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477. As a condemned criminal. or one who has lost all hope of salvation, bends the eyeDrows downward, clouds the forehead, rolls the eyes around fretiully, eyeballs red and inflamed Like a rabid dog; opens the mouth hor 2011tally, bites the lips, widens the

DESPAIR.

nostrils, and gnashes the teeth; the head is pressed down upon the breast; heart too hard to permit tears to flow; arms are sometimes bent at the elbows; the fists clench'd hard; the veins and muscles swollen; the skin livid; the whole body strained and violently agitated; while groans of inward torture are more frequently uttered than words. If any words are spoken, they are few, and expressed with a sullen eager bitterness; the tones of the voice often loud and furious, and sometimes in the same pitch for a considerable time. This state of human nature is too terrible, too frightful to look, or dwell upon, and almost improper for representation: for if death cannot be counterfeited without too much shocking our humanity, despate, which exhibits a state ten thousand times more terrible than death, ought to be viewed with a kind of reverence to the great Author of Nature, who seems sometimes to permit this agony of mind, as a warning to avoid that wickedness, which produces it: it can hardly be

over-acted.

Bring me to my trial when you will.

Died he not in his bed? where should he die?
Can I make men live, whether they will or no?
Oh torture me no more, I will confess.-
Alive again? then show me where he is,
I'll give a thousand pounds to look upon him.-
He hath no eyes, the dust bath blinded them--
Comb down his hair; look! look! it stands upright,
Like lime-twigs, set to catch my winged soul!
Give me some drink, and bid the apothecary
Bring the strong poison that I bought of him.
Ay, but to die, and go we know not where;
To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot;
This sensible warm motion to become
A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit
To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside
In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice;
To be imprison'd in the viewless winds,
And blown with restless violence about
The pendant world; or to be worse than worst
Of those, that lawless and uncertain thoughts
Imagine howling!-'tis too horrible!
The weariest and most loathed worldly life,
That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment
Can lay on nature, is a paradise

To what we fear of death.

Critics are like a kind of flies, that breed

Virtue and Vice. Every man has actually within him, the seeds of every virtue and every vice; and the proportion, in which they thrive and ripen, depends, in general, upon the situations in which he has been, and is placed, and his life.

Anecdote. Filial Piety. Valerius Maximus relates, that a woman of distinction, having been condemned to be strangled, was | carried to prison, in order to be put to death; but the jailor was so struck with compunetion, that, resolving not to kill her, he chose to let her die with hunger; meanwhile, he permitted her daughter to visit her in prison, taking care that she brought nothing to eat. Many days passing by, and the prisoner still living, the jailor at length,suspecting something, watched the daughter, and discovered that she nourished her mother with her own milk. He informed the authorities, and they the people; when the criminal was pardoned, and the mother and daughter maintained at the public expense; while a temple was erect ed-SACRED TO FILIAL PIETY.

Varieties. 1. The mind should shine through the casket, that contains it; its eloquence must speak in the cheek; and so distinctly should it be wrought in the whole countenance, that one might say, the body thinks, as well as feels; such oratory will never cloy; it is always enchanting, never the same. 2. A gentleman, lecturing before a lyceum, remarked: a lady, when she married, lost her personal identity-her distinctive character-and was like a dew-drop, swallowed by a sunbeam. 3. Let ignorance talk, learning hath its value. 4. Where mystery is practiced, there is generally something bad to conceal, or something incompatible with candor, or ingenuousness, which form the chief characteristic of genuine innocence. 5. The worst man is often he, who thinks hinaself the best. 6. A benefit is a good office, done with intention and judgment. 7. He, who punishes an enemy, has a momentary delight; but he who forgives him, has an abiding satisfaction.

Despair shall round their souls be twin'd,
And drink the vigor of their mind:
As round the oak rank ivy cleaves,
Steals its sap, and blasts its leaves.
Like yonder blasted boughs, by lightning riven,
Perfection, beauty, life, they never know,
But frown on all, that pass, a monument of woe
I saw, on the top of a mountain high

A gem, that shone like fire by night;
It seem'd a star, that had left the sky,
And dropp'd to sleep on the lonely height

I clomb the peak, and found it soon
A lump of ice, in the clear cold moon--
Can you its hidden sense impart?
"Twas a cheerful look, and a broken heart.

In wild fig-trees, and, when they're grown up, feed
Upon the raw fruit of the nobler kind,
And by their nibbling on the outward rind,
Open the pores, and make way for the sun
To ripen it sooner than he would have done.

Favors to none, to all. she smiles extends Oft she rejects, but never once-offends.

SORROW AND SADNESS.

478. In SOE

ROW, when moderate, the countenance

is

dejected,

the eyes are cast down,the arms hang lax, sometimes a little raised, suddenly to fall again; the hands open, the fingers *pread, the voice plaintive, and frequently inter

rupted with sighs. But when immoderate, it distorts the countenance, as if in agonies of pain; raises the voice to the loudest complainings, and

sometimes even to cries and shrieks; wrings
the hands, beats the head and breast, tears the
hair, and throws itself on the ground; like some
other passions in excess, it borders on phrenzy.

Say th it again; the shadow of my sorrow!
Ila! let's see:

'Tis very true, my grief lies all within;
And these external manners of lament,
Are merely shadows to the unseen grief,
That swells, with silence, in my tortured soul;
There-lies the substance;
And I thank thee, king,

For the great bounty, that not only giv'st
Me cause to wail, but teaches me the way,
How to lament the cause. I'll beg one boon,
And then be gone, and trouble you no more.
Pelayo-stood confused: he had not seen
Count Julian's dau'ter, since in Roderick's court,
Glittering in beauty and in innocence,
A radiant vision, in her joy, she moved:
More like a poet's dream, in form divine,
Heaven's prototype of perfect womanhood,
So lovely was the presence,-than a thing
Of earth and perishable elements.

Now, had he seen her in her winding-sheet,
Less painful would that spectacle have proved;
For peace is with the dead, and piety
Bringeth a patient hope to those, who mourn
O'er the departed; but this alter'd face,
Bearing its deadly sorrow character'd,
Came like a ghost, which in the grave,
Could find no rest. He, taking her cold hand,
Rais'd her, and would have spok'n; but his tung,
Fail'd in its office; and could only speak
In under tone, compassionate, her name.

The voice of pity-sooth'd, and melted her,
And, when the prince bade her be comforted,
Proffering his zealons aif in whatsoe'er
Might please her to appoint, a feeble smile
Past slowly over her pale countenance,
Like moonlight-on a marble statue.

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Love of Justice. A sense of justice should be the foundation of all our social qualities. In our most early intercourse with the world, and even in our most youthful amusements, no unfairness should be found. That sacred rule, of doing ail things to others, according as we wish they would do unto us, should be engraved on our minds. For this end, we should impress ourselves with a deep sense of the original and natural equality of man.

Anecdote. When king Agrippa was in a private station, he was accused, by one of his servants, of speaking ill of Tiberius, and was condemned by the emperor to be exposed in chains before the palace gate. The weather being hot, he was thirsty, and called to Caligula's servant, Thaumastus, who was passing with a pitcher of water, to give him some drink; ussuring him, if he got out of his captivity, he would pay him well. Tiberius dying, Caligula suce ede t him, and set Agrippa at liberty, making him king of Judea; in which situation, he remembered the glass of water, sent for Thaumastus, and made him controller of his household.

Varieties. 1. The following is the title of a book, published in England, in Cromwell's time: "Curious custards, carefully conserved for the chickens of the covenant, and sparrows of the spirit, and the sweet swallows of salvation." 2. Superabundant prosperity, tends to involve the human mind in darkness: it takes away the greatest stimulus to exertion, represses activity, renders u. idle, and inclines us to vice. 3. Venture not on the precipice of temptation; the ground may be firm as a rock under your feet, but a false step, or a sudden blast, may be your destruc tion. 4. Discretion has been termed the better part of valor; and diffidence, the better part of knowledge. 5. To combine profundity with perspicuity, wit with judgment, sobriety with vivacity, truth with novelly, and all of them with liberality, are six very difficult things. 6. Disguise it as we will, tyranny is a bitter thing. 7. What accident gains, accident may take away.

Seems, madam! nay, it is: I know not seeme
'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
Nor customary suits of solemn black,
Nor windy suspiration of forced breath;
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected 'havior of the v sage,
Together with all forms, modes. shows of grief,
That can denote me truly: these, indeed seem,
For they are actions that a man might play;
But I have that-within, which passeth show,
These-but the trappings and the suits of wo.
Sorrow prevs upon
Its solitude, and nothing more diverts it
From its sad visions of the other world,
Than calling it, at moments, back to this.
The busy-have no time for tears.

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ATTENTION, LISTENING, &c,

497. A T

TENTION-10 an esteemed

or superior character, has nearly the same aspect as INQUIRY, and requires silence: the eyes are often cast upon the ground, sometimes fixed upon the speaker; but not 100 pertly, or fam:

arly; when boking at ob

jects at a distance, and listening to sounds, its manifestations are different. INQUIRY into some difficult subject fixes the body in nearly one position, the head somewhat stooping, the eyes poring, and the eye-brows contracted.

Pray you, once more

[hear,

Is not your father grown incapable
Cf reas'nable affairs? is he not stupid
With age, and altering rheums? Can he speak,

Know man from man, dispute his own estate?
Lies he not bed-rid, and again does nothing,
But what he did being childish.

Angelo

There is a kind of character in thy life-
That, to the observer, doth thy history-
Fully unfold: thyself and thy belongings,
Are not thine own so proper as to waste
Thyself upon thy virtue. then on thee.
Hearen doth with us as we with torches do,
Not tight them for themselves for if our virtues
bid not go forth of us. were all as if
We had them not: spirits are not finely
But to fine issues; nature never lends-
The smallest scruple of her excellence;
But like a thrifty goddess, she determines
Herself the glory of a creditor,

Both thanks and praise.

Maxims. 1. We shall never be free from debt, till we learn not to be ashamed of industry and economy. 2. All should be taught how to earn, save and enjoy money. 3. Teach children to save everything; not for their own use exclusively, for this would make them selfish; teach them to share everything with their associates, and never to destroy anything. 4. True economy can be as comfortable with a little, as extravagance can with much. 5. Never lessen good actions, nor aggra vate evil ones. 6. Good works are a rock; ill ones a sandy foundation. 7. Some receive praise, who do not deserve it. 8. It is safer to learn, than to teach. 9. He, who conceals his opinion, has nothing to answer for. 10. Reason, like the sun, is common to all.

Anecdote. The late king of England, being very fond of Mr. Whiston, celebrated for his various strictures on religion, happened to be walking with him one day, in Hampton Court gardens, during the heat of his persecution. As they were talking upon this subject, his majesty observed, "That however right he might be in his opinions, it would be better, if he kept them to himself." "Is your majesty really serious in your advice?" answered the old man. "I really an," replied the king. "Why, then," says Whiston," had Martin Luther been of this way of thinking, where would your majesty have been at this time?"

Varieties. 1. What are the three learned professions! 2. Great minds can attend to little things; but little minds cannot attend to great things. 3. To marry a ruke, in hopes of reforming him, and to hire a hightouch'd-wayman, in hopes of reclaiming him, are two very dangerous experiments. 4. A clear idea, produces a stronger effect on the mind, than one that is obscure and indistinct. 5. Those that are teaching the people to read, are doing all they can to increase the power,

While Chaos, hush'd, stands listening to the noise, and extend the influence of those that write:

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And conders at confusion not his own.

I look'd, I listen'd, dreadful sounds I hear,
And the dire form of hostile gods appear.
Yet hear what an unsk llful friend may say:
As if a blind man should direct your way:
So I myself. tho' wanting to he taught,
May yet impart a hint. that's worth your thought.
What can the fondest mother wish for more,
Ev'n for her darling sons, than solid sense,
Perceptions clear, and flowing eloquence?

Mourners. Men are often ingenious, in making themselves miserable, by aggravating, beyond bounds, the evils, which they are compelled to enlure. "I will restore thy daughter again to life," said an eastern sage to a prince, who grieved immoderately for the loss of a beloved chilt; "provided, thou art able to engrave on her fomb, the names of three persons, who have never mourned." The prince made inquiry after such persons; but found the inquiry rain, and was silent.

for the child-will read to please his teachers,
but the man-to please himself. 6. A faith-
ful friend, that reproveth of errors, is prefer-
able to a deceitful parasite. 7. He that follows
nature, is never out of the way. S. Time,
patience, and industry, are the three grand
masters of the world.

If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it; that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again-it had a dying fall;
O, it came o'er my ear, like the sweet south,
Thas breathes upon a bank of riolets,
Stealing and giving odor. Enough. no more;
"Tis not so sweet now as it was before.
O spirit of love. how quick and fresh art thou!
That. notwithstanding thy capacity
Receiveth as the sea. nought enters there,
Of what validity and pitch soever.

But falls into abatement and low price,
Even in a minute! so full of shapes is fancy,
That it alone is h gh fantastical.

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wonder; so sure is the observation of the poet; Late time shall wonder, that my joys shall raise; For wonder is involuntary praise.

WONDER OR AMAZEMENT-opens the eyes and makes them appear very prominent: sometimes it rases them to the skies; but more frequently fixes them upon the object, if it be present, with a fearful look: the mouth is open and the hands held up nearly in the attitude of fear; and if they old anything, they drop it immediately, and unconsciously the voice is at first low, but so emphatic al that every word is pronounced slowly and with energy. though the first access of this passion often stops ail utterance; when, by the discovery of something excellent in the object of wonder, the emotion may be called admiration, the eyes are ra.sed, the hands are lifted up, and clapp'd together, and the voice elevated with expressions of rapture.

Thou art, O God: the life and light

Of all this wondrous world we see ; Its glow by day, its smile by night,

Are but reflections caught from thee. Where'er we turn, thy glories shine, And all things fair and bright are Thine! When Day, with farewell beam, delays Among the opening clouds of even, And we can almost think we gaze

Through golden vistas into Heaven, Those hues, that make the sun's decline So soft, so radiant, Lord! are Thine. When Night, with wings of starry gloom, O'ershadows all the earth and skies, Like some dark, beauteous bird, whose plume Is sparkling with unnumber'd eyes,That sacred gloom, those fires divine, So grand, so countless, Lord! are Thine. When youthful Spring around us breathes, Thy spirit warms her fragrant sigh; And every flower the Summer wreathes, Is born beneath that kindling eye. Where'er we turn, thy glories shine, And all things fair and bright are Thine! How inexpressibly various are the characteristics impressed by the Creator on all human beings! How has he stamped on each its legible and peculiar properties! How especially visible in this the lowest class of animal life! The world of insects, is a world of itself: how great the distance between it and man! Through all their forms, and gradations, how visible are their powers of

destructum, of suffering and resisting, of sensibility and insensibility!

Importance of Early Principles. If men's actions are an effect of their principles, that is, of their notions, their belief. their persuasions, it must be admitted, that principles-early sown in the mind, are the seeds, which produce fruit and harvest in the ripe state of manhood. How lightly soever some men may speak of notions, yet, so long as the soul governs the body, men's notions must in fluence their actions, more or less, as they are stronger or weaker and to good or evil, as they are better or worse.

Anecdote. Cyrus, the great king of Persiu, when a boy, being at the court of his grandfather As-ty-a-ges, engaged to perform the office of cup-bearer at table. The duty of this office required him to taste the liquor, before presenting it to the king; but without performing this duty, Cyrus delivered the cup to his grandfather; who observed the omission, which he imputed to forgetfulness. "No," said Cyrus, "I purposely avoided it: because I feared it contained poison: for lately, at an entertainment, I observed that the lords of your court, after drinking it, became noisy, quarrelsome and frantic."

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Varieties. 1. In every departure from truth, it is the deceit and hypocricy we exert, to compass our purpose, that does the evil, more than the base falsehood, of which we are guilty. 2. It is a strong proof of the want of proper attention to our duty, and of a deficiency of energy and good sense, to let an opportunity pass, of doing or getting good, without improving it. 3. Of all the passions, jealousy is that which exacts the hardest service, and pays the bitterest wages; its service is to watch the success of a rival; its wages-to be sure of it. 4. Base envy withers at another's joy, and hates that excel lence it cannot reach. 5. How does the mental and bodily statures of the ancients, compare with those of the moderns? 6. It seems like a law of order, that no one shall be long remembered with affection, by a race whom he has never benefitted. 7. The charity, that relieves distressed minds, is far superior to that, which relieves distressed bodies. 8. Think'st thou-it is honorable-for a noble man still to remember wrong? 9. This is the monstrosity of love, that the will-is infinite, and the execution-confined; that the desire-is boundless, and the act--a slave to limit.

What's in a name; that which we call a rose,
By any other name--would smell as sweet.
Glory-is like a circle in the water,
Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself,
Till, by broad spreading, it disperses to nought.
God's benison go with you; and with those,
That would make good of bad, and friends-of foes
The things we must believe-are few, und plain.

