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they had understood, they would never have regarded. If they had known the natural reason of thunder, they would never have sacrificed to Jupiter, to divert it from themselves. Their capacities are naturally too dull to apprehend any thing that is ever so little removed from outward senses, though it be derived from it; but are wonderfully acute at unravelling of mysteries, and such things as have no relation at all to it.-Butler's Remains.

DCCCXVII.

Meaning of “do as you would be done to.”—The saying, "do as you would be done to," is often misunderstood, for it is not thus meant, that I, a private man, should do to you, a private man, as I would have you do to me; but do as we have agreed to do one to another by public agreement. If the prisoner should ask the judge whether he would be contented to be hanged, were he in his case, he would answer no. Then, says the prisoner, do as you would be done to; neither of them must do as private men, but the judge must do by him as they have publicly agreed; that is, both judge and the prisoner have consented to a law, that if either of them steal, he shall be hanged.—Selden.

DCCCXVIII.

Different Stages of Life.-There is a time which pre.cedes reason, when, like other animals, we live by instinct alone; of which the memory retains no vestiges. There is a second term when reason discovers itself, when it is -formed, and might act, if it were not hoodwinked, as it

were, and manacled by vices of the constitution, and a chain of passions, which succeed one another till the third and last age: reason then being in its force, naturally should assert its dignity, and control the appetites; but it is impaired and benumbed by years, sickness, and pains, and shattered by the disorders of the declining machine: yet these years, with their several imperfections constitute the life of man.-Bruyere.

DCCCXIX.

Enthusiasm.—I have always looked upon alchymy in natural philosophy, to be like enthusiasm in divinity, and to have troubled the world much to the same purpose.Sir W. Temple.

DCCCXX.

Friends.-There are a sort of friends, who in your poverty do nothing but torment and taunt you with accounts of what you might have been, had you followed their advice and this privilege comes from the comparative state of their finances and yours.-Zimmerman.

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DCCCXXI.

The Advantages of Truth.-Let him that is skeptical as to the vast importance of truth, cast his eye down the long catalogue of crimes and cruelties which stain the annals of the past, and examine the melioration which has taken place in the practices of the world, and he will not again inquire into the nature of those advantages, which follow the destruction of error. All the liberality of thinking which now prevails, the spirit of resistance to tyranny, the contempt of priestcraft, the comparative rarity and mild

ness of religious persecution, the mitigation of national prejudices, the disappearance of a number of mischievous superstitions, the abolition of superfluous, absurd, and sanguinary laws, are so many exemplifications of the benefits resulting from the progress of moral and political truth. They are triumphs, all of them, over established error, and imply, respectively, either the removal of a source of misery or a positive addition to the sources of happiness. It is impossible for a moment to imagine, that if moral and political science had been thoroughly under stood, the barbarity here noticed would have existed. A pernicious custom or an absurd law can never long prevail amidst a complete and universal appreciation of its character.-Essays on the Formation of Opinion.

DCCCXXI.

The Dislike of Change.-The antipathy of ignorance to change of custom, originates in the attachment to existing customs, merely because they exist. It is the attachment of Mahometans to opium and to two wives, and of Chris. tians to alcohol and one wife. It is the attachment of Christians and Mahometans to the custom, that when the father dies, the mother shall protect their children. It is the attachment of the Hindoos to the custom, that upon the death of the father, the widow shall burn herself at his funeral, and leave their children orphans. It is the attachment of the peasants, who, in a particular district of Italy, loaded their panniers with vegetables on one side, and balanced the opposite panniers by filling it with stones; and when a traveller pointed out the advantage to be gained by loading both panniers with vegetables; he was answered "that their forefathers, from time imme

morial, had so prepared their produce for market: that they were very wise and good men, and that a stranger showed very little understanding or decency who interfered in the established customs of a country.—Basil Montague's Preface to the 5th vol. of Lord Bacon's Works.

DCCCXXI11.

Of the Formation of Opinions.-Our opinions are formed First, by impressions made on our senses. Secondly, by confidence in the communication of others. Thirdly, by our reasonings upon these impressions and communications. Although our opinions are traceable to impressions, communications, and reasonings, the opinion of the generality of men must unavoidably be formed by confidence in communication. The opinions, for instance, entertained by the generality of the Turks, of the truth of the Alcoran, is formed by the constant communication made by their parents, their preceptors, and by the whole com. munity.-Montague's Thoughts, &c.

DCCCXXIV.

Gaudy Attire.-Beauty gains little, and homeliness and deformity lose much, by gaudy attire. Lysander knew this was in part true, and refused the rich garments that the tyrant Dionysius proffered to his daughters, saying, "That they were fit only to make unhappy faces more remarkable."-Zimmerman.

DCCCXXV.

Advice is seldom well received, well intended, or productive of any good. It is seldom well received, because

it implies a superiority of judgment in the giver; and it is seldom intended for any other end than to show it: it is seldom of any service to the giver, because it more frequently makes him an enemy than a friend; and as seldom to the receiver, because, if he is not wise enough to act properly without it, he will scarcely be wise enough to distinguish that which is good.

DCCCXXVI.

Romances.-'Tis probable that, of all the causes which have injured the health of women, the principal has been the prodigious multiplication of romances within the last century. From the cradle to the most advanced age, they read them with an eagerness which keeps them almost without motion and without sleep. A young girl, instead of running about and playing, reads, perpetually reads, and at twenty becomes full of vapours, instead of being qualified for the duties of a good wife or nurse. These causes, which influence the physical equality, influence the moral man. I have known persons of both sexes, whose constitution would have been robust, weakened gradually by the too strong impressions of impassioned writings. The most tender romances hinder marriages, instead of promoting them. A woman, while her heart is warmed by the languor of love, does not seek a husband; a hero must lay his laurels at her feet. The fire of love does not warm her heart, it only inflames her imagination.-Tissot.

DCCCXXVII.

Indolence of the Human Mind.-The human mind is fitted, from its own indolence, to be dazzled by the glare

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