useful and best deserved. But the working man is unable to support himself; sickness, or the infirmities of age, disable him from earning his livelihood, and he is constrained to seek relief in the poor-house. Ought this to render him discontented? Yes, with himself, if he be reduced to this state through want of industry, or timely economy, or by other acts of imprudence. But if the expenses of a large family, or irremediable misfortunes, have prevented him from saving for the days of adversity, he need take no shame to himself in being obliged to accept relief from the public: and he has much reason to be grateful and Contented in finding, that whether blameless or culpable, he is by the benevolent institutions of his country saved from perishing through destitution.

How

There are few cases of comparative adversity which are not susceptible of the sweet solace of Contentment, if the sufferer can look back on the past, and find no material subject of self-reproach. Such a person may philosophically console himself in conceiving how much an evil suffered is less than it might have been. much more bearable a pain endured is than some others to which humanity is liable. That" what can't be cured must be endured." That a loss sustained through want of caution will be a lesson to be more cautious in future. That disappointment in an expected pleasure is probably an escape from a consequent evil; and that sickness, and crosses, awaken us to the blessings of health and prosperity. So necessary to our happiness is the disposition to be Contented, and so true the old proverb, that " a Contented mind is a continual feast."

EXTRACTS.

PROVERBS, XV., 27. He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live.-XXX., 7 and 8. Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I

die-Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me.

CONFUCIUS. The wise man has an infinity of pleasures; for virtue has its delights, in the midst of the severities that attend it.-Afflict not thyself because that thou art not promoted to grandeur and public dignities; rather grieve that thou art not, perhaps, adorned with those virtues that might render thee worthy of being advanced.

ISOCRATES.-Set a greater value on the having received many instructive and useful lessons, than on the possessing great store of wealth for the one is a fleeting, perishable, and transitory good; the other is durable-nay, everlasting. Among all the things this world affords us, the possession and enjoyment of wisdom is alone immortal.-Imprint this maxim deeply in your mind-that there is nothing certain in this human and mortal state; by which means you will shun being transported with prosperity, and being dejected in adversity.-It is allowable to be pleased with good fortune, and to be moderately grieved at afflictions; but never manifest yourself either in the one or the other: for it is preposterous and ridiculous that we should take the utmost care to guard our riches, and at the same time expose our mind.

EPICURUS. The wise man need have but a moderate fortune; for if he be not considerable by the advantages that depend on it, the greatness of his mind, and the excellency of his counsels, are sufficient to distinguish him from the rest of mankind: these are the chief springs of the most important events of life.—If the body be attacked with a violent pain, the evil soon has an end; if, on the contrary, the pain be languishing, and of long duration, it is sensible of some pleasure. Most tedious illnesses have intervals of ease, that afford us more satisfaction in the relief, than the distempers we labour under cause pain.

SENECA.-Life itself is a servitude; let us make the best of it then, and with our philosophy mend our fortune. Difficulties may be softened, and heavy burthens disposed of to our ease. Let us covet nothing out of our reach, but content ourselves with things hopeful, and at hand; and without envying the advantages of others; for greatness stands upon a craggy precipice, and it is much safer and quieter living upon a level.-A good conscience fears no witnesses, but a guilty conscience is solicitous, even in solitude. If we do nothing but what is honest, let all the world know it; but if otherwise, what does it signify to have nobody else know it, so long as I know it myself?

