pear below himself; the vanity of being thought important, rendering him ridiculous.

S-Tamely acquiesces in what is generally believed, because it is generally believed he wants no other proof of the truth of a thing, than its having a plurality of numbers on its side.

T-Runs into extravagant singularities, from the vanity of appearing possessed of superior understanding.

U-Would not be suspected of dishonesty, but for his frequently boasting that he is honest; nor of want of veracity, but for his habit of propping his word and promise with asseverations.

V-Passes for wise, because he is taciturn-peradventure not so much from gravity, as stupidity.

W-Might please every body with the eloquence and good sense of his conversation, if he knew only when to have done.

X-A lady of fasion, affects exquisite sensibility, by her look, her manner, and her tones of voice ;-such is her tenderness, that she weeps over high-life scenes of fictitious distress; and such is her obduracy, that she regards with unfeeling indifference, those vulgar objects of real distress that have claims upon her practical charity.

Y-A philosopher of the school of cosmopolites, possesses a fund of speculative benevolence, which he often makes use of in word, but never in deed :-like his prototype, the pagan philosopher Seneca, who wrote an excellent book upon charity; but though he was rich, he gave nothing away.

Z-endeavours to cummute for his neglects and trespasses in some things, by a grave and punctilious exactness in others. He will go miles to church on a stormy day :-in his worldly deal, he is not altogether a hard honest man, but hardly honest.

NUMBER CXIII.

Of the necessity of seasonable precaution.

THAT " an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," is an old and true proverb, which is applicable alike to a multitude of cases: the ills we suffer in life being, in a large proportion, either of our own procurement, or such as might have been prevented by timely care and precaution.

It seems to have been a standing custom of the Asiatics, in their epistolary correspondence, to conclude a letter with this sage advice, Take care of your health : a precept which, were it generally put in practice, would save the lives of multitudes in every country. The grave is peopled with myriads, who might still have enjoyed the light of life but for the intemperate manner of their living; and with other myriads whose deaths were occasioned by unnecessarily exposing their health.

The lovely Belinda, falls into a hectic in the flower of her age. The life-spring within her fails; the art of medicine is unavailing; "the worm of death is in her bloom." Yet, what a pound of cure can't remove, an ounce of prudence might have prevented.

There was a time, and a very long time, when, in the christianized world, it was thought a merit to pain and torment and waste the corporeal part of our nature: when the body was considered as at utter enmity with the soul; when this grovelling inmate was voluntarily subjected to cold and nakedness and to unmerciful scourging, in order to curb and break its rebellious propensities. We live, however, in a more rational age. Blessed be the day of Martin Luther's birth, and blessed the work achieved by him! He gave

the death-blow to this mummery, and brought the body again into favour with its superior in the partnership. But whether it be a relic of the old popish superstition, or to whatever cause else it may be attributable, there are said to be ladies at this day, even protestant ladies, who mortify, distress, and consume their own precious bodies, by keeping them in irons! But this by the bye.

It is no uncommon thing to anticipate the stroke of time. Often, very often, the vigorous and robust squander their health and hasten the blow that levels them; while the feeble, by temperance and assiduous care, spin out life to an advanced age.

Many of our mishaps, or misfortunes, as we call them, spring from imprudence or neglect. Through the neglect of a small leak a ship is sunk, and its crew perhaps lost. The neglect of a few feet of fence may destroy a crop, and so may a few days negligence and sloth in seed time or harvest. Angry law-suits, and heavy pecuniary losses, not unfrequently might have been prevented by a seasonable attention that would have required very little of time or labour. Some plunge themselves into inextricable embarrassment, which might have been avoided had a portion of their leisure been devoted to the devising of a reasonable plan of living; and others again are impoverished and devoured by artificial wants, of which they might easily have prevented the intrusion. Indeed, of instances there is no end.

But that which is of the most importance by many degrees, is yet behind. There are means preventional of moral, as well as of natural evil. Most of the vices that infest society, and bring utter ruin npon individuals, are more easy of prevention than of cure: and it is to be hoped that the time is coming when civil governments, blending christian morals with state policy, will

employ their power and influence fully as much to prevent crime as to punish it. That would be an era more happy than language can describe. But passing over what is remote and contingent; I will mention, and but mention, the actual and practicable powers of two kinds of government-Domestic and Personal.

Inconsiderate parents are apt to think, and do sometimes say, that time will cure the faults of their children. This is a sad and fatal mistake. Not but that time perchance may cure the minor follies and errors of the juvenile mind; such follies and errors as are peculiarly incidental to the inexperience, the imbecile judgment, and the eager vivacity, of childhood and immature youth: but immoral propensities are strengthened, rather than cured, by time, which matures them into fixed habits. The bias to lying, profaneness, defrauding, or whatever immorality else, is not so very hard to cure when it first appears in the child; but if it be neglected then, it grows into an inveterate habit in the man. It is of importance, however, to premise, that the inceptive immorality of childhood is to be cured chiefly by moral means; by example; by exhibiting to the view its odious nature and direful consequences; by cogent and convincing appeals to the understanding, and affectiouate appeals to the heart :and not so much, certainly not altogether, by corporeal punishment. The parents, if such there be, who think that whippings alone will straighten the crooks in their childrens' minds, deserve for their folly a sound whipping, themselves.

One of the most important objects of domestic government, is so to train up children that they may have а due government of themselves when they shall come to be full grown men and women. This is a point, on which the worth or worthlessness of character greatly

depends; for discreet and well regulated self-government, is the surest preventive of the deplorable excesses of passion and appetite, since it keeps upon them a stronger and a more steady rein than any other human government does, or can do. Neither is the science of self-government so very hard to learn, nor the practice of it so very difficult, provided it be set about, as well in good season, as in good earnest. But the longer it is neglected, the greater is the difficulty; till at last it becomes next to impossible for one to rule his passions or restrain his appetites. Immoral habits, which might be easily prevented by timely discipline, attain gigantic strength by long indulgence.

It is out of our power to alter the structure of our bodies: we must take them as they are, for better or for worse. We cannot change our complexions or

fashion our own features.

We cannot add to our stat

ure, or make even a single hair of our head white or black. But it is not altogether so with the mind. We may, with the divine helps afforded us, improve and meliorate that. We may keep our passions and our appetites in subordination to our reason. And in this necessary and noble exercise should every one be employed, day by day, who wishes to be wise, or hopes to be happy.

NUMBER CXIV.

Of our proneness to run from one extreme to another.

Ir often happens, that when we set ourselves to straighten a crook, instead of making it quite straight, we crook it the contrary way, or carry things from one extreme to the other.