-Maxims and Observations.

DCCLXXXV.

Desire of Change. The desire of change betrays itself on our very entrance into life, and continually operates in us till we die. We desire change of posture, of action, of food, change of all objects affecting the senses, for the eye cannot long remain fixed upon one object and the mind still less upon one idea. Nature seems to have implanted this desire in us, amongst many other wise pur

poses, in order timely to arrest us in the midst both of our labours and pleasures, lest we continue either of them to our prejudice; and happy is he, who early acquires the habit of most commonly obeying her gentle admonitions, without waiting until she upbraid him more or less loudly, for unreasonable and repeated procrastination. By doing so, he escapes numerous evils, not only temporary but permanent, for seasonable changes are indispensable to the steady well-being both of the mind and body.

DCCLXXXV1.

Equality is deemed by many a mere speculative chimera, which can never be reduced to practice. But if the abuse is inevitable, does it follow that we ought not to try at least to mitigate it? It is precisely because the force of things tends always to destroy equality, that the force of the legislature must always tend to maintain it.-Rous

seau.

DCCLXXXVII.

Voluntary labour, taken in due place and season, doth save much exertion afterwards; and moderate care enables a man commonly to pass his life with ease, comfort, and delight; whereas, idleness frequently doth let slip oportunities and advantages which cannot with ease be retrieved, and letteth things fall into a bad case, out of which they can hardly be recovered.-Barrow.

DCCLXXXVIII.

Anarchy and Despotism.-The nature of anarchy has never been sufficiently understood. It is undoubtedly a horrible calamity, but it is less horrible than despotism.

Where anarchy has slain its hundreds, despotism has sa. crificed millions upon millions, with this only effect-to perpetuate the ignorance, the vices, and the miseries of mankind. Anarchy is a short-lived mischief, while despotism is all but immortal. It is to despotism that anarchy is indebted for its sting-Godwin.

DCCLXXXIX.

Fear of Shame the effect of Pride.-Do but incrcase a man's pride, and his fear of shame will ever be proportioned to it; for a greater value a man sets upon himself, the more pains he will take, and the greater hardships he will undergo to avoid shame.-Mandeville's Fable of the Bees.

DCCXC.

Sports.-How assiduously intent and eager may we observé men to be at sports; how soon will they rise to go forth to them; with what constancy and patience will they toil in them all the day; how long will they sit poring on their games, dispensing with their food and sleep for it. But how much in such cases do men forget what they are doing, that sport should be sport, not work; to divert and relax us, not to employ and busy us; to take off our minds a little, not wholly to take them up; not to exhaust or tire our spirits, but to refresh and cheer them, that they may return with renewed vigour to more grave and use. ful occupation.-Barrow.

DCCXCI.

Fenelon on Predestination.-Fenelon, Archbishop of Cambray, was a great enemy to the doctrines of the Fatal

ists, which he called cruel, unpitying, and tending to plunge their votaries into despair: and, in order to combat these doctrines, he consulted his heart more than his theology. "What a terrible Being" said he "do they make of God! For my part, I consider him as a Good Being, and I never can consent to regard him as a tyrant, who having fettered us, commands us to walk, and then punishes us because we cannot obey him.”—Elegant Anecdotes.

DCCXCII.

To be distinguished is every thing.-So great is the concern we have for the fate of the beautiful, and the wellinformed, the brave, or the great, that we hear of their vices with emotion; whilst those of the deformed or the cowardly, the ignorant or the poor, scarcely appear to exceed what we expected. To be distinguished is every thing.-Zimmerman.

DCCXCIII.

True Philosophy.—Madame Necker relates the following anecdote of M. Abauret, a philosopher of Geneva:— It was said of him that he never had been out of temper: some persons, by means of his female servant, were determined to put this to the proof. The woman in question stated that she had been his servant for thirty years, and she protested that during that time she had never seen him in a passion. They promised her a sum of money if she would endeavour to make him angry; she consented, and knowing he was particularly fond of having his bed well made, she on the day appointed neglected to make it. M. Abauret observed it, and the next morning made the observation to her, she answered that she had forgotten

it; she said nothing more, but on the same evening she again neglected to make the bed; the same observation was made on the morrow by the philosopher, and she again made some such excuse in a cooler manner than before. On the third day he said to her, "you have not yet made my bed; you have apparently come to some resolution on the subject, as you probably found it fatigue you. But after all it is of no great consequence, as I begin to accustom myself to it as it is." She threw herself at his feet and avowed all to him.

DCCXCIV.

On the Diffusion of Knowledge.—When knowledge, instead of being bound up in books, and kept in libraries and retirement, is obtruded on the public in distinct sheets; when it is canvassed in every assembly, and exposed upon every table, I cannot forbear reflecting upon that passage in the proverbs: Wisdom crieth without, she uttereth her voice in the streets: she crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the opening of the gates. In the city she uttereth her words, saying, how long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning? and fools hate knowledge?"—Spectator.

DCCXCV.

Alchymy.-As for that part of chemistry, which is applied to the transmutation of metals, and the search of the philosopher's stone, which has enchanted, not to say turned, so many brains in the latter ages-though some men cannot comprehend how there should have been so much smoke, for so many ages in the world about it, without some fire-it is easy, I think, to conceive, that there has