a sanguinary career of plunder by pardoning and rewarding a tyrant, to whom their blood was but water and their groans but wind. Thus they sacrificed one that died a martyr to his clemency, and they rewarded another who lived to boast of his murders. THE character of a people is raised, when little bickerings at home are made to give way to great events that are developing themselves abroad; but the character of a people is degraded, when they are blinded as to measures of the greatest moment abroad by paltry jealousies at home. National Debility. 66 ALL nations that have reached the highest point of civilization may from that hour assume for their motto, Videri quàm esse. And whenever and wherever we see ostentation substituted for happiness, profession for friendship, formality for religion, pedantry for learning, buffoonery for wit, artifice for nature, and hypocrisy for every thing,-these are the signs of the times, which he that runs may read, and which will enable the philosopher to date the commencement of national decay from the consummation of national refinement. National Defences. A POOR nation that relaxes not from her attitude of defence, is less likely to be attacked, though surrounded by powerful neighbours, than another nation which possesses wealth, commerce, population, and all the sinews of war, in far greater abundance, but unprepared. For the more sleek the prey, the greater is the temptation; and no wolf will leave a sheep, to dine upon a porcupine. National Education. "THE fowler," saith Solomon, "spreadeth not his net in the sight of the bird;" and if rulers open the eyes of a nation, they must expect that they will see. A government that is corrupt can no more consist with a population that is enlightened, than the night can continue when the sun is up. But the most laudable efforts are now making by those that are in power, for the intellectual improvement of the labouring classes of society. It would be invidious to affirm, with some, that our rulers have done so much only because they were afraid that others would do more, if they themselves did nothing. There are good grounds to believe that they have been influenced by higher motives; but, at all events, every public measure for the intellectual improvement of the governed is the surest pledge and guarantee for the integrity of those who govern, because all that are in power are well aware that a corresponding purity in those who rule must ever keep a proportionate pace with the progression of knowledge in those who obey. Some would maintain that the rays of truth, like those of the sun, if too abundant, dazzle the multitude, rather than enlighten them; but this analogy is false, for truth has no such effect, although the ignis fatuus of error may; and although truth is brighter than the sun, yet the mind is stronger than the body, and the intellectual eye can look at the essence of moral truth with far less uneasiness than the corporeal eye at the concentration of material. National Resources. THE inexhaustible resources of Great Britain were always an inexplicable mystery to Napoleon, and he was taught their reality only by their effects. There was a period when, to the defence of the noblest cause, England brought the highest valour, while all that were oppressed drew at sight on her treasure and on her blood. It would have been glorious if she had evinced a magnanimity that calculated not on return; if she had continued to sow benefits, although she might reap ingratitude. Alas! she found it more easy to conquer others than herself. But her safety requires not the compromise of her honour; for although her prosperity will draw envy,* her power may despise it. She is beset with difficulties, but it is her own fault if they become dangers; and, although she may uffer somewhat, if compared with her former self, she is still gigantic, if compared with others. She may command peace, since she has not relinquished the sinews of war. A para * Envy, as is generally the case, is both purblind and impolitic; it is for the general and the true interests of the world, that Great Britain should hold the sceptre of the seas; for if she ceased to wield it, it must of necessity devolve to France; and on the fatal consequences of such a calamity to the best interests of the civilized world there can be no necessity to enlarge; not that France would make a worse use of such power than some other nations, but because such an accumulation of it ought not to be vested in any that are already so powerful by land. dox to all other nations, she will say to America, "Territory is not power;" to India, "Population is not force;" and to Spain, Money is not wealth." Natural Depravity. WERE the life of man prolonged, he would become such a proficient in villany, that it would be necessary again to drown or to burn the world. Earth would become a hell; for future rewards, when put off to a great distance, would cease to encourage, and future punishments to alarm. Neophytes. As no roads are so rough as those that have just been mended, so no sinners are so intolerant as those that have just turned saints. Neutrality. NEUTRALITY is no favourite with Providence; for we are so formed; that it is scarcely possible for us to stand neuter in our hearts, although we may deem it prudent to appear so in our actions. Nobility. NOBILITY is a river that sets with a constant and undeviating current directly into the great Pacific Ocean of Time; but, unlike all other rivers, it is more grand at its source than at its termination. Novelty. SOLOMON has said, "There is nothing new under the sun;" and perhaps destruction has caused as much novelty as invention; for that is often only a revival which we think a discovery. Obligations. IF you are under obligations to many, it is prudent to postpone the recompensing of one, until it be in your power to remunerate all; otherwise you will make more enemies by what you give than by what you withhold. Obscurity. He that is contented with obscurity, if he acquire no fame, will suffer no persecution; and he that is determined to be silent, may laugh securely at the whole corps of critics, although they should exclaim as vainly as the patriarch Job, “O that our adversary had written a book!" Observation. To know a man, observe how he wins his object, rather than how he loses it: for, when we fail, our pride supports us; when we succeed, it betrays us. Olden Times. ON another occasion I have observed, that every historian has described the age in which he happened to write as the worst, because he has only heard of the wickedness of other times, but has felt and seen that of his own. I now repeat this proposition, for the purpose of introducing a very shrewd remark I have since chanced upon, which will give rise to a few observations. "How strange it is," says an old author, "that we of the present day are constantly praising that past age which our fathers abused, and as constantly abusing that present age which our children will praise!" This assertion is witty and true; but if the praise and the censure awarded by the parties were equally true, it would follow that the world must have become so bad by this time, that no security, and and of course no society, could be found within it. For if every succeeding generation praises the past, but abuses the present, and is right in doing it, how very good men must have been in the first ages of the world, and how excessively bad must they have become now! On the former supposition, a deluge of water would not have been necessary; and on the latter, a deluge of fire would hardly effect a cure. But let us pause to inquire who they are that are most commonly the great admirers of the "olden time;" the "laudatores temporis acti." They are almost invariably to be found amongst the aged; and the rising generation, having no experience of their own, but trusting to those who have, hear and believe. But is it not natural that the old should extol the days of their youth; the weak, the era of their strength; the sick, the season of their vigour; and the disappointed, the springtide of their hopes? Alas! it is not the times that have changed, but themselves. Opinions Changeable. THE wisest man may be wiser to-day than he was yesterday, and to-morrow than he is to-day. Total freedom from change would imply a total freedom from error; but this is the prerogative of Omniscience alone. The world, however, is very censorious, and will hardly give a man credit for simplicity and singleness of heart, who is not only in the habit of changing his opinions, but also of bettering his fortunes by every change. Butler, in his best manner, has ridiculed this tergiversation, by asking: "What makes all doctrines plain and clear? And what was proved quite plain before, When, indeed, we dismiss our old opinions, and embrace new ones, at the expense of worldly profit and advantage, there may be some who will doubt of our discernment, but there will be none who will impeach our sincerity. He that adopts new opinions at the expense of every worldly comfort, gives proof of an integrity differing only in degree from that of him who clings to old ones at the hazard of every danger. This latter effort of integrity has been described by Butler, also, in a manner which proves that sublimity and wit are not invariably disconnected. "For loyalty is still the same, Whether it win or lose the game, Therefore, when men of admitted talent, and of high consideration, come over to truth, it is always better, both for *HOR., De Arte Poet. |