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TRUE happiness

Consists not in a multitude of friends,

But in their worth and choice.

BEN JONSON.

A FALSE friend is like the shadow of a sun-dial, which appears while the sun shines, but vanishes at the approach of the smallest cloud.

OUR life is one continued toil for fame;
Like ants we toil, and raise a little mole-hill
That every brute can level.-In old age,
Hope, ev'n that too is denied us,-Hope!
Youth's best prerogative, its sweetest blessing;
The poor man's feast, the sick man's richest cordial;
In youth, the winds may blow, the rains may beat,
Still green, still gay, still lovely, does it flourish;
But nipp'd in age, it droops, it fades, and dies.

MARTYN.

EVERY day and hour a great mind encounters objects of scorn. To see the vile adulation paid to wealth, even when it has been notoriously acquired by the basest means,-is not this a fit object of it? To see how ancient, illustrious, and virtuous families are trod in the dust by new, obtrusive, and reckless ambition, is not this a fit object of it? To see the insolent abuse of power, and impertinence of office,

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or the licentiousness that disguises itself in the mantle of sacred liberty,-are not these the same? To see artifice, manoeuvre, corruption, prevail everywhere, instead of worth and strength; to see words overcome deeds, and hypocrisy supplant virtue; to see frankness always sacrificed, and deception uniformly successful, are not these fit objects of scorn?

EGERTON BRYDGES.

O REPUTATION! dearer far than life,

Thou precious balsam, lovely, sweet of smell,
Whose cordial drops once spilt by some rash hand,
Not all the owner's care, nor the repenting toil
Of the rude spiller, ever can collect

To its first purity and native sweetness.

SEWELL.

WHO fights

With passions and o'ercomes, that man is arm'd
With the best virtue, passive Fortitude.

WEBSTER.

THE scales of some minds are too fine, too nicely adjusted for common purposes;-diamond scales will not do for weighing wool. Very refined, very ingenious, very philosophical minds, are all too

scrupulous weighers: their scales turn with the millionth of a grain, and are all from some cause, subject to the defect of indecision. They see too well how much can be said on both sides of a question. There is a sort of philosophical doubt, arising from enlargement of the understanding, quite different from the irresolution of character which is caused by infirmity of will; and when once some of these over scrupulous weighers come to a balance, that instant they become most wilful. After excessive indecision they perhaps start suddenly to a rash action.

MISS EDGEWORTH.

AMBITION, like a torrent, ne'er looks back;
It is a swelling, and the last affection
A high mind can put off. It is a rebel
Both to the soul and reason, and enforces
All laws, all conscience; treads upon religion,
And offers violence to Nature's self.

BEN JONSON.

He who traces the surrounding phenomena up to their great first cause,-who studies nature with a reference to its author, possesses the basis of religion within himself, enjoys the true sublime, and demonstrates the being and beneficence of the Deity in every part of the creation.

CONSCIENCE, what art thou? thou tremendous power!
Who dost inhabit us without our leave;
And art within ourselves, another self,
A master self, that loves to domineer,
And treat the monarch frankly as the slave,
How dost thou light a torch to distant deeds!
Make the past, present, and the future frown!
How, ever and anon, awake the soul,
As with a peal of thunder, to strange horrors,
In this long restless dream, which idiots hug,
Nay, wise men flatter with the name of life?

YOUNG.

THE fundamental qualities of true friendship are, constancy and fidelity. Without these material ingredients it is of no value. An inconstant man is not capable of friendship. He may perhaps have affections which occasionally glow in his heart, which excite fondness for amiable qualities, or connect him with seeming attachment to one whom he esteems, or by whom he has been obliged. But after these feelings have lasted for a little, either fancied interests alienate him, or some new object attracts him; and he is no longer the same person to those whom he once loved. A man of this inconstant mind cannot be said to have any mind at all. For where there is no fixedness of moral principle, occasional feelings are of no value; mind is of no effect; and with such persons it is never desirable to have any connexion.

BLAIR.

GENIUS! thou gift of Heav'n! thou light divine!
Amid what dangers art thou doom'd to shine!
Oft with the body's weakness check thy force,
Oft damp thy vigour, and impede thy course;
And trembling nerves compel thee to restrain
Thy nobler efforts, to contend with pain;
Or want, sad guest! within thy presence come,
And breathe around her melancholy gloom;
To life's low cares will thy proud thought confine,
And make her sufferings, her impatience thine.

CRABBE.

THERE is a selfishness even in gratitude, when it is too profuse; to be over thankful for one favour, is in effect to lay out for another.

CUMBERLAND.

THE mind condemn'd, without reprieve, to go
O'er life's long deserts with its charge of woe,
With sad congratulation joins the train,
Where beasts and men together o'er the plain
Move on a mighty caravan of pain;

Hope, strength, and courage, social suffering brings,
Freshening the waste of sand with shades and springs.

WORDSWORTH.

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