passing pomp and unparalleled pageantry in a neighbouring nation, displayed in the most gorgeous and costly farce that was ever acted before the astonished and indignant world!

If, to use the very words of the historian and panegyrist of Louis, "to despoil, disturb, and humble almost all the states of Europe,"-if this appeared in the eyes of that panegyrist a proof of greatness; in the eye of reason and humanity, such a course of conduct will rather appear insolence, mjustice, and oppression. Yet, as such irreligious authors commonly connect the idea of glory with that of success, they themselves ought not to vindicate it even on their own principle of expediency; since this passion for false glory, carried to the last excess, became, at length, the means of stirring up the other European powers; the result of whose confederacy terminated in the disgrace of Louis.

If ever this vain-glorious prince appeared truly great, it was in his dying speech to his infant successor, when, taking him in his arms, he magnanimously entreated him not to follow his example in his love of war, and taste for expense; exhorting him to follow moderate counsels, to fear God, reduce the taxes, spare his subjects, and to do whatever he himself had not done to relieve them.

In like manner, our illustrious Henry V. in the midst of his French conquests, conquests founded on injustice, (unpopular as is the assertion to an English ear,) never so truly deserved to be called the great, as in that beautiful instance of his reverence for the laws, when he submitted, as Prince of Wales, to the magistrate who put him under confinement for some irregularities; as when, afterwards, being sovereign, he not only pardoned, but commended and promoted him.

If ever Henry IV. of France peculiarly deserved the appellation of great, it was after the victory at

Coutras, for that noble magnanimity in the very moment of conquest, which compelled a pious divine, then present, to exclaim" Happy and highly favoured of Heaven is that prince, who sees his enemies humbled by the hand of God, his table surrounded by his prisoners, his room hung with the ensigns of the vanquished, without the slightest emotion of vanity or insolence! who can maintain, in the midst of such glorious successes, the same moderation with which he has borne the severest adversity!" He deserved it, when, as he was besieging Paris, which was perishing with famine, he commanded the besiegers to admit supplies to the besieged. He deserved it, at the battle of Ivri, not when he gallantly ordered his soldiers to follow his white plume, which would be the signal of victory, nor afterwards, when that victory was complete; but it was when, just before the engagement, he made a solemn renunciation of his own might and his own wisdom, and submitted the event to God in this incomparable prayer:

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"O Lord God of hosts, who hast in thy hand all events; if thou knowest that my reign will mote thy glory, and the safety of thy people; if thou knowest that I have no other ambition, but to advance the honour of thy name, and the good of the state; favour, O great God, the justice of my arms. But if thy good providence has decreed otherwise, if thou seest that I should prove one of those kings whom thou givest in thine anger; take from me, O merciful God, my life and my crown. Make me this day a sacrifice to thy will; let my death end the calamities of my country, and let my blood be the last that shall be spilt in this quarrel."

O si sic omnia!

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Books.

"CONVERSATION," says the sagacious Verulam, "makes a ready man.'" It is, indeed, one of the practical ends of study. It draws the powers of the understanding into exercise, and brings into circulation the treasures which the memory has been amassing. Conversation will be always an instrument particularly important in the cultivation of those talents which may one day be brought into public exercise. And as it would not be easy to start profitable topics of discourse between the pupil and those around her, without inventing some little previous introduction, it might not be useless to suggest a simple preparation for the occasional discussion of topics, somewhat above the ordinary cast of familiar intercourse.

To burden the memory with a load of dry matter would, on the one hand, be dull; and with a mass of poetry, which she can have little occasion to use, would, on the other, be superfluous. But, as the understanding opens, and years advance, might she not occasionally commit to memory, from the best authors in every department, one select passage, one weighty sentence, one striking precept, which, in the hours devoted to society and relaxation, might form a kind of thesis for interesting conversation? For instance, a short specimen of eloquence from South, or of reasoning from Barrow; a detached reflection on the analogy of religion to the constitution of nature, from Butler; a political character from Clarendon; a maxim of prudence from the Proverbs; a precept of government from Bacon; a moral document from the Rambler; a passage of ancient history from Plutarch; a sketch

of national manners from Goldsmith's Traveller, or of individual character from the Vanity of Human Wishes; an aphorism on the contempt of riches, from Seneca, or a paragraph on the wealth of nations from Adam Smith; a rule of conduct from sir Matthew Hale, or a sentiment of benevolence from Mr. Addison; a devout contemplation from bishop Hall, or a principle of taste from Quintilian; an opinion on the law of nations from Vattel, or on the law of England from Blackstone.

Might not any one of the topics, thus suggested by the recitation of a single passage, be made the ground of a short rational conversation, without the formality of debate, or the solemnity of an academical disputation? Persons naturally get a custom of reading with more sedulous attention, when they expect to be called upon to produce the substance of what they have read; and in order to prevent desultory and unsettled habits, it would be well, on these occasions, to tie the mind down to the one selected topic, