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is proper assurance only in another; for firmness is commendable, but an overbearing conduct is disgustful.

22. Forwardness being the very reverse of modesty, follow rather than lead the company; that is, join in disCourse upon their subjects, rather than start one of your own; if you have parts, you will have opportunities enough of shewing them on every topic of conversation, and if you have none, it is better to expose yourself upon a subject of other people's than one of your own.

23. But be particularly careful not to speak of yourself if you can help it. An impudent fellow lugs in himself abruptly upon all occasions, and is ever the hero of his own story. Others will colour their arrogance with "it may seem strange indeed that I should talk in "this manner of myself: it is what I by no means like, "and should never do if I had not been cruelly and unjustly accused; but when my character is attacked, it is a justice I owe to myself to defend it." This veil is too thin not to be seen through on the first inspection.

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24. Others again with more art, will modestly boast of all the principal virtues by calling these virtues weaknesses, and saying, they are so unfortunate as to fall into those weaknesses." I cannot see persons suffer," says one of this cast, "without relicving them; though my “circumstances are very unable to afford it- I cannot "avoid speaking truth; though it is often very impru"dent:" and so on.

25. This angling for praise is so prevailing a principle, that it frequently stoops to the lowest object. Men will often boast of doing that, which, if true, would be rather a disgrace to them than otherwise. One man affirms that he rode twenty miles within the hour: 'tis probably a lie; but suppose he did, what then? He had a good horse under him, and is a good jockey. Another swears he has often at a sitting, drank five or six bottles to his own share.. Qut of respect to him, I will believe bim a liar; for I would not wish to think him a beast.

26. These and many more are the follies of idle people, which, while they think they procure them esteem, in reality make them despised.

27. To avoid this contempt, therefore, never speak of yourself at all, unless necessity obliges you; and even

then, take care to do it in such a manner, that it may not be construed into fishing for applause. Whatever perfections you may have, be assured, people will find them out; but whether they do or not, nobody will take them upon your own word. The less you say of yourself, the more the world will give you credit for; aud the more you say, the less they will believe you.

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OF CHEERFULNESS.

HAVE always preferred cheerfulness to mirth:. The latter I consider as an act, the former as a habit of the mind. Mirth is short and transient, cheerfulness fixed and permanent. Those ase often raised into the greatest transports of mirth, who are subject to the greatest depressions of melancholy: on the contrary, cheerfulness, through it does not give the mind such an exquisite gladness, prevents us from falling into any depths of sorrow. Mirth is like a flash of lightning that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of day-light in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.

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2. Men of austere principles look upon mirth as too wanton and dissolute for a state of probation, and as filled with a certain triumph and insolence of heart that is inconsistent with a life which is every moment obnoxious to the greatest dangers. Writers of this complexion have observed, that the sacred person who was the great pattern of perfection, was never seen to laugh.

3. Cheerfulness of mind is not liable to any of these exceptions; it is of a serious and composed nature; it does not throw the mind into a condition improper for the present state of humanity, and is very conspicuous in the characters of those who are looked upon as the greatest philosophers among the heathens, as well as among those who have been deservedly esteemed as saints and holy men among christians.

4. If we consider cheerfulness in three lights, with regard to ourselves, to those we converse with, and to the great Author of our being, it will not a little recommend itself on each of these accounts. The man who is possessed of this excellent frame of mind, is not only easy in his thoughts, but a perfect master of all the pow

́ers and faculties of the soul: his imagination is always clear, and his judgment uudisturbed: his temper is even and unruffled, whether in action or solitude. He comes with a relish to all those goods which nature has provided for him, tastes all the pleasures of the creation which are poured about him, and does not feel the full weight of those accidental evils which may befal him,

5.If we consider him in relation to the persons whom he converses with, it naturally produces love and good will towards him. A chearful mind is not only disposed to be affable and obliging, but raises the same goodhumour in those who come within its influence. A man finds himself pleased, he does not know why, with the cheerfulness of his companion: it is like a sudden sunshine that awakons a secret delight in the mind, without her attending to it. The heart rejoices of its own accord, and naturally flows out into friendship and benevolence towards the person who has so kindly an effect upon it.

