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464. Pleasures arising from the study of Political Economy.—The matters which form the subject of political economy are matters in the highest degree interesting to mankind. They are, in fact, the multifarious operations concerned in producing, distributing and exchanging; placing, in a word, in the hands of the consumers, all the things which constitute the wealth of individuals and of nations: the things, for which, almost exclusively, the labours, the schemes, the cares of human beings are expended. These operations are of many kinds, and are connected together in a system of great complexity, following one another according to certain laws, checking one another according to certain laws, aided by one set of arrangements, impeded by another. This complicated tissue of causes and effects, subordinate to ends the most interesting to human kind, it cannot but be an agreeable exercise to an ingenuous mind to explore,-to trace the cause of such things,—to mark the concatenations. And if it succeed by its meditations on the order of events, in discovering how they follow one another in trains, so as to reduce them all to a moderate number of trains, by which they can, as a whole, be held all at once in the mind's eye, and the mode in which every thing comes out can be distinctly comprehended, as a man raising himself to an eminence, from which he can look down upon a scene of the highest possible interest, not only beholds the numerous objects of which it consists, and their visible motions, but the causes of them, and the ends to which they are directed, and thence derives the highest delight; is it not certain, that a similar commanding view obtained by the mind over a most interesting and complicated mental scene, must yield it a gratification of the highest value, even if no further consequence were to be derived from it!

London Review, No. 4.

465. The foundation of knowledge must be laid by reading. General principles must be had from books, which, however, must be brought to the test of real life. In conversation you never get a system. What is said upon a subject is to be gathered from a hundred people. The parts of a truth, which a man gets thus, are at such a distance from each other that he never attains to a full view.-Johnson.

466. Pleasures of Observation and Study.-What a large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life, by him who interests his heart in every thing; and who, having eyes to see what time and chance are perpetually holding out to him as he journeyeth on his way, misses nothing he can fairly lay his hands on!

If this won't turn out something another will; no matter, 'tis an essay on human nature; I get my labor for my pains, 'tis enough, the pleasure of the experiment has kept my senses, and the best part of my blood awake, and laid the gross to sleep.

I pity the man who can travel from Dan to Beersheba, and cry, "tis all barren." And so it is and so is all the world to him who will not

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cultivate the fruit it offers. 'I declare," said I, clapping my hands cheerily together, "that were I in a desert, I would find out wherewith in it to call forth my affections. If I could do no better, I would fasten them upon some sweet myrtle, or seek some melancholy cypress to connect myself to. I would court their shade, and greet them kindly for their protection. I would cut my name upon them, and swear they were the loveliest trees throughout the desert: if their leaves withered, I would teach myself to mourn, and when they rejoiced, I would rejoice along with them."-Sterne.

467. The nature of any thing is often best seen in its smallest portions. Experiments familiar and vulgar to the interpretation of nature, do as much, if not more, conduce than experiments of a higher quality. Certainly this may be averred for truth, that they be not the highest instances, that give the best and surest information. This is not unaptly expressed in the tale, so common, of the philosopher, that while he gazed upward to the stars, fell into the water: for if he had looked down, he might have seen the stars in the water; but looking up to heaven, he could not see the water in the stars. In like manner it often comes to pass that small and mean things conduce more to the discovery of great matters, than great things to the discovery of small matters; and therefore Aristotle notes well, that the nature of every thing is best seen in its smallest portions. For that cause he inquires the nature of a common-wealth, first in a family and the simple conjugations of society, man and wife, parents and children, master and servant, which are in every cottage. So likewise the nature of this great city of the world, and the policy thereof, must be sought in every first concordances and least portions of things. So we see that secret of nature (esteemed one of the great mysteries) of the turning of iron touched with a loadstone towards the poles, was found out in needles of iron, not in bars of iron.-Bacon.

468. Importance of Humility.-Dr. Franklin once received a very useful lesson from the excellent Dr. Cotton Mather, which he thus relates, in a letter to his son.- "The last time I saw your father was in 1724. On taking my leave, he showed me a shorter way out of the house by a narrow passage, which was crossed by a beam over-head. We were still talking, as I withdrew, he accompanying me behind and I turning towards him, when he said hastily, "Stoop, stoop!" I did not understand him till I felt my head hit against the beam. He was a man who never missed an opportunity of giving instruction; and upon this he said to me, "You are young, and have the world before you; learn to stoop as you go through it, and you will miss many hard thumps." This advice, thus beat into my head, has frequently been of use to me; and I often think of it when I see pride mortified, and misfortunes brought upon people by their carrying their heads too high."

469. Public Charity. The general principles by which men are actuated, who bequeath fortunes to public charities, are fear and vanity, more than benevolence, or the love of doing good, which will appear from the following considerations.

First, if a man was possessed of real benevolence, and had (as he must then have) a delight in doing good, he would no more defer the enjoyment of this satisfaction to his death bed, than the ambitious, the luxurious, or the vain would wait till that period for the gratification of their several passions.

