down to the beach, and there is no other way of access to it, or of return from it. I walked near a mile upon the water edge, without observing that the tide was rising fast upon me. When I did observe it, it was almost too late. I ran every step back again, and had much ado to save my distance. I mention this as a caution, lest you should happen at any time to be surprised as I was. It would be very unpleasant to be forced to cling, like a cat, to the side of a precipice and perhaps hardly possible to do it for four hours without any respite.

W. COWPER

293. ADVICE TO THOSE LIVING IN BONDAGE TO THE WORLD. Bring manly fortitude to this question, I entreat you, and look it in the face; compare these two alternatives— the world's principles and customs-Christ's principles and customs. When you entered into life you were equally strangers to both, predisposed to have your own will in everything and reluctant to resign it either to the institutions of your ancestors, or to the institutions of Christ. By a greater aptitude of nature and the neighbourhood of more examples, and the presence of more immediate rewards and punishments, and a youth of continual training, you have grown into the school of the world where you are enchanted and spell-bound, I know not with what; but sure you are bewitched, or with thraldom worn down and unmanned. 'Tis not better fortune that holds you; that I deny: nor more accomplishments of mind, nor larger bounds of feeling, nor sublimer thoughts, nor more generous actions, nor more peaceful moments; which I affirm to be all on the other side. What then is the mighty gain? A few gay smiles of companionship, a few momentary gratifications dear bought at the price of after-thoughts and after-depressions; a few heady excesses of spirit, and extravagances of language and irregularities of conduct; this is merely the sum total of the benefit. Are you free? Not a jot. You are the slaves of the customs, and dare not on your peril depart from one of them. You call religion a bondage; yes, it is the bondage of angels strong and seraphs blessed; Nature's well-pleased bondage to her Maker, the creature's reverence for his Creator; but yours, yours is a bondage to idle fleeting customs, narrow rules of men like yourselves, whose statutes enslave you. You have no privileges worth the naming. You have heaven forfeited. You have hell forestalled. Pitiful drudgery.

And this is what you are in love with and cannot leave. So were the swinish herd enamoured of Circe's cup, forgetful of their former noble selves.

294. SYMPATHETIC REVENGE A DUTY. Lord Bacon has very well said, that revenge is a kind of wild justice. It is so, and without this wild austere stock, there would be no justice in the world. But when by the skilful hand of morality and wise jurisprudence a foreign scion, but of the very same species, is grafted upon it, its harsh quality becomes changed, it submits to culture, and laying aside its savage nature, it bears fruits and flowers, sweet to the world, and not ungrateful even to Heaven itself, to which it elevates its exalted head. The fruit of this wild stock is revenge, regulated, but not extinguished; revenge transferred from the suffering party to the communion and sympathy of mankind. This is the revenge by which we are actuated, and which we should be sorry if the false, idle, girlish, novel-like morality of the world should extinguish in the breast of us, who have a great publick duty to perform.

E. BURKE

295. THE TEST OF A GOOD GOVERNMENT.

The ruin or prosperity of a state depends so much upon the administration of its government, that, to be acquainted with the merit of a ministry, we need only observe the condition of the people. If we see them obedient to the laws, prosperous in their industry, united at home and respected abroad, we may reasonably presume that their affairs are conducted by men of experience, abilities and virtue. If, on the contrary, we see an universal spirit of distrust and dissatisfaction, a rapid decay of trade, dissensions in all parts of the Empire, and a total loss of respect in the eyes of foreign powers, we may pronounce, without hesitation, that the government of that country is weak, distracted and corrupt.

JUNIUS

296. DELIBERATIONS OF THE SEVEN MAGIANS. This change appeared so repugnant to Persian maxims, that Herodotus thought it sufficient to silence the objections of those who doubted that democracy could have found an ad

vocate among the Seven Conspirators. It does indeed indicate more knowledge of mankind, larger views, and sounder principles of policy, than could have been expected from a barbarous and despotic court, and reflects honour on the understanding of Mardonius or of Darius. Yet the last insurrection had shown, that while the dominion of the tyrants irritated the people, and afforded a constant motive to rebellion, their own fidelity was by no means secure. A popular form of government gave a vent to the restless spirits which might otherwise have endangered the public quiet: and in the enjoyment of civil liberty and equality the sovereignty of the foreign king was almost forgotten.

