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tion. They offend the high by their insolence, and corrupt the low by their example.

Falkland Islands, p. 11.

NEGLIGENCE.

No man can safely do that by others, which might be done by himself. He that indulges negligence, will quickly become ignorant of his own affairs; and he that trusts without reserve, will at last be deceived.

NOVELTY.

Rambler, vol. 4, p. 14.

To oblige the most fertile genius to say only what is new, would be to contract his volumes to a few pages.

Idler, vol. 2, p. 187.

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Every novelty appears more wonderful as it is. more remote from any thing with which experience or testimony have hitherto acquainted us; and if it passes farther beyond the notions that we have been accustomed to form, it becomes at last incredible.

NUMBERS.

Idler, vol. 2, p. 129,

To count is a modern practice; the ancient method was to guess; and when numbers are guessed, they are always magnified.

Weftern Islands, p. 227.

NARRATION.

Nothing can be more disgusting than a narrative spangled with conceits; and conceits are all that some narratives supply.

Life of Cowley.

Every one has so often detected the fallaciousness of hope, and the inconvenience of teaching himself to expect what a thousand accidents may preclude, that when time has abated the confidence with which youth rushes out to take possession of the world, we endeavour, or wish, to find entertainment in the review of life, and to repose on real facts and certain experience. This is, perhaps, one reason, among many, why age delights in narratives.

NOTES.

1

Rambler, vol. 4, p. 232.

Notes to a literary work are often necessary; but they are necessary evils. Parts are not to be examined, till the whole has been surveyed; there is a kind of intellectual remoteness necessary for the comprehension of any great work in its full design, and its true proportions; a close approach shows the smallest niceties, but the beauty of the whole is discerned no longer.

Preface to Shakspeare, p. 148.

NATIONS.

Nations have changed their characters: slavery is now no where more patiently endured than in countries once inhabited by the zealots of liberty. Idler, vol. 1, p. 160.

Such is the diligence with which, in nations completely civilized, one part of mankind labours for another, that wants are supplied faster than they can be formed, and the idle and luxurious find life stagnate, for want of some desire to keep it in motion. This species of distress furnishes a new set of occupations; and multitudes are

busied,

busied, from day to day, in finding the rich and the fortunate something to do.

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It is, perhaps, the character of the English nation to despise trifles. Ibid. vol. 2, p. 216.

All nations whose power has been exerted on the ocean, have fixed colonies in remote parts of the world; and while those colonies subsisted, navigation, if it did not increase, was always preserved from total decay.

Political State of Great Britain in 1756, p. 48.

It is ridiculous to imagine that the friendship of nations, whether civil or barbarous, can be gained or kept but by kind treatment; and, surely, they who intrude uncalled upon the country of a distant people, ought to consider the natives as worthy of common kindness.

Ibid. p. 55.

It is observable, that most nations, amongst whom the use of clothes is unknown, paint their bodies. Such was the practice of the first inhabitants of our own country; and from this custom did our earliest enemies, the Picts, owe their denomination. This practice contributes in some degree to defend them from the injuries of winter, and in those climates where little evaporates by the pores, may be used with no great inconvenience; but in hot countries, where perspiration is. in a great degree necessary, the natives only use unction to preserve them from the other extreme of weather. So well do either reason or experience supply the place of science in savage coua

tries.

Life of Drake, p. 202.
It

It is observed, that among the natives of England is to be found a greater variety of humour than in any other country.

Origin and Importance of Fugitive Fieces, p. 3

0.

ΟΡΙΝΙΟΝ,

THE opinion prevalent in one age, as truths above the reach of controversy, are confuted and rejected in another, and rise again to reception in remoter times. Thus, the human mind is kept in motion without progress. Thus, sometimes, truth and error, and sometimes contrarieties of error, take each other's place by reciprocal invasion.

Preface to Shakspeare, p. 54.

Much of the pain and pleasure of mankind arises from the conjectures which every one makes of the thoughts of others. We all enjoy praise which we do not hear, and resent contempt which we do not see.

Idler, vol. 2, p. 280.

To think differently, at different times, of poetical merit, may be easily allowed. Such opinions are often admitted and dismissed without nice examination. Who is there that has not found reason for changing his mind about questions of greater importance? Life of Savage.

When an opinion, to which there is no temptation of interest, spreads wide and continues

long,

long, it may be reasonably presumed to have been infused by nature or dictated by reason.

Idler, vol. 1, p. 290.

OPPORTUNITY.

To improve the golden moment of opportunity, and catch the good that is within our reach, is the great art of life. Many wants are suffered which might have once been supplied, and much time is lost in regretting the time which had been lost before.

Patriot, p. 1.

He that waits for an opportunity to do much at once, may breathe out his life in idle wishes; and regret, in the last hour, his useless intentions and barren zeal.

Idler, vol. 1, p. 22.

OATHS.

Rash oaths, whether kept or broken, frequently produce guilt.

ry

Notes upon Shakspeare, vol. 2, p. 402.

OBLIGATION.

To be obliged, is to be in some respect inferior to another, and few willingly indulge the memoof an action which raises one whom they have always been accustomed to think below them, but satisfy themselves with faint praise and penurious payment, and then drive it from their own minds, and endeavour to conceal it from the knowledge of others.

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