of ill-luck escaped a misfortune; in the onehundredth case the friends of the disappointed one without exception unite to persuade him or her to take comfort from the same consideration, and if there is no more practical consolation for the calamity probably that one will serve at last. It is a useful principle in human nature that makes every man delight to be his own individual self and scorn to be any one else. It is not, certainly, the most noble principle, for it is what we we call selflove.

PITY AS AN INSULT.

Nothing is more insulting than pity under certain circumstances. Pity from a mean fellow is a thing to be resented. When a man goes about privately telling disparaging stories of your dearest friend, but professing much attachment to you and pitying your confiding innocence in trusting your friend— giving you pity as the dupe of the person he abuses-which gets the worst treatment, you or your friend? Your friend may be wronged, but you are grievously insulted. Pride would

prefer to have hatred rather than pity from a back biter, though a honest pride could very well receive pity from a honest person. A man will sooner forget that he has been called an empiric than that he has been pitied for his imbecility; a woman will sooner forget that she has been called a deceiver than that she has been pitied for her simplicity.

PAST AND PRESENT.

The cant that extols the ancient times at the expense of the moderns is the most insolent of all cants. Everybody is justified in resenting this impertinence of the antiquary. To-day is better than yesterday, and will be, as long as the world lasts; and to-morrow will surpass to-day, till there is no longer any life in nature.

UNKIND WORDS.

The memory of an unkind word often outlasts the remembrance of many charitable acts. In general, scenes and feelings of pleasure recur to the mind more vividly than emotions of pain; but a sarcastic remark,

evidently intended to wound, often survives in its influence every spark of illwill on the part of the speaker.

APOLOGIES.

An apology is the worst of all possible beginnings. It is a maxim with most men who know the world that if you are going to do anything to meet the public eye you should at all events begin by a little self-assertion: let your apologetic modesty step forward afterwards, if you are so inclined. The humble art of excusing one'sself gracefully, however, like the abject art of lying barefacedly, is not acquired without considerable study, or some native talent that way.

CONTENTMENT IN PECUNIARY AFFAIRS.

At twenty years of age, a man thinks contentment in money matters, as well as in all else, a sorry thing; at thirty, he ceases to despise whatever he is and has; at forty, tolerably well off, he feels that he could really be satisfied with a very little more; at fifty, he has learnt thoroughly to understand what a

blessing a contented mind must be; at sixty, continuing as wealthy as he ever was, be the amount of his worldly riches what it may, he must be a covetous old fool if he is not therecontent.

TELLING PEOPLE OF THEIR FAULTS.

Telling people of their faults is one of the most difficult duties of friendship. You may speak to a man of his failings candidly and with the best intentions, and yet give him much offence ;-and that, perhaps, not because he is of a peculiar disposition and more quickly vexed than a sensible man should be, but simply because you are unskilful or ungraceful. An awkward monitor is as bad as a clumsy surgeon. Point out defects in a friend with an easy and kindly air, never letting your friend suppose from your manner that you misjudge him so much as to think he will be annoyed, and still more studiously avoiding to give him the least ground for fancying you are pleased to mention anything to his disparagement. There are some persons who are often telling their friends in a blunt inconsid

erate manner whatever strikes them at the moment, or whatever they hear others say, about their friends' shortcomings. These persons mean no harm, they are not naturally malicious, they are only careless; but the result of their carelessness is very unfortunate for their friendships. There are others who speak to those to whom they are attached of their defects with so much delicacy and simplicity that the friend whose weak places are pointed out loves them all the more for it. They who find their reproofs usually met with resentment, open or silent, had better leave the part of mentor to others until they have studied it more closely; for even a generous spirit may be chagrined by justly earned but ill-timed and uncouth rebukes.

DEATH.

Death photographs in the mind the last seen image of a dear one in colours more bright than the original. There is no more growing old; the course of years is arrested, and the living model becomes in a moment the unchanging statue. A lost friend is a