folly of extravagance, and so praise it; and being the majority of mankind, carry the question quite hollow against the guarded and unproductive conduct of the parsimonious man.

Novels.

As these compositions, in the present times, have ceased to be romances or fictitious relations, but a real transcript of life, the authors of them should be particularly careful of making them faithful depositories of the facts in real life. They extend over immense regions of readers in middling life, who are influenced by their sentiments, and wish them to be their guides through those scenes with which they are likely to be conversant. They leave their superiors the interest they may take in the grander works of history and state politics, to which their humbler stations must necessarily continue them to be strangers.

Romans and Carthaginians.

When the former accused the latter people of being faithless" fides Punica,"-they forgot their own invasions and plots against other nations, and their attempts at universal monarchy by every mode of unjust usurpation. Virgil, however, did

not blush to record their ambition of governing all nations; but in very courtly lines has celebrated and praised their boundless appetite of reigning as Mistress of the World

Tu regere imperio gentes, Romane, memento:
Hæ tibi erunt artes, &c.

and leaves to other nations the meaner arts of sculpture, oratory, and astronomy. Surely it had been better for ancient Rome that Julius Cæsar had been an astronomer only, or an orator; and for modern Italy, that Bonaparte had been a fiddler instead of a warrior.

Reason and Instinct.

The admirable John Locke has well described human reason as brought from the infancy of ignorance to the maturity of aged instruction, and as a compound of repeated experiments. Instinct, we know, in beasts wants no discipline, and seems to act instantaneously, as the case requires; and some light may, perhaps, be thrown on the dispute, on the superiority of reason over instinct, by stating, that instinct seems to be " ready made" whilst reason wants a great deal of drilling, before it can perform its proper exercises.

Two dangerous Terms in Society.

There are not two words more fatal to human happiness, in public and private life, than "liberty” and "genteel." The first word sets a parcel of fools at continual variance for a state of superiority, to which they have no claim by the Constitution; and the last term raises, in private life, an ambition of expense, to which the purse of the individual is not adequate, and to which his rank in society has no just pretensions. The genteelo-mania makes a poor gentleman adopt many shifts to keep up appearances, and occasions many a blush at the feeble contrivances. In Ben Jonson's "Every one in his Humour," the efforts of Capt. Bobadil to hide his poverty on the visit of his genteeler, because richer, friend "Master Mathew," are truly comic. "The cabin is convenient," says the Captain, "but, Master Mathew, possess no man with knowledge of my lodgings;" which were, he was conscious, much below the gentility of the rank which he had assumed.

Rules for Thinking.

The great J. Locke has laid down an excellent method for rightly considering a subject. He advises that we should throw all our thoughts on

paper, in order the better to judge of them by seeing them all together; because the mind is not capable of retaining clearly a long chain of consequences, and seeing, without confusion, the relation of a great number of different ideas. Besides, those thoughts which we admired, when considered in a gross and perplexed manner, appear to be totally inconsistent, when we see every one, and each distinctly.

N.B. This excellent mode of analysis was said to have been adopted by Benjamin Franklin.Character of Mr. Locke, prefixed to a collection of several pieces of J. L. vol. i. London, 1724.

From the same.

Mr. Locke used to say, that the knowledge of the arts contained more true philosophy than all those fine learned hypotheses which have no relation to the nature of things, and are fit for nothing at bottom, but to make men lose their time in inventing or comprehending them. Mr. Locke highly disapproved of those authors that labour only to destroy, and establish nothing in their room, &c. "A building," says he, "displeases them they find great fault in it. Let them demolish it and welcome, provided they endeavour to raise another in its place."

The Man at Home, and the Man Abroad.

Two amusing poems might be written on these subjects, by a man of wit, in imitation of the "Allegro" and "Penseroso." Many a man, leaving his home discontented, feels the truth of the poet's description

Scarce past the turnpike half a-mile,
How all the country seems to smile.

R. Lloyd's Poem.

How different is the state of mind of many a man at home! It was the boast of a learned Roman, that he was never less alone than when alone; whilst it may be said of many a luckless man, from debt or discontent, that he is never less at home than when at home.

Ranting Tragedies.

When the poet, in his composition, seems possessed of more enthusiasm than he can excite in the minds of his audience, he exhibits the awkward situation of an impetuous rider on a dull beast; and, in common parlance, the man rides faster than his horse. John Dennis, no mean critic, has said well on this subject: "he who would raise the passions of a judicious auditor, must be sure to take his audience with him. If they be in a calm