er in the same character; and the mixture is as salutary as that of wine and water. The worst combination is that of avarice and pride.

The man of show is vain; the reserved man is proud more properly. The one has greater depth, the other a more lively imagi nation. Persons of proud, yet abject spirits, will despise you for those distresses, for which the generous mind will pity, and endeavor to befriend you; a hint only to whom you should disclose, and from whom you should conceal them.

READING.

READING is to the mind what exercise

is to the body; as by one, health is preserved, strengthened and invigorated; by the other, virtue (which is the health of the mind) is kept alive, cherished and confirmed. There are persons who seldom take a book in their hand, but to discover the faults it may in their opinion contain; the merit of the work is the least of their consideration; they can pass over many fine sentiments, and rhetorical expressions, without the least regard; but to what

ever they think obscure, absurd, and impertinent, they are sure to afford no quarter: many perfections cannot atone for a few imperfections with them, they must have a perfect piece or none; such persons ought not to read at all; they are not fit to judge of what they do read. For every man of sense and candor, who reads in order to reap the benefit of reading, will give merit its due, wherever he finds it, and be cautious how he commends. When I meet with a great many beauties in a piece, I am not offended with a few faults, which might have escaped the author through inadvertency, or which the impotency of human nature could not so well provide against. Sometimes, too, what is very clear in a book, seems to us obscure, for want of reading it with sufficient attention.

We should not read a book on purpose to find its faults; but, purely to understand it,

Whoever thinks a faultness piece to see, Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be;

In ev'ry work regard the writer's end,

Since none can compass more than they intend.

Of all the diversions of life, there is none so proper to fill up its empty spaces, as the reading of useful and entertaining authors; and with that the conversation of a well chosen friend.

By reading we enjoy the dead; by conver sation the living; and by contemplation ourselves. Reading enriches the memory, conversation polishes the wit, and contemplation improves the judgment. Of these, reading is the most important, which furnishes both the other.

It must be allowed, that slow reading is the quickest and surest way to knowledge. A frequent perusal of a few well chosen books, will tend more to the improvement of the understanding, than a multifarious reading of all the superficial writers, who have attempted to acquire literary fame.

If we would perpetuate our fame or reputa tion, we must do things worth writing, or write things worth reading.

I think a person may as well be asleep-for they can be only said to dream-who read any thing, but with a view of improving their morals, or regulating their conduct. Nothing in this life, after health and virtue, is more estimable than knowledge-nor is there any thing so easily attained, or so cheeply purchased-the labor only sitting still, and the expense but time, which if we do not spend, we cannot save. In the world, you are subject to every fool's humor.-In a library you make every wit subject to your's.

Many great readers load their memories, without exercising their judgments; and make lumber-rooms of their heads, instead of furnishing them usefully.

Were the Bible but considered impartially and attentively, in its most advantageous lights, as it contains all the written revelation of God's will now extant, as it is the basis of our national religion, and gives vigor and spirit to all our social laws, as it is the most ancient, and consequently curious collection of historical incidents, moral precepts, and political institutions, as the stile of it is, in some places, nobly sublime and poetical, and in others, sweetly natural, plain and unaffected —In a word, as being well acquainted with it is highly requisite, in order to make men useful and ornamental in this life (to say nothing of their happiness in the next.) It is to be hoped, that a cool reflection or two of this sort, might induce the more ingenious and rational among them to let the Bible take its turn in their riper years, among those volumes which pass through their hands, either for amusement or instruction. Should such an entertainment once become fashionable, of what mighty service would it be to the interest of religion, and consequently to the happiness of mankind.

RELIGION.

RELIGION is a thing much talked of, but little understood; much pretended to, but very

little practised; and the reason why it is so ill practised, is, because it is so little understood; knowledge, therefore, must precede religion, since it is necessary to be wise, in order to be virtuous, it must be known to whom, and upon what account duty is owing, otherwise it can never be rightly paid. It must therefore be considered, that God is the object of all religion, and that the soul is the subject wherein it exists and resides. From the soul it must proceed, and to God it must be direct-ed, as to that Almighty Being, whose power alone could create a rational soul, and whose goodness only could move him to make it capable of an eternal felicity; which infinite bounty of God has laid a perpetual obligation upon the soul to a constant love, obedience, and adoration of him. And to an undoubted assurance, that the same power and goodness that created man, will for ever preserve and protect him, if he perseveres in the sincere performance of his duty. The body can have no other share in religion, than by its gestures to represent and discover the bent and inclination of the mind, which representations also are but too often false and treacherous, deluding those that behold them, into the opinion of a saint, but truly discovering a notorious hypocrite to God, who sees how distant his intentions are from his pretences. People are as much deceived themselves, as they deceive others, who think to use religion as they do Q