VANITY-FOPPISHNESS.

Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? MATTHEW, Vi, 25. Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;

But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. I. PETER, iii, 3, 4.

WITH eager feeding, food doth choke the feeder:
Light vanity, insatiate cormorant,

Consuming means, soon preys upon itself.

SHAKSPEARE.

WHAT!-will a man play tricks, will he indulge
A silly fond conceit of his fair form,
And just proportion, fashionable mien,
And pretty face, in presence of his God?

A HEAVENLY mind

May be indifferent to her house of clay,
And slight the hovel, as beneath her care;
But how a body so fantastic, trim,

COWPER

And quaint in its deportment and attire,
Can lodge a heavenly mind, demands a doubt.

HE that is of reason's skill bereft,
And wants the staff of wisdom him to stay,
Is like a ship in midst of tempest left,
Withouten helm or pilot her to sway;
Full sad and dreadful is that ship's event:
So is the man that wants intendiment.

COWPER.

SPENSER

"TIs an old maxim in the schools, That vanity's the food of fools.

SWIFT.

THE joy that vain amusement gives,

O, sad conclusion that it brings, The honey of a crowded hive

Defended by a thousand stings. 'Tis thus the world rewards the fools

That live upon her treacherous smiles; She leads them, blindfold, by her rules, And ruins all whom she beguiles.

How vain a thing

COWPER.

It is, for men to take a pride in that
Which was at first an emblem of their shame.

MAY.

NATURE may be vain-glorious, well as art:
We may as lowly before God appear,
Drest with a glorious pearl, as with a tear.

JOHN CLEVELAND.

(See also EARTH, PRIDE, SELF, &c.)

VIRTUE-THE VIRTUES.

THE fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. GALATIANS, v, 22, 23.

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatso ever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatso Ever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. PHILIPPIANS, iv, 8.

Add to your faith, virtue. II. PETER, i, 5.

THERE heavenly knowledge shines in glittering pride,
And patience sits, with meek, submissive smile
Disarming stern oppression; justice there
Erects her rigid test of right and wrong;
And there, with God's own armour all begirt,
Stands fortitude, erect in Christian strength;
There temperance stands with ever-watchful eye,
To curb the passions with a steady rein;
And candour there her golden rule displays,
To act by others as thy heart must wish
They, in like circumstance, should act by thee;
But chiefly there, in ever-fixed seat,
Sits Heaven-born charity. *

*

*

With such bright guests the Christian mind is stored,
Pledges of truest knowledge, joy, and peace.

CHARLES JENNER.

EVERY vice to virtue is allied,

And thin partitions their weak bounds divide:
To the pale miser, bent with sordid pain,
And brooding, harpy-like, o'er ill-got gain,
His favourite vice the garb of virtue wears,
And, drest by passion, honest thrift appears.

JAMES SCOTT.

O THOU! by whose almighty nod the scale
Of empire rises, or alternate falls,

Send forth the saving Virtues round the land
In bright patrol: white peace and social love;
The tender-looking charity, intent

On gentle deeds, and shedding tears through smiles;
Undaunted truth, and dignity of mind;

Courage composed and keen; sound temperance,
Healthful in heart and look; clear chastity,
With blushes reddening as she moves along,
Disordered at the deep regard she draws;
Rough industry; activity untired,
With copious life informed, and all awake.

THOMSON.

GOD weighs the heart, whom we can never move
By outward actions without inward love.

WATKYNS,

HONOUR is

Virtue's allowed ascent; honour that clasps
All-perfect justice in her arms; that craves

No more respect than what she gives; that docs
Nothing but what she'll suffer.

MASSINGER.

WAR-GLORY

FROM whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of our lusts, which war in your members? JAMES, iv, 1.

Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:

But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth for in these things I delight, saith the Lord. JEREMIAH, ix. 23, 24.

For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them. PSALM Xliv, 3.

He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: He taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. PSALM xlvii, 10.

The Lord trieth the righteous; but the wicked, and him that doeth violence, His soul hateth PSALM Xi, 5.

SUCH is war!

O heavens! when will the spiritual Sun arise,
And with His beams effulgent, drive away
The mists of error that so long have hung
Their dark, unnatural drapery o'er the mind,
That broods o'er human carnage! when will man
Turn from the path of Cain, and learn to see
A brother without hating?

RUFUS DAWES.

A MOURNFUL scroll

Of mighty deeds, all blotted o'er with blood,
And blistered, in its proudest passages,
With woman's heart-wrung tears; while every leaf
Of deathless laurel which enrolled his name,

Was dripping with the hot and bitter drops,
By misery wrung, from hearts whence he had torn
The loving and beloved. LYDIA JANE PIERSON.

NOR absolutely vain is human praise,
Where human is supported by divine.

YOUNG.