mend a literary man, already jaded with mental work, to adopt as his means of recreation some sedentary form of amusement; while it would be no less absurd to recommend a working man already fatigued with bodily toil, to regale himself with athletics. And, in lower degrees, the kind and amount of recreation, which it would be wise to recommend must differ with different individuals in the same class of society according to their age, sex, temperament, pursuits and previous habits of life.

Sweet recreation barr'd, what doth ensue,
But moody and dull melancholy,
Kinsman to grim, and comfortless despair;
And at her heels, a huge infectious troop
Of pale distemperatures, and foes to life?

-SHAKESPEARE.

• From Essays by Romanes.

129. RETIREMENT.

I envy not the proud their wealth,
Their equipage and state;
Give me but innocence and health,
I ask not to be great.

I in this sweet retirement find
A joy unknown to kings;
For scepters to a virtuous mind,
Seem vain and empty things.

Great Cincinnatus at his plough,
With brighter lustre shone,
Than guilty Caesar ever could shew,
Though seated on a throne.

Tumultuous days and restless nights,
Ambition ever knows;

A stranger to the calm delights
Of study and repose.

Then free from envy, care, and strife,
Keep me, ye powers divine;

And pleas'd when ye demand my life,

May I that life resign.*

-MRS. PILKINGTON.

Man should never be solitary, though alone.

Retirement is a prison to the fool, but a paradise

to the wise.

* From Aikin's Collections of Songs by R. H. Evans.

O! lost to virtue, lost to manly though t, Lost to the noble sallies of the soul!

Who think it solitude, to be alone.

Communion sweet! Communion large and high,
Our reason, guardian angel, and our God!
Then nearest these, when others most remote ;
And all, ere long, shall be remote, but these.
How dreadful, then, to meet them all alone,
A stranger! unacknowledg'd! unapprov'd!
Now woo them; wed them; bind them to thy breast;
To win thy wish, creation has no more.

130. RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Giving no pain to any creatures, let him slowly build up righteousness like white ants their hill, that it be to him a companion in the world beyond.

-MANU.

Hear thou a summary of righteousness,
And ponder well the maxim: Never do
To other persons what would pain thyself.*
"PANCHATANTRA."

This is the sum of all true righteousness-
Treat others as thou wouldst thyself be treated.
Do nothing to thy neighbour, which hereafter
Thou wouldst not have thy neighbour do to thee.
In causing pleasure or in giving pain,

In doing good, or injury to others,
In granting or refusing a request,

A man obtains a proper rule of action
By looking on his neighbour as himself.*

-“MAHÂBHÂRATA.”

Righteousness exalteth a nation : but sin is a reproach

to any people.

-"BIBLE-PROVERBS."

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.

:

-"BIBLE-ST. MATTHEW 5."

* From Indian Wisdom by Monier Williams.

1

He that trusteth in his riches shall fall but the

righteous shall flourish as a branch.

"BIBLE-PROVERBS 11."

In the house of the righteous is much treasure: but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble.

-"BIBLE-PROVERBS."

A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.

-"BIBLE-PROVERBS 37."

Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness, than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich. -"BIBLE-PROVERBS."

The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righte-

ous runneth into it, and is safe.

"BIBLE-PROVERBS."

Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.

"BIBLE-PSALM 32."

Aye me how many perils doe enfold
The righteous man, to make him daily fall,
Were not that heavenly grace doth him uphold,
And stedfast Truth acquite him out of all.

-SPENSER.

The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.

The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.