many may rebel, a few may be faithful, and "for ten righteous the city shall be saved.” He can bear with any thing but his own rebuke; and as he will rather die than incur it, there is nothing on earth that can intimidate his virtue. Whatever he thinks, whatever he does, is directed to the promotion of the general weal. Were he to write it would be to inspire men with just and heroic sentiments.Should he be stationed in the senate, he maintains his post, as the sentinel of the people's liberties, and of the lawful prerogatives of the crown: neither can be transgressed with impunity to public happiness. When he draws the sword, it is not for chaplets, trophies and stars, but to repel the enemies of his country; to conquer for its peace, or to die in its defence: the God of Battles, the great Jehovah is the judge of his motives, the only spectator whose approbation he seeks; and when the applause of the world succeeds, it seems as the radiance of the sun, which (produced by internal brightness) illuminates surrounding objects, while itself is unconscious of the glory. His animating principle is the love of

virtue, and the labour of his life the expansion of her reign to love her and to love his country (which she commands him to love,) is one; for love is measured by obedience.By her laws, he has marshalled all his talents; and his consequent conduct cannot be shaken, because he stands, not upon opinion, but principle. His voice is the voice of virtue, and its echo is glory. Sublime, adorable ray from the Divine Nature! Thou animating emanation from the throne of God, that turns man into an angel! that immortalizes him on earth; that catches him from the common paths of men; and wraps him in such a mantle of light, that we forget he is a brother, and are almost inclined to worship his transcendent greatness. Ah! when mortal glory is thus beautiful, thus commanding, thus entrancing, what must that effulgence be, of which this is only a spark-a glittering dew-drop in a boundless ocean!

MAGNANIMITY.

1.

REMEMBER, that in all miseries, lamenting becomes fools, and action, wise folk.

2.

Confidence in one's self, is the chief nurse of magnanimity. Which confidence, notwithstanding, doth not leave the care of necessary furnitures for it; and, therefore, of all the Grecians, Homer doth ever make Achilles the best armed.

Remark.

Had Sir Philip Sidney remembered this just sentiment, on the fatal morning in which he received his death, he might, perhaps, have spared England the sudden loss of its chief glory. When the stand was to be made before Zulphen, he entered the field, as was his custom, completely armed; but meeting the marshall of the camp in slighter armour, the

emulation of his heart to do all that man dare do, made him disdain the inequality of his hazard to that of his officer, and he threw off his cuirass by which act, as his friend Lord Brook says, "it seemed by the secret influence of destiny, that he disarmed the very part where God had resolved to strike him." A musket ball from the trenches broke the bone of his thigh; and of that wound he died. To present our body to the chance of war, and to expose it to all its shafts, are as different actions as bravery and rashness. Life is too precious to be thrown away: and he who values it not, (which may be inferred of the man who lays it open to unnecessary danger,) has no merit in hazarding what is regarded by him as worthless. But he who estimates life, with all its duties, and sources of bliss; and who then makes himself a shield for his country, demands the admiration and the gratitude of mankind. He will not shrink from the fight; but prudence tells him, that it is not valour to unbrace his naked breast to the enemy. That Sir Philip Sidney fell into this error, is one instance, out of many, that even our virtues

will betray us to excess, if they be not controled by wisdom. Impulse is apt to lead astray. The virtues are principles, not passions. When (instead of remaining, like the machine of Archimedes, on firm ground, whence they may guide the world,) they take wing; and so obey, or struggle with contending elements, their resistless property, with their purity, is lost; and forfeiting even a claim to their name, they become the sport of fortune.

3.

As the arrival of enemies makes a town to fortify itself, so that ever after it remains stronger; and hence a man may say, that enemies were no small cause to the town's strength; so, to a mind once fixed in a wellpleasing determination, who hopes by annoyance to overthrow it, doth but teach it to knit together all its best grounds; and so, perchance, of a chanceable purpose, make an une changeable resolution.

4.

Let us prove that our minds are no slaves

VOD. I.