virtue instead of being the assuager of pain becomes the source of every inconvenience. Such speculatists, by expecting too much from friendship dissolve the connexion, and by drawing the bands too closely at length break them. It is certain that the best method to cultivate this virtue, is by letting it, in some measure, make itself; a similitude of minds and of studies, and even sometimes a diversity of pursuits, will produce all the pleasures that arise from it. The current of tenderness widens as it proceeds; and two men imperceptibly find their hearts filled with good nature for each other, when they were at first only in pursuit of mirth or relaxation. FRIENDS. Goldsmith. Friends are a man's self in fractions; he that admits every one into the number of them prostitutes his soul to all comers; he who none, denies her one of the best comforts she can here enjoy. Bishop Hall. WOMAN. La femme est une fleur qui ne donne son parfum qu'à l'ombre. Ce qui nous rend si changeants dans nos amitiés, c'est qu'il est difficile de connaître les qualités de l'âme, et facile de connaître celles de l'esprit. SATIRE. Satire is a greater enemy to friendship than is anger. H. A. SATIRE. It is as hard to satirize well a man of distinguished vices, as to praise well a man of distinguished virtues. Swift. SATIRE. A satire should expose nothing but what is corrigible; and should make a due discrimination between those that are and those that are not the proper objects of it. Addison. CRIMES AND WEAKNESSES. Les hommes rougissent moins de leurs crimes que de leurs faiblesses et de leur vanité. La Bruyère. > OUR FAULTS. On n'a guère de défauts qui ne soient plus pardonnables que les moyens dont on se sert pour les cacher. Archbishop Whately used to say, "Throw dirt enough, and some will stick;" well, will stick, but not stain. I think he used to mean "stain," and I do not agree with him. Some dirt sticks longer than other dirt; but no dirt is immortal. According to the old saying, "Prævalebit veritas." Dr. Newman. CALUMNY. Any man of many transactions can hardly expect to go through life without being subject to one or two very severe calumnies. Amongst these many transactions, some few will be with very ill-conditioned people, with very ignorant people, or, perhaps, with monomaniacs; and he cannot expect, therefore, but that some narrative of a calumnious kind will have its origin in one of these transactions. It may be fanned by any accidental breeze of malice or ill-fortune, and become a very serious element of mischief to him. Such a thing is to be looked upon as pure misfortune coming in the ordinary course of events; and the way to treat it is to deal with it as calmly and philosophically as with any other misfortune. As some one has said, the mud will rub off when it is dry, and not before. The drying will not always come in the calumniated man's time, unless in favourable seasons, which he cannot command. It is not wise, however, to be very impatient to justify one's-self; and, altogether, too much stress should not be laid upon calumny by the calumniated, else their serious work will be for ever interrupted; and they should remember that it |