be delivered of a jest, till they have travelled an hour in trivials;-as if they had taken the whole particulars in short-hand, and were reading from their notes ;thus, they often spoil a good dish with improper sauce and unsavory farcements. Some are addicted to counselling, and will pour it in, even till they stop the ear. Tedious admonitions stupify the advised, and make the giver contemptible. It is the short reproof which stays like a stab in the memory, that tells; and oftentimes three words do more good, than an idle discourse of three hours. Some have varieties of stories, even to the wearing out of an auditor; and this is frequently the grave folly of old persons, whose unwatched tongues stray into the waste of words, and give us cause to blame their memories, for retaining so much of their youth. There are others also who have a leaping tongue, to jig into the tumult of discourse; and unless you have an Aristius to take you off, you are in great danger of a deep vexation. A rook-yard in a spring morning, is not a greater nuisance than one of these. Doubtless, the best is to be short, plain, and material. Let me hear one wise man sentence it, rather than twenty fools, garrulous in their lengthened tattle.-Est tempus quando nihil, est tempus quando aliquid: nullum autem est tempus, in quo dicenda sunt omnia. (Hug. Vict.) There is a time when we ought to be silent, and there is a time when we may speak; but there is no time, in which all things should be spoken.

OF THE CAUSES THAT MAKE MEN DIFFERENT.

CERTAINLY, those men that we see mounting to a nobleness of mind in honourable actions, are pieces of nature's truest work; especially in their inward faculties. External defects there may be, and yet they do not always hinder the internal powers. These, are commonly affected by the temperature of the air, by education, by diet, and by age and passion. From the air, we see the southern people are lightsome, ingenious, and subtil. The northern are slower, and more dull.

Temperie cali corpusque, animusque juvatur.

Both soul and body, change by change of air.

The influence of education is seen in every place. If you travel but from court to the country; or but from a village to an academy; or see but a horse well managed, and another resty in his own fierceness, you witness its effects. Diet, no question, alters much; even the giddy airiness of the French, I rather impute to their diet of wine and wild fowl, than to the difference of their clime, it being so near an adjoiner to ours. And in England, I believe our great use of strong beer and gross flesh, is a great occasion of dregging our spirits, and corrupting them, till they shorten life. Age, is also a changer. Man has his zenith, as well in understanding, as in vigour of body; he grows from sense to reason; and then again declines to dotage and to imbecility. Youth is too young in brain; and age again drains away the spirits. Passion blunts the edge of conceit; and

where there is much sorrow, the mind is dull, and unperceiving; the soul is oppressed, and lies languishing in an unsociable loneliness, till it becomes stupid and inhuman. Nor do these more alter the mind, than the body. The lamenting Poet puts them both together;

Jam mihi deterior canis aspergitur ætas ;
Jamque meos vultus ruga senilis arat.

Jum vigor, et quasso languent in

corpore

Nec juveni, lusus, qui placuere, juvant.

vires :

Nec me, si subito videas, cognoscere possis ;
Etatis facta est tanta ruina meæ.

Confiteor, facere hoc annos: sed et altera causa est;
Anxietas animi, continuusque labor.

De Pont. 1. 1. Ep. 4.

Now, colder years, with snow my hairs enchase:
And now the aged wrinkle plows my face.

Now through my trembling joints, my vigour fails,
Mirth too, that cheer'd my youth, now nought avails.
So ruin'd and so alter'd am I grown,

That at first sight, I am not to be known.

Age one cause is: but that which more I find,
Is pain perpetual, and a troubled mind.

Certainly, the best is, to weigh every man, as his. means have been. A man may look in vain for courtly behaviour in a ploughman; or learning in a mechanic. Who can expect a lame man should be swift in running; or, that a sick man should deliver an oration with grace and animation. If I find any one failing in his manners, I will first consider his means, before I censure the man. And he who, from negligence, falls short of what he might be, I will think as justly blameable, as he that from care has adorned his behaviour above his means, is commendable.

THAT IT IS BEST INCREASING BY A LITTLE AT

THERE

ONCE.

HERE is nothing more operative than sedulity and diligence. A man would wonder at the mighty things which have been done, by degrees and gentle augmentations. Diligence and moderation are the best steps, whereby to climb to any excellency; nay, it is rare that there is any other way. The heaven sends not down its rain in floods, but by drops and dewy distillations. A man is neither good, nor wise, nor rich, at once; but, by softly creeping up the hill, he every day betters his prospect; till at last he gains the top. Here he learns a virtue, and there he overcomes a vice. An hour in a day, may profit a man much in his study, if he but regularly continues so to employ it. Something laid up every year, will in time, accumulate to a considerable stock. Nay, if a man does but save, he shall increase; and though when the grains are scattered, they be next to nothing: yet together, they will swell the heap. A poor man once found the tag of a point, and put into the lap of his skirt: being asked, what he could do with it? he answered, What I find all the year, (though it be never so little) I lay it up at home, till the year's end: and with all together, I every newyear's day add a dish to my cupboard. He that has the patience to attend to small profits, will be sure to thrive and he that from every thing collects something, shall in time acquire a treasury of wisdom: and when all is considered, this is the best course

which man can pursue. It is for Omnipotence, to do mighty things, in a moment: but, by degrees to arrive at greatness, is the way that he hath left for man. And indeed, to gain any thing, is a double work: for we must first, remove the hindrances; next, we must obtain the advantage. All good things which concern man, are in such a declining estate, that without perpetual vigilance they will recede and fall away. But then there is a recompence which always follows industry; it ever brings an income which sweetens the toil. I have often found hurt from idleness, but never from a lawful business. Nay, that which is not profitable in itself, is yet made so, by being employment; and when a man has once accustomed himself to business, he will think it pleasure, and feel himself unhappy in a state of inactivity. Besides, when we gain this way, practice grows into habit: and by pursuing it for a while, we grow to do so for ever. We may observe, those creatures which are longest in attaining their height, are longest in declining. Man is twenty years increasing, and his life is four-score but the sparrow, that is fledged in a month, is dead in a year. He who acquires an estate, will preserve it better than he that finds one. I will never think to be perfect at once. If I find myself a gainer at the year's end, it shall somewhat comfort me, that I am proceeding. I will every day labour to do something which may improve me; though it be not much, it will be the surer done. If I can keep vice under, and win upon that which is good (though it be but a little at once), I may come to be better in time.