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RELIGION NEVER TO BE TREATED1 WITH

LEVITY.

IMPRESS your minds with reverence for all that is sacred. Let no wantonness2 of youthful spirits,3 no compliance with the intemperate mirth of others, ever betray you into profane sallies. Besides the guilt which is thereby incurred, nothing gives a more odious appearance of petulance and presumption to youth, than the affectation of treating religion with levity. Instead of being an

evidence of superior understanding, it discovers a pert and shallow mind; which, vain of the first smatterings of knowledge, presumes to make light of what the rest of mankind revere. At the same time you are not to imagine that, when exhorted to be religious, you are called upon to become more formal and solemn in your manners than others of the same years, or to erect yourselves into supercilious reprovers of those around you. The spirit of true religion breathes gentleness and affability. It gives a native unaffected ease to the behaviour. It is social, kind, and cheerful; far removed from that gloomy and illiberal superstition which clouds the brow, sharpens the temper, dejects the spirit, and teaches men to fit themselves for another world by neglecting the concerns of this. Let your religion, on the contrary, connect preparation for heaven with an honourable discharge of the duties of active life. Of such religion discover, on every proper occasion, that you are not ashamed; but avoid making any unnecessary ostentation of it before the world.-(BLAIR.)

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1 Qu'il ne faut jamais traiter. The conjunction que is sometimes thus used, with an ellipsis of the first member of the sentence, in the titles of chapters or sections of a book, &c., to indicate the subjects treated of therein.

2 exubérance.

3 'spirits;' entrain (or gaieté), in this sense. 4 gaieté démesurée. 5 See page 29, note 13. 6faire peu de cas de.

7 See page 118, note 17; and use the singular here, by all means. 8 aigrit.

9 montrez; or, faites voir.

SCENE FROM THE PLAY OF " MONEY,"
(by Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.)

GEORGINA, and SIR JOHN VESEY (Bart., Knight of the Guelph, F.R.S., F.S.A.), her father.

Geor. And you really feel sure that poor Mr. Mordaunt has made me his heiress?

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Can you Niece by

Sir J. Ay, the richest heiress in England. doubt it? Are you not his nearest relation? your poor mother, his own sister.1 All the time he was making this enormous fortune in India, did we ever miss sending him little reminiscences of our disinterested affection? When he was last in England, and you only so high,2 was not my house his home? Didn't I get a surfeit out of complaisance to his execrable curries and pillaws? Didn't he smoke his hookah-nasty old—that is, poor dear man-in my best5 drawing-room? And did you ever speak without calling him your "handsome uncle?"-for the excellent creature was as vain as a peacock,6

Geor. And so ugly,7

Sir J. The dear deceased! Alas, he was, indeed. And if, after all these marks of attachment, you are not his heiress, why then the finest feelings of our nature-the ties of blood-the principles of justice-are implanted in us in vain.

Geor. Beautiful, sir. Was not that in your last speech at the Freemasons' Tavern upon the great Chimney-sweep Question?

Sir J. Clever girl! 10-what a memory she has ! Sit

1 'niece,' &c. ; simply, his sister's daughter.'

2 'not higher than that.' 3 Simply, la sienne ('his'). 4 après avoir mangé, pour lui faire plaisir, de ses maudites sauces au pilau. 5 'finest.' 6 car il était glorieux comme un paon, le cher oncle.

7 Et laid!... ne m'en parlez pas.

8 Poor (p. 117, n. 13) dear man! Alas, it is very (bien, which is more emphatic than très) true.' 9 A merveille,

10 Comme elle est fine, cette petite fille-là! or, simply, Comme elle est fine!

down, Georgy. Upon this most happy-I mean melancholy occasion, I feel that I may trust you with a secret. You see this fine house-our fine servants-our fine plate -our fine dinners: every one thinks Sir John Vesey a rich man.

Geor. And are you not, papa?