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6. When I consider this cheerful state of mind in its third relation, I cannot but look upon it as a constant habitual gratitude to the great Author of nature. inward cheerfulness as an implicit praise and thanksgiving to Providence under all its dispensations. It is a kind of acquiescence in the state wherein we are placed, and a secret approbation of the Divine will in his conduct towards man.

7. There are but two things which in my opinion, can reasonably deprive us of this chearfulness of heart. The first of these is the sense of guilt. A man who lives in a state of vice and impenitence, can have no title to that evenness and tranquility of mind wh'ch is the health of the soul, and the natural effect of virtue and innocence. Chearfulness in an ill man deserves a harder name than language can furnish us with, and is many degrees beyond what we commonly call folly of madness.

8. Atheism, by which I mean a disbelief of a Supreme. Being, and consequently of a future state, under whatsoever title it shelters itself, may likewise very reasona bly deprive a man of this cheerfulness of temper. There is something so particularly gloomy and offensive to bu

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man nature in the prospect of non-existence, that I can not but wonder, with many excellent writers, how it is possible for a man to outlive the expectation of it. For my own part, I think the Being of a God is so little to be doubted, that it is almost the only truth we are sure of, and such a truth as we meet with in every object, in every occurrence, and in every thought.

9. If we look into the characters of this tribe of infidels, we generally find they are made up of pride, spleen and cavil: it is indeed no wonder, that men, who are uneasy to themselves, should be so to the rest of the world, and how is it possible for a man to be otherwise than uneasy in himself, who is in danger every moment of loosing his entire existence and dropping into nothing?

10. The vicious man and Atheist have therefore no pretence to chearfulness, and would act very unreasonably, should they endeavour after it. It is impossible for any one to live in good humeur, and enjoy his present existence, who is apprehensive cither of torment or of annihilation; of being miserable, or of not being at all.

11. After having mentioned these too great principles, which are destructive of cheerfulness in their own nature, as well as in right reason, I cannot think of any other that ought to banish this happy temper from a virtuous mind. Pain and sickness, shame and reproach, poverty and old age, nay, death itself, considering the shortness of their duration, and the advantage we may reap from them, do not deserve the name of evils.

12. A good mind may bear up under them with fortitude, with indolence, and with cheerfulness of heart the tossing of a tempest does not discompose him, which he is sure will bring him to a joyful harbour.

13. A man who uses his best endeavours to live according to the dictates of virtue and right reason has two perpetual sources of cheerfulness, in the consideration of his own nature, and of that Being on whom he has a dependence.

14. If he looks into himself, he cannot but rejoice in that existence, which is so lately bestowed upon him, and which, after millions of ages, will be still new, and still in its beginning. How many self-congratulations

naturally arise in the mind, when it reflects on this its entrance into eternity, when it takes a view of those improveable faculties, which in a few years, and even at its first setting out have made so considerable a progress, and which will be still receiving an increase of perfection, and consequently an increase of happiness?

15. The consciousness of such a Being spreads a perpetual diffusion of joy through the soul of a virtuous inan, and makes him look upon himself every moment as more happy than he knows how to conceive.

16. The second source of cheerfulness to a good mind is its consideration of that Being on whom we have our dependence, and in whom, though we behold him as yet, but in the first faint discoveries of his perfections, we see every thing that we can imagine, as great, glorious, or amiable. We find ourselves every where upheld by his goodness, and surrounded by an immensity of love and mercy.

17. In short, we depend upon a Being, whose pow er qualifies him to make us happy by an infinity of means, whose goodness and truth engage him to make those happy who desire it of him, and whose unchangeableness will secure us in this happiness to all eternity.

18. Such considerations, which every one should perpetually cherish in his thoughts, will banish from us all that secret heaviness of heart which unthinking men are subject to when they lie under no real affliction, all that anguish which we may feel from any evil that acactually oppresses us, to which I may likewise add those Jittle cracklings of mirth and folly, that are apter to betray virtue than support it; and establish in us such an even and cheerful temper, as makes us pleasing to ourselves, to those with whom we converse, and to him whom we are made to please.

DISCRETION.

I HAVE often thought if the minds of men were laid open, we should see but little difference between that of the wise man and that of the fool. There are infinite reveries, numberless extravagancies, and a perpetual train of vanities which pass through both. The great difference is, that the first knows how to pick

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