Judge of thy improvement, not by what thou speakest or by what thou writest, but by the firmness of thy mind, and the government of thy passions and affections.-Fuller's Prudentia.

DREAM. THE SOLDIER'S.

Our bugles sang truce, for the night cloud had lower'd,
And the sentinel stars set their watch in the sky;
And thousands had sunk on the ground overpower'd,
The weary to sleep, and the wounded to die.
When reposing that night on my pallet of straw,
By the wolf-scaring faggot that guarded the slain;
At the dead of the night a sweet vision I saw,
And thrice ere the morning I dreamt it again.
Methought from the battle-field's dreadful array,
Far, far I had roam'd on a desolate track;
'Twas autumn-and sunshine arose on the way

To the home of my fathers, that welcom'd me back. I flew to the pleasant fields, travers'd so oft

In life's morning march, when my bosom was young; I heard my own mountain goats bleating aloft,

And knew the sweet strain that the corn-reapers sung. Then pledged we the wine-cup, and fondly I swore, From my home and my weeping friends never to part; My little ones kiss'd me a thousand times o'er,

And my wife sobb'd aloud in her fulness of heart. Stay, stay with us-rest, thou art weary and worn; And fain was their war-broken soldier to stayBut sorrow returned with the dawning of morn, And the voice in my dreaming ear melted away. Campbell.

VIRTUE.-Virtue is certainly the most noble and secure possession a man can have. Beauty is worn out by time or impaired by sickness-riches lead youth rather to destruction than welfare, and without prudence are soon lavished away; while virtue alone, the only good that is ever durable, always remains with the person that has once entertained her. She is preferable both to wealth, and a noble extraction.

Savage's Letters of the Ancients.

If men would think that a moment lost can never be recalled, that time moves on with unalterable regularity, and, yet, that we have it under our control for the future, I feel assured many would devote their time to some laudable and useful pursuit; and if our capacities did not obtain something useful and pleasing, we should, at least, set that example to those of superior talents and abilities, which otherwise might have lain dormant for want of stimulation, and deprived the world of all their useful researches and inquiries, which seldom fail to increase the happiness and well-being of society, and never to afford us the pleasing and permanent reflection of having spent our time usefully and rationally.

CONTEMPLATION.-When once the soul by contemplation is raised to any right apprehension of the divine perfections, and the foretastes of celestial bliss, how will this world and all that is in it vanish and disappear before his eyes? With what holy disdain will he look down upon things which are the brightest objects of other men's ambitious desires? All the splendour of courts, all the pageantry of greatness, will no more dazzle his eyes, than the faint lustre of a glowworm will trouble the eagle after it hath been beholding the sun.

Henry Scougal's Works.

The book of all books is your own heart, in which are written and engraven the deepest lessons of divine instruction; learn therefore, to be deeply attentive to the presence of God in your hearts, who is always speaking, always instructing, always illuminating that heart that is attentive to him.

Law's Answer to Trapp,

He that buys a house ready wrought has many a pin and nail for nought.

We ought not to judge of men's merits by their qualifications, but by the use they make of them. Charron.

TIME. Time is lent us to be laid out in God's service to his honour, and we cannot be too diligent in it, if we consider that time is precious, short, passing, uncertain, irrevocable when gone, and that for which we must be accountable.-Ibid.

To

Having thus considered, I resolved, that I could not spend my time more manly and philosophically, than in an enquiry, what the happiness of man is, and how attainable; every advance towards this is an accession to my life and being, and all travail which doth not lead me on towards this end is but so much of life misspent and lost. What a silliness were it to load my memory with terms and words, with numerous instances of matters of fact. martial up in order lines and figures; to talk of unknown seas, and distant shores; to tumble over each page in nature's system; what a trifling cunning to study the trifling mysteries of trade? what solemn and laborious foppery to penetrate into all the subtleties of government and arts of conversation; if after all I have no receipt for a troubled mind, no cure for distempered passions. If I have no principle to support my mind under a sinking fortune, or govern it in a rising one; if I have nothing to arm me against my fears, or to disperse my griefs; would any one think I had spent my time well or stocked myself with useful knowledge?

Enquiry after Happiness, by J. Lucas.

If men would think that a moment lost can never be recalled, that time moves on with unalterable regularity, and, yet, that we have it under our control for the future, I feel assured many would devote their time to some laudable and useful pursuit; and if our capacities did not obtain something useful and pleasing, we should, at least, set that example to those of superior talents and abilities, which otherwise might have lain dormant for want of stimulation, and deprived the world of all their useful researches and inquiries, which seldom fail to increase the happiness and well-being of society, and never to afford us the pleasing and permanent reflection of having spent our time usefully and rationally..

CONTEMPLATION.-When once the soul by contemplation is raised to any right apprehension of the divine perfections, and the foretastes of celestial bliss, how will this world and all that is in it vanish and disappear before his eyes? With what holy disdain will he look down upon things which are the brightest objects of other men's ambitious desires? All the splendour of courts, all the pageantry of greatness, will no more dazzle his eyes, than the faint lustre of a glowworm will trouble the eagle after it hath been beholding the sun.

Henry Scougal's Works.

The book of all books is your own heart, in which are written and engraven the deepest lessons of divine instruction; learn therefore, to be deeply attentive to the presence of God in your hearts, who is always speaking, always instructing, always illuminating that heart that is attentive to him.

Law's Answer to Trapp.

He that buys a house ready wrought has many a pin and nail for nought.

We ought not to judge of men's merits by their qualifications, but by the use they make of them. Charron.

TIME.-Time is lent us to be laid out in God's service to his honour, and we cannot be too diligent in it, if we consider that time is precious, short, passing, uncertain, irrevocable when gone, and that for which we must be accountable.-Ibid.

To

Having thus considered, I resolved, that I could not spend my time more manly and philosophically, than in an enquiry, what the happiness of man is, and how attainable; every advance towards this is an accession to my life and being, and all travail which doth not lead me on towards this end is but so much of life misspent and lost. What a silliness were it to load my memory with terms and words, with numerous instances of matters of fact. martial up in order lines and figures; to talk of unknown seas, and distant shores; to tumble over each page in nature's system; what a trifling cunning to study the trifling mysteries of trade? what solemn and laborious foppery to penetrate into all the subtleties of government and arts of conversation; if after all I have no receipt for a troubled mind, no cure for distempered passions. If I have no principle to support my mind under a sinking fortune, or govern it in a rising one; if I have nothing to arm me against my fears, or to disperse my griefs; would any one think I had spent my time well or stocked myself with useful knowledge?

Enquiry after Happiness, by J. Lucas.