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sented every thing in the most engaging light. 10. When men are in high good humour with themselves, they are apt to be so with all around them; the face of nature brightens up, and the sun shines with a more agreeable lustre ; but when old age has cut them off from the enjoyment of false pleasures, and habitual vice has given them a distaste for the only true and lasting delights; when a retrospect of their past lives presents nothing to view but one wide tract of uncultivated ground, a soul distempered with spleen, remorse, and insensibility of each rational satisfaction, darkens and discolours every object. 11. The change is not in the times, but in them who have been forsaken by those gratifications which they would not forsake. 12. How much otherwise is it with those who have treasured up an inexhaustible fund of knowledge! When a man has been laying out that time in the pursuit of some great and important truth, which others waste in a circle of gay follies, he is conscious of having acted up to the dignity of his nature, and from that consciousness there results that serene complacency which, though not so violent, is much preferable to the pleasures of animal life. 13. He can travel on from strength to strength; for, in literature, as in war, each new conquest he gains empowers him to push his conquests still farther, and to enlarge the empire of reason. 14. Thus he is ever in a progressive state, still making new acquirements, still animated with hopes of future discoveries.

SEED.

CHAP. XIX.

Thoughts on several Subjects.

1. E-du-ca'-ti-on, s. the care taken of a person to adorn his mind with learning and morality, or the art of living well. Dor-mant, a. sleeping, in a sleeping posture. Li-be-ral, a. bountiful, generous.

2. Wit, s. a person of quick thought or fancy.

Judgment, s the quality or power of discerning the propriety or impropriety of things.

3. Un-grateful, a. unthankful.

4. Phantom, s. fancied vision, a nothing.

5. Vi-cis-si-tudes, s. pl. changes.

7. Con-vert, v. to change one's opinion or religion.

Sim-pli"-ci-ty, s. freedom from art, artifice, cunning, or fraud. De-for-mi-ty, s the appearance of a thing which has lost its beauty, gracefulness, or regularity

Per-pe-tual, a. never ceasing, continual.

8. Con-fu-ted, pret. disproved, convicted of error.

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L EDUCATION forms the brightest characters, calls forth those faculties which, in a state of nature, would lie dormant and concealed, and directs them to the best ends,—the good of society. Nature may be more liberal to some of the human species; but her gifts often prove hurtful to their possessors, if education do not teach the right use and exertion of them.

2. Wit may be without judgment, but judgment can hardly be without wit; therefore, it is of greater advantage to be a man of judgment than a man of wit.

3. Great men are apt to say, that those whom they oblige prove ungrateful. They say right for, generally speaking, they bestow their favours upon undeserving men.

4. We speak and write of nothing but happiness; it is the mark all our desires aim at. But it is too frequently defined without being known, and we leave a reality to run after a phantom. Happiness depends more on us than we think; it is in ourselves. Moderation in our desires, the effect of our knowledge of the Sovereign Being, and his laws, is wisdom, and this wisdom is true happiness.

5. Men are so dependent on one another, and the vicissitudes of fortune so great, that it should make › persons cautious whom they offend, as accidents may lay them under a necessity, one time or other, of applying to those very persons for their friendship and assistance.

6. Gratitude is the most pleasing exercise of the mind, and it brings with it such an inward satisfaction, that the duty is sufficiently rewarded by the performance of it.

7. A cheerful temper, joined with innocence, will make beauty attractive; knowledge, delightful; and wit, good-natured; it will lighten affliction, convert ignorance into amiable simplicity, and render deformity itself agreeable. Cheerfulness is the health of the soul; it is a kind of day-light in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.

8. Never be ashamed of being convinced, for he that is confuted is wiser than he was, and therefore ought to return thanks, instead of resentment.

PART IV.

NARRATIVE PIECES.

CHAP. I.

Industry and Idleness.

4. In-de-fa"-ti-ga-ble, a. labouring as if never tired.
8. An'-gry, a. highly displeased; desirous of revenge.

Jea"-lous, a. suspicious of not being equally beloved; full of
suspicion.

15. Com'-rade, s. a person who is jointly concerned in any undertaking. 16. Vi"-ci-ous, a. committing actions contrary to virtue, addicted to vice.

Con-tract'-ed, pret. drawn together.

1. A RICH Countryman had two sons, the one exactly a year older than the other. 2. The very day the second was born, he had set in the entrance of his orchard two young apple-trees, equal in size, which he had since cultivated with the same care, and which had thriven so equally, that nobody could give the preference to either. 3. When his children were capable of handling garden tools, he took them one fine day in spring to see those trees, which he had called by their names. After they had sufficiently admired their fine growth, and the number

of blossoms that covered them, he said, "You see, children, I give you these trees in good condition; they will thrive as much by your care, as they will lose by your negligence, and their fruit will reward you in proportion to your labour."

4. The youngest, named Edmund, was indefatigable in his attention. 5. He was all day busy in clearing his tree of insects that would have hurt it, and he propped up its stems, to hinder it from taking an ugly bend. 6. He loosened the earth all round it, that the warmth of the sun, and the moisture of the dews, might cherish its roots.

7. His brother Moses did nothing of all this. He spent his time in play, and often in quarrelling with his young companions; he neglected even to think of his tree, till one day in autumn, he by chance saw Edmund's tree so full of apples, streaked with red and gold, that were it not for the props which supported its branches, the weight of its fruit must have bent it to the ground. 8. Struck with so pleasing a sight, he ran to his own, hoping to find as large a crop upon its branches; but what was his surprise when he saw it covered with moss, and a few yellow leaves. Angry and jealous, he went to his father and said, “ Father, what sort of a tree is this that you have given me; it looks almost dead, and I shall not have ten apples on it? 9. But my brother, oh! you have used him better. Bid him at least share his apples with me." 10. "Certainly not," said his father; "as your disappointment is caused by your own idleness, you must bear it as you can; at the same time, I beg you will observe,

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