MAN.

MAN-reflected in History.

Man's twofold nature is reflected in history. "He is of earth," but his thoughts are with the stars. Mean and petty his wants and his desires; yet they serve a soul exalted with grand, glorious aims, with immortal longings, with thoughts which sweep the heavens, and "wander through eternity." A pigmy standing on the outward crust of this small planet, his far-reaching spirit stretches outwards to the infinite, and there alone finds rest. History is a reflex of this double life. Every epoch has two aspects -one calm, broad, and solemn-looking towards eternity; the other, agitated, petty, vehement, and confusedlooking towards time.

MAN-Immortality of.

Carlyle.

uncom

We say that destruction is the order of nature, and some say that man must not hope to escape the universal law. Now we deceive ourselves in this use of words; there is in reality no destruction in the material world. True, the tree is resolved into its elements, but its elements survive; and, still more, they survive to fulfil the same end which they before accomplished. Not a power of nature is lost. The particles of the decayed tree are only left at liberty to form new, perhaps more beautiful and useful, combinations; they may shoot up into more luxuriant foliage, or enter into the structure of the highest animals. But were mind to perish, there would be absolute, irretrievable destruction; for mind, from its nature, is something individual, an pounded essence, which cannot be broken into parts, and enter into union with other minds. I am myself, and can become no other being. My experience, my history, cannot become my neighbour's. My consciousness, my memory, my interest in my past life, my affections, cannot be transferred. If in any instance I have withstood temptation, and through such resistance have acquired power over myself and a claim to the approbation of my fellowbeings, this resistance, this power, this claim are my own; I cannot make them another's. I can give away my property, my limbs; but that which makes myself-in other words, my consciousness, my recollections, my feelings, my hopes-these can never become parts of another mind. In the extinction of a thinking, moral being, who has gained truth and virtue, there would be an absolute destruction. This event would not be as the setting of the sun, which is a transfer of light to new regions; but a quenching of the light. It would be a ruin, such as Nature nowhere exhibits: a ruin of what is infinitely more precious than the

MAN-Intelligence of.

Man is a thinking being, whether he will or no; all he can do is to turn his thoughts the best way. Sir W. Temple.

MAN (Old)-when Unfit to be a Lover. The worst thing an old man can be is a lover. Otway. MAN-Manliness of.

In his words There was an athletic sinew, though they play'd With great things carelessly, as a fresh wind Provokes the sea to laughter, and his pride Ever seem'd well placed, like a castle set Upon a mountain.

MAN-Exalted Nature of.

Beddoes.

As there is by nature
In ev'rything contrariety,
So likewise is there unity and league
Between them, in their kind; but man, th
abstract

Of all perfection, which the workmanship
Of heaven hath modell'd, in himself contains
Passions of several qualities. The music
Of man's fair composition best accords
When 'tis in, not in single strains.
My heart has been untuned these many months,
Wanting her preference, in whose equal love
True harmony consisted; living here,
We are Heaven's bounty all, but fortune's
exercise.
Ford.

Man is made for reflection; hence all his dignity and value. His dignity consists in the right direction of his mind, and the exercise

man.

of his intellect in the study of himself, his Author, and his end. But what is the mental occupation of the world at large? Never this; but diversion, wealth, fame, power; without regard to the essential duties of intellectual The human intellect is most admirable in its nature; it must have strange defects to make it despicable; and, in fact, it has so many and so great, as to be supremely contemptible. How great is it in itself, how mean in its corruptions! There is in man a continual conflict between his reason and his passions. He might enjoy tranquillity to a certain extent, were he mastered by either of these singly. If he had reason without passion, or passion without reason, he might have some degree of peace; but, possessing both, he is in a state of perpetual warfare; for peace with one is war with the other: he is divided against himself. If it be an unnatural blindness, to live without inquiring into our true constitution and condition, it proves a hardness yet more dreadful, to believe in God and live in sin.

MAN-A Perfect.

Pascal.

His life was gentle, and the elements
So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, this was a man.

Shakspeare.

He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again!

Ay, that's a man

Ibid.

After the heart of Bacchus! By my life,
There is no mortal stuff, that foots the earth,
Able to wear the shape of man, like him,
And fill it with the carriage of a god.
We're but the tools and scaffolding of men,
The lines, the sketch, and he the very thing.
Beddoes.

MAN-Responsibilities of.

Of him to whom much is given much shall be required.-Those whom God has favoured with superior faculties, and made eminent for quickness of intention and accuracy of distinction, will certainly be regarded as culpable in his eye for defects and deviations, which in souls less enlightened may be guiltless. But surely none can think without horror on that man's condition, who has been more wicked in proportion as he had more means of excelling in virtue, and used the light imparted from heaven only to embellish folly, and shed lustre upon crimes and infidelity. Johnson. MAN-Restraint on.

