It is not so difficult a task to plant new truths, as to root out old errors; for there is this paradox in men, they run after that which is new, but are prejudiced in favour of that which is old. Horne Tooke* obtained a double triumph over the Hermes of Mr. Harris, for he not only extirpated old errors, but planted new truths in their place. He came to the Terra Incognita,' as the settler to an unculti vated tract. He found the soil as dark with error, and as stubborn with prejudice, as that of the forest with trees and with roots; he had to clear, before he could cultivate, and to smooth before he could

SOW.

Theory is worth but little, unless it can explain its own phenomena, and it must effect this with out contradicting itself; therefore, the facts are sometimes assimilated to the theory, rather than the theory to the facts. Most theorists may be compared to the grandfather of the great Frede

* This gentleman's political principles were too violent and too gloomy; but all parties will give their suffrages to the brilliancy of his talents, and his grammatical labours cannot be appreciated too highly. An English Dictionary from such hands would have been indeed a treasure. I have elsewhere observed, that we put up with Johnson's Dictionary for want of a better, as a mal-government is better than a state of total confusion. Dr. Johnson reversed the sneer passed upon lexicographers, for he is more often wrong in his comprehension of one word than of two put together. But when we consider that the 'Diversions of Purley' proceeded from the same pen that beat Junius at his own weapons, we then know not which most to admire, the author's knowledge of single words, or of words put together. The critics could not quite forget his politics in their appreciation of his powers, and there were some who would have broken his head, if they could have done it without exposing his brains.

rick, who was wont to amuse himself, during his fits of the gout, by painting likenesses of his gren adiers, if the picture did not happen to resemble the grenadier, he settled the matter by painting the grenadier to the picture. To change the illustration, we might say, that theories may be admired for the ingenuity that has been displayed in building them; but they are better for a lodging than a habitation, because the scaffolding is often stronger than the house, and the prospects continually liable to be built out by some opposite speculator; neither are these structures very safe in stormy weather, and are in need of constant repair, which can never be accomplished without much trouble, and always at a great expense of truth. Of modern theorists, Gall and Spurzheim are too ridiculous even to be laughed at; we admire Locke and Hartley, for the profundity and ingenuity of their illustrations; and Lavater for his plausibility; but none of them for their solidity. Locke, however, was an exception to this paradox so generally to be observed in theorists, who, like Lord Monboddo, are the most credulous of men with respect to what confirms theory, but perfect infidels as to any facts that oppose it. Mr. Locke, I believe, had no opinions which he would not most readily exchange for truth. A traveller showed Lavater two portraits; the one of a highwayman who had been broken upon a wheel, the other was the portrait of Kant the philosopher; he was desired to distinguish between them. Lavater took up the portrait of the highwayman, after attentively considering it for some time, Here,' says he, we have the true philosopher, here is penetration in the eye, and reflection in the forehead; here is cause, and there

is effect; here is combination, there is distinction ; synthetic lips! and an analytic nose!' Then turning to the portrait of the philosopher, he exclaims, 'The calm thinking villain is so well expressed, and so strongly marked in this countenance, that it needs. no comment.' This anecdote Kant used to tell. with great glee. Dr. Darwin informs us, that the reason why the bosom of a beautiful woman is an object of such peculiar delight, arises from hence; that all our first pleasurable sensations of warmth, sustenance, and repose, are derived from this interesting source. This theory had a fair run, untit some one happened to reply, that all who were brought up by hand, had derived their first pleasurable sensations from a very different source, and yet that not one of all these had ever been known to evince any very rapturous or amatory emotions at the sight of a wooden spoon!!

It is better to be laughed at, than ruined; better. to have a wife, who, like Martial's Mamurra, cheapens every thing, and buys nothing, than to be empoverished by one whose vanity will purchase every thing, but whose pride will cheapen nothing.

IIe that can charm a whole company by singing, and at the age of thirty, has no cause to regret so dangerous a gift, is a very extraordinary, and I may add, a very fortunate man.

Those characters, who, like Ventidius, spring from the very dregs of society, and going through every gradation of life, continue like him, to rise with every change, and who never quit a single step in the ladder, except it be to gain a higher one,

these men are superior to fortune, and know how to enjoy her caresses without being the slaves of her caprice. But those with whom she can complete the circle, whom she can elevate from the lowest stations into the highest, detrude them again, and lastly leave them where she found them, these are the roturiers, that only serve to make her sport; they are her mines, and her pantomimes, her harlequins, and her buffoons.

In answering an opponent, arrange your ideas, but not your words: consider in what points things that resemble, differ; and in what those things that differ, resemble; reply with wit to gravity, and with gravity to wit; make a full concession to your adversary, and give him every credit for those arguments you know you can answer, and slur over those you feel you cannot; but above all, if he have the privilege of making his reply, take especial care that the strongest thing you have to urge is the last. He must immediately get up and say something, and if he be not previously prepared with an answer to your last argument, he will infallibly be boggled, for very few possess that remarkable talent of Charles Fox, who could talk on one thing, and at the same time think of another.

A great mind may change its objects, but it cannot relinquish them; it must have something to pursue Variety is its relaxation, and amusement its repose.

Our very best friends have a tincture of jealousy even in their friendship; and when they hear us

praised by others, will ascribe it to sinister and interested motives if they can.

That historian who would describe a favourite character, as faultless, raises another at the expense of himself. Zeuxis made five virgins contribute their charms to his single picture of Helen; and it is as vain for the moralist to look for perfection in the mind, as for the painter to expect to find it in the body. In fact, the sad realities of life give us no great cause to be proud either of our minds, or of our bodies; but we can conceive in both, the possibility of much greater excellence than exists. The statue of the Belvidere Apollo, is quite as likely to be married, as he that will have no wife until he can discover a woman that equals the Venus of Cleomenes.

Always suspect a man who affects great softness of manner, an unruffled evenness of temper, and an enunciation studied, slow, and deliberate. These things are all unnatural, and bespeak a degree of mental discipline into which he that has no purposes of craft or design to answer, cannot submit to drill himself. The most successful knaves are usually of this description, as smooth as razors dipped in oil, and as sharp.-They affect the innocence of the dove, which they have not, in order to hide the cunning of the serpent, which they have.

Laboured letters, written like those of Pope, yet apparently in all the ease of private confidence, but which the writer meant one day to publish, may be compared to that dishabille in which a beauty