THE INUTILITY OF LECTURES.

Lectures were once useful; but now, when all can read, and books are so numerous, lectures are unnecessary. If your attention fails, and you miss a part of the lecture, it is lost; you cannot go back, as you do upon a book.

QUOTATION.

Sir, it is a good thing; there is a community of mind in it. Classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world.

PRETTY WOMEN.

Sir, it is a very foolish resolution to resolve not to marry a pretty woman. Beauty is of itself very estimable. No, sir, I would prefer a pretty woman, unless there are objections to her. A pretty woman may be foolish; a pretty woman may be wicked; a pretty woman may not like me. But there is no such danger in marrying a pretty woman as is apprehended; she will not be persecuted if she does not invite persecution. A pretty woman, if she has a mind to be wicked, can find a readier way than another; and that is all.

MEMORY.

To remember and to recollect are different things. A man has not the power to recollect what is not in his mind; but when a thing is in his mind, he may remember it.

THE ELEMENTS OF CONVERSATION.

There must, in the first place, be knowledge, there must be materials; in the second place there must be a command of words; in the third place, there must be imagination, to place things in such views as they are not commonly seen in; and in the fourth place, there must be presence of mind, and a resolution that it is not to be overcome by failures. This last is an essential requisite; for want of it many people do not excel in conversation.

FOX AND BURKE.

Fox never talks in private company, not from any determination not to talk, but because he has not the first motion. A man who is used to the applause of the House of Commons has no wish for that of a private company. A man

accustomed to throw for a thousand pounds, if sat down to throw for sixpence, would not be at the pains to count his dice. Burke's talk is the ebullition of his mind; he does not talk from a desire of distinction, but because his mind is full.

ORATORY.

Oratory is the power of beating down your adversary's arguments, and putting better in their place.

THE JUSTICE Of the World.

All the complaints which are made of the world are unjust. I never knew a man of merit neglected it was generally by his own fault that he failed of success. A man may hide his head in a hole he may go into the country, and publish a book now and then, which nobody reads, and then complain he is neglected. There is no reason why any person should exert himself for a man who has written a good book: he has not written it for any individual. I may as well make a present to a postman who brings me a letter. When patronage was limited, an

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author expected to find a Mæcenas, and comFlained if he did not find one. Why should he complain? This Mæcenas has others as good as he, or others who have got the start of him. Boswell, But surely, sir, you will allow that there are men of merit at the bar who never get practice. Johnson, Sir, you are sure that practice is got from an opinion that the person employed deserves it best; so that if a man of merit at the bar does not get practice, it is from error, not from injustice. He is not neglected. A horse that is brought to market may not be bought, though he is a very good horse; but that is from ignorance, not from intention.

THE RIGHT EMPLOYMENT OF WEALTH.

A man cannot make a bad use of his money, so far as regards society, if he do not hoard it; for if he either spends it or lends it out, society has the benefit. It is in general better to spend money than to give it away; for industry is more promoted by spending money than by giving it away. A man who spends his money is sure he is doing good with it: he is not sure

when he gives it away. A man who spends ten thousand a year will do more good than a man who spends two thousand and gives away eight.

KEEPING A Journal.

It is a very good custom to keep a journal for a man's own use; he may write upon a card a day all that is necessary to be written, after he has had experience of life. At first there is a great deal to be written, because there is a great deal of novelty; but when once a man has settled his opinions, there is seldom much to be set down.

THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE.

It must have come by inspiration. A thousand, nay, a million of children could not invent a language. While the organs are pliable, there is not understanding enough to form a language; by the time that there is understanding enough the organs are become stiff. We know that after a certain age we cannot learn to pronounce a new language. No foreigner who comes to England when advanced in life ever