Sir J. Not a bit of it-all humbug, child—all humbug,2 upon my soul! As you hazard a minnow to hook in a trout, so one guinea thrown out with address is often the best bait for a hundred. There are two rules in lifeFirst, Men are valued not for what they are, but what they seem to be. Secondly, If you have no merit or money of your own, you must trade on the merits and money of other people. My father got the title by services in the army, and died penniless. On the strength of3 his services I got a pension of 400l. a-year-on the strength of 400/ a-year I took credit for5 8007.: on the strength of 8007. a-year I married your mother with 10,000l.: on the strength of 10,000l., I took credit for 40,000l., and paid Dicky Gossip three guineas a-week to go about every where calling me "Stingy Jack!" 7

When a man is

Geor. Ha! ha! A disagreeable nickname. Sir J. But a valuable reputation. called stingy, it is as much as calling him rich; and when a man's called rich, why he's a man universally respected. On the strength of my respectability I wheedled a constituency, changed my politics, resigned my seat to a minister, who, to a man of such stake in the country, could offer nothing less in return than a patent office of 2,000l. a-year. That's the way to succeed in life. Humbug, dear!-all humbug,10 upon my soul!

my

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Geor. I must say that you—

Sir J. Know the world, to be sure. Now, for your fortune, as I spend more than my income, I can have nothing to leave you; yet, even without counting your uncle, you have always passed for an heiress on the credit1 of your expectations from the savings of "Stingy Jack." The same with your education. I never grudged anything to make a show 2-never stuffed your head with histories and homilies; but you draw, you sing, you dance, you walk well into a room; and that's the way young ladies are educated now-a-days, in order to become a pride to their parents, and a blessing to their husband—that is, when they have caught him. A propos of a husband: you know we thought of Sir Frederick Blount.

Geor. Ah, papa, he is charming.

Sir J. He was so, my dear, before we knew your poor uncle was dead; but an heiress such as you will be should look out for a duke.-Where the deuce is Evelyn this morning?

Geor. I've not seen him, papa. What a strange character he is so sarcastic; and yet he can be agreeable.

Sir J. A humorist-a cynic! one never knows how to take him. My private secretary,-a poor cousin, has not got a shilling, and yet, hang me,9 if he does not keep us all at a sort of a distance. 10

Geor. But why do you take him to live with us, papa, since there's no good to be got by it?

Sir J. There you are wrong;11 he has a great deal of talent: : prepares my speeches, writes my pamphlets, looks up my calculations. My report on 12 the last Commission has got me a great deal of fame, and has put me at the head of the new one. Besides, he is our cousin he has 1 foi.

2 faire florès (fam.).

3 tu sais bien te présenter. 4 avions jeté les yeux sur. 5 chercher à trouver.

faire is often quaintly used, with such a construction, instead of être, in relation to a person's appearance or qualities. 7 original.

8 il loge le diable dans sa bourse. 9 je veux être pendu.

10 We say, tenir à distance, without any article, in this sense: the literal translation, therefore, will not do here, and you must change the construction a little. 11 C'est ce qui te trompe. 12 à.

no salary:1 kindness to a poor relation always tells well 2 in the world; and Benevolence is a useful virtue,-particularly when you can have it for nothing! With our other cousin, Clara, it was different: her father thought fit to leave me her guardian, though she had not a penny -a mere useless incumbrance; so, you see, I got my halfsister, Lady Franklin, to take her off my hands.3

Geor. How much longer is Lady Franklin's visit to be? Sir J. I don't know, my dear; the longer the better,1— for her husband left her a good deal of money at her own disposal. Ah, here she comes.

LORD CHATHAM'S SPEECH FOR THE IMMEDIATE REMOVAL OF THE TROOPS FROM BOSTON, IN AMERICA.-(JUNE 20, 1775.)

Too well apprized of the contents of the papers, now at last laid before the House, I shall not take up their 5 lordships' time in tedious and fruitless investigations, but shall seize the first moment to open the door of reconcilement; for every moment of delay is a moment of danger. As I have not the honour of access to his Majesty, I will endeavour to transmit to him, through the constitutional channel of this House, my ideas of America, to rescue him from the misadvice of his present ministers. America, my lords, cannot be reconciled, she ought not to be reconciled, to this country, till the troops of Britain are withdrawn from the continent; they are a bar to all confidence; they are a source of perpetual irritation; they threaten a fatal catastrophe. How can America trust you with the

1 traitement; or, appointements; or, honoraires;-salaire and gages mean 'wages,' the former, of workmen, and the latter, of servants.

2 produces a good effect;' or, 'looks well (fuit bien).'

3 m'en débarrasser (or, délivrer, or, défaire).

4 Supply the ellipsis, which is not French.

5 'your.'

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