Miserable is he that slights that witness! Wickedness, it is true, may escape the law, but not the conscience; for a private conviction is the first, and greatest punishment of offenders; so that sin plagues itself; and the fear of vengeance pursues even those that escape the stroke of it. It were ill for good men that iniquity may so easily evade the law, the judge, and the execution, if nature had not set up torments and gibbets, in the conscience of transgressors. He that is guilty, lives in perpetual terror; and while he expects to be punished, he punishes himself; and whosoever deserves it, expects it. What if he be not detected? He is still in apprehension, that he may be so. His sleeps are painful, and never secure; and he cannot speak of another man's wickedness, without thinking of his own; whereas a good conscience is a continual feast. Those are the only certain and profitable delights, which arise from the conscience of a well-acted life: no matter for noise abroad, so long as we are quiet within; but, if our passions be seditious, that is enough to keep us waking, without any other tumult. It is not the posture of the body, or the composure of the bed, that will give rest to an uneasy mind.-There is not in the scale of nature a more inseparable connexion of cause and effect, than in the case of happiness and virtue; nor any thing that more naturally produces the one, or more necessarily presupposes the other. For what is it to be happy, but for a man to content himself with his lot, in a cheerful and quiet resignation to the appointments of God? All the actions of our lives ought to be governed with a respect to good and evil; and it is only reason that distinguishes; by which reason we are in such manner influenced, as if a ray of the Divinity were dipt in a mortal body; and that is the perfection of mankind.—It must be the change of the mind, not of the climate, that will remove the heaviness of the heart; our vices go along with us, and we carry in ourselves the causes of our disquiets; it is not the place that we are weary of, but ourselves. He that cannot live happily any where, will live happily no where.—It is only philosophy that makes the mind invincible, and places us out of the reach of Fortune; so that all her arrows fall short of us. This is it that reclaims the rage of our lusts, and sweetens the anxiety of our fears.—It is the mind that makes us rich and happy, in whatsoever condition we are; and money signifies no more to it than it does to the gods: if the religion be sincere, no matter for the ornaments: it is only luxury and avarice that makes poverty grievous to us; for it is a

very small matter that does our business; and when we have provided against cold, hunger, and thirst, all the rest is but vanity and excess.

LESSON 10.-PRUDENCE.

WHILE Our observations and reflections discover to us the nature of the duties which we must perform to live and enjoy life, they also teach us that their application to the various exigencies of life must be carefully subjected to a governing principle, which is termed Prudence, Discretion, or Common Sense, for without this control there is scarcely a virtue, or emotion of the mind, which may not swerve from its right direction, or be carried to excess, and lead to ruin.

Thus we often see Industry, which is so indispensable for our support and comfort, rendered valueless through misapplication to pursuits which afford no useful or honorable results; or worse still, rendered pernicious in being perverted to dishonest acts; or destructive of its own purpose, as when a man so overworks himself, and is so regardless of necessary rest and refreshment as to injure his health, and disable himself from continuing at his work. It is the same with Economy; we sometimes see men carry the laudable principle of economy so far as to deny themselves cheap and innocent enjoyments, and even common necessaries. In their anxiety to provide against the risk of poverty in their future years, they embitter their present ones with the certain miseries of that condition. Truth, delightful in its simplicity, and admirable in every mode, whether in sincerity or frankness, in candour or fidelity, must ever be accompanied by Prudence. If a man were to proclaim all he thought, or heard ill of others, his sincerity would be a poor excuse for his slanders; nor is the frankness of a man

useful, or esteemed, who is fond of talking of his own vicious inclinations and acts. In exercising the amiable duty of Benevolence, the government of Prudence is seen to be most especially necessary, lest we give encouragement to idleness, and hypocrisy. An over indulgence in the nurture of children, we see, is as fatal to their future welfare as a reasonable tenderness is necessary for their present support and comfort. Gratitude, the natural reflection of benevolence, is distorted into a vice when it occasions an improper compliance, or service, in return for a bribe.

Fidelity to engagements is an important bond of union which may be perverted to the worst purposes. We see men unite to pull down and destroy, as well as to raise and adorn-to repress industry and embarrass commerce for their selfish gain, as well as to expand both for the general good; to bewilder the human mind with fallacies and superstition, as well as to elevate it by the lights of truth and knowledge; but common sense, duly exercised, will teach us to discover the evils of these confederacies, and to avoid them.

Contentment is a sweet balm to its possessor in every vicissitude of life, yet it ought not to take premature possession, and lull people into supineness, while active exertions may relieve them from difficulties, or be wanting for their present honour and future peace.

The negative but important virtue of Temperance is in itself so identified with Prudence, as scarcely to be susceptible of any misdirection. We can hardly imagine that any one will wilfully carry his temperance to the extent of denying himself proper nourishment. The same may be said of the stern virtue of Honesty, to which no qualification of Prudence seems to be applicable. We can neither imagine a man being too honest, or his giving honesty a wrong direction.