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That private Men enjoy? and what have Kings,
That Privates have not too, save Ceremony?
Save gen'ral Ceremony?

And what art thou, thou idol Ceremony?

What kind of God art thou? that suffer'st more
Of mortal griefs, than do thy worshippers.
What are thy rents? what are thy comings-in?
O Ceremony, show me but thy worth:
What is thy toll, O Adoration?

Art thou aught else but Place, Degree and Form,
Creating awe and fear in other men?

Wherein thou art less happy, being fear'd,

Than they in fearing.

What drink'st thou oft, instead of Homage sweet,

But poison'd Flatt'ry? O be sick, great Greatness,
And bid thy Ceremony give thee cure.

Think'st thou, the fiery fever will go out

With Titles blown from Adulation?

Will it give place to flexure and low bending?

Can'st thou, when thou command'st the beggar's knee,
Command the health of it? no, thou proud dream,
That playst so subtly with a King's repose.

Ceremony. Chesterfield.

ALL Ceremonies are in themselves very silly things: but yet a man of the world should know them. They are the outworks of manners and decency, which would be too often broken in upon, if it were not for that defence, which keeps the enemy at a proper distance. It is for that reason that I always treat fools and coxcombs with great Ceremony; true Good-breeding not being a sufficient barrier against them.

Chance. La Rochefoucauld. THE generality of men have, like plants, latent properties, which Chance brings to light.

Chance. - Terence.

HOW often events, by Chance, and unexpectedly come to pass, which you had not dared even to hope for!

Change.-Johnson.

SUCH are the vicissitudes of the World, through all its parts, that day and night, labour and rest, hurry and retirement, endear each other: such are the Changes that keep the mind in action: we desire, we pursue, we obtain, we are satiated; we desire something else, and begin a new pursuit.

Chaos.

Shakspeare.
LET Order die,

And let this World no longer be a stage,
To feed contention in a lingering act;
But let one spirit of the first-born Cain
Reign in all bosoms, that each heart being set
On bloody courses, the rude scene may end,
And Darkness be the burier of the Dead!

Character. Shakspeare.

HIS real Habitude gave life and grace
To appertainings and to ornament,
Accomplish'd in himself, not in his case:
All aids themselves made fairer by their place;
Came for additions, yet their purpos'd trim
Piec'd not his grace, but were all grac'd by him.
So on the tip of his subduing tongue
All kinds of arguments and question deep,
All replication prompt, and reason strong,
For his advantage still did wake and sleep:
To make the weeper laugh, the laugher weep,
He had the dialect and different skill,
Catching all passions in his craft of will;
That he did in the general bosom reign
Of young, of old; and sexes both enchanted.
Character. Sir William Temple.

THE best rules to form a young Man are, to talk little, to hear much, to reflect alone upon what has passed in company, to distrust one's own opinions, and value others that deserve it.

Character. — Merkel.

ORDINARY people regard a man of a certain force and inflexibility of Character as they do a lion. They look at him with a sort of wonder-perhaps they admire him; but they will on no account house with him. The lap-dog, who wags his tail and licks the hand, and cringes at the nod of every stranger, is a much more acceptable companion to them.

Character. Chesterfield. WHEN upon a trial a man calls witnesses to his Character, and those witnesses only say, that they never heard, nor do not know any thing ill of him, it intimates at best a neutral and insignificant Character.

Character. Lavater.

ACTIONS, looks, words, steps, form the alphabet by which you may spell Characters.

Character. Fitzosborne.

WERE I to make trial of any person's qualifications for an union of so much delicacy, there is no part of his conduct I would sooner single out, than to observe him in his resentments. And this not upon the maxim frequently advanced, "that the best friends make the bitterest enemies;" but on the contrary, because I am persuaded that he who is capable of being a bitter enemy, can never possess the necessary virtues that constitute a true friend.

Character. — Shakspeare.

He sits 'mongst men, like a descended God:
He hath a kind of honour sets him off,
More than a mortal seeming.

Character.

Shakspeare.

