persuasive power. And do you not think that the great also will, and must finally yield to that universal influence of truth? They assume the colour of the times as well as the people. The great grow better along with their subjects, because they are human beings. Their interest may sometimes appear to require that they should oppose the progress of truth; but they are swept along by the general torrent of light, without being aware of it. They grow milder, more humane, and wiser, along with their subjects. Liberty then will establish its empire of itself; all will become free, the prince as well as the subjects, and the government of the law will take place. Eternal wisdom has at all times pursued the road. The civil liberty of nations has been repeatedly destroyed, but truth did never totally disappear. It constantly binds men by stronger ties, and renders its own influence more extensive: and I may safely predict that a time will come, when mankind will eclipse the noble Greeks in the knowledge of beneficial truths; when the world will be the abode of a noble race, and no longer of individual noble nations.-La Fontaine.

DCXXIII.

Motives. The motives of human actions are feelings or passions, or habits. Without feeling we cannot act at all; and, without passion, we cannot act greatly.-God.

win.

DCXXIV.

Signs of the Times.-They have but badly read the signs of the times, who do not perceive that a great moral revolution has commenced in the world, of which the increased influence of the press is at once a cause and an VOL. II.-7

effect: a cause, for it has generated a spirit of inquiry, "whose appetite increaseth by that which it feedeth upon;" an effect, for the new wants that have been thus created, have opened new marts for the disposal of literary wares-demand, as usual, being followed by supply. In nothing is this more conspicuous than in periodical literature.-London University Magazine.

DCXXV.

Riches. I cannot call riches better than the baggage of virtue; the Roman word is better, impedimenta; for as the baggage is to an army, so is riches to virtue; it cannot be spared nor left behind, but it hindereth the march; yea, and the care of it sometimes loseth or disturbeth the victory; of great riches there is no real use, except it be in the distribution; the rest is but conceit.Bacon.

DCXXVI.

Error the Cause of Injustice.—What renders man unjust? Are not errors and prejudices the causes of the abuses of power? If you really wish to prevent the commission of injustice, you must first remove error and prejudice. Any one intrusted with power will abuse it, if not also animated with the love of truth and virtue, no matter whether he be a prince, or one of the people.— La Fontaine.

DCXXVII.

Hereditary Titles.-The system of ennobling families for ever, for any great service one man may have rendered to his king or his country, is giving too much: it is on the one hand an insult and outrage to humanity to permit any one family to lord it over others to the latest posteri

ty; as it would be equally unjust and inconsistent on the other, in case a man had done or committed any great crime, to render or consider his descendants infamous, degraded, and despised, so long as any of his posterity remain.-B.

DCXXVIII.

Wisdom and Virtue the Foundation of Liberty.-Wis. dom alone is the true power that is capable of checking the progress of oppression; it is the sword which God gave to man to drive violence out of the world. Therefore, teach, instruct, propagate useful knowledge, wisdom, and virtue; expel terror and superstition, and injustice will gradually cease of itself to prevail in the world. The time will and must come, when princes will deem it their greatest triumph to protect the laws, and to show themselves fathers of generous and virtuous subjects. Continual increase of truth is the only road that leads to that happy period. We cannot, however, accelerate by dint of force the arrival of those times, Yet they will, and must arrive at last, because there is a Providence. Believe me, liberty cannot spring up from blood, the sword cannot prepare the soil where it is to grow up. Truth,light, and reason alone are the nurses of liberty, Liberty at all times declined again amongst every nation where it proceeded from riots, party spirit, and ambition, and was not supported by truth. Nor are a few individual wise men sufficient to establish liberty; the whole nation must be wise if it is to become free from oppression; wise men can only scatter the seeds of liberty. Therefore let us carry light and truth to those that are in darkness, and expel error and superstition from the world.-La Fontaine,

DCXXIX.

Passions.-A man can always conquer his passions if he pleases; but he cannot always please to conquer his passions.-D. B.

DCXXX.

No Inquiry without its Use.-It seems to be a necessary condition of human science, that we should learn many (apparently) useless things, in order to become acquainted with those which are of service; and as it is impossible antecedently to experience, to know the value of our acquisitions, the only way in which mankind can secure all the advantages of knowledge is to prosecute their inquiries in every possible direction. There can be no greater impediment to the progress of science, than a perpetual and anxious reference at every step to palpable utility. Assured that the general result will be beneficial, it is not wise to be too solicitous as to the immediate value of every individual effort. Nor is it to be forgotten that trivial and apparently useless acquisitions are often the necessary preparatives to important discoveries. The labours of the antiquary, the verbal critic, the collator of mouldering manuscripts, the describer of microscopic objects (labours which may appear to many out of all proportion to the value of the result,) may be preparing the way for the achievements of some splendid genius, who may combine their minute details into a magnificent sys. tem, or evolve from a multitude of particulars, collected with painful toil, some general principle destined to illuminate the career of future ages. To no one, perhaps, are the labours of his predecessors, even when they are apparently trifling or unsuccessful, of more service than

to the metaphysician; and he who is well acquainted with the science, can scarcely fail to perceive that many of its inquiries are gradually converging to important results. Unallied as they may appear to present utility, it is not hazarding much to assert that the world must hereafter be indebted to them for the extirpation of many mischievous errors, and the correction of a great part of those loose and ill-founded opinions by which society is now pervaded —Essays on the Formation and Publication of Opinions.

DCXXXI.

Virtue and Vice.-Every man has actually within him the seeds of every virtue and every vice; and the proportion in which they thrive and ripen depends in general upon the situations in which he has been, and is placed. -Hartley.

DCXXXII.

Poverty.—Great distresses are silent-penury depresses the spirits, as it emaciates the body. The modesty of fearful poverty is unwilling to accuse, and who can say what numbers have sunk in uncomplaining silence to the grave? Often have I seen the eloquent tear stand trembling in the eye of injured indigence, whilst the tongue made no complaint, and a smile of content has forced itself on the placid countenance.-Potter on the Poor Laws.

DCXXXIII.

Principle and Sentiment contrasted.-Sentiment and principle are often mistaken for each other, though, in fact, they widely differ. Sentiment is the virtue of ideas, Sentiment has its and principle the virtue of action.