Insinuators of evil are among the vilest of the vile ones of the earth. They do more harm than any number of bold accusers, and are not to be chastised because they cannot be caught.

Were there no hearers, there would be no backbiters.

-PROVERB.

I remember in my childhood's days I was religious, a keeper of vigils, and eager to exercise myself in acts of devotion and abstinence. One night I sat up with my father, and did not close my eyes the whole night long but held the dearly-prized volume (the Korân) in my lap, whilst a company of people were asleep around me. I said to my father "not one of them lifts up his head to say his prayers; so sound a sleep has possessed them, that thou wouldst say they were dead." He replied, "My dear boy! if thou also slept, it would be better than backbiting people."

-SADI'S GULISTÂN.*

Renounce slander and envy of others. †

-GURU ARJAN.

But rumour is a reckless fire,

Which, kindled once, is sure to spread,

And, raging in its frantic ire,

Spares not the living or the dead.

-W. E. AYTOUN.

* Translated by Platts.

+ From a Lecture on Sikhs by Mr. Macauliffe, C.S.

wolf or an in

a fierce dog.

A man who is ever engaged in speaking ill of others should be avoided like a furious furiate elephant roaring in madness or Fie on that sinful wretch who has betaken himself to the path of the foolish who has fallen away from all wholesome restraints and modesty, who is always engaged in doing what is injurious to others, and who is regardless of his own prosperity.

-" MAHABHARATA."

If I am traduced by tongues, which neither know
My faculties nor person, yet will be

The chronicles of my doing-let me say,

'Tis but the fate of place.

--SHAKESPEARE.

When men speak ill of you, live so as nobody will believe them.

140. SLEEP.

O sleep, sweet sleep!.

Whatever form thou takest, thou art fair,
Holding un to our lips thy goblet filled
Out of Oblivion's well, a healing draught!
-LONGFELLOW.

Sleep, Silence' child, sweet father of soft rest, Prince whose approach peace to all mortals brings, Indifferent host to shepherds and to kings,

Sole comforter of minds with grief opprest. -WILLIAM DRUMMOND.

Come Sleep, O Sleep, the certain knot of peace,
The baiting-place of art, the balm of woe,
The poor man's wealth, the prisoner's release,
The indifferent judge between the high and low.
-SIR PHILIP SIDNEY.

Night is the time for rest,

How sweet, when labours close,

To gather round an aching breast

The curtain of repose,

Stretch the tired limbs, and lay the head,

Down on our own delightful bed!

-JAMES MONTGOMERY.

I love the light-yet welcome, Night;
For beneath thy darkling fall,
The troubled breast is soothed in rest,
And the slave forgets his thrall.

-ELIZA COOK.

Night appears, and anxiety and wretchedness are suspended. To be comfortable, nothing is necessary but our beds; and when sleep closes our eye-lids, our wants are satisfied. Night equalizes the condition of the beggar and the monarch; both enjoy a blessing, which no money can procure.

-STURM'S REFLECTIONS.

Blessings on him who invented sleep, the mantle that covers all human thoughts, the food that appeases hunger, the drink that quenches thirst, the fire that warms cold, the cold that moderates heat, and, lastly, the general coin that purchases all things, the balance and weight that equals the shepherd with the king, and the simple with the wise.

-CERVANTES.

Sleep is like a good many more of the blessings that are bestowed upon us by the all-loving father, we receive them little knowing how priceless they are, and without even a feeling of gratitude entering our heart. People who don't know what to do to "kill" time, and who spend a considerable part of their existence, lolling about in an aimless kind of way, have not yet learned to be thankful for "Sleep, tired nature's sweet restorer"; but those whose duty it is to sit long, weary hours, in the stillness of the night-watches, by the bedside of the suffering, can tell you how thankful they are for a bed to lie down upon, and for the sleep which they know awaits them.*

How thankful should men be to the Creator for the blessing of sleep! Perhaps you have never known the

Black.

*From Ward and Lock's Long Life Series, edited by George

full worth of it, because it has never refused to fulfil your wishes when you call it. But how often does it happen that sickness, discontent, fear, or old age, have deprived men of the sweets of sleep! In these cases we learn that sleep is one of the most pressing necessities of nature, and at the same time one of the most inestimable blessings of the Deity. But will you, in order to become instructed in this matter, wait till you have lost this benefit? No: while you enjoy the advantages which sleep procures; while at the commencement of each night it gives you to feel its salutary effects, never give up yourself to enjoy it without the most lively sense of gratitude to your heavenly Benefactor. And let this gratitude prevent you, on one hand, from abusing sleep; or on the other, by an opposite excess, from not taking what is sufficient. We are always culpable when through idlenesss or effeminacy we prolong the hours destined for repose. Nature in this respect, as in all others, is contented with little; seven or eight hours of uninterrupted sleep are generally sufficient. But men are not less culpable when through avarice, ambition, or any such motives, they abridge their sleep, and refuse that relaxation to nature, which is necessary. In both cases the established order of God is disturbed.

Let the hour in which we are disposed to enjoy the sweets of sleep be preceded with thanksgiving to our heavenly Father. Let us bless him, not only because the days happily succeed each other, but because he has constituted us in such a manner that sleep refreshes and recruits our strength. Let us lie down with these meditations; and let them be the first which shall present themselves to us when we awake.

-STURM'S REFLECTIONS.