It has been asked, which are the greatest minds, and to which do we owe the greatest reverence: to those, who, by the powerful deductions of reason, and the well known suggestions of analogy, have made profound discoveries in the science, as it were a priori?' or to those, who, by the patient road of experiment, and the subsequent improvement of instruments, have brought these discoveries to perfection, as it were a posteriori;' who have rendered that certain, which before was only conjectural, practical, which was problematical, safe, which was dangerous, and subservient, which was unmanageable? It would seem that the first class, demand our admiration, and the second, our gratitude. Seneca predicted another hemisphere, but Columbus presented us with it. He that standing on the shore, foretells with truth, many of the undiscovered treasures of the ocean of science, even

is one evil, with taxation, which is another. It would be quite as fair, he thinks, to tax a man for being ill, by enacting that no physician should write a prescription without a stamp. Mr. Pitt, on the contrary, considered a lawsuit a luxury, and held that, like other luxuries, it ought to be taxed. 'Westminster Hall,' said he, is as open to any man, as the London Tavern;' to which Mr. Sheridan replied,' he that entered either without money, would meet with a very scurvy reception.' Some will say that the heavy expenses of law prevent the frequency of lawsuits, but the practice does not confirm the theory. Others will say that they originate from men of obstinate and quarrelsome dispositions, and that such ought to suffer for their folly. There would be something in this, provided, it were not necessary for a wise man to take a shield, when a fool has taken a sword. Lawsuits, indeed, do generally originate with the obstinate and the ignorant, but they do not end with them; and that lawyer was right, who left all his money to the support of an asylum for fools and lunatics, saying from such he received it, and to such he would bequeath it.

before the vessel that is to navigate it, can be fully equipped for the voyage, gives us a convincing proof of exalted wisdom and of profound penetration. But he that builds the vessel of experiment, and actually navigates the wide ocean of science, who, neither intimidated by the risk of failure, nor the expense of the outfit, realizes all that the other had only imagined, and returning laden with the stores of knowledge, communicates liberally, that which he has won so laudably, surely, the attainments of such a man are as fully entitled to our gratitude, as the anticipations of the other to our admiration. Sir Isaac Newton predicted, that both water and the diamond would be found to have an inflammable base, if ever they could be analyzed, a thing at that time uneffected. He was led to this conclusion, by observing that all bodies possessed of high refractive powers, had an inflam mable base, and water and the diamond have those powers in a high degree. Subsequent experimentalists have succeeded in analyzing both these substances; pure carbon is the base of the diamond, and hydrogen, the most inflammable of all airs, is the base of water.

When Copernicus promulgated his planetary system, it was objected to it, that Mars and Venus ought to appear to us to be much greater at some periods than at others, because they would be nearer to the earth by so many diameters; but no such difference was apparent. The objection was solid, and Copernicus modestly replied, that it might be owing to the greatness of their distance.' Telescopes were discovered, and then it was found that he was right, and knowledge changed that into a confirmation, which ignorance had advanced as an

objection. Kant also, in modern times, predicted by analogy those planets beyond Saturn, which Herschell and others have now discovered by observation. Kant had observed, that nature has no chasm in the links of her operations; that she acts not per saltum,* but pedetentim et gradatim,† and that the planetary world could not be made to approximate to, and as it were, shake hands with the cometary, unless there were some planets superior to Saturn, having their orbits still more eccentric, and filling that abyss of unoccupied space, which would otherwise exist between the most eccentric of the planets, and the least eccentric of the comets. This was affirmed by Kant, before Herschell's forty feet reflector was brought to prove by observation, what he had anticipated by analogy. But it is a mortifying truth, and ought to teach the wisest of us humility, that many of the most valuable discoveries have been the result of chance, rather than of contemplation, and of accident rather than of design.

Hypocrisy is a cruel stepmother, an 'injusta noverca' to the honest, whom she cheats of their birthright, in order to confer it on knaves, to whom she is indeed a mother. Verily they have their reward.' Let them enjoy it, but not accuse the upright, of an ignorance of the world, which might be more fairly retorted on the accuser. He that knows a little of the world, will admire it

enough to fall down and worship it; but he tha knows it most, will most despise it. Tinnit, inanı

est.

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Repartee is perfect, when it effects its purpose with a double edge. Repartee is the highest order of wit, as it bespeaks the coolest, yet quickest exercise of genius, at a moment when the passions are roused. Voltaire, on hearing the name of Haller mentioned to him by an English traveller at Ferney, burst forth into a violent panegyric upon him; his visiter told him that such praise was most disinterested, for that Haller by no means spoke so highly of him. Well, well, n'importe,' replied Voltaire, perhaps we are both mistaken.'

Pain may be said to follow pleasure as its shadow; but the misfortune is, that in this particular case, the substance belongs to the shadow, the cmptiness to its cause.

By privileges, immunities, or prerogatives to give unlimited swing to the passions of individuals, and then to hope that they will restrain them, is about as reasonable, as to expect that the tiger will spare the hart, to browse upon the herbage.

A man who knows the world, will not only make the most of every thing he does know, but of many things he does not know, and will gain more credit by his adroit mode of hiding his ignorance than the pedant by his awkward attempt to exhibit his

* It rings, for it is empty.—PUB.

erudition. In Scotland, the 'jus et norma loquendi’* has made it the fashion to pronounce the law term sur tor, cur tor. Lord Mansfield gravely corrected a certain Scotch barrister when in court, reprehending what appeared to English usage a false quantity, by repeating, ' cur tor, sir, if you please.' The barrister immediately replied, 'I am happy to be corrected by so great an or tor as your lordship!'

Ambition makes the same mistake concerning power, that avarice makes concerning wealth: she begins by accumulating power, as a means to happiness, and she finishes by continuing to accumulate it as an end. Ambition is in fact, the avarice of power, and happiness herself is soon sacrificed to that very lust of dominion, which was first encouraged only as the best mode of obtaining it. Hyder, like Richard the Third, was observed by one of his most familiar companions, Gholaum Ali, to start frequently in his sleep; he once took the liberty to ask this despot' of what he had been dreaming?' 'My friend,' replied Hyder, 'the state of a beggar is more delightful than my envied monarchy; awake, they see no conspirators; asleep, they dream of no assassins.' But ambition will indulge no other passions as her favourites, still less will she bear with them as rivals; but as her vassals, she can employ them, or dismiss them at her will; she is cold, because with her all is calculation; she is systematic, because she makes every thing centre in herself; and she regards policy too much, to have the slightest respect to persons. Cruelty or compassion, hatred or love, revenge or forbearance, are,

* The rule and law of elocution.-PUB