MXXXVI. Every mind seems capable of entertaining a certain quantity of happiness, which no institutions can increase, no circumstances alter, and entirely independent on fortune. Let any man compare his present fortune with the past, and he will probably find himself, upon the whole, neither better nor worse than formerly.-Goldsmith. MXXXVII. Of comfort no man speak: Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs; To monarchize, be fear'd, and kill with looks; Bores through his castle wall, and-farewell king! For you have but mistook me all this while: How can you say to me-I am a king? Richard II.-Shakspeare. MXXXVIII. There is no one thing more to be lamented in our nation, than their general affectation of every thing that is foreign; nay, we carry it so far, that we are more anxious for our own countrymen when they have crossed the seas, than when we see them in the same dangerous condition before our eyes at home.-Tatler. MXXXIX. Oh, Solitude! first state of human kind! MXL. Cowley. There is a creature who has all the organs of speech, a tolerable good capacity for conceiving what is said to it, together with a pretty proper behaviour in all the occurrences of common life: but naturally very vacant of thought in itself, and therefore forced to apply itself to foreign assistances. Of this make is that man who is very inquisitive.-Steele. MXLI. Like Ixion, I look on Juno, feel my heart turn to cinders My other senses starve; and, oft frequenting To move her to compassion, or make known Bashful Lover-Massinger. MXLIV. Such a bedlam is most of the world become, where madness goeth for the only wisdom, and he is the bravest man that can sin and be damn'd with reputation and renown, and successfully drive or draw the greatest number with him into hell; to which the world hath no small likeness, forsaking God, and being very much forsaken by him.-Baxter. MXLV. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, MXLVI. Shakspeare. The understanding of a man naturally sanguine, may be easily vitiated by the luxurious indulgence of hope, however necessary to the production of every thing great or excellent, as some plants are destroyed by too open exposure to that sun which gives life and beauty to the vegetable world.-Johnson. MXLVII. Can chance of seeing first thy title prove? MXLVIII. I believe that nature herself has constituted truth as the supreme deity, which is to be adored by mankind, and that she has given it greater force than any of the rest; for, being opposed, as she is on all sides, and appearance of truth so often passing for the thing itself, in behalf of plausible falsehoods, yet by her wonderful operation, she insinuates herself into the minds of men; sometimes exerting her strength immediately, and sometimes lying hid in darkness for a length of time; but at last she struggles through it, and appears triumphant over falsehood.-Polybius. MXLIX. O place and greatness, millions of false eyes And rack thee in their fancies! ML. Shakspeare. The knowledge of warfare is thrown away on a general who dare not make use of what he knows. I commend it only in a man of courage and resolution; in him it will direct his martial spirit, and teach him the way to the best victories, which are those that are least bloody, and which, though achieved by the hand, are managed by the head.-Fuller. MLI. Let grace and goodness be the principal loadstone of thy affections. For love which hath ends, will have an end; whereas that which is founded on true virtue, will always continue.-Dryden. MLII. Whatever parent gives his children good instruction, and sets them at the same time a bad example, may be considered as bringing them food in one hand, and poison in the other.-Balguy. MLIII. A horse is not known by his furniture, but qualities; so men are to be esteemed for virtue, not wealth.-Socrates. MLIV. How the innocent, As in a gentle slumber, pass away! But to cut off the knotty thread of life MLV. Massinger. Every true man's apparal fits your thief: if it be too little for your thief, your true man thinks it big enough: if it be too big for your thief, your thief thinks it little enough: so every true man's apparal fits your thief.Shakspeare. MLVI. For sports, for pageantry, and plays, On which the young men and maids meet, Tripping the comely country round, Herrick-On a Country Life. MLVII. Truth, like beauty, varies its fashions, and is best recommended by different dresses to different minds; and he that recalls the attention of mankind to any part of VOL. II. Ꮓ |