him, shall have few friends, has but little wit, and will have much trouble. When Chrysippus was informed that his friend reproached him privately; he replied, Aye, but chide him not, for then he will do as much in public.-We are all sure to meet with vexation enough which we cannot avoid. I cannot think any man loves sorrow so well, as, in his discretion, to invite it to dwell in his heart. Did not Pompey do well to commit those letters to the fire, before he read them, in which he expected to find the cause of his grief? I will never unworthily try to come at a knowledge of that which can only occasion me trouble. Why should we not be ashamed to do that, which we are ashamed to be caught in doing? If I hear any thing by accident which may benefit me, I will, if I can, profit by it but I will never lie in wait for my own abuse, or for the abuse of others, which concerns me not;nor will I flame at every vain tongue's puff. He has a poor spirit who is not planted above petty wrongs. Small injuries I would either not hear, or not mind: nay, though I were told them, I would not know the author: for, by this, I may mend myself, without revenging myself upon the

person.

THERE

OF FATE.

HERE is uncertainty in wisdom, as well as in folly. It often happens that, when man plotteth

to save himself, his plotting ends in his ruin, and that his own wit brings him into those snares, which above all things, he would shun. What we suspect and would avoid, we cannot: what we suspect not, we fall into. That which has now saved us, by-and

by, may kill us. We use means of preservation, and they prove destroying ones. We take courses to ruin us, and they prove in the sequel, our security. When Agrippina's death was plotted, her woman thought to save herself, by assuming the name of her mistress; and that, was the very cause of her death. Florus tells us of one, to whom, Victoriam prælio error dedit: an error in the fight, gave victory. How many, in flying from danger, have met with death! and, on the other hand, how many have found protection, even in the very jaws of destruction!

Et cum fata volunt, bina venena juvant.

And when fate lists, a double poison saves.

Some men, in their sleep, are cast into fortune's lap; while others, with all their industry, cannot even procure so much as one smile from her. There is no doubt but wisdom is better than folly, as light is better than darkness; yet I observe, Solomon says, It happens to the wise and fool alike. All human wisdom is defective: otherwise, it might help us against the lightning and the storm. As it is, it is but lesser folly, which sometimes succeeds, but as often fails. Grave counsels do not always prosper; nor does the fool's bolt always miss. Domitian's

reflective galleries could not guard him from the scarfed arm. Man is merely the ball of time; and is sometimes taken from the plough to the throne; and sometimes again, from the throne to a halter: as if we could neither avoid being wretched, or happy, or both.

Non sollicita possunt curæ
Mutare rati stamina fusi.
Quicquid patimur mortale genus,
Quicquid facimus, venit ex alto.
Servatque suæ decreta colûs
Lachesis, durâ revoluta manu.
Omnia certo tramite vadunt ; ·
Primusque dies dedit extremum.

Senec, in Edip. Aet 5. Chor.

Our most thoughtful cares cannot

Change established fate's firm plot.
All we suffer, all we prove,

All we act, comes from above.

Fate's decrees still keep their course;

All things strictly by their force
Wheel in undisturbed ways;

Ends are set in our first days.

I know, there is a Providence ordering all things as it pleaseth, of which man is not able to render a reason. We may believe St. Jerome :-Providentiâ Dei omnia gubernantur; et quæ putatur pœna, medicina est. All things are governed by the providence of God; and those which we think are intended as a punishment, are meant for our good.-But the secret progressions of Providence, I confess, I know not. I see, there are arguments and objections on every side; I hold it to be a kind of mundane predestination, written in such characters, that it is not in the

M

wit of man to read them. In vain we murmur, at the things which must be; in vain we mourn over, what we cannot remedy: Why should we rave, when we meet with what we did not look for? It is our ignorance which makes us wonder. When we consider how little we know, we need not be disturbed, by any event.

Surely, to these things we may well submit, and be contented, as knowing we are always in the hands of an Allwise Protector, who never gives ill, but to him that has deserved ill. Whatsoever befals me, I would yield to it with a composed soul. It were a super-insaniated folly, to struggle with a power, which I know it is in vain to contend with. If a fair endeavour may free me, I will practise it; if that cannot, let me wait it with a calm mind. Whatsoever happens as a wonder, I will admire and magnify it, as the act of a power above my apprehension. But as it is an alteration to man, I will never think it marvellous. I every day see him suffer more changes, than he could have even imagined.

OF OSTENTATION.

VAIN-GLORY, at best, is only like a window cushion, specious without, and decorated with tasseled pendents; but within, nothing but hay or tow or some such trash, not worth looking on. Where I have found a flood in the tongue, I have found the heart empty. It is the hollow instrument that always sounds the loudest ; and where the heart is full, the tongue is seldom liberal. Certainly, he that boasteth, if he be not ignorant, is at any rate, inconsiderate, in thinking so little of the slides and casualties to which man is ever liable. If thou be good, thou mayest be sure the world will know thee to be so; if thou be bad, thy bragging tongue will make thee worse, while the actions of thy life will confute thee; if thou wilt yet boast the good thou truly hast, thou obscurest much of thine own worth, in drawing it up by so unseemly a bucket as thine own tongue. The honest man takes more pleasure in knowing himself honest, than in knowing that all the world approves him so; virtue is built upon herself. Phocion called bragging Laosthenes, the cypress tree, which makes a fair shew, but seldom bears any fruit. He that does good for praise only, fails of that end which a good work ought to have in view. He only is virtuous, who is so for virtue's sake. To do well, is as much applause as a good man labours for. Whatsoever good work thy hand builds, is pulled down by the folly of a boasting tongue. St. Gregory wittily observes: Sub hoste quem pros