There is always, and everywhere, some restraint upon a great man. He is guarded

with crowds, and shackled with formalities. The half hat, the whole hat, the half smile, the whole smile, the nod, the embrace, the positive parting with a little bow, the comparative at the middle of the room, the superlative at the door; and if the person be pan huper sebastus, there is a hyper-superlative ceremony then of conducting him to the bottom of the stairs, or to the very gate, as if there were such rules set to these leviathans as are to the sea,-"Hitherto shalt thou go, and no farther." Cowley.

MAN-Rights of.

With the enemies of freedom, it is a usual artifice to represent the sovereignty of the people as a license to anarchy and disorder. But the tracing up of the civil power to that source will not diminish our obligation to obey; it only explains its reasons, and settles it on clear and determinate principles; it turns blind submission into rational obedience, tempers the passion for liberty with the love of order, and places mankind in a happy medium between the extremes of anarchy on the one side and oppression on the other; it is the polar star, that will conduct us safely over the ocean of political debate and speculation--the law of laws, the guide for legislators.

MAN-a Servant.

Robert Hall.

It is an error to suppose that a man belongs to himself. No man does. He belongs to his wife, or his children, or his relations, or his creditors, or to society in some form or other. It is for their especial good and behalf that he lives and works, and they kindly allow him to retain a certain per centage of his gains to administer to his own pleasures or wants. He has his body, and that is all, and even for that he is answerable to society. In short, society is the master and man is the servant; and it is entirely according as society proves a good or bad master, whether he turns out a bad or a good servant. Sala.

MAN-Influence of Sickness on.

I have seen the rays of the sun or the moon dash upon a brazen vessel, whose lips kissed the face of those waters that lodged within its bosom; but being turned back and sent off, with its smooth pretences or rougher waftings, it wandered about the room and beat upon the roof, and still doubled its heat and motion. So is sickness and sorrow entertained by an unquiet and discontented man. Nothing is more unreasonable than to entangle our spirits in wildness and amazement, like a partridge fluttering in a net, which she breaks not, though she breaks her wings. Jeremy Taylor.

MAN-Study of.

MAN.

The

In order, however, to pursue this study with success, we should be brought in contact with individuals belonging to the several divisions of the human family. To accomplish this by travelling is impossible. The nation, therefore, if it wishes its own enlightenment, should be at the cost of forming an ethnological institution, with very extensive grounds, on which by degrees might be located specimens in pairs of the various races which could subsist in our climate. They should construct their own dwellings according to the architectural ideas of their several countries; their furniture, dress, ornaments, amusements, food, and mode of life, should be their own. forms of industry prevalent in their nation or tribe they should be required to practise; and their ideas, opinions, habits, and superstitions should be permitted to perpetuate themselves until extinguished by the spontaneous effects of civilization. The Esquimaux, the Red Indian, the Kaffir, the Hottentot, the Negro, the Australian, the New Zealander, the Dyak, the Malay, the wild Goond, the Cingalese, the Beloucheff, the Afghan, the Brahmin, and various other castes or tribes of. India, might thus be brought together within the same inclosure. In many ways such an assemblage would serve to throw light on the nature and primitive ideas of our species; and not the least instructive part of the plan would be the study of the way in which civilization effected the several sections of mankind.

J. A. St. John.

MAN-Proper Study of.
Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;
The proper study of mankind is man.
Placed on this isthmus of a middle state,
A being darkly wise and rudely great;
With too much knowledge for the sceptic side,
With too much greatness for the stoic's pride;
He hangs between, in doubt to act or rest;
In doubt to deem himself a god or beast;
In doubt his mind or body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err;
Alike in ignorance, his reason such,
Whether he thinks too little or too much;
Chaos of passion, passions all confused,
Still by himself abused or disabused;
Created half to rise and half to fall,
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl'd;
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world. Pope.

MAN-Superiority of.

While some animals exhibit individual powers in higher perfection, man stands for thoir superior, not only in combining in his own body all the senses and faculties which

MAN.

they possess, but in being endowed with moral and intellectual powers which are denied to them, and which at once place him at the head of the living creation, and constitute him a moral, religious, intelligent, and responsible being. Combe.

MAN-Proper Training of.

Man is an animal, formidable both from his passions and his reason; his passions often urging him to great evils, and his reason furnishing means to achieve them. To train this animal, and make him amenable to order, to inure him to a sense of justice and virtue, to withhold him from ill courses by fear, and encourage him in his duty by hopes; in short, to fashion and model him for society, hath been the aim of civil and religious institutions; and, in all times, the endeavour of good and

wise men.

The aptest method for attaining this end hath been always judged a proper education. Bishop Berkeley.

I would rather, when I am laid in the grave, that some one in his manhood should stand over me and say, "There lies one who was a real friend to me, and privately warned me of the dangers of the young; no one knew it, but he aided me in time of need; I owe what I am to him." Or would rather have some widow, with choking utterance, telling her children, "There is your friend and mine; he visited me in my affliction, and found you, my son, an employer, and you, my daughter, a happy home in a virtuous family." I would rather that such persons should stand at my grave, than to have erected over it the most beautiful sculptured monument of Parian or Italian marble. The heart's broken utterance of reflections of past kindness, and the tears of grateful memory shed upon the grave, are more valuable in my estimation than the most costly cenotaph ever reared. Dr. Sharpe.

