worth ten thousand pounds! He placed his confidence simply in "enduring powers and extraordinary application.'

Difficulties often Melt on a Close View.

The Duke of Wellington used to tell the following anecdote "When I was following a rajah, in India, we came to a great sandy plain, to cross which was impossible, with the enemy's cavalry hovering about us. The spies said there was a river in front which I could not cross as it had no bridges, and that I must therefore make a détour to the right or left. I, however, took the cavalry, and pushed on to the river, till I was near enough to take a view of it with a spy-glass, when I saw that there were two villages opposite each other, on different sides of the river. I immediately said to myself, 'People would never be fools enough to build two towns immediately opposite on a great river if they could not get from one to the other.' So I moved on, and sure enough there was a bridge between the towns. We crossed it, and licked the rajah."

Cobbett on Speculation.

Another great evil arising from the desire to be thought rich; or, rather from the desire not to be thought poor, is the destructive thing which has been honoured by the name of "speculation; " but which ought to be called Gambling. It is a purchasing of something which you do not want either in your

family or in the way of ordinary trade; a something to be sold again with a great profit; and on the sale of which there is a considerable hazard. When purchases of this sort are made with ready money, they are not so offensive to reason and not attended with such risk; but when they are made with money borrowed for the purpose, they are neither more nor less than gambling transactions; and they have been, in this country, a source of ruin, misery, and suicide, admitting of no adequate description. I grant that this gambling has arisen from the influence of the" Goddess" before mentioned; I grant that it has arisen from the facility of obtaining the fictitious means of making the purchases; and I grant that that facility has been created by the system under the baneful influence of which we live. But it is not the less necessary that I beseech you not to practise such gambling; that I beseech you if you be engaged in it, to disentangle yourself from it as soon as you can. Your life, while you are thus engaged, is the life of the gamester; a life of constant anxiety; constant desire to over-reach ; constant apprehension; general gloom, enlivened, now and then, by a gleam of hope or of success. Even that success is sure to lead to further adventures; and, at last, a thousand to one, that your fate is that of the pitcher to the well.

The great temptation to this gambling is, as is the case in other gambling, the success of the few. As young men who crowd to the army, in search of rank and renown, never look into the ditch that

holds their slaughtered companions; but have their eye constantly fixed on the General-in-chief; and as each of them belongs to the same profession, and is sure to be conscious that he has equal merit, every one deems himself the suitable successor of him who is surrounded with aides des camps, and who moves battalions and columns by his nod; so with the rising generation of "speculators;" they see the great estates that have succeeded the pencil-box and the orange-basket; they see those whom nature and good laws made to black shoes, sweep chimneys or the streets, rolling in carriages, or sitting in saloons surrounded by gaudy footmen with napkins twisted round their thumbs; and they can see no earthly reason why they should not all do the same; forgetting the thousands and thousands, who, in making the attempt, have reduced themselves to that beggary which, before their attempt, they would have regarded as a thing wholly impossible.

A Great Lawyer on the Value of Law.

"I wish," says Lord Bacon, "every man knew as much law as would enable him to keep himself out of."

Don't be Dazzled by "Hits."

The old Greeks said, "To become an able man in any profession, three things are necessary-nature, study, and practice." In business, practice, wisely and diligently improved, is the great secret of success.

Some may make what are called "lucky hits," but like money earned by gambling, such “hits” may only serve to lure one to ruin. Bacon was accustomed to say that it was in business as in waysthe nearest way was commonly the foulest, and that if a man would go the fairest way he must go somewhat about.

Mind Your Own Business.

Let the business of every one else alone, and attend to your own. Every man has in his own life, follies enough-in his own mind, troubles enoughin the performance of his duties, deficiency enough— in his own fortunes, evils enough, without minding other people's business. A man who had, by his own unaided exertions, become rich, was asked by his friend the secret of his success. "I accumulated," said he, "about one half of my property by attending to my own business, and the other half by letting other people's entirely alone."

Look Sharply to Your Kitchen.

It is hard for a man to amass riches by toiling in his shop, while there is a leakage at home in his kitchen.

"What a small kitchen!" exclaimed Queen Elizabeth, after going through a handsome mansion. "It is by having so small a kitchen," replied the owner," that I am enabled to keep so large a house."

Keep Yourself "Close."

It was a rule with the historian Gibbon, to tell no man what he was worth. "If it is much," he said, "I shall excite envy; if it is little, and I let it be known, I shall thereby bring on contempt."

A Hint to a Good Many People.

When Washington's secretary excused himself for the lateness of his attendance, and laid the blame upon his watch, his master quietly said, "Then you must get another watch, or I another secretary."

A Gallant Sailor's Advice to a Midshipman.

The brave, sensible, homely-minded CollingwoodNelson's companion, friend and successor in command-was an ardent devotee of duty. "Do your duty to the best of your ability," was the maxim which he urged upon many young men starting on the voyage of life. To a midshipman he once gave the following manly and sensible advice :

"You may depend upon it, that it is more in your own power than in anybody else's to promote both your comfort and advancement. A strict and unwearied attention to your duty, and a complacent and respectful behaviour, not only to your superiors, but to everybody, will ensure you their regard, and the reward will surely come; but if it should not, I am convinced you have too much good sense to let disappointment sour you. Guard carefully against letting discontent appear in you. It will be sorrow