the agency of atmospherical air, which cannot be said of the human stomach; and, again, the stomach possesses life* and the gastric juice, which cannot be said of the marble mortar. There are two metals, one of which is component in the cabinet, and the other in the campgold and iron. He that knows how to apply them both, may indeed attain the highest station, but he must know something more, to keep it. It has been doubted whether Cromwell, with all his pretended sanctity, and all his real courage, could have maintained his power one year longer, even if he had not died on the anniversary of that very day, which he had always considered as the most fortunate of his life. For Cromwell had also his high destinies, and his lucky days. Antithesis may be the blossom of wit, but it will never arrive at maturity unless sound sense be the trunk, and truth the root. best of his judgment, he prescribed such remedies as he had always observed to be beneficial to others under similar circumstances; and what was of still greater consequence, he carefully avoided what long experience had taught him would do harm. Here he stopped, for he was not so presumptuous as to frame theories to explain the why, and the wherefore, this did harm, or that did good; he was too much occupied in things of greater importance, well knowing that the wisest of us know nothing of life, but by its effects, and that the consequences of every prescription, are far more clear and apparent, than the causes that produce them. * The gastric juice will not act upon a living stomach, although it will rapidly decompose deal one. a Posthumous charities are the very essence of selfishness, when bequeathed by those, who when alive, would part with nothing. In Catholic coun. tries there is no mortmain act; and those who, when dying, empoverish their relations by leaving incir fortunes to be expended in masses for themsolves, have been shrewdly said to leave their own souls their heirs. The science of the mathematics performs more than it promises, but the science of metaphysics promises more than it performs. The study of the mathematics, like the Nile, begins in minuteness, but ends in magnificence; but the study of metaphysics begins with a torrent of tropes, and a copious current of words; yet loses itself at last in obscurity and conjecture, like the Niger in his barrea deserts of sand To be continually subject to the breath of slander, will tarnish the purest virtue, as a constant exposure to the atmosphere will obscure the brightness of the finest gold; but in either case, the real value of both continues the same, although the currency may be somewhat impeded. The mob is a monster with the hands of Bria reus, but the head of Polyphemus-strong to execute, but blind to perceive. When we apply to the conduct of the ancient Romans, the pure and unbending principles of Christianity, we try those noble delinquents unjustly, inasmuch as we condemn them by the severe sen. tence of an 'ex post facto' law. Strong as our passions are, they may be starved into submission, and conquered without being killed. Great men, like great cities, have many crooked arts and dark alleys in their hearts, whereby he that knows them may save himself much time and trouble. There are some men who are fortune's favourites, and who, like cats, light forever upon their legs; didappers, whom if you had stripped naked and thrown over Westminster bridge, you might meet on the very next day, with bag-wigs on their heads, swords by their sides, laced coats upon their backs, and money in their pockets. We may doubt of the existence of matter, if we please, and, like Berkely, deny it, without subjecting ourselves to the shame of a very conclusive confutation; but there is this remarkable difference between matter and mind; he that doubts the ex istence of mind, by doubting, proves it. The policy of drawing a public revenue from the private vices of drinking and of gaming, is as purblind as it is pernicious; for temperate men drink the most, because they drink the longest; and a gamester contributes much less to the revenue than the industrious, because he is much sooner ruined. When Mandeville maintained that private vices were public benefits, he did not calculate the widely destructive influence of bad example. To affirm that a vicious man is only his own enemy, is about as wise as to affirm that a virtuous man is only his own friend. Russia, like the elephant, is rather unwieldy in attacking others, but most formidable in defending herself. She proposes this dilemma to all invaders-a dilemma that Napoleon discovered too late. The horns of it are short and simple, but strong. Come unto me with few, and I will overwhelm you; come to me with many, and you shall overwhelm your ¡elves. The art of destruction seems to have proceeded geometrically, while the art of preservation cannot be said to have advanced even in a plain arithmetical progression; for there are but two specifics known that will infallibly cure their two respective diseases. The modes of destroying life have increased so rapidly, that conquerors have not to consider how to murder men, but out of the numberless methods invented, are only puzzled which to choose. If any nation should hereafter discover a new mode of more inevitable destruction to its enemies, than is yet known, (and some late experiments in chymistry make this supposition far from improbable), it would, in that case, become absolutely necessary for all neighbouring nations to attempt a similar discovery; or that nation, which continued in sole possession of so tremendous a secret, would, like the serpent of Aaron, swallow up all the neighbouring nations, and ultimately subjugate the world. Let such a secret be at once known by any particular nation, and by the activity of all neighbouring states, in every possible effort of vigilant and sleepless espionage, and by the immense rewards proposed for information, man kind would soon perceive which of the two arts government considered of the greatest consequence -the art of preservation or that of destruction If indeed, any new and salutary mode of preserving life were discovered, such a discovery would not awaken the jealousy, nor become in any degree such a stimulus to the inventive faculties of other nations, as the art of destruction; princes and potentates would look on with indifference; the progress of such discoveries has always been slow, and their salutary consequences remote and precarious. Inoculation was practised in Turkey long before it was known in Europe; and vaccination has at this moment many prejudices to contend with. The Chinese, who aspire to be thought an enlightened nation, to this day are ignorant of the circulation of the blood; and even in England, the man who made that noble discovery, lost all his practice in consequence of his ingenuity; Hume informs us, that no physician in the United King doms who had attained the age of forty, ever sub mitted to Harvey's theory, but went on preferring numpsimus to sumpsimus to the day of his death. So true is that line of the satirist, ' A fool at forty is a fool indeed;' and we may also add, on this occasion, another line from another satirist: |