"He that shoots an arrow in jest, may kill a man in earnest; and he that gives himself liberty to play with his neighbour's fame, may soon play it away. Most men have such an aptness to entertain sinister opinions of others, that they greedily draw in any suggestion of that kind; and one may as easily persuade the thirsty earth to refund the water she has sucked into her veins, as them to deposit a prejudice they have once taken up. Therefore such experiments upon fame are as dangerous as that which Alexander is said to have made of the force of Naphtha upon his page, from which he scarce escaped with life.

"Since slander is a plant that can grow in all soils, since the frolic humours as well as the morose betray to the guilt, who can hope to escape this scourge of the tongue, as the wise man calls it, Eccl. 26, 6, which communicates with all? Persons of all ranks do mutually asperse, and are aspersed; so that he who would not have his credulity abused has scarce a securer way, than (like that Astrologer, who made his almanack give a tolerable account of the weather by a direct inversion of the common prognosticators,) to let his belief run quite counter to reports.

I shall here say in recapitulation,

That temper is a great provocative to defamation, and bad feelings are often vented in bitter sayings.

That defamers and murderers have feelings in common; and that anonymous and secret slanderers would probably, if they dared, as

sail the subjects of their calumnies with the knife of the assassin.

That party spirit is one never-failing source of positive defamation.

That though competition is the chief source of detraction, and often of defamation, these sometimes exist where there is no competition; as persons in the middle classes of life are apt to believe and propagate scandalous stories of kings and princes, and all public characters.

That kings are worse off in this respect than their subjects, as they are prevented by their high rank from obtaining redress for the calumnious judgments to which it exposes them,

but

That, as they and other persons of high rank are probably guilty of evil speaking themselves, these their injuries may be only retributive justice.

That those who are incapable of violating the 6th, 7th, and 8th commandments, make no scruple to violate the 9th, yet that obedience to them all is imperative on us: and I conclude this chapter with extracts from "Lying Defamation."

CHAPTER XV.

PREVENTIVES AGAINST DETRACTION.

I HAVE now to the best of my ability illustrated the name of my work, and proved its right to the title of " Detraction Displayed."

Now, therefore, as the medical writer, after giving a detail of different diseases, gives also such prescriptions as he deems cures or preventives, I venture, though with much humility, to mention some preventives at least for the diseases of detraction and defamation.

On those who are denominated MEN AND WOMEN OF THE WORLD, their religious belief, however sincere, is not sufficiently operative, surrounded as they are by snares of all sorts, to teach them "the Government of the Tongue," nor to convince them that it is a sin not to govern it; and they must be candid and indulgent indeed, not to despise as righteous overmuch the presumptuous monitor who urges upon them the necessity, as responsible beings, of "bridling the tongue.'

Still there are motives of a worldly nature, which as reasonable beings they can not despise. As reasonable beings they must admit, that if they could be contented to resign their

commissions in the large army of "talkersover" and "laughers-at," they would feel that they were acquiring a claim to impunity for themselves. Detractors and defamers have no right to suppose that their sins against the reputation of others will not be visited by similar incursions on their own, for they who wound the victims in the back, are fair objects for the same mean warfare themselves. It is in vain for us to assert what is said of us does not signify, if we do not hear it; for we all know that some one or other, either from a bad or a good motive, will take care to tell us what was never intended for our ears; therefore, the safest way, both for others and for ourselves, is to endeavour to raise the tone of conversation. Men and women of the world can be at no loss for subjects, as they have public places, as well as poetry, painting, and music, to discuss, together with the lighter reading of the day; and there are politics, polity, and science, for the discussion of the wiser sex. Therefore, nothing but a deep-rooted love of evil-speaking can lead any description of persons in civilized society to make their neighbours' faults and follies their chief theme; though the mere love of talking, and habit of gossiping, may often be the chief source of detracting observations.*

A sensible friend of mine has assured me that she is conscious of often having made a lowering remark, and repeated a gossiping story, from the dread of appearing dull, and that afterwards she has said to herself in a reproving spirit, why did I make that unsatisfactory obser

SELF-EXAMINATION.

And I recommend to men and women of the world, as a preventive for detraction, severe Without self-examination, the result of which is self-knowledge, we are all liable to incur the excessive ridicule of blaming in others the very sins of which we are notoriously guilty ourselves, Often have I heard with fearful emotion, or ill-suppressed laughter, even sensible persons of my acquaintance congratulating themselves, that whatever were their other failings, they had not the fault which they and I were imputing to the acquaintance of whom we were talking, which fault was one of the most evident defects of the person speaking! and I have said to myself, how can I be sure without close self-examination that I am not under an equal degree of self delusion, and that the fault I am reprobating is not my own! Often has this question been addressed to me, "Is not Mrs. such a one, or Mr. or Miss so and so very satirical?" and I have been tempted to the vulgarity of quoting the old proverb, "set a thief to catch a thief,

vation? to this suggestion, because it was hers, I have given much consideration, but I still think that so deep and intricate are the ramifications of motives, that even on this occasion, it might have been some competition past or present, with the person or persons of whom she was speaking, which led her, however unconsciously, to the choice of her subject. Be that as it may, it is from intellectual individuals like her, self-reproved for having uttered detraction, and conscious of its sinfulness, that I expect those fearless efforts against this darling vice, that shall make even every day society, the means of indivi dual benefit, and universal improvement.