And art within ourselves another self,
A master self, that loves to domineer;
And treat the monarch frankly as the slave:
How dost thou light a torch to distant deeds,
Make the past, present, and the future frown:
How, ever and anon, awake the soul,

As with a peal of thunder, to strange horrors!

A good conscience is to the soul what health is to the body. It préserves a constant ease and serenity within us, and more than countervails all the calamities and afflictions that can befal us.

No line holds the anchor of contentment so fast as a good conscience. This cable is so strong and compact, that when force is offered to it, the straining rather strengthens, by uniting the parts more close.

It fareth with men of an evil conscience, when they must die, as it does with riotous spendthrifts when they must pay their debts; they will not come to an account, for the distrust they have of their ability to satisfy for what they have done.

Most men fear a bad name, but few fear their consciences.

No man ever offended his own conscience, but first or last it was revenged upon him for it.

Conscience is the gift of the Almighty : That moral inspector is not more severe as an enemy, than kind as a friend; was it not

this that supported the sufferer of Uzz, and was he not animated by the suffrage of conscience, when he wished that man might be permitted to plead'his cause with God.

-He lives twice who can at once employ The present well, and e'en the past enjoy,

A regular life is the best philosophy; a pure conscience the best law.

CONTENTMENT.

CONTENTMENT is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty, and no man has more care than he who endeavors after the most riches, which in their language is endeavoring after the most happiness.

The utmost we can hope for in this world is contentment, if we aim at any thing higher, we shall meet with nothing but grief and disappointment.

We should direct all our studies and endeavors, at making ourselves easy now and happy hereafter.

A contented mind is the greatest blessing any one can enjoy in this life, and if, in this life our happiness arise from the subduing of our desires, it will arise in the next from the gratification of them.

Is happiness your point in view?
(I mean th' intrinsic and the true)
She nor in camps nor courts resides,
Nor in the humble cottage hides;
Yet found alike in ev'ry sphere;

Who finds content will find her there :
'Tis to no rank of life confin'd,

But dwells in every honest mind.
Be justice then your whole pursuit,
Plant virtue, and content's the fruit.

The way of virtue is the only way to felicity.

If you can but live free from want, care for no more, for the rest is but vanity.

Our pains should be to moderate our hopes and fears, to direct and regulate our passions, to bear all injuries of fortune or men, and to attain the art of contentment.

To be in a low condition, and contented, affords the mind an exquisite enjoyment of what the senses are robbed of. If therefore thou wouldest be happy, bring thy mind to thy condition.

What can he want who is already content; who lives within the limits of his circumstances, and who has said to his desires, "Thus far shall ye go and no farther." This is the end of all philosophy, and poor is the philosopher who has not gained that end.

Where dwells this peace, this freedom of the mind?

Where, but in shades remote from human

kind;

In flow'ry vales where nymphs and shepherds meet,

But never comes within the palace gate.
Far from the noisy follies of the great,
The tiresome force of ceremonious state;
Far from the thoughtless crowd who laugh
and play

And dance and sing impertinently gay,
Their short inestimable hours away.

To communicate happiness is worthy the ambition of beings superior to man; for it is the first principle of action with the author of all existence. It is God that taught it as a virtue-it is God that gives the example.

On God for all events depend,

You cannot want when God's your friend.
Weigh well your part, and do your best,
Leave to Omnipotence the rest.

To Him who form'd thee in the womb,
And guides from cradle to the tomb.
Can the fond mother slight her boy?
Can she forget her pratt'ling joy?
Say then, shall sov'reign love desert
The humble and the honest heart?
Heav'n may not grant thee all thy mind,
Yet say not thou, that Heav'n's unkind.

God is alike both good and wise,
In what he gives and what denies :
Perhaps what goodness gives to-day,
To-morrow goodness takes away.

* He that from dust of worldly tumult flies,
May boldly open his undazzled eyes

To read wise nature's book; and with delight
Survey the plants by day, the stars by night.
We need not travel seeking ways of bliss ;
He that desires contentment cannot miss ;
No garden walls this precious flow'r embrace,
It common grows in ev'ry desert place.

CONVERSATION.

IT is highly necessary to avoid too much familiarity in conversation. It is an old English adage, "too much familiarity breeds contempt," so he that familiarizes himself, presently loses his superiority, that his serious air, and good deportment gave him, and consequently his credit. The more common human things are, the less they are esteemed; for communication discovers imperfections that prudent reserve concealed. We must not be too familiar with superiors, because of danger; nor with inferiors by reason of indecency; and far less with mean people, whom ignorance renders insolent, for being