SELECT MAXIMS.

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I.

IFE is a picture, fortune the frame, but misfortune the shade; the first only its extrinsic ornament; but the latter, if well sustained, forms the intrinsic merit, by giving a bolder relief to the figures.

II.

A man of fine imagination would be happier in a prison, than a man without one would be in the finest palace.

III.

It is mind alone, the bold and active exertion of the rational faculty, that opens the living fountains of genuine and lasting happiness,

B

and pours the continuous tide of felicity through the heart of man.

IV.

ST. AUGUSTINE, when he speaks of thegreat advantages of travelling, says, that the world is a great book, and none study this book so much as a traveller. They that never stir from their home read only one page of this book.

You will be branded with singularity, and singular in many respects you must be, if you are eminently virtuous.

VI.

The penetrating HELVETIUS held, that happiness only exists in hope; but hope of what is distant always speaks a present want;. and want and happiness can never unite.

· VII.

Astronomy, navigation, geometry, architecture, land-furveying, &c, are branches of

the science of trigonometry, or the properties of a triangle, which is the soul of science. It is an eternal truth: it contains the mathematical demonstration of which man speaks, and the extent of its uses are unknown.

VIII.

Charity should not be accompanied with insults, nor followed by reproaches. Dr. Johnson.

IX.

To subdue passion, and regulate desire, is the greatest task of man as a moral agent.

X.

The desire of knowledge is a growing and insatiable passion.

XI.

Life should be a continual effort to banish our prejudices, and extinguish our vices.

XII.

It was a maxim of the Stoicks, that the wise

alone are beautiful,

XIII.

A soul, conversant with virtue, resembles a perpetual fountain; for it is clear, and gentle, and sweet, and communicative, and rich, and harmless, and innocent. Epictetus.

XIV.

The fruits of true philosophy are modesty and humility.

XV.

Perhaps too easy gratification of our desires is pernicious to the mind; and that it acquires vigour and elasticity from opposition.

XVI.

True religion encourages the exertion of the mind, and invites a diligent enquiry. Archdeacon Pott..

XVII.

The mind alone is the seat of solid pleasure; the truest and most solid pleasures are those that are attended with thought. Dr. V. Knox,

XVIII.

I believe it will be allowed by every man, that our happiness or misery in life, that our improvements in any art or science, and that our improvement in real virtue and goodness, depend, in a great degree, on the train of thinking that occupies the mind, both in our vacant and in our more, serious hours. As far, therefore, as the direction of our thoughts is in our power, it is of the last importance to give them that direction which is most subservient to these valuable purposes. The man whose imagination is thus occupied must be wise; he must be good, and he must be happy. MS. Diary of Rev. W. J. T. 1787.

XIX.

Memory is an original faculty, bestowed on us by the Author of our being, of which we can give no account, but that we are so made as to possess it. Reid's Intellect. Powers.

XX.

Health, peace, and competence.--TempeFance and exercise best preserve the first; a