VENERATION, DEVOTION.

481. VE

NERATIONto parents, teachers, superiors or persons of eminent virtue and at tainments is an humble and respectful acknowledgment of their excellence, and our own inferiority: the head and body are in

Anecdote. Pulpit Flattery. One of the first acts, performed by the young monarch, George the Third, after his accession to the throne of England, was, to issue an order, prohibiting any of the clergy, who should be called before him, from paying him any compliments in their discourse. His majesty was led to this, from the fulsome adulation which Dr. Thomas Wilson, prebendary of Westminster, thought proper to deliver, in the royal chapel; and for which, instead of thanks, ha received a pointed reprimand; his majesty observing, "that he came to hear the praise of God, and not his own."

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feeling, that perfect community of the heart's secrets and the mind's thoughts, which binds two beings together more closely, more dearly than the dearest of human ties; more than the vow of passion, or the oath of the altar. It is that confidence which, did we not deny its sway, would give to earthly love a permanence that we find but very seldom in this world.

Love. The brightest part of love is its conficlined a little forward, and the hand, with the dence. It is that perfect, that unhesitating relipalm downwards, just raised to meet the inclina-ance, that interchange of every idea and every tion of the body, and then let fall again with apparent timidity and diffidence; the eye is sometimes lifted up, and then immediately cast downward, as if unworthy to behold the object before it; the eyebrows drawn down in the most respectful manner; the features, and the whole body and limbs, all composed to the most profound gravity; one portion continuing without much change. When veneration rises to adoration of the Almighty Creator and Redeemer, it is too sacred to be imitated, and seems to demand that humble annihilation of ourselves, which must ever be the consequence of a just sense of the Divine Majesty, and our own unworthiness. This feeling is always accompanied with more or less of awe, according to the object, place, &c. Respect-is but a less degrees of veneration, and is nearly allied

to modesty.

Aim ghty God! 'tis right, 'tis just,
That earthly frames-should turn to dust;
But O, the sweet, transporting truth,
The soul-shall bloom in endless youth.
In its sublime research, philosophy
May measure out the ocean-deep-may count
The sands, or the sun's rays-but, God! for thee
There is no weight nor measure: none can mount
Up to thy mysteries; Reason's brightest spark,
Though kindled by thy light, in vain would try
To trace thy counsels, infinite and dark:

Varieties. 1. Some misfortunes seem to be inevitable; but they generally proceed from our want of judgment, and prudence. 2. Ig norance of the facts, upon which a science is based, precludes much proficiency in that science. 3. Trade, like a restive horse, is not easily managed; where one is carried to the end of a successful journey, many are thrown off by the way. 4. No accident can do harn to virtue; it helps to make it manifest. 5. True faith is a practical principle; it is doing what we understand to be true. 6. It is very difficult to talk and act like a madman, but not like a fool. 7. Rely not on the companions of your pleasure; trust not the associates of your health and prosperity; it is only in the hour of adversity, that we learn the

And thought is lost, ere thought can soar so high, sincerity of our friends. S. The genuine feelEven like past moments-in eternity.

This world-is all a fleeting show,
For man's illusion given;
The smiles of joy,-the tears of woe,
Deceitful shine, deceitful flow-

There's nothing true-but Heaven!
And false the light-on glory's plume,
As fading hues of even;

And love, and hope, and beauty's bloom,
Are blossoms-gather'd for the tomb,-
There's nothing bright-but Heaven!
Poor wanderers--of a stormy day,

From wave-to wave-we 're driven,
And fancy's flash, and reason's ray,
Serve but to light-the troubled way-
There's nothing calm-but Hearen!
He was too good-
Where ill men were: and was best of all-
Among the rarest of good ones.

When usefulness, and pleasure join,
Perfection-crowns the grand design.

ings of human nature, are always the same;
and the language of passion every where un-
derstood. 9. Demosthenes said, that action,
or delivery, constitutes the beginning, middle
and end of oratory. 10. In proportion as a
truth is great, and transcending the capacity
of the age, it is either rejected, or forgollen.
Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love,
Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove :
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark,

That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;
[ken.
It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth's unknown, altho' his height be ta
Love's not 'Time's fool, tho' rosy lips and cheeks
Within its bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out e'en to the edge of doom.
If this be error, and upon me prov'd,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.

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