MAN OF LETTERS-Superiority of the. The man of letters, when compared with one that is illiterate, exhibits nearly the same contrast as that which exists between a blind man and one that can see; and if we consider how much literature enlarges the mind, and how much it multiplies, adjusts, rectifies, and arranges the ideas, it may well be reckoned equivalent to an additional sense. It affords pleasures which wealth cannot procure, and which poverty cannot entirely take away.

MANKIND-Indulgence to.

Bigland.

In order to love mankind, expect but little from them; in order to view their faults without bitterness, we must accustom ourselves to pardon them, and to perceive that indulgence is a justice which frail humanity has a right to demand from wisdom. Now, nothing tends more to dispose us to indulgence, to close our hearts against hatred, to open them to the

prínciples of a humane and soft morality, than a profound knowledge of the human heart. Accordingly, the wisest men have always been Bulwer Lytton. the most indulgent.

MANNERS-Beauty of.

It

We imperatively require a perception of beauty and a homage to it in our companions. Other virtues are in request in the field and workyard; but a certain degree of taste is not to be spared in those we sit with. I could better eat with one who did not respect the truth or the laws than with a sloven and unMoral qualities rule the presentable person. world, but at short distances the senses are despotic. The same discrimination of fit and fair runs out, if with less rigour, into all parts of life. The average spirit of the energetic class is good sense acting under certain limitations and to certain ends. It entertains natural gifts. Social in its nature, it respects everything which tends to unite man. delights in measure. The love of beauty is mainly the love of measure or proportion. The person who screams or uses the superlative degree, or converses with heat, puts whole drawing-rooms to flight. If you wish to be loved, love measure. You must have genius or a prodigious usefulness if you will hide the want of measure. This perception comes in to polish and perfect the part of the social instrument. Society will pardon much to genius and special gifts; but being in its nature a convention, it loves what is conventional or what belongs to coming together. That makes the good and bad of manners, namely, what helps or hinders fellowship. For fashion is not good sense absolute, but relative; not good sense private, but good sense entertaining company. It hates corners and sharp points of character; hates quarrelsome, egotistical, solitary, and gloomy people; hates whatever can interfere with total blending of parties; whilst it values all particularities as in the highest degree refreshing, which can consist with good fellowship. And besides the general infusion of wit to heighten civility, the direct splendour of intellectual power is ever welcome in fine society, as the costliest addition to its rule and its credit. Emerson.

MANNERS.

MARRIAGE.

MANNERS-Importance of.

Manners are of more importance than laws. Upon them, in a great measure, the laws depend. The law touches us but here and there, now and then. Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us, by a constant, steady, uniform, insensible operation, like that of the air we breathe in. They give their whole form and colour to our lives. According to their quality, they aid morals, they supply them, or they totally destroy them. Burke.

MANNERS-Natural.

Nothing So much prevents our being natural as the desire of appearing so.

La Rochefoucauld. MANNERS-sometimes Ridiculous. Those that have good manners at the court are as ridiculous in the country, as the behaviour of the country is most mockable at Shakspeare.

court.

Manners are the shadows of virtues; the momentary display of those qualities which our fellow-creatures love and respect. If we strive to become, then, what we strive to appear, manners may often be rendered useful guides to the performance of our duties Sidney Smith.

MANNERS-Vulgarity of.

A vulgar man is captious and jealous; eager and impetuous about trifles. He suspects himself to be slighted, thinks everything that is said meant at him; if the company happens to laugh, he is persuaded they laugh at him; he grows angry and testy, says something very impertinent, and draws himself into a scrape, by showing what he calls a proper Chesterfield. spirit, and asserting himself. MARRIAGE-Advantages of.

Marriage has in it less of beauty, but more of safety, than the single life; it hath not more ease, but less danger; it is more merry and more sad; it is fuller of sorrows and fuller of joys; it lies under more burdens, but is supported by all the strengths of love and charity; and those burdens are delightful. Marriage is the mother of the world, and preserves kingdoms, and fills cities and churches, and Heaven itself. Celibacy, like the fly in the heart of an apple, dwells in perpetual sweetness, but sits alone, and is confined and dies in singularity; but marriage, like the useful bee, builds a house, and gathers sweetness from every flower, and labours and unites | into societies and republics, and sends out colonies, and feeds the world with delicacies, and obeys their king, and keeps order, and exercises many virtues, and promotes the interest of mankind, and is that state of good to which God hath designed the present constitution of the world. Jeremy Taylor.

MARRIAGE-Agreement in.

Man and wife are equally concerned to avoid all offence of each other in the beginning of their conversation. Every little thing can Ibid. blast an infant blossom.

MARRIAGE-Bond of.

If you would have the nuptial union last,
Let virtue be the bond that ties it fast. Rowe.
MARRIAGE-Certificate of.

How fair these names, how much unlike they look

To all the blurr'd inscriptions in my book! The bridegroom's letters stand in row above, Tapering yet straight, like pine-trees in the grove;