sake of power; seen chiefly in the early days of Sparta and Rome. And monetary asceticism, consisting in the refusal of pleasure and knowledge for the sake of money; seen in the present days of London and Manchester.

"We do not come here to look at the mountains," said the Carthusian to me at the Grande Chartreuse. "We do not come here to look at the mountains," the Austrian generals would say, encamping by the shores of Garda. "We do not come here to look at the mountains," so the thriving manufacturers tell me between Rochdale and Halifax.

All these asceticisms have their bright and their dark sides. I myself like the military asceticism best, because it is not so necessarily a refusal of general knowledge as the two others, but leads to acute and marvellous use of mind and perfect use of body. Nevertheless none of the three is a healthy or central state of man. Ruskin.

MEN CLASSIFIED. There are but three classes of men ; the retrograde, the stationary, and the progressive.

Lavater.

DRAMATIC MORALITY.

A reconciliation scene, let the occasion be never so absurd or unnatural, is always sure of applause. Our audiences come to the theatre to be complimented on their goodness. They compare notes with the amiable characters in the play, and find a wonderful similarity of disposition between them. We have a common stock of dramatic morality out of which a writer may be supplied without the trouble of copying it from originals within his own breast.

FORCED WIT.

Charles Lamb.

Perpetual aiming at wit is a very bad part of conversation. It is done to support a character: it generally fails; it is a sort of insult on the company, and a restraint upon the speaker.

CHARACTER THE TEST OF MAN.

Swift.

Men are not to be judged by their looks, habits, and appearances, but by the character of their lives and conversations, and by their works. 'Tis better that a man's own works, than that another man's words, should praise him.

L'Estrange.

THE STAGE AND THE PULPIT.

The stage is a supplement to the pulpit, where virtue, according to Plato's sublime idea, moves our love and affection when made visible to the eye.

THE HISTORICAL VALUE OF PROVERBS.

Disraeli.

The proverbs of several nations were much studied by Bishop Andrews, and the reason he gave was, Because by them he knew the minds of several nations, which is a brave thing; as we count him a wise man that knows the minds and insides of men, which is done by knowing what is habitual to them. Proverbs are habitual to a nation, being transmitted from father Selden.

to son.

RELIGION AND MORALITY.

IIe that has not religion to govern his morality is not a dram better than my mastiff dog; so long as you stroke him, and please him, and do not pinch him, he will play with you as fine as may be he is a very good moral mastiff; but if you hurt him, he will fly in your face, and tear out your throat. Selden.

FALSEHOOD ONLY ALLOWABLE IN WAR.

All lies disgrace a gentleman, white or black, although I grant there is a difference. To say _the least of it, it is a dangerous habit, for white lies are but the gentlemen ushers to black ones. I know of but one point on which a lie is excusable, and that is, when you wish to deceive the enemy. Then, your duty to your country warrants your lying till you're black in the face; and, for the very reason that it goes against your grain, it becomes, as it were, a sort of virtue. Marryat.

HINT TO BOOK-BUYERS.

The giving a bookseller his price for his books has this advantage: he that will do so shall have the refusal of whatsoever comes to his hand, and so by that means get many things which otherwise he never should have seen.

RELIGION A SCIENCE AND ART.

Selden.

Religion may be viewed in two aspects: it is a science, and it is an art; in other words, a system of doctrines to be believed, and a system of duties to be done.

Caird.

AMUSEMENT INDISPENSABLE.

The mind and body must be continually in exercise, and therefore dancing, singing, masking, mumming, however severely they may be censured by the Catos of the age, are, if opportunely and soberly used, extremely beneficial in the cure of melancholy. Melius est fodere quam saltire, says St Austin; and Tully insists, Nemo saltat sobrius; but these are the observations of men to whom age and infirmities had rendered all useful pastimes unpleasant and disagreeable. Let the world, I say, have their May-games, wakes, Whitsunales; their dancings and concerts; their puppet-shows, hobby-horses, tabors, bagpipes, balls, barley breaks, and whatever sports and recreations please them best, provided they be followed with discretion.

Burton.

NEIGHBOURS' EYES. Somebody once observed-and the observation did him credit, whoever he was-that the dearest things in the world were neighbours' eyes, for they cost everybody more than anything else contributing to housekeeping.

Albert Smith.