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ple from the spreading contagion; if we venture them abroad, and trust to chance or inclination for the choice of their company: It is therefore virtue and a perfect sense of their duty to God, which is the great and valuable thing to be taught them. All other considerations and accomplishments should give way, and be postponed, to these; these are the solid and substantial good we should labor to implant and fasten on their minds, neither should we cease till they have attained a true relish of them, and placed their strength, their glory, and their pleasure in them.

It is also of the first consequence in training up youth, of both sexes, that they be early inspired with humanity, and particularly that its principles be implanted strongly in their yet tender hearts, to guard them against inflicting wanton pain on those animals, which use or accident may occasionally put into their power.

ENVY.

TAKE heed you harbor not that vice called Envy, lest another's happiness be your torment; and God's blessing become your curse. Spencer, in his Fairy Queen, gives the following description of Envy.

+Malicious Envy rode

Upon a venomous wolf, and still did chaw
Between his canker'd teeth a ven'mous toad,
That all the poison ran about his jaw :
But inwardly he chaw'd his own maw
At neighbor's wealth, that made him ever
sad:

For death it was, when any good he saw,
And wept, that cause of weeping none he had;
But when he heard of harm he waxed wond'-
rous glad.

He hated all good works, and virtuous deeds,
And him no less that any like did use ;

And who with gracious bread the hungry feeds,

His alms, for want of faith, he doth accuse,
So every good to bad he doth abuse;
And eke the verse of famous poets' wit
He does backbite, and spiteful poison spews,
From lep'rous mouth, on all that ever writ:
Such one vile envy was.

Virtue is not secure against envy. Men will lessen what they will not imitate. It is observed, that the most censorious are generally the least judicious; who, having nothing to recommend themselves, will be finding fault with others.

None envy the merit of others, but who have little or none at all themselves. He that envies, makes another man's virtue his vice, and another man's happiness his tor

ment; whereas, he that rejoices at the pros. perity of another, is partaker thereof.

Some people as much envy others a good name, as they want it themselves; and perhaps that is the reason of it.

Envy is a passion so full of cowardice and shame, that none have the confidence to own it.

Envy is fixed only on merit; and, like a sore eye, is offended with every thing that is bright.

A man that hath no virtue in himself, envieth it in others.

The man who envies, must behold with pain
Another's joys, and sicken at his gain :
The man-unable to control his ire,

Shall wish undone what hate and wrath inspire.

Anger's a shorter frenzy, then subdue
Your passion, or your passion conquers you;
Unless your reason holds the guiding reins,
And binds the tyrant in coercive chains.

Base envy withers at another's joy, and hates that excellence it cannot reach. Envy flames highest against one of the same rank and condition.

FOLLY.

THE vain is the most distinguished son

of Folly. In what does this man lay out the faculties of an immortal soul? that time on which depends eternity; that estate, which well disposed of, might in some measure purchase heaven. What is his serious labor? subtle machination, ardent desire, and reigning ambition to be seen. This ridiculous, but true answer, renders all grave censure almost superfluous.

Of all knaves, your fools are the worstbecause they rob you both of your time and temper.

If you would not be thought a fool in others' conceit, be not wise in your own.

He that trusts to his own wisdom, proclaims his own folly.

I here beg leave to subjoin this fable, by Monsieur de la Motte. JUPITER made a lottery in heaven, in which mortals, as well as the gods, were allowed to have tickets. The prize was wisdom; and Minerva got it. The mortals murmured, and accused the gods of foul play. Jupiter, to wipe off this aspersion, declared another lottery for mortals only. The prize was folly; they got it and shared it among themselves. All were satisfied; 'the loss of wisdom was neither re-

gretted nor remembered; folly supplied its place, and those who had the largest share of it, thought themselves the wisest.

FRIENDSHIP.

Friendship's a name to few confin'd,
The offspring of a noble mind;

A gen'rous warmth which fills the breast,
And better felt than e'er exprest.

FRIENDSHIP is a sweet attraction of the heart, towards the merit we esteem, or the perfections we admire; and produces a mutual inclination between the two persons, to promote each other's interest, knowledge, virtue, and happiness.

There's nothing so common as pretences to friendship; though few know what it means, and fewer yet come up to its demands. By talking of it, we set ourselves off; but when we inquire into it, we see our defects; and when we engage in it, we must charge through abundance of difficulty. The veneration it has challenged in every age, (the most barbarous not excepted) is a standing testimony of its excellence and the more valuable it is, the more are we concerned to be instructed in it.

Monsieur de Sacy, in his essay upon friend

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