MODERATION.

Moderation is commonly firm; and firmness is commonly successful.

Falkland Islands, p. 32.

It was one of the maxims of the Spartans, not to press upon a flying army; and therefore their enemies were always ready to quit the field, because they knew the danger was only in opposing. Letter to Douglas, p. 3.

N.

NATURE.

NOTHING can please many, and please long, but just representations of general nature.

Preface to Shakspeare, p. 8.

The power of nature is only the power of using to any certain purpose the materials which dili gence procures or opportunity supplies.

ENGLISH NABOBS, &c.

Ibid. p. 39.

Those who make an illegal use of power in foreign countries, to enrich themselves and dependents, live with hearts full of that malignity which fear of detection always generates in them who are to defend unjust acquisitions against lawful authority; and when they come home with riches thus acquired, they bring minds hardened in evil, too proud for reproof, and too stupid for reflec

tion. They offend the high by their insolence, and corrupt the low by their example.

Falkland Islands, p. 11.

NEGLIGENCE.

No man can safely do that by others, which might be done by himself. He that indulges negligence, will quickly become ignorant of his own affairs; and he that trusts without reserve, will at last be deceived.

NOVELTY.

Rambler, vol. 4, p. 14.

To oblige the most fertile genius to say only what is new, would be to contract his volumes to a few pages.

Idler, vol. 2, p. 187.

Every novelty appears more wonderful as it is more remote from any thing with which experience or testimony have hitherto acquainted us; and if it passes farther beyond the notions that we have been accustomed to form, it becomes at last incredible.

NUMBERS.

Idler, vol. 2, p. 129,

To count is a modern practice; the ancient method was to guess; and when numbers are guessed, they are always magnified.

Western Islands, p. 227.

NARRATION.

Nothing can be more disgusting than à narrative spangled with conceits; and conceits are all that some narratives supply.

Life of Cowley.

Every one has so often detected the fallaciousness of hope, and the inconvenience of teaching himself to expect what a thousand accidents may preclude, that when time has abated the confidence with which youth rushes out to take possession of the world, we endeavour, or wish, to find entertainment in the review of life, and to repose on real facts and certain experience. This is, perhaps, one reason, among many, why age delights in narratives.

NOTES.

Rambler, vol. 4, p. 232.

Notes to a literary work are often necessary; but they are necessary evils. Parts are not to be examined, till the whole has been surveyed: there is a kind of intellectual remoteness necessary for the comprehension of any great work in its full design, and its true proportions; a close approach shows the smallest niceties, but the beauty of the whole is discerned no longer.

Preface to Shakspeare, p. 148.

NATIONS.

Nations have changed their characters: slavery is now no where more patiently endured than in countries once inhabited by the zealots of liberty. Idler, vol. 1, p. 160.

Such is the diligence with which, in nations completely civilized, one part of mankind labours for another, that wants are supplied faster than they can be formed, and the idle and luxurious find life stagnate, for want of some desire to keep it in motion. This species of distress furnishes a new set of occupations; and multitudes are

busied,

busied, from day to day, in finding the rich and the fortunate something to do.

Ibid. p. 166.

It is, perhaps, the character of the English nation to despise trifles..

Ibid. vol. 2, p. 216.

All nations whose power has been exerted on the ocean, have fixed colonies in remote parts of the world; and while those colonies subsisted, navigation, if it did not increase, was always preserved from total decay.

Political State of Great Britain in 1756, p. 48.

It is ridiculous to imagine that the friendship of nations, whether civil or barbarous, can be gained or kept but by kind treatment; and, surely, they who intrude uncalled upon the country of a distant people, ought to consider the natives as worthy of common kindness.

Ibid. p. 55.

It is observable, that most nations, amongst whom the use of clothes is unknown, paint their bodies. Such was the practice of the first inhabi tants of our own country; and from this custom did our earliest enemies, the Picts, owe their denomination. This practice contributes in some degree to defend them from the injuries of winter, and in those climates where little evaporates by the pores, may be used with n› great inconvenience; but in hot countries, where perspiration is in a great degree necessary, the natives only use unction to preserve them from the other extreme of weather. So well do either reason or experience supply the place of science in savage counLife of Drake, p. 202.

tries.

It is observed, that among the natives of England is to be found a greater variety of humour than in any other country.

Origin and Importance of Fugitive Pieces, p. 3.

0.

OPINION.

THE opinion prevalent in one age, as truths above the reach of controversy, are confuted and rejected in another, and rise again to reception in remoter times. Thus, the human mind is kept in motion without progress. Thus, sometimes, truth and error, and sometimes contrarieties of error, take each other's place by reciprocal inva

sion.

Preface to Shakspeare, p. 54

Much of the pain and pleasure of mankind arises from the conjectures which every one makes of the thoughts of others. We all enjoy praise which we do not hear, and resent contempt which we do not see.

Idler, vol. 2, p. 280.

To think differently, at different times, of poetical merit, may be easily allowed. Such opinions are often admitted and dismissed without nice examination. Who is there that has not found reason for changing his mind about questions of greater importance?

Life of Savage.

When an opinion, to which there is no temptation of interest, spreads wide and continues

long,