THERE are a sort of men, whose visages

Do cream and mantle like a standing pond;

And do a wilful stillness entertain,

With purpose to be dress'd in an opinion
Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit;
As who should say, "I am Sir Oracle,
And, when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!"
I do know of these,

That therefore only are reputed wise,

For saying nothing; who, I am very sure,

If they should speak, would almost damn those ears,
Which, hearing them, would call their brothers fools.
Character. Shakspeare.

THOU art full of love and honesty,

And weigh'st thy words before thou giv'st them breath,-
Therefore these stops of thine fright me the more:

For such things, in a false, disloyal knave,

Are tricks of custom; but, in a man that's just,
They are close denotements working from the heart,
That passion cannot rule.

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I WILL no more trust him when he leers, than I will a serpent when he hisses: he will spend his mouth, and promise, like Brabler the hound: but when he performs, astronomers foretell it it is prodigious, there will come some change; the sun borrows of the moon, when he keeps his word.

Character. Bruyere.

THERE are peculiar ways in men, which discover what they are through the most subtle feints and closest disguises.

Character. Shakspeare.

NATURE hath fram'd strange fellows in her time:
Some, that will evermore peep through their eyes,
And laugh, like parrots, at a bag piper;

And other of such vinegar aspéct,

That they'll not show their teeth in way of smile,
Though Nestor swear the jest be laughable.

Character. Shakspeare.

O, HE'S as tedious

As is a tir'd horse, a railing wife;

Worse than a smoky house:-I had rather live
With cheese and garlic, in a windmill, far,
Than feed on cates, and have him talk to me,
In any summer-house in Christendom.

Character. Lavater.

YOU may depend upon it that he is a good man whose intimate friends are all good.

Character.-Shakspeare.

REPUTATION, reputation, reputation!

O, I have lost my

reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself; and what remains is bestial.

R

Character.-Shakspeare.

EPUTATION;-oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.

Character.- Socrates.

THE way to gain a good Reputation is to endeavour to be what

you desire to appear.

Character. Novalis.

CHARACTER is a perfectly educated will.

Character. — Shakspeare.

THIS is he

That kiss'd away his hand in courtesy ;
This is the ape of form, monsieur the nice,
That, when he plays at tables, chides the dice
In honourable terms; nay, he can sing
A mean most meanly; and in ushering,
Mend him who can; the ladies call him, sweet;
The stairs as he treads on them kiss his feet.

Character. Shakspeare.

HE will steal himself into a man's favor, and, for a week, escape a great deal of discoveries; but when you find him out, you have him ever after.

Character. Colton.

THE two most precious things this side the grave are our Reputation and our Life. But it is to be lamented that the most contemptible whisper may deprive us of the one, and the weakest weapon of the other. A wise man, therefore, will be more anxious to deserve a fair name than to possess it, and this will teach him so to live, as not to be afraid to die.

Character. — Shakspeare.

;

THIS fellow's wise enough to play the fool
And, to do that well, craves a kind of wit:
He must observe their mood on whom he jests,
The quality of persons and the time;

And, like the haggard, check at every feather
That comes before his eye. This is a practice,
As full of labour as a wise man's art;

For folly, that he wisely shows, is fit;

But wise men, folly fallen, quite taint their wit.
Character. Fuller.

GET and preserve a good name, if it were but for the public service for one of a deserved Reputation hath oftentimes an opportunity to do that good, which another cannot that wants it. And he may practise it with more security and success.

Character. Shakspeare.

THOU wilt quarrel with a man that hath a hair more, or a hair less, in his beard than thou hast. Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes; what eye, but such an eye, would spy out such a quarrel? Thy head is as full of quarrels, as an egg is full of meat.

Character. Lavater.

AVOID connecting yourself with Characters whose good and bad sides are unmixed, and have not fermented together; they resemble vials of vinegar and oil; or palettes 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.

Character. — Colton.

DUKE Chartres used to boast that no man could have less real value for Character than himself, yet he would gladly give twenty thousand pounds for a good one, because he could immediately make double that sum by means of it.

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