greatest part of this busy species fall short even of that age? How would he be lost in horror and amazement, when he should know that this set of creatures, who lay out all their endeavours for this life, which scarce deserves the name of existence: when, I say, he should know that this set of creatures are to exist to all eternity in another life, for which they make no preparations? Nothing can be a greater disgrace to reason, than that men, who are persuaded of these two different states of being, should be perpetually employed in providing for a life of threescore and ten years, and neglecting to make provision for that which after many myriads of years will be still new, and still beginning; especially when we consider that our endeavours for making ourselves great, or rich, or honourable, or whatever else we place our happiness in, may after all prove unsuccessful; whereas, if we constantly and sincerely endeavour to make ourselves happy in the other life, we are sure that our endeavours will succeed, and that we shall not be disappointed in our hope.

The following question is started by one of the schoolmen. Supposing the whole body of the earth were a great ball or mass of the finest sand, and that a single grain or particle of this sand should be annihilated every thousand years? Supposing, then, that you had in your choice to be happy all the while this prodigious mass of sand was consuming by this slow method till there was not a grain of it left, on condition you were to be miserable for ever after; or, supposing that you might be happy ever after on condition you would be miserable till the whole mass of sand were thus annihilated at the rate of one grain in a thousand years: which of these two cases would you make your choice?

Even under such circumstances reason would give the preference to the latter alternative.

But when the choice we actually have before us is this, whether we will choose to be happy for the space of only threescore and ten, nay, perhaps of only twenty or ten, years-I might say of only a day or an hourand miserable to all eternity; or, on the contrary, miserable for that short term of years, and happy for a whole eternity: what words are sufficient to express that folly and want of consideration which in such case makes a wrong choice?

I here put the case even at the worst, by supposing, what seldom happens, that a course of virtue makes us miserable in this life; but if we suppose, as it generally happens, that virtue would make us more happy even in this life than a contrary course of vice, how unutterably great is the stupidity or madness of those persons who are capable of making so absurd a choice ?

Every wise man, therefore, will consider this life only as it may conduce to the happiness of the other, and cheerfully sacrifice the sinful pleasures of a few years to the holy joys of eternity.

STUD

OF STUDIES.

TUDIES serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots,' and marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are learned.

To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules is the humour of a scholar.

They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large except they be bounded in by experience.

Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use, but a wisdom that is without them, and above them, won by observation.

Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books: else distilled books 3 are like common distilled waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full man; conference, a ready man; and writing, an exact man.

And, therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit; and if he read little, he had need have much cunning to seem to know that he doth not.

Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; morals, grave; logic and rhetoric, 7 able to contend.

Abeunt

11

studia in mores. Nay, there is no stond or impediment in the wit but may be wrought out by fit studies: like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises. Bowling is good for the stone 10 and reins; 1 shooting for the lungs and breast; gentle walking for the stomach; riding for the head; and the like. So if a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again: if his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences let him study the schoolmen ;12 for they are cymini sectores.13 If he be not apt to beat over matters,11 and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyers' cases. So every defect of the mind may have a special receipt.

THER

SEA-BATHING.

HERE are few things more exhilarating to a healthy person than sea-bathing on a warm day, and few things more beneficial to health when judiciously practised. Any one having a slight acquaintance with physiology will readily understand how it produces these happy results.

When a person plunges into cold water, the capillary circulation, and the nerves of the skin are first affected, and thus a shock is given of a salutary and healthy character, be it understood, to the nervous system. That shock produces cold, a tremor more or less, and that condition known as "goose-skin," wherein the skin contracts and leaves the hair and its bulbs prominent. But in a healthy subject that shock is instantly succeeded by a very different sensation. The nervous centres are by it aroused to their work, and a greater amount of blood and energy is sent to heart and lungs, and through the circulatory system generally, reaching of course to the skin; and then comes what is known as the re-action-the feeling of pleasant warmth, and the invigorating glow which is familiar to all who are accustomed to bathe, or to use that invaluable healthpreserver, the washing-tub.

This is an example of that reflex action of which we hear so much. And as the nerves have often been compared to telegraph wires, here we have a message sent from the various hamlets scattered (as it were) on the skin to the head-office in the nerve centres, and an instantaneous reply given to it. There is no hesitation or blunder in this telegraphy, if the wires are in good order that is to say, if the man is in health, the message is returned with unfailing accuracy and precision, and the needful supply of strength is transmitted.

And two things must be borne in mind concerning this arrangement. In the first place, it stands to reason that the colder the water is, the greater will be the shock; and of necessity, the more powerful also the re-action, although it must be remembered that more strength is required to withstand the first sudden immersion. Thus we see the physiological reason for the