crystal goblet, and to steal the bridal vestments of the virgin, to add more allurements to the seductive smiles of the harlot.

If those alone who 'sowed to the wind, did reap the whirlwind,' it would be well. But the mischief is, that' the blindness of bigotry, the madness of ambition, and the miscalculation of diplomacy seek their victims principally amongst the innocent and unoffending. The cottage is sure to suffer for every error of the court, the cabinet, or the camp. When error sits in the seat of power and authority, and is generated in high places, it may be compared to that torrent, which originates indeed in the mountain, but commits its devastation in the vale.

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Great minds had rather deserve contemporaneous applause, without obtaining it, than obtain, without deserving it; if it follow them it is well, but they will not deviate to follow it. With inferior minds the reverse is observable; so that they can command the flattery of knaves while living, they care not for the execrations of hones men, when dead. Milton neither aspired to present fame, nor even expected it; but (to use his own words,) his high ambition was, 'to leave something to after ages, so written, that they should not willingly let it die,' And Cato finally observed, hewould much rather that posterity should inquire why no statues were erected to him, than why the were.

As in agriculture, he that an produce the greatest crop is not the best faner, but he that can effect it with the least expase; so in society, he is not the best member, wh can bring about the

most good, but he that can accomplish it with the least admixture of concomitant ill.-For let na man presume to think that he can devise any plan of extensive good, unalloyed and unadulterated with evil. This is the prerogative of the Godhead alone.

The inequalities of life are real things, they can neither be explained away, nor done away; 'Expellas furca, tamen usque recurrent.”* A leveller, therefore, has long been set down as a ridiculous and chimerical being, who, if he could finish his work to-day, would have to begin it again to-mor row. The things that constitute these real inequalities are four, strength, talent, riches; and rank. The two former, would constitute inequalities in the rudest state of nature; the two latter, more properly belong to a state of society more or less civilized and refined.-Perhaps the whole four are all ultimately resolvable in power. But in the just appreciation of this power men are too apt to be deceived. Nothng, for instance, is more common than to see rank or riches preferred to talent, and yet nothing is more absurd. That talent is of a much higher order of power than riches, might be proved in various ways; being so much more indeprivable and indestructible, so much more above all accident of change, and all confusion of chance. But the peculiar superiority of talent over riches, may be best discovered from hence-That the influence of talent will always be the greatest in that government which is the most pure; while the influence of richeswill always be the greatest in

* You may dig them out, but they will come again.—PUB.

that government which is most corrupt. So that from the preponderance of talent, we may always infer the soundness and vigour of the commonwealth; but from the preponderance of riches, its dotage and degeneration. That talent confers an inequality of a higher order than rank, would appear from various views of the subject, and most particularly from this-many a man may justly thank his talent for his rank, but no man has ever yet been able to return the compliment, by thanking his rank for his talent. When Leonardo da Vinci died, his sovereign exclaimed, 'I can make a thousand lords, but not one Leonardo.' Cicero observed to a degenerate patrician, 'I am the first of my family, but you are the last of yours.' And since his time, those who value themselves merely on their ancestry, have been compared to potatoes, all that is good of them is under the ground; perhaps it is but fair that nobility should have descended to them, since they never could have raised themselves to it.

An upright minister asks, what recommends a man; a corrupt minister, who.

The first consideration with a knave, is how to help himself, and the second, how to do it, with an appearance of helping you. Dionysius* the tyrant,

*There were two tyrants of this name, the last of whom ruled with such tyranny, that his people grew weary of his government. He, hearing that an old woman prayed for his life, asked her why she did so? She answered, 'I have seen the death of several tyrants, and the successor was always worse than the former, then camest thou, worse than all the rest; and if thou wert gone, I fear what would become of us, if we should have a worse still.'

stripped the statue of Jupiter Olympus of a robe of massy gold, and substituted a cloak of wool, saying, gold is too cold in winter, and too heavy in summer-It behooves us to take care of Jupiter.

If hypocrites go to hell, by the road to heaven, we may carry on the metaphor, and add, that as all the virtues demand their respective tolls, the hypocrite has a by-way to avoid them, and to get into the main road again. And all would be well, if he could escape the last turnpike in the journey of life, where all must pay, where there is no bypath, and where the toll is death.

In great matters of public moment, where both parties are at a stand, and both are punctilious, slight condescensions cost little, but are worth much. He that yields them is wise, inasmuch as he purchases guineas with farthings. A few drops of oil will set the political machine at work, when a tun of vinegar would only corrode the wheels, and canker the movements.

Were we as eloquent as angels, we should please some men, some women, and some children, much more by listening, than by talking.

When Mahomet forbids his followers the use of wine, when the grand Sultan discourages learning, and when the Pope denies the Scriptures to the laity, what are we to infer from hence? not the danger of the things forbidden, but the fears of those that forbid. Mahomet knew that his was a faith strictly military, and to be propagated by the

sword; he also knew that nothing is so destructive of discipline as wine; Mahomet therefore interdicted wine. The grand Sultan knows that despotism is founded on the blindness and weakness of the governed; but that learning is light and power; and that the powerful and enlightened make very troublesome slaves; therefore the Sultan discourages learning. Leo the Xth knew that the pontifical hierarchy did support, and was reciprocally supported by a superstition that was false: but he also knew that the Scriptures are true, and that truth and falsehood assimilate not; therefore, Leo withheld the Scriptures from the laity.

A wise minister would rather preserve peace, than gain a victory; because he knows, that even the most successful war, leaves nations generally more poor, always more profligate, than it found them. There are real evils that cannot be brought into a list of indemnities, and the demoralizing influence of war is not amongst the least of them. The triumphs of truth are the most glorious, chiefly because they are the most bloodless of all victories, deriving their highest lustre from the number of the saved, not of the slain.

The great examples of Bacon, of Milton, of Newton, of Locke, and of others, happen to be directly against the popular inference, that a certain wildness of eccentricity and thoughtlessness of conduct are the necessary accompaniments of talent, and the sure indications of genius. Because some have united these extravagances, with great demonstrations of talent, as a Rousseau, a Chatterton, a Savage, a Burns, or a Byron; others,