Secondly, If the legacy be, as it often is, the first charitable donation of any consequence, it is scarcely possible to arise from benevolence; for he who hath no compassion for the distresses of his neighbours, whom he hath seen, how should he have any pity for the wants of posterity.

Thirdly, if the legacy be, as is likewise very common, to the injury of his family, or to the disappointment of his own friends in want, this is a certain proof, that his motive is not benevolence; for he who loves not his own friends and relations most certainly loves no other person.

Lastly, if a man hath lived any time in the world, he must observe such horrid and notorious abuses of all public charity, that he must be convinced (with a very few exceptions) that he will do no manner of good by contributing to them.-Fielding.

470. Apparel.-A man ought in his clothes to conform something to those that he converses with, to the custom of the nation, and the fashion that is decent and general, to the occasion, and his own condition for that is best that best suits with one's calling, and the rank we live in. And seeing all men are not Edipuses to read the riddle of another man's inside, and most men judge by appearances, it behoves a man to barter for a good esteem, even from his clothes and outside. We guess the goodness of the pasture by the mantle we see it wears.

Feltham.

471. A Golden Age.-Though the time may never have been when "rivers of milk and rivers of nectar" flowed through the plains in any other way than the land of Canaan flowed with milk and honey; yet, if ever there was a time when men had not commenced the business of accumulation; if ever there were a time when the earth and its fruits were common, when men were uninstructed in the science of hoarding -that time was a golden age.-The Savage.

LONDON: Printed and Published by J. H. STARIE, 59, Museum Street, and to be had of all Booksellers.

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No. XIX.

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472. Natural and Civil Liberty.-Civil liberty is the not being restrained by any law but what conduces in a greater degree to the public welfare.

To do what we will is natural liberty: to do what we will consistently with the interests of the community to which we belong, is civil liberty; that is to say, the only liberty to be desired in a state of civil society.

I should wish to act, no doubt, in every instance as I pleased; but I reflect, that the rest also of mankind would then do the same; in which state of universal independence and self-direction, I should meet with so many checks and obstacles to my own will, from the opposition and interference of other men's, that not only my happiness, but my liberty would be less than whilst the whole community were subject to the domination of equal laws.

The boasted liberty of a state of nature exists only in a state of solitude. In every kind and degree of union and intercourse with his species, it is possible that the liberty of the individual may be augmented by the very laws which restrain it; because he may gain more from the limitation of other men's freedom, than he suffers from the diminution of his own. Natural liberty is the right of common upon a waste; civil liberty is the safe, exclusive, unmolested enjoyment of a cultivated enclosure.-Paley's Moral Philosophy.

473. Age does not necessarily confer Experience: nor does even precept; nor anything but an intercourse and acquaintance with things. And we frequently see those, who have wanted opportunities to indulge their juvenile passions in youth, go preposterous lengths in old age, with all the symptoms of youth except ability.-Rochefoucault.

474. Superficial Knowledge. The profoundly wise do not declaim against superficial knowledge in others, so much as the profoundly ignorant; on the contrary, they would rather assist it with their advice than overwhelm it with their contempt; for they know that there was a period when even a Bacon or a Newton were superficial; and that he who has a little knowledge is far more likely to get more than he that has none.-Colton.

475. Character of Dr Parr, by himself. From my youth upwards, to the present moment, I never deserted a private friend, nor violated a public principle. I have been the slave of no patron, and the drudge of no party. I formed my political opinions without the smallest regard, and have acted upon them with an utter disregard to personal emoluments and professional honours-for many and the best years of my existence, I endured very irksome toil, and suffered very galling need,"-measuring my resources by my wants, I now so abound," as to unite a competent income with an independent spirit; and, above all, looking back to this life, and onward to another, I possess that inward " peace of mind which the world can neither give nor take away."-Parr's Characters of Fox.

-476. Ills of Life.

War, Famine, Pest, Volcano, Storm, and Fire,
Intestine Broils, Oppression, with her heart
Wrapt up in triple brass, besiege mankind.
God's image, disinherited of day,

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Here, plunged in Mines, forgets a sun was made;
There, beings, deathless as their haughty lord,

Are hammer'd to the galling Oar for life,

And plough the winter's wave and reap despair.
Some for hard masters, broken under arms,

In Battle lopp'd away, with half their limbs
Beg bitter bread through realms their valour saved.
If so the tyrant or his minion doom,
Want or incurable disease, (fell pair!)
On hopeless multitudes remorseless seize
At once, and make a refuge of the grave.
How groaning Hospitals eject their dead!
What numbers groan for sad admission there!
What numbers once in Fortune's lap high fed,
Solicit the cold hand of Charity!

To shock us more, solicit it in vain.-Young.

477. Caprice has bitter enmities.-Zimmerman.

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