sent Ulysses-his best of men; and Achilles-his bravest of men, frequently in tears. Jonathan and David were the most heroical men of their age; yet they wept on each other's neck, till each exceeded. And what a lesson do we learn at the grave of Lazarus!

He whose disposition is most favorable to the production of happiness within himself, is of necessity and naturally most agreeable to others; and these common qualities of pleasing and being pleased mutually react upon and generate each other. "The great boast of polished life," says Jeffry, "is the delicacy, and even the generosity of its hostility-that quality which is still the characteristic, as it furnishes the denomination, of a gentleman that principle which forbids us to attack the defenseless, to strike the fallen, or to mangle the slainand enjoins us, in forging the shafts of satire, to increase the polish exactly as we add to their keenness or their weight." In his letter to the Duke of Ormond, Dryden speaks on this topic in his own rich, characteristic style. Says he, "Gold, as it is the purest, so it is the softest and most ductile of all metals. Iron, which is the hardest, gathers rust, corrodes itself, and is therefore subject to corruption it was never intended for coins and medals, or to bear the faces and inscriptions of the great. Indeed, it is fit for armor, to bear off insults, and preserve the wearer in the day of battle; but the danger once repelled, it is laid aside by the brave, as a garment too rough for civil conversation--a necessary guard in war, but too harsh and cumbersome in peace, and which keeps off the embraces of a more humane life."

The mild courtesy of a truly generous heart, produces gracious manners, as genial sunshine and dew elicit the verdure and odors of earth, imparting alike to opening flower and benignant character, a most captivating charm. But when urbanity is separated from religious charity, it is rather the law of strife than a treaty of peace between men; since, without that divine virtue, a man may appear courteous at times, while, as St. Bernard said of Peter Abailard, he is unlike himselfexternally a John, and within a Herod. Even his apparent kindness will be employed habitually with the intention of injuring more deeply. Don Alonzo, king of Naples, hearing one day a certain man praising his enemy, "remark," said he "the artifice of the man, and you will see that his praises are only for the purpose of doing him more harm." The event verified the prediction. Indeed, along with native generosity of heart, nothing but the love of God and the direction of the secret purpose to his glory in the general welfare, can be the source of real, sincere and lasting courtesy. It was set forth in no mean light by Homeric Nestor, who received the two strangers with such kindness, although he thought in his mind that they might be robbers who passed over the watery ways, bearing evil to men of other nations. But the great apostle of the Gentiles presents a much higher and better example when, writing to Philemon concerning his poor servant Onesimus, he says, "If he hath wronged thee, or oweth the aught, put that on mine account. I, Paul, have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it." This is the gracious

ness which is practically useful, and which all should

exemplify.

"Then only shows of kindness have their worth,

When outward courtesies truly declare

The heart that keeps them."