To all, unask'd, are provinces assign'd,
with proper talents suited to each kind;
few have the power their sev'ral states to choose;
fewer know which to take, or which refuse.-

THE REV. DR. FORTESCUE, Essays, 1752,
The Stat: of Man.

However bound by the ties of Professional life, a time of leisure comes to us all.

The busiest man, says the proverb, has the most. leisure. How shall he spend it?-in Public duty? -As a Citizen he has duties to discharge; - at least he thinks so.

Every path hath a puddle.-G. HERBERT, Facula Prudentum.

... So saith Posidippus, a Comic Poet. JOHNSON, Adventurer. 107.

There are also duties which a man owes to himself as well as to his neighbor; or, in other words, human happiness depends almost as largely upon his exercise of private, as of public, virtues. J. MASON GOOD, M.D., Book of Nature, Ser. iii, Lect. vii.

He will read, of course. Perhaps he may turn Author, and do something more than make a Book of Extracts, such as you and I have made.

Liber legebatur: adnotabat, excerpebatque. Nihil enim legit, quod non excerperet. Dicere etiam solebat, Nullum esse librum tam malum, ut non aliquâ parte prodesset. — C. PLINIUS, Sec., Epist., Lib. iii. v.

Write, write, write anything. The world's a fine believing world,-write news. - BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER, Wit without Money, Act ii.

The modes of employment of these hours, in passing through life, point to the thoughts and the opinions, the steps by which a man rises or falls in the struggles of life.

Passive impressions by being repeated grow weaker thoughts by often passing through the mind are felt less sensibly. - BUTLER, Analogy.

Thoughts are wasted unless turned into action. DR. PUSEY, Sermons, 1848, Serm. v.

All sentiment that is akin to melancholy is for the refined and the idle. - Quarterly Review, vol. cii, p. 118.

He stands at his Culminating point:' he is in Mid-life, with now and then a bright day.

His friends begin to drop around him :-'The friends of my youth, where are they?'

There is one left,

one nearer and dearer still. But she, too, is taken, — though not from you.

She should have died hereafter.-SHAKSPEARE, Macbeth, v.

'She is gone to join those who are waiting for us,' says

* * *

He looks around: - he lives in the past.

Quæ prætergressus? quid gestum in tempore, quid non?

cur isti facto decus abfuit, aut ratio illi ? quid mihi præteritum? cur hæc sententia sedit?

PYTHAGOR. Carm., AUSON. de bono viro. How has this day my duty seen express'd? What have I done, omitted, or transgress'd?

Yet a little more! - Why should he linger? He has in prospect

the narrow way, which, amid the thousand ways that lead to death, alone leads to life.—DR. PUSEY, Parochial Sermons, Serm. ii, 'Hope.'

Deaths stand, like Mercuries, in every way; and kindly point us to our journey's end.

YOUNG, Night Thoughts, N. 7.

The Angel of Death is at the door, he is waiting to come in: no permission is asked of the Christian.

Les complimens ne sont pas longs:

'Bon jour, Monsieur!'-'Bon jour, Madame!' 'Voulez-vous?'-'De tout mon âme.'

'Tu prends mon bras; et nous partons.' -a passage in VIGÉE'S Epitre à la Mort, so gay, that I must copy it.-R. SHARP, Letters and Essays, 1834, p. 133.

FROM a Report, addressed to the Magistrates, by Dr. Percival, Dr. Cowling, Dr. Easton, and Dr. Chorley of Manchester, 1785.- WE earnestly recommend a longer recess from labor at noon, and a more early dismission from it in the evening, to all who work in cotton mills. But we deem this indulgence essential to the present health and future capacity for labor of those who are under the age of fourteen. For the active recreations of childhood and youth are necessary to the growth, the vigor, and the right conformation of the body. And we can not excuse ourselves, on the present occasion, from suggesting to you, who are the guardians of the public weal, this further very important consideration, that the rising generation shall not be debarred from all opportunities of instruction at the only season of life in which they can properly be improved. T. GISBORNE, M.A., Enquiry into the Duties of Men, Ch. xiii.

Our most important are our earliest years. The Mind, impressible and soft, with ease imbibes, and copies what she hears and sees; and through life's labyrinth holds fast the clue that Education gives her, false or true.

Plants rais'd with tenderness are seldom strong; man's coltish disposition asks the thong: and without discipline, the favorite child, like a neglected forester, runs wild.

But we, as if good qualities would grow

spontaneous, take but little pains to sow. COWPER, Progress of Error.

The power of attention, industry and perseverance, are the qualities in which children are generally most deficient, and which stand most in need of cultivation. - SIR BENJAMIN BRODIE, Psychological Enquiries, Part. 2, Dial. v.

Habits of attention which are once lost are not easily regained; and no durable impressions are made upon a mind which is exercised beyond its powers. SIR B. BRODIE, Studies required for the Medical Profession. 1846.

· Accustom your children constantly to this: if a thing happened at one window, and they, when relating it, say that it happened at an other, do not let it pass, but instantly check them: you do not know where deviation from truth will end. * * It is more from carelessness about truth, than from intentional lying, that there is so much falsehood in the world. JOHNSON, to Boswell, 31 March 1778.

A young person should be made to understand the value of truth; not only that he should never deviate from the rule of telling the truth, but that he should on all occasions desire to learn the truth, and do this to the best of his ability, not con