This conduct is more remarkable, as on every side we meet with the admission, that belief is not dependent on the will; and yet the same men, by whom this admission is readily made, will argue and inveigh on the virtual assumption of the contrary.

This is a striking proof, amongst a multitude of others, of what the thinking mind must have frequently observed, that a principle is often retained in its applications, long after it has been discarded as an abstract proposition. In a subject of so much importance, however, it behooves intelligent men to be rigidly consistent. If our opinions are not voluntary, but independent of the will, the contrary doctrine and all its consequences ought to be practically abandoned; they ought to be weeded from the sentiments, habits, and institutions of society. We may venture to assert, that neither the virtue nor the happiness of man will ever be placed on a perfectly firm basis, till this fundamental error has been extirpated from the human mind. -Essay on the Formation and Publication of Opinions.

DCCCXLX.

Worldlings. After hypocrites, the greatest dupes the devil has, are those who exhaust an anxious existence in the disappointments and vexations of business, and live miserably and meanly, only to die magnificently and rich. For, like the hypocrites, the only disinterested action these men can accuse themselves of, is that of serving the devil, without receiving his wages; for the assumed formality of the one is not a more effectual bar to enjoyment, than the real avarice of the other. He that stands every day of his life behind a counter, until he drops from it into the grave, may negotiate many very profitable bargains; but he has

made a single bad one, so bad, indeed, that it counterbalances all the rest; for the empty foolery of dying rich, he has paid down his health, his happiness, and his integrity; since a very old author observes, that "as mortar sticketh between stones, so sticketh fraud between buying and selling." Such a worldling may be compared to a merchant, who should put a rich cargo into a vessel, embark with it himself, and encounter all the perils and privations of the sea, although he was thoroughly convinced beforehand that he was only providing for a shipwreck, at the end of a troublesome and tedious voyage.

DCCCLI.

Truth lies in a small compass! The Aristotelians say, all truth is contained in Aristotle, in one place or another. Galileo makes Simplicius say so, but shows the absurdity of that speech by answering, all truth is contained in a lesser compass, viz. in the alphabet.-Zimmerman,

DCCCLII.

Mauvaise Honte.-We may observe the like pertinacious, adherence of feelings, at variance with our reason, in those who are subject to the passion of mauvaise honte. To this passion some are doubtless constitutionally more prone than others; but the strength of it, and the occasions on which it is evinced, depend greatly on the associations of ideas and feelings formed in early life. If a child is brought up, for instance, in a family where receiving and paying visits are regarded as extraordináry events, and attended by formality and constraint of manner, company becomes formidable to his imagination; and it will require frequent intercourse with society in after

life to overcome the effects of such an impression. Not. withstanding the clearest perception, of the absurdity of feeling embarrassed before his fellow-creatures, he will often find himself disconcerted in their presence, and thrown into confusion by trifles which his good sense thoroughly despises. In the same manner, an involunta ry deference for rank may be observed amidst the strongest conviction of the emptiness of aristocratical distinctions, and the most decided republican principles. The lingering spirit of the feudal system, and the general forms and institutions of society in Europe, have a tendency to infuse into the minds of certain classes such feelings of respect for the greatness of high life, as, when they find themselves in its presence, sometimes overpower the opposite influence of mature opinions. It is the force of such impressions that produces so much awkwardness in the manners of our peasantry, and it is freedom from them that often gives an air of dignity to the deportment of the savage.-Essays on the Formation and Publication of Opinions.

DCCCLIII.

The Passions-To subdue the passions of creatures who are all passion, is absurd, impossible; to regulate them appears to be absolutely necessary: and what are those passions that make such havoc, causing striking dif ferences, exalting and depressing the spirits, leading to extatic enjoyment, or plunging us in the severest afflictions; what are they more than the development of our sensibility.-Zimmerman.

DCCCLIV.

Duty of the Government to Instruct the People.—A method of communicating instruction to every member of society, is not difficult to discover, and would not be expensive in practice. The government generally establishes ministers of justice in every part of the dominion. The first object of these ministers ought to be, to see that every person is well instructed in his duties and in his rights; that he is rendered perfectly acquainted with every law, in its true spirit and tendency, in order that he may know the reason of his obedience, and the manner of obtaining redress, in case he should deem it unjust; that he is taught to feel the cares and interests of an active citizen, to consider himself as a real member of the state, know that the government is his own, that the society is his friend, and that the officers of the state are the servants of the people. A person possessing these ideas will never violate the law, unless it be from necessity; and such necessity is to be prevented by means which are equally obvious.-Barlow's Advice to the Privileged Orders.

DCCCLV.

Luther and the Reformation.-Luther, an Augustine monk, exclaimed against the Romish church, because the exclusive privilege of selling indulgences was not confined to his order. Had the Dominicans enjoyed no share of the spiritual license to swindle, 'tis more than probable that the reformation in religion would not have taken place so soon.-Zimmerman's Reflections.

VOL. II.-16

DCCCLVI.

Laws. Most of the laws of society are positive regulations, not taught by nature. Indeed, such only are applicable to the subject now in question. For ignorantia legis can have reference only to laws arising out of society, in which our natural feelings have no concern; and where a man is ignorant of such a law, he is in the same situation as if the law did not exist. To read it to him from the tribunal, where he stands arraigned for the breach of it, is to him precisely the same thing as it would be to originate it at the time by the same tribunal, for the express purpose of his condemnation. The law till then, as relative to him, is not in being. He is, therefore, in the same predicament that the society in general would be, under the operation of an ex-post facto law. Hence, we ought to conclude that, as it seems difficult for a government to dispense with the maxim above mentioned, a free people ought, in their declaration of rights, to provide for universal public instruction. If they neglect to do this, and mean to avoid the absurdity of a self-destroying policy, by adhering to a system of justice which would preserve a dignity and inspire a confidence worthy the name of liberty, they ought to reject the maxim altogether; and insert in their declaration of rights, that instruction alone can constitute a duty; and that laws can enforce no obedience, but where they are explained.—Barlow's Advice to the Privileged Orders.

DCCCLVII.

Titles and Mottos to Books are like escutcheons and dignities in the hands of a king. The wise sometimes