with him to smooth it in the chamber, who keeps a railing tongue for the hall: besides, it implies a kind of cowardice to speak against another when he is not present to defend himself. The valiant man's tongue, though it never boasteth vainly, yet is ever the greatest coward in absence; but the coward is never valiant but then. There is nothing argues nature more degenerate, than her secretly repining at another's merits. Indeed, it is difficult to speak of a man truly as he is but, at any rate, I would not detract from the fame of the absent: it is then a time for praise, rather than for reprehension. Let praise be sounded to the spreading air; but chidings whispered in the kissed ear which teaches us, even while we chide, to love.

That Virtue and Vice generate after their Kind.

Virtue begets virtue; vice begets vice. It is as natural for a man to expect a return of virtue out of virtue, and a return of vice out of vice, as it is for him to expect an elephant should beget an elephant, or a serpent beget a serpent. Nay, it not only holds of the genus, but also of the very species; and oftentimes, the proportion of that species too. High actions beget a return of actions that are so; and poor

low ones beget a return of the like. The echo is according to the voice that speaks; the report of the piece is proportionable to its magnitude; if it be but by reflection only, the beams are reverberated bright, as is the sun that shines them; and clouds cast a shade according to their blackness. The Romans bestowed on Attalus the kingdom of Pergamus, on account of his friendship and munificence; and he, to express his gratitude, not having any children of his own, left the city of Rome the heir of his wealth. The virtues of Terentius, and his being one of the Roman senate, made so deep an impression on Scipio's manly heart, that when the Carthaginians came to sue to him for peace, he would not hear them till they, brought Terentius forth, discharged of his imprisonment; whom he placed on the throne with himself. And this again so prevailed with Terentius, that when Scipio had his triumph, Terentius, though a senator, put himself into Scipio's livery, and as his freedman, waited on his pompous chariot. He teaches me to be good, who does me good: he prompts me to enlarge my heart to him (unless my virtue be totally dried up and withered,) who first enlarges his own to me. And the same effect hath vice. With the froward thou shalt learn frowardness. Passion enkindles passion; and pride begets pride. How many are calm and quiet till they meet with one who is choleric! He who sows iniquity must look to

reap it. Did not David's murder and adultery bring the sword and incest into his family? How fatally and strikingly was the massacre at Paris marked by the massacre of the chief actors and contrivers of it! Charles the king, before the twenty-fifth year of his age, died bathed in blood; and Anjou, his successor, was assassinated, and slain in the same room that the massacre was plotted in. Guise was murdered by the king's order; the queen was consumed with grief; and with succeeding civil war, both Paris and the nation torn. It is a remarkable instance of retaliation, which is afforded in the story of Valentinian and Maximus. Valentinian by fraud and force seduced the wife of Maximus: for which Maximus by fraud and force murdered him and married his wife; who, from disdain at being forced into the marriage, and a desire to revenge her husband's death, plotted the destruction of Maximus and Rome. No proverb is more true than the saying of the satirist :

Ad generum Cereris sine cæde et sanguine, pauci
Descendunt reges, et siccâ morte tyranni.

Juv. Sat. x.

Few tyrants find death natural, calm, or good; But, broach'd with slaughter, roll to hell in blood.

There is in vices not only a natural production of evil in general, but there is a proportion of parts B b

VOL. III.

and dimensions, as a seed bringing forth a plant, or the parent a son. Bagoas, a Persian nobleman, having poisoned Artaxerxes and Arsamues, was detected by Darius, and forced to drink poison himself. Diomedes, who with human flesh fed beasts, was at last, by Hercules, made their food himself. Pope Alexander the Sixth, having designed the poisoning of his friend cardinal Adrian, by his cup-bearer's mistake of the bottle, took the draught himself; and so died by the same engine which he himself had appointed to kill another. In vain do they exert good, who would have it arise out of evil. I may as well, when I plant a thistle, expect a fig; or upon sowing cockle, look for wheat, as to think by indirect courses, to beget my own benefit. The best policy is to sow good and honest actions, and then we may expect a

harvest that is answerable.

Of Neglect.

There is the same difference between diligence and neglect, that there is between a garden properly cultivated and the sluggard's field which fell under Solomon's view, when overgrown with nettles and thorns. The one is clothed with beauty, the other is unpleasant and disgusting to the sight. Negligence is the rust of the soul, that corrodes through all her best

resolutions. What nature made for use, for strength, and ornament, neglect alone converts to trouble,weakness, and deformity. We need only sit still, and diseases will arise from the mere want of exercise.

How fair soever the soul may be; yet while connected with our fleshy nature, it requires continual care and vigilance to prevent its being soiled and discoloured. Take the weeders from the Floralium, and a very little time will change it to a wilderness; and turn that which was before a recreation for men, into a habitation for vermin. Our life is a warfare; and we ought not, while passing through it, to sleep without a sentinel, or march without a scout. He who neglects either of these precautions, exposes himself to surprise, and to becoming a prey to the diligence and perseverance of his adversary. The mounds of life and virtue, as well as those of pastures, will decay; and if we do not repair them, all the beasts of the field will enter, and tear up every thing good which grows within them. With the religious and well-disposed, a slight deviation from wisdom's laws will disturb the mind's fair peace. Macarius did penance for only killing a gnat in anger. Like the Jewish touch of things unclean, the least miscarriage requires purification. Man is like a watch; if evening and morning he be not wound up with prayer and circumspection, he is unprofitable and false; or serves to mislead. If the instrument be not truly set,