A good wife is Heaven's last best gift to man; his angel and minister of graces innumerable; his gem of many virtues; his casket of jewels; her voice is sweet music; her smiles his brightest day; her kiss the guardian of his innocence; her arms the pale of his safety, the balm of his health, the balsam of his life; her industry, his surest wealth; her economy, his safest steward; her lips, his faithful counselors; her bosom, the softest pillow of his cares; and her prayers, the ablest advocates of Heaven's blessings on his head.

97

WHAT a chimæra is man! what a confused chaos! what a subject of contradiction! A professed judge of all things, and yet a feeble worm of the earth! the great depositary and guardian of rith, and yet a mere huddle of uncertainty the glory and the scandal of the universe!

Pascal.

In a contracted sphere, a noble man

Cannot develop all his mental powers.

Byron.

On him his country and the world must work,

He must endure both censure and applause,

Must be compelled to estimate aright himself and others.

Talents are nurtured best in solitude,
But character on life's tempestuous sea.
He only fears mankind who knows them not,
And he will soon misjudge them who avoids.

Goethe,

Best men are moulded out of faults.

Shakspeare.

Strange is the heart of man, with its quick, mysterious

instincts,

Strange is the life of man, and fatal or fated are

moments

Whereupon turn as on hinges the gates of the walls

adamantine.

Longfellow.

He alone is wise who can accommodate himself to all the contingencies of life, but the fool contends, and is struggling like a swimmer against the stream.

Latin Proverb.

-The eagle of one house is the fool in another.

-Man lives only to shiver and perspire.

Not always actions show the man.

Sydney Smith.

Who does a kindness is not therefore kind;
Perhaps prosperity becalmed his breast,
Perhaps the wind just shifted from the east.
Not therefore humble he who seeks retreat;

Pride guides his steps and bids him shun the great.
Who combats bravely is not therefore brave,
He dreads a death-bed like the meanest slave;
Who reasons wisely is not therefore wise;
His pride in reasoning, not in acting, lies.

Pope.

A stoop in the shoulders sinks a man in public and private estimation.

Hazlitt.