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new lease," when most persons might exclaim,

in the words of the poet,

I have lived long enough: my May of life
1s fallen into the sear and yellow leaf.

Macbeth, scene 3.

History.

Plutarch, in his Life of Pericles, has very cautiously spoken of history. "It is a difficult matter to trace and find out the truth of any thing in history. On one hand, those who undertake to write history, living so long after the things were done, cannot arrive at a certain knowledge of such transactions as passed in the times before them. On the other hand, that history which is contemporary, and of the same standing as those actions and lives which it reporteth, doth, partly through envy and ill-will, partly through favour and flattery, disguise and pervert the truth."

Arts of a Demagogue.

In the same Life of Pericles, honest Plutarch well describes the method by which a popular man, in a democratic state, governs the people, by knowing their dispositions, and humouring their wayward fancies, and availing himself of their fickleness. The illustration is eminently

happy: "Pericles changed his conduct, and no longer became, as formerly, tame, and gentle, and familiar, with the populace, so as readily to give himself up to their pleasure, and to comply with the rabble, as a steersman tacks about with the wind, through all the points of the compass."

Comfortable and Bonhommie.

These two words are peculiar to the two nations, whose views of ease and moral conduct, in many particulars, very much differ. A Frenchman loves finery in his house, but does not exclude dirt and negligence; which the English idea of "comfortable" so vehemently repels. Bonhommie is a term unknown to us, as "comfortable" is to the French; and may, perhaps, be best translated (as neither sex is excluded in the word) by the character which we call "a good kind of a body," or a good kind of a man."

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Liars.

It was very justly and very pointedly observed by honest old Montaigne, that these pests of society, were they to be well weighed, are cowards towards men, but brave before God; for a lie flies in the face of the Deity, but may possibly, for a time at least, escape the notice and punishment

of man, Dr. Johnson said well of cowards, that they were scoundrels, and were afraid of the consequences of truth and plain dealing, and tried to fly from them. Dr. Johnson was a lover of truth, and a man of great personal courage.

A Phaeton and One-horse Chaise.

How many friends every man has, and who are accounted good kind of men, who would shake our hands more cordially should they find us seated in a "well-appointed" phaeton, than when couching snugly in a one-horse chaise! The friend feels some rays of consequence reflected on him from a splendid vehicle; but a one-horse chaise is an opaque body, from which no light can be sent forth. In the same spirit, these dull, good kind of men, as they are called, are very obsequious to the wealthy, and very cool towards the more moderately endowed.

A New Source of Nobility: suggested to the
Agricultural Societies.

To encourage industry in China, it is related by travellers, that every year the Emperor in person holds the plough, and opens a certain quantity of soil, to set an example to his people of the use of

agriculture. A still greater encouragement is given by the Emperor of China, by conferring a title of the high orders on the best husbandman in the country. Surely he who enriches his native soil by extraordinary skill and diligence is as much, in the eye of reason, entitled to letters of nobility, as he who has defended it gallantly by sea or land, or protected the rights of his fellowcitizens by his knowledge of law, or his skill in legislation; and a "landlord" would then be a title of great esteem and utility.

A Judge properly attired.

Ælian, in his "Various History," b. xiv. c. 34, speaking of the Egyptians, relates, that the supreme judge in their civil courts (who was also their chief priest) wore about his neck, by a golden chain, an ornament of precious stones, called Truth; and that a cause was not opened, till the supreme judge had put on this ornament. Did such a custom prevail in our Courts, the counsel would then have a proper object to fix their eyes and attention; and truth would then, in more instances than at present, prevail in their pleadings over the interests of the clients, or even their own reputation, for gaining the cause by ingenuity and finesse.

Learning of Shakespeare.

Jolin

The doubt which has arisen on the question of this great poet's learning must have proceeded, like many other absurd disputes, from ambiguous terms, and loose definitions of learning. Dennis, the critic, in his three letters on the genius and writings of Shakespeare, strongly supported the learning of the poet; and the question has been lately put to rest for ever by the sagacity and erudition of the late Dr. Farmer, Master of Emanuel College, Cambridge. The learning of Shakespeare is well described in the lines of a contemporary bard:

His learning favours not the school-like gloss,
That most consists in echoing words and terms,
And soonest wins a man an empty name :
Nor only long or far-fetch'd circumstance,
Wrapp'd in the curious generalties of arts:
But a direct and analytic sum

Of the true worth and first effects of arts.

B. Jonson's Poetaster.

The great Lord Chatham.

The amusements of a man of genius deserve our notice. Lord Chatham in early life shewed great taste and talents in laying out grounds. En

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