soliciting wholly to his friend. For the purpose; a man cannot recommend himself withont vanity, nor ask many times without uneasiness; but a kind of proxy will do justice to his merits, relieve his modesty, and effect his business without trouble or blushing.

An enemy may receive hurt by our hatred; but a friend will suffer a greater injury by our dissimulation.

There is requisite to friendship more goodness and virtue, than dexterity of wit, or height of understanding; it being enough, that they have sufficient prudence to be as good as they should be, in order to the completing a virtuous friendship.

Friendship's the gentle bond of faithful

minds.

Friendship is the joy of reason,
Dearer yet than that of love;
Love but lasts a transient season,
Friendship makes the bliss above.
Who would lose the secret pleasure,
Felt when soul with scul unites;
Other blessings have their measure,
Friendship without bound delights.

As certain rivers are never so useful as when they overflow, so hath friendship nothing more excellent in it than excess, and doth rather offend in her moderation than in her violence.

The mind never unbends itself so agreea bly, as in the conversation of a well chosen friend. There is indeed no blessing in life that is any way comparable to the enjoyment of a discreet and virtuous friend. It cases and unbends the mind,-it, clears and improves the understanding, engenders thought and knowledge, animates virtue and good resolution, soothes and allays the passions, and finds employment for most of the vacant hours of life.

Friendship's the chiefest good, the balm of life,

The bane of faction, antidote of strife,

The gem that virtuous breasts alone can grace, The sign of patience, and the seal of peace.

Of all associations, there is none so firm and noble, as when virtuous hearts are linked together by a correspondence of manners, and freedom of conversation.

The rare qualities of friendship are virtue, piety, good sense; thereon are founded admiration and esteem,—and sensibility must still support it.

A friend is a precious jewel, within whose bosom we may unload our sorrows, and unfold our secrets.

It will be very fit for all that have entered into any strict friendship, to make one special

article in the agreement. That they shall mutually admonish and reprove each other.

10401

OH,

GRATITUDE.

H, how amiable is gratitude! especially when it has the Supreme Benefactor for its object. I have always looked upon gratitude as the most exalted principle that can actuate the heart of man. It has something in it noble, disinterested, and (if I may be allowed the term) generously devout. Repentance indicates our nature fallen, and prayer turns chiefly upon a regard to one's self. But the exercise of gratitude subsisted in Paradise, when there was no fault to deplore; and will be perpetuated in heaven, when God shall be "all in all."

Demosthenes said, it becometh him, who receiveth a benefit from another man, for ever to be sensible of it; but him that bestowed it, presently to forget it. He is unjust, said Socrates, who does not return deserved thanks for any benefit, whether the giver be a friend or foe.

There is no vice nor failing of man, that doth so much unprinciple humanity, as ingrat

itude; since he who is guilty of it lives un worthy of his own soul, that hath not virtue enough to be obliged, nor to acknowledge the due merits of the obliger.

It is as common a thing for gratitude to be forgetful, as for hope to be mindful.

Without good nature and gratitude, man had as well live in a wilderness as in a civil society.

He who receives a good turn, should never forget it, he who does one, should never remember it.

It is the character of an unworthy nature, to write injuries in marble, and benefits in dust.

He that preaches gratitude, pleads the cause both of God and man; for without it we can neither be sociable nor religious.

It is the glory of gratitude, that it depends only on the good-will: If I have will to be grateful, says Seneca, I am so.

If gratitude is due from man to man, how much more from man to his Maker? The Supreme Being does not only confer upon us those bounties which proceed more immediately from his hand, but even those benefits which are conveyed to us by others. Every blessing we enjoy, by what means soever it may be derived upon us, is the gift of Him who is the great Author of Good and Father of Mercies.

Gratitude, when exerted towards one another, naturally produces a very pleasing sensation in the mind of a grateful man: it exalts the soul into rapture, when it is employed in this great object of gratitude; on this beneficent Being, who has given us every thing we hope for.

Ungenerous the man, and base of heart, Who takes the kind, and pays th' ungrateful part.

GENEROSITY.

OBSERVE the various actions and tempers of men, and pass by human infirmities with a generous greatness.

There

Good nature is the very air of a good mind, the sign of a large and generous soul, the peculiar soil on which virtue prospers. is far more satisfaction in doing, than receiv ing good. To relieve the oppressed, is the most glorious act a man is capable of; it is in some measure doing the business of God and Providence; and is attended with a heavenly pleasure, unknown but to those that are beneficent and liberal.

It is not in the power of a good man to refuse making another man happy, where he has both ability and opportunity.