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Whether his money be his own,
And lose it if he be o'erthrown;
As if he were betray'd, and set
By his own stars to ev'ry cheat,
Or wretchedly condemn'd by fate
To throw dice for his own estate;
As mutineers, by fatal doom,
Do for their lives upon a drum?
For what less influence can produce
So great a monster as a chouse,
Or any two-legg'd thing possess
With such a brutish sottishness?
Unless those tutelary stars
Intrusted by astrologers

To have the charge of man, combin'd
To use him in the self-same kind;

As those that help'd them to the trust.

CXLIII.

Butler-on Gaming.

A fool can neither eat, nor drink, nor stand, nor walk, nor, in short, laugh, nor cry, nor take snuff, like a man of sense. How obvious the distinction!-Shenstone.

CXLIV.

He is treated like a fiddler, whose music, though liked, is not much praised, because he lives by it; while a gentleman performer, though the most wretched scraper alive, throws the audience into raptures.-Goldsmith.

CXLV.

Sweetness of temper is not an acquired, but a natural excellence; and, therefore, to recommend it to those who have it not, may be deemed rather an insult than advice.-Adventurer.

CXLVI.

Philosophy, a name of meek degree,
Embrac'd in token of humility,

By the proud sage, who, whilst he strove to hide,
In that vain artifice reveal'd his pride;

Philosophy, whom nature had design'd
To purge all errors from the human mind,
Herself misled by the philosopher,

At once her priest and master, made us err:
Pride, pride like leaven in a mass of flower,
Tainted her laws, and made e'en virtue sour.
Churchill.

CXLVII.

Penance is the only punishment inflicted; not penitence, which is the right word: a man comes not to do penance, because he repents him of his sin, but because he is compelled to it; curses him, and would kill him that sends him thither. The old canons wisely enjoin three years' penance, sometimes more, because in that time a man got a habit of virtue, and so committed that sin no more, for which he did penance.-Selden.

CXLVIII.

There is scarce any profession in the commonwealth more necessary, which is so slightly performed, as that of a schoolmaster. The reasons whereof I conceive to be these. First, young scholars make this calling their refuge; yea, perchance before they have taken any degree in the university, commence schoolmasters in the country, as if nothing else were required to set up this profession, but onely, a rod and a ferula. Secondly, others who are able, use it onely as a passage to better preferment, to patch the rents in their present fortune, till they can provide a new one, and betake themselves to some more gainful calling. Thirdly, they are disheartened from doing their best with the miserable reward which in some places they receive, being masters to the children, and slaves to their parents. Fourthly, being grown rich, they grow negligent, and scorn to touch the school but by the proxie of an usher.-Fuller.

CXLIX.

It is a secret known but to few, yet of no small use in the conduct of life, that when you fall into a man's conversation, the first thing you should consider is, whe

VOL. II.

D

ther he has a greater inclination to hear you, or that you should hear him.-Steele.

CL.

To smatter ends of Greek
Or Latin to the rhetorique

Of pedants counted, and vain-glorious,
To smatter French is meritorious;
And to forget their mother-tongue,
Or purposely to speak it wrong
A hopeful sign of parts and wit,
And that they improve and benefit:
As those that have been taught amiss
In lib'ral arts and sciences,

Must all they 'ad learnt before in vain
Forget quite, and begin again.

CLI.

Butler.

He who attempts to make others believe in means which he himself despises, is a puffer; he who makes use of more means than he knows to be necessary, is a quack; and he who ascribes to those means a greater efficacy than his own experience warrants, is an impostor.-Lavater.

CLII.

Appetite, which is elder brother to reason, being the lad of stronger growth, is sure, on every contest, to take the advantage of drawing all to his own side. And will, so highly boasted, is, at best, merely a top or football between these youngsters, who prove very unfortunately matched; till the youngest, instead of now and then a kick or lash bestowed to little purpose, forsakes the ball or top itself, and begins to lay about his elder brother! 'Tis then that the scene changes. For the elder like an arrant coward, upon this treatment, presently grows civil, and affords the younger as fair play af terwards as he can desire.-Shaftesbury.

CLIII.

They that cry down moral honesty, cry down that which is a great part of my religion, my duty towards

God, and my duty towards man. What care I whether a man run after a sermon, if he cozens and cheats as soon as he comes home. On the other side, morality must not be without religion; for if so, it may change, as I see convenience. Religion must govern it. He that has not religion to govern his morality, is not a dram better than my mastiff dog; so long as you stroke him, and please him, and do not pinch him, he will play with you, as finely as may be, he is a very good moral mastiff, but if you hurt him, he will fly in your face, and tear out your throat.-Selden.

CLIV.

St. Paul to the Colossians, chap. ïii. ver. 1, first adviseth women to submit themselves to their husbands, and then counselleth men to love their wives. And since it was fitting that women should first have their lesson gi ven them, because it is hardest to be learned, and therefore they need have the more time to conne it.-Fuller.. CLV.

Avoid connecting yourself with characters whose good and bad sides are unmix'd, and have not fermented together; they resemble vials of vinegar and oil; or pallets set with colours; they are either excellent at home and intolerable abroad, or insufferable within doors and excellent in public: they are unfit for friendship, merely because their stamina, their ingredients of character are too single, too much apart; let them be finely ground up with each other, and they will be incomparable.Lavater.

CLVI.

Of all the actions of a man's life his marriage does least concern other people, yet of all actions of our life, 'tis most meddled with by other people.—Selden.

CLVII.

Our pains are real things, and all
Our pleasures but fantastical;
Diseases of their own accord

But cures come difficult and hard.

Our noblest piles, and stateliest rooms,
Are but out-houses to our tombs;
Cities, though e'er so great and brave,
But mere warehouses to the grave.
Our brav'ry's but a vain disguise,
To hide us from the world's dull eyes.

CLVIII.

Butler.

An idol may be undeified by many accidental causes. Marriage in particular is a kind of counter-apotheosis, or a deification inverted.-When a man becomes familiar with his goddess, she quickly sinks into a woman.—Addison.

CLIX.

In all cases of slander currency, whenever the forger of the lie is not to be found, the injured parties should have a right to come on any of the indorsers.-Sheridan.

CLX.

It is, it seems, a great inconvenience, that those of the meanest capacities will pretend to make visits, though indeed they are qualified rather to add to the furniture of the house by (filling an empty chair) than to the conversation they come into when they visit.-Steele.

CLXI.

Pastime is a word that should never be used but in a bad sense; it is vile to say such a thing is agreeable, because it helps to pass the time away.-Shenstone.

CLXII.

Temperance indeed is a bridle of gold; and he who uses it rightly, is more like a god than a man: but the English, who are the most subject, of all other people, to melancholy, are, in general, very liberal and excellent feeders.-Burton.

CLXII.

It was said of one who preached very well, and lived very ill," that when he was out of the pulpit, it was pity he should ever go into it: and when he was in the pul

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