THE WISEST MEN ARE THOSE WHO THINK FOR

297. THEMSELVES.

All men are taught their opinions, at least on the most important subjects, by rote; and are bred to defend them with obstinacy. They may be taught true opinions, but whether true or false, the same zeal for them and the same attachment to them is everywhere inspired alike. Now this may answer the ends of society in some respects, and do well enough for the vulgar of all ranks: but it is not enough for the man who cultivates his reason, who is able to think and who ought to think for himself. To such a man, every opinion that he has not himself either framed, or examined strictly and then adopted, will pass for nothing more than what it really is, the opinion of other men, which may be true or false for aught he knows. And this is a state of uncertainty in which no such man can remain with any peace of mind concerning those things that are of greatest importance to us here, and will be so hereafter. He will make them therefore the objects of his first and greatest attention, and will not rest until he has acquired all the knowledge he is capable of acquiring on these subjects, and has secured that which is necessary to his happi

ness.

298. MAN'S HAPPINESS REGULATED BY HIS OWN BEHAVIOUR. Now in the present state, all which we enjoy, and a great part of what we suffer, is put in our own power. For pleasure and pain are the consequences of our actions: and we are endued by the Author of our Nature with capacities of foreseeing these consequences. We find

by experience He does not so much as preserve our lives, exclusively of our own care and attention, to provide ourselves with and to make use of that sustenance by which He has appointed our lives shall be preserved; and without which He has appointed they shall not be preserved at all. And in general we foresee, that the external things, which are the objects of our various passions, can neither be obtained nor enjoyed, without exerting ourselves in such and such manners; but by thus exerting ourselves, we obtain and enjoy these objects, in which our natural good consists; or by this means God gives us the possession and enjoyment of them. J. BUTLER

299.

BENEFITS OF TRUTHFULNESS.

Truth is always

consistent with itself, and needs nothing to help it out; it is always near at hand, and sits upon our lips, and is ready to drop out before we are aware; whereas a lie is troublesome, and sets a man's invention upon the rack, and one trick needs a great many more to make it good. It is like building upon a false foundation, which constantly stands in need of props to shore it up, and proves at last more chargeable than to have raised a substantial building at first upon a true and solid foundation for sincerity is firm and substantial, and there is nothing hollow and unsound in it, and, because it is plain and open, fears no discovery; of which the crafty man is always in danger; and when he thinks he walks in the dark, all his pretences are so transparent, that he that runs may read them; he is the last man that finds himself to be found out; and whilst he takes it for granted that he makes fools of others, he renders himself ridiculous. J. ADDISON

300. ADVICE TO FRINCE HENRY FREDERICK, THE ELDEST SON OF KING JAMES THE FIRST, ABOUT THE ROYAL NAVY. Tho' the sword is put into the sheath, we must not suffer it to rust or stick so fast, that we shall not be able to draw it readily when need requires: we may be assured, that if those powerful means, whereby we reduced our enemies to the courtesy of seeking peace of us, were neglected, so as we could not again, upon occasion, readily assume the use and benefit of them, as we have done; those proud mastering spirits, finding us at such advantage, would be more willing

to shake us by the ears as enemies, than to take us by the hands as friends. Therefore, far be it from our hearts to trust more to that friendship of strangers, which is but dissembled upon policy and necessity, than to the strength of our own forces, which has been experienced with so happy success. I confess, that peace is a blessing of God, and blessed are the peacemakers: therefore doubtless blessed are those means whereby peace is gained and maintained. For well we know, that God works all things here among us, mediately and by a secondary means: the which means, of our defence and safety, being shipping and sea-forces, are to be esteemed as his gifts: and then only available and beneficial, when he withal vouchsafes his grace to use them aright.

SIR W. RALEIGH

301. LORD BACON HIS DEMEANOUR AT HIS IMPEACHMENT. Your lordships know from history and the records of this House, that a Lord Bacon has been before you. Who is there, that upon hearing this name does not instantly recognize every thing of genius the most profound, every thing of literature the most extensive, every thing of discovery the most penetrating, every thing of observation on human life the most distinguishing and refined? All these must be instantly recognized, for they are all inseparably associated with the name of Lord Verulam. Yet when this prodigy was brought before your lordships, by the commons of Great Britain, for having permitted his menial servant to receive presents, what was his demeanour? Did he require his counsel not 'to let down the dignity of his defence'? No. That Lord Bacon, whose least distinction was, that he was a peer of England, a lord high chancellor, and the son of a lord keeper, behaved like a man who knew himself; like a man who was conscious of merits of the highest kind; but who was at the same time conscious of having fallen into guilt. The House of Commons did not spare him. They brought him to your bar. They found spots in that sun. And what, I again ask, was his behaviour? That of contrition, that of humility, that of repentance, that which belongs to the greatest men lapsed and fallen through human infirmity into error.He did not hurl defiance at the accusations of his country, he bowed himself before it, yet with all his penitence he could not escape the pursuit of the House of Commons, and the inflex