Mazarin. Those who would conscientiously employ power for the good of others deserve it, but do not desire it; and those who would employ it for the good of themselves desire it, but do not deserve it.

Public Characters.

SOME men who have evinced a certain degree of wit and talent in private companies, fail miserably when they venture to appear as public characters on the grand theatre of human life. Great men in a little circle, but little men in a great one, they show their learning to the ignorant, but their ignorance to the learned. The powers of their mind seem to be parched up and withered by the public gaze, as Welsh cascades before a summer sun, which, by the bye, we are told, are vastly fine in the winter, when nobody goes to see them.

Public Events.

PUBLIC events of moment, when deeply and fully considered, are the fertile womb of political maxims, which ought to contain the very soul of the moral of history; and which then would be imperishable and indestructible, worthy of being resorted to as a tower of strength in the storm, and spreading their effulgence over the tide of time, as a beacon in the night.

Pulpit Eloquence.

THE Christian messenger cannot think too highly of his Prince, nor too humbly of himself. This is that secret art which captivates and improves an audience, and which all who see will fancy they could imitate, while most who try will fail.

THE great difficulty in pulpit eloquence is, to give the subject all the dignity it so fully deserves, without attaching any importance to ourselves. Some preachers reverse the thing;

HORACE Ars Poet., v., 240-2.

they give so much importance to themselves, that they have none left for the subject.

Punishment.

HAPPINESS is on the side of virtue; for whoever dreads punishment, suffers it; and whoever deserves it, dreads it.

Quarrels.

Two things, well considered, would prevent many quarrels: first, to have it well ascertained whether we are not disputing about terms, rather than things; and, secondly, to examine whether that on which we differ is worth contending about.

IN most quarrels there is a fault on both sides. A quarrel may be compared to a spark, which cannot be produced without a flint as well as a steel: either of them may hammer on wood for ever, no fire will follow.

Raillery.

THERE are many good-natured fellows who have paid the forfeit of their lives to their love of bantering and raillery. No doubt they have much diversion, but they have purchased it too dear. Although their wit and their brilliancy may have been often extolled, yet it has at last been extinguished for ever; and by a foe perhaps who had neither the one nor the other, but who found it easier to point a sword than a repartee, I have heard of a man, in the province of Bengal, who had been a long time very successful in hunting the tiger. His skill gained him great éclat, and had insured him much diversion. At length he narrowly escaped with his life. He then relinquished the sport, with this observation: "Tiger-hunting is very fine amusement, so long as we hunt the tiger; but it is rather awkward, when the tiger takes it into his head to hunt us." Again, this skill in small wit, like skill in small arms, is very apt to beget a confidence which may prove fatal in the end. We may either mistake the proper moment,-for even cowards have their fighting-days,—or we may mistake the

3

proper man. A certain Savoyard got his livelihood by exhibiting a monkey and a bear. He gained so much applause from his tricks with the monkey, that he was encouraged to practise some of them upon the bear. He was dreadfully lacerated, and on being rescued, with great difficulty, from the gripe of Bruin, ne exclaimed: "What a fool was I, not to distinguish between a monkey and a bear! A bear, my friends, is a very grave kind of a personage, and, as you plainly see, does not understand a joke."

Rakes and Highwaymen.

To marry a rake, in the hope of reforming him, and to hire a highwayman, in the hope of reclaiming him, are two very dangerous experiments; and yet I know a lady who fancies she has succeeded in the one, and all the world knows a divine* who really has succeeded in the other.

Readers and Authors.

So idle are dull readers, and so industrious are dull authors, that puffed nonsense bids fair to blow unpuffed sense wholly out of the field.

Readers and Books.

SOME read to think,-these are rare; some to write,-these are common; and some read to talk,-and these form the great majority. The first page of an author not unfrequently suffices for all the purposes of this latter class of whom it has been said, that they treat books as some do lords; they inform themselves of their titles, and then boast of an intimate acquaintance.

Reform.

:

REFORM is a good replete with paradox: it is a cathartic which our political quacks, like our medical, recommend to others, but will not take themselves; it is admired by all who cannot effect it, and abused by all who can; it is thought pregnant with danger for all time that is present, but would have been extremely profitable for that which is past, and will be highly salutary for that which is to come. Therefore it has

*Rowland Hill.

been thought expedient for all administrations which have been, or that will be; but by any particular one which is, it is considered, like Scotch grapes, to be very seldom ripe, and, by the time it is so, to be quite out of season.

ATTEMPTS at Reform, when they fail, strengthen despotism, as he that struggles tightens those cords he does not succeed in breaking.

Reformers.

MODERN reformers are not fully aware of the difficulty they will find to make converts, when that period which they so fondly anticipate shall arrive,—an era of universal illumination. They will then experience a similar rebuff to those who now attempt to make proselytes amongst the Jews. These cunning descendants of Laban shrewdly reply, "Pray, would it not be better for you Christians, first of all, to decide amongst yourselves what Christianity is P When that important point is fully settled, then we think it will be time enough for you to begin your attempts to convert others." And the reasoning and enlightened inquirer will also naturally enough demand of the reformist, "What is reformation?" This he will find to be almost as various as the advocates for it. The thorough-paced and Unitarian reformer, who thinks one year a sufficient period for a Parliament, in order to bring in another unity still more absurd and dangerous, the majesty of the people, one and indivisible, must be at irreconcileable issue with the Trinitarian reformer, who advocates triennial Parliaments, and who has not lost his respect for that old and orthodox association of King, Lords, and Commons. And in politics, as in religion, it so happens that we have less charity for those who believe the half of our creed than for those that deny the whole of it, since, if Servetus had been a Mohammedan, he would not have been burnt by Calvin. There are two parties, therefore, that will form a rent in the Babel building of Reform, which, unlike that of the Temple, will not be confined to the veil, but will in all probability reach the foundation.

Begal Ambition.

IF kings would only determine not to extend their dominions until they had filled them with happiness, they would find the smallest territories too large, but the longest life too short, for the full accomplishment of so grand and so noble an ambition.

Relatives.

RELATIONS take the greatest liberties, and give the least assistance. If a stranger cannot help us with his purse, he will not insult us with his comments; but with relations, it mostly happens that they are the veriest misers with regard to their property, but perfect prodigals in the article of advice.

Relaxation.

"NOSCITUR à sociis" is a proverb that does not invariably apply for men of the highest talent have not always culled their familiar society from minds of a similar calibre to their own. There are moments of relaxation, when they prefer friendship to philosophy, and comfort to counsel. Fatigued by confuting the coxcombs, or exhausted by coping with the giants of literature, there are moments when the brightest minds prefer the soothings of sympathy to all the brilliance of wit, as he that is in need of repose selects a bed of feathers rather than of flints.

Religion.

THERE are some who write, talk, and think so much about vice and virtue, that they have no time to practise either the one or the other. They die with less sin to answer for than some others, because they have been too busy in disputing about the origin of it to commit it; and with little or no religion of their own, from their constant though unavailing assiduities to settle that of other men. Charles V., after his

*The great Howard, on the contrary, was so fully engaged in works of active benevolence, that, unlike Baxter, whose knees were calcined by prayer, he left himself but little time to pray. Thousands were praying for him.