detestable even to those persons whom he has saved by his perfidy. A prodigal appears contemptible to the man whom he has made rich by his own ruin: on the other hand, a stranger whom we have no knowledge of, one that is dead, engages our admiration from an act of virtue, from which it is impracticable we can derive the least advantage; nay, it is not impossible that while our enemy strikes us with terror, we may at the same time be delighted with his heroic courage.

As love of pleasure into pain betrays,

So most grow infamous thro' love of praise;
But whence for praise can such an ardour rise,
When those who bring that incense we despise ;
For such the vanity of great and small,

Contempt goes round, and all men laugh at all.

It is with the beauty of the soul, as with that of the body; it notes the quali

ties that are most adapted to the existence of those who possess them.

What can be more suitable for the unfortified state of man, than by our benevolence to excite and engage others in our interests, to preserve a firm resolution in our greatest dangers, and to lay up in our hearts a nobleness of soul, which may make us independent of fortune?

But if it is true that the beauty of the body, as well as of the soul, marks out the qualities which are most useful to those who possess them, how comes it that they likewise give delight to a soul, which is an entire stranger to them?

Here let us adore and admire the wis

dom and stupendous goodness of our divine and omnipotent Creator.

These are thy glorious works, parent of good,
Almighty! thine this universal frame,

Thus wond'rous fair! thyself how wond'rous then
Unspeakable; who sitt'st above the heav'ns,
To us invisible.

If we turn our eyes upon the feebleness of man in a state of infancy, when oppressed with disease, when in retirement, when overwhelmed with care, or worn out with age; if we consider his genius for arts and sciences, his partiality for praise and esteem, together with his strong desire of friendship and company, these reflections will point out to us that

he is formed for society, that there are hidden ties which bind him in the most close manner to those who surround him. Besides in this situation, it was of the first-moment that we should at once be capable to discern those men whose intercourse might be serviceable to us, as well as those who might prove pernicious.

If we observe a cadaverous colour in the complexion, an unhappy turn in the idea, a dark dejected disposition, these qualities, destructive to those who possess them, and hazardous to those who approach them, disgust us by their irregularity, and are as it were the outcry of nature, warning us to beware of an enemy who threatens us. On the contrary,

a happy conformation of the organs, a refined idea, and a singular beauty of soul, by conducing to the felicity of those who possess them, may at the same time contribute to the happiness of those who have any intercourse with them. Fine features embellish those captivating qualities of the soul, and in a manner assure, that they may become useful to ourselves in the various conditions of life wherein we may be placed.

Probably it is this bounteous regard of nature, which has caused the disdain of those who, in place of acknowledging the power of God in the beauty of the soul, have fancied that it sprang from the reflections of self-love upon what might