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of the eye lids are judiciously used as a parapit behind which to observe the movements of the enemy, and to ward off his missile wea pons, much evil may be eschewed, and much advantage gained by the knowledge of the distant intentions of those with whom we are engaged in the common intercourse of life, and still more in the commerce of difficult and dangerous affairs.

In the exercise of this art, it highly comportethito mark also the unaffected expressions of benevolence, in those with whom we converse, and from such gradually to choose our principal messmates and companions. From these again, after due probation, to select such als may deserve some share of our esteem and confidence and; last of all, out of this small groupe, to lobtain that most rare and admirable gift of heaven, a real and true friend, or in other words, a second self. I say a second self, for certain it is, that true friendship is: that which not only hath not a plural, but not even a dual in its true construction and authentic prosody.

That phisiognomonical science hath been set down as of doubtful interpretation, or even existence, by deep thinkers, and prudent observers of human nature, may be owing unto this circumstance, that most men who have dealt in it, have drawn their rules more from anatomical and picturesque considerations, than from long and actual observation and experience; and have not considered, that it is

only deserving of credit, when taken along with the tone of the voice, the convulsionary movements, or gesticulations of the body, the air of the whole person, and a thousand concomitant circumstances, that can only be the fruit of the confirmed habitudes of attention and observation, which therefore in the art of life, are to be justly held as of high commen dation and importance * *:

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(FROM THE BEE, OCT. 2. 1793.) Jigunt 7 90 1c hưởnuq su 117 9:00 Art of life, in the cultivation of such habitudes, as terminate in an amiable, tranquil, and respectable old age POTU BIL 70oqe 29.02 tila *****N forty years, (reckoning from the IN attainment of man's estate,) a man may have a deep gusto of the world; know. what it is, what it can afford, and what it is to have been a man. hap 0931g on

Such a latitude of years holdeth a considerable corner in the map of general history, especially if we count that only which is fully authentick, and fitted by the multiplicity of annals, to let us truly see the character of our kinde in that of our forefathers.

Thus a man may have a short epitome of

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the whole course of time in the dayes of his own life, and clearly see, that he hath but acted over again the drama of his predecessors, and what sort of thing living will be in all ages to come. §}.

In every stage or period of a man's pilgrimage upon earth, he looketh intently and with eagerness upon some shining point at a distance, and is ballanced in his progression by some weight of glory, or phantasm of pleasure, that cometh upon his imagination, his memory, or his judgement, and guideth his energy, or his ambition, or his prudence. At the termination of these vistas, he figureth to himself, and setteth forth, in romantick gawdy fiction, places of rest and quiet and delight, where he shall turmoil himself no more with the pursuit of the vain and transient objects of human ambition, but enjoy the calm delights of retirement from bustle and business, speculate upon the past, and prepare for the prize that he flatters himself with at the end of his career.

This is an admirable ordination of eternal providence, in the spurring of a man's jour ney, in the steep and asperous roads through which he hath to pass or to climb, in the eventful course from the cradle to the grave. "No sooner hath he arrived by the direction of a brilliant paint, to that which he supposed to be a seat of rest, and of quietness, than another point, and one (perhaps) still more brilliant and fascinating than the former, is

presented to his view. He again presses forward, and wonders at himself that he should have mistaken a bench upon the road for a magnificent and comfortable inn.

Now as man is a lazy animal, in common with all other creatures, this activity and predominancy of his imagination giveth him the mastery of every thing upon earth, and singularly distinguisheth him from the brutes, which is beautifully described by Longinus in his treatise concerning the sublime. "We are well assured, (sayeth he,) that nature hath not intended man for a low-spirited or ignoble being but bringing us into life, and into the midst of this wide universe, as before an immense multitude assembled at some heroick solemnity, that we might be spectators of all her magnificence, and candidates high in emulation for the prize of glory, she has implanted in our souls an unextinguishable love of every thing that appeareth divine beyond our comprehension.t

Certainly therefore it is of high account, in this our art of life, to change the object, but not to subdue the principle of this ambition, which for wise purposes hath been implanted in our nature. But as the vigour of our bodies and the energy of our imagination and memory decline, to cultivate the delights that arise from reflection and judgment, and to be chearfully entertained with the view of others

+ Longinus de Sublim. § xxxiv.

younger than ourselves, deceiving, themselves linnocently, agreeably, and perhaps usefully, as we ourselves had done heretofore...

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It is to the defect of this desireable quality and habitude, that most of the troubles of declining years may be imputed; and certainly there can be no better way of eschewing them, than by calling forth our improved powers of reflection and judgement, to the cultivation and pursuit of such things as do not shock or interfere with those that occupy the ambition of our more active competitors, to cultivate acquaintance with worthy young men, espesially those whose fathers we have esteemed, and to -cherish them in all honourable advances in the paths we have been forced by infirmity of nature to relinquish oily

To delineate the most proper occupations for declining years would be vain and foolish, without due consideration being had to the employments of youth and of manhood, in the particular case to which we would direct our admonitions; and therefore these must vary according to the infinite variety of fortune, genius, former occupation, climate, government, and custom. But certainly there can be nothing better for attaining such habitudes as terminate in an amiable, tranquil, and respectable old age, than the disentangling of sourselves, as we have already said, from such objects of ambition as are incompatible with our growing weakness of body, and attaching ourselves to such as may fully exercise the VOL. I. Q

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