for his delight in neat apparel, and well worn; and used to say, "that the outward neatness of our bodies might be a monitor of purity to our souls."* Dr. Johnson, in his " Lives of the Poets," relates, that Shenstone used "to hold that fashion was no rule in dress, and that every man was to suit his appearance to his natural form." Well advises the poet on this head :

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,

But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man.

Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Oliver Cromwell.

The following summing up of this usurper's character, by a sensible and impartial writer,† is a brief but comprehensive chronicle of the trials of ambition. To finish Cromwell's character, I will add, that in the beginning of the Long Parliament he was a Presbyterian; after that he threw himself into the Independent party, and was even one of their leaders, and affected to be of the number of the Enthusiasts; but when he had accepted the Protectorship, he was neither Presbyterian, nor Independent, nor Republican, nor Enthusiast." So truly sings the poet,

'Tis a common proof,

That lowliness is young ambition's ladder,
Whereto the climber upwards turns his face:
And when he once attains the upmost round,
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
Looks at the clouds, scorning the base degrees
By which he did ascend, &c.

Shakespeare's Julius Cæsar.

Acquaintance.

Men who are sufficiently employed in business or grave pursuits set little value upon acquaintance, but consider the possession of a friend with a greater degree of attachment, than persons who find a difficulty to employ the hour that is passing over their heads. To such trifling characters friend appears a thing of too great magnitude to engage their fixed attentions. Friendship to such triflers is an object too vast for their intellectual vision to take in. They pursue the acquaintance of the day, and avoid any more permanent interest. Shew some men Stonehenge, and they will employ themselves in searching for pebbles that lie at their feet to such men friendship is terrific as a duty, while an acquaintance is easily dismissed at the suggestion of selfishness.

He ought not to pretend to friendship's name,
Who reckons not himselfand friend the same.
Tuke's Adventures of Five Hours.

Gothic Architecture.

It has been well observed that Grecian architecture is the offspring of reason, and the Gothic of fancy. The symmetry that prevails throughout the former, and the variety of forms and parts which constitute the latter, style of building, seem to justify the description. Whoever has read Milton, (and who has not?) will allow that the Gothic architecture and its accompaniments are almost exclusively adapted to religious purposes; and will incline him to repeat, "with the same

spirit that the author wrote," his beautiful lines on this subject

But let my due feet never fail

To walk the studious cloistes pale,
And love the high embowed roof
With autic pillars, massy proof,
And storied windows, richly dight,
Casting a dim religious light.

Il Penseroso.

A singularly witty Sarcasm.

A very passionate rider, in company with his friend of a cooler temperament, was continually urging his poor steed into rage by his unreasonable severity. The friend, in a low voice, exclaimed, "Be quiet, and shew yourself the lesser beast of the two." The passionate rider exclaimed, ‘Sir,

do

you call me a beast?' "I was addressing myself to your horse," replied the sage companion, very coolly.-Menagiana.

Aristotle and Lord Bacon.

This extraordinary writer, equally famous for the extent of his learning, the sagacity of his intellect, and the unweariness of his industry, despised the vain sophistry of his coeval philosophers, and applied to experiment as the test of his truths. My Lord Bacon, a man of talents scarcely inferior to Aristotle, was so disgusted with his Theory of Logic, that he seems to have thought that the Greek philosopher had no sound reasoning in any of his works. In his "Novum Organum," Lord Bacon seemed to think that, by introducing the arguing by induction, instead of by syllogism, he was destroying the foundation of the Aristotelian philosophy. Had his Lordship cast his eye on the "Metaphysics" of his opponent, he would not have thought of the Stagirite's logical powers so slightly as he seems to have done. "From experiments we proceeded to the possession of knowledge of things, and in this we found science," are the first Metaphysics of Aristotle.

words in the

Puns.

Swift used to say that no one despised puns but those who could not make them. It is certain that very great authors have not thought them below their dignity. In the first six books of Milton's Paradise Lost, a very grave as well as very noble poem, no less than twenty very indifferent puns may be found. Cicero did not disdain them; and though poets, and their cousin-germans the orators, have many poetic licences, yet what shall we say when stately historians make use of them. Livy deigns to pun in his most grave passages: "Plebiscitum quo oneratus magis sum quam honoratus primus antiquo abrogoque :" lib. 2. Velleius Paterculus has admitted a pun on a very sensible remark on human nature. 66 Naturaliter, audita visis laudamus libentius, et præsentia invidia, præterita veneratione prosequimur; et his nos obrui illis instrui credimus :" lib. 2.

Magnanimity and Roman Boasting.

The following speeches of M. Livius Drusus are equally in character with ancient Roman manners and spirit. "M. Livius Drusus, a young nobleman who was stabbed in a mob quarrel, was killed by a knife piercing his side, in a court