Old Age.

An ingenious and amusing writer has given as a reason for the diminution of respect paid to old men in modern times, viz. the art of writing, which enables the young to have recourse to those sources of information, which formerly were sought in the memory of old persons. But if books are now the sources of our knowledge, the older a man is, it may be presumed that the more learned he is; and so he may still be looked up to by his inferiors in years and erudition. A more obvious cause of the want of respect to old men is the modern education of young people; who, being too early brought forward in the world, assume an equality with all persons, whatever their ages may be.

Female Society

Is at all times so necessary to the enjoyment of life, that the marriage of persons late in life is not to be wondered at, nor ridiculed, as it often is unjustly, unless the old man affects the character of a lover. Let such persons consider the attachment as friendship, and choose persons equal, or nearly so, to their own ages, and comfort may be the product of it; for surely, when reason, and not folly, which love generally is, makes the bargain, the result is likely to be more satisfactory to both Sketches of the History of Man.

parties. To reason in love is allowed by prose men, as well as poets, to be hardly compatible with the nature of poor mortals, at least in youth.

Mythology, a convenient one.

Gibbon, the historian, has shrewdly observed, that self-love has great dexterity in advancing her favourite positions. An example of the truth of this observation may be adduced in that mythological doctrine, which inculcates the belief of an evil genius governing human actions. All our errors, follies, and even vices, may be put on the back of this evil genius, and men may plead for their miscarriages, as a witty Poet has done for those of the fair sex, upon his system in astrology, not dissimilar to this

That when weak women go astray,
The stars are more in fault than they.

Hints to Reformers.

When Pacuvius Calavius proposed to the people of Rome to elect a new senate, and to nominate those whom they would wish to put in the places of the members which they should dismiss, the great Roman historian relates, that, at the mention of every nominee, some objection was stated to the moral or political character of the persons nominated, till P. Calavius grew tired of so many

* Prior.

cavils at the persons named; and the result of his consideration on the experiment made by him was, that known ills were easiest to be endured; and that the old senators, whom they had kept in custody during this appeal, should be set at liberty, and restored to their former dignity and situations. -Livy, b. xxiii. sec. 5.

Hints to Agriculturists.

As poets are considered as a race most liable to anger, so are agriculturalists famed for their propensity to complain of the weather, seasons, &c. A farmer does not consider, or does not perhaps know, that wheat and oats were imported into this country, and where they are native plants they require no cultivation, as oats in some parts of America. In Sicily, as Diodorus Siculus relates, wheat grew wild without any culture. About Mount Tabor, in Palestine, barley and oats grow spontaneously; and in some parts of India, wheat will grow unaided by culture. The English farmer, therefore, who complains of his bad harvest and crops, should recollect that it is not the fault of England that it does not thrive in plants which were imported into it from other climes more adapted to them.-Lord Kaimes' Sketches of the History of Man, p. 71, note.

Freethinkers:

Men who claim a freedom in thinking, with regard to matters of religion and politics, do not contend for an abstract right of thought, but mean to carry the same self-privileges into action. Like the declaimers for freedom in politics, they do not mean to benefit mankind at large by their theories, but to give to their own actions a greater latitude. Selfishness is the motive in both cases, and gives rise to such empty and unintelligible nonsense, that wiser men are on their guard against it; whilst timid persons attend to it with undue awe. The writings of my Lord Shaftesbury are, in point of argument and wit, extremely contemptible; and he has long survived his fame as an author, founded on the privilege of a peer; and his right of seigniory can make his base coin no longer current.

Parental Affection

Is too frequently turned upside-down. Affection and kindness predominate, among many parents, in excessive indulgence to children, before their degree of reason entitles them to it. When, in more mature years, the advance of reason in children takes place, the indulgence diminishes in parents; and the love of check and restraint

becomes then more oppressive, as the force of reason strengthens in the child. How often do infants appear playthings to parents, who, in more adult years, seem, if not their aversion, too often objects of irksome severity; and adult children have too much reason to exclaim, in the simple but expressive language of Locke, "Papa, when 'will you die?"

Man of the World.

The following description of "a man of the the world" is drawn by Father Bourdaloue,† the famous pulpit orator in France, and seems creditable to his character as a man of penetration, and an eloquent writer. "A man of the world must be odious to himself, when he reflects on his conduct; for what is more hateful than an ambitious, jealous, and interested man? He is professedly an enemy of all other men, I mean all who oppose his pursuits, or thwart his schemes. He is a man who sincerely loves no one, and who can not expect that any one can love him; for he has himself only in view, and refers every thing to his own purposes. He never sees the prosperity of another without envy, and his merit without a plan to tarnish it; to sink the fame of the one, * On Education. + Sermon on the Epiphany.