vert to your way of thinking. I am convinced that all mankind are upon an equal footing; and to give you an unquestionable proof, madam, that I am in earnest, here is a very sensible, civil, well-behaved fellow-citizen, your footman; I desire that he may be allowed to sit down and dine with us." I thus, sir, showed her the absurdity of the levelling doctrine. She has never liked me since. Sir, your levellers wish to level down as far as themselves; but they cannot bear levelling up to themselves. They would all have some people under them; why not then have some people above them?

FAME.

A boy's being flogged is not so severe as a man's having the hiss of he world against him. Men have a solicitude about fame; and the greater share they have of it, the more afraid they are of losing it.

FEMALE PREACHERS.

A woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.

EDUCATION OF CHILDREN.

Sir, it is no matter what you teach them first, any more than what leg you shall put into your breeches first. Sir, you may stand disputing which is best to put in first, but in the meantime, your breach is bare. Sir, while you are considering which of two things you should teach your child first, another boy has learnt them both.

ATTEMPTS AT WIT.

I have no more pleasure in hearing a man attempting wit and failing, than in seeing a man trying to leap over a ditch and tumbling into it.

VERSE-MAKING.

The great difficulty is to know when you have made good ones. When composing, I have generally had them in my mind, perhaps fifty at a time, walking up and down in my room; and then I have written them down, and often, from laziness, have written only half lines. I have written a hundred lines in a day. I remember I wrote a hundred lines of "The Vanity of Human Wishes" in a day.

EXPERIENCE THE TEST OF TRUTH.

Human experience, which is constantly contradicting theory, is the greatest test of truth. A system, built upon the discoveries of a great many minds, is always of more strength, than what is produced by the mere workings of any one mind, which of itself can do little. There is not so poor a book in the world that would not be a prodigious effort were it wrought out entirely by a single mind without the aid of prior investigators. The French writers are superficial, because they are not scholars, and so proceed upon the mere power of their own minds; and we see how very little power they have.

DESIRE FOR KNOWLEDGE.

A desire of knowledge is the natural feeling of mankind; and every human being, whose mind is not debauched, will be willing to give all that he has to get knowledge.

EATING.

Some people have a foolish way of not minding, or pretending not to mind, what they eat.

For my part, I mind my belly very studiously, and very carefully; for I look upon it, that he who does not mind his belly will hardly mind anything else.

THE LAW.

In the formulary and statutory part of law, a plodding blockhead may excel; but in the ingenious and rational part of it a plodding blockhead can never excel.

CONVENTS.

If convents should be allowed at all, they should only be retreats for persons unable to serve the public, or who have served it. It is our first duty to serve society; and, after we have done that, we may attend wholly to the salvation of our own souls. A youthful passion for ab. stracted devotion should not be encouraged.

DEGREES OF POVERTY.

There is no being so poor and so contemptible, who does not think there is somebody still poorer, and still more contemptible. E

DEGREES OF HAPPINESS.

That all who are happy, are equally happy, is not true. A peasant and a philosopher may be equally satisfied, but not equally happy. Happiness consists in the multiplicity of agreeable consciousness. A peasant has not capacity for having equal happiness with a philosopher.

INTENTIONS.

We cannot prove any man's intention to be bad. You may shoot a man through the head, and say you intended to miss him; but the judge will order you to be hanged. An alleged want of intention, when evil is committed, will not be allowed in a court of justice.

EQUALITY UNNATURAL.

So far is it from being true that men are naturally equal, that no two people can be half an hour together, but one shall acquire an evident superiority over the other.

LEISURE AS NECESSARY AS EXERTION.

No man is obliged to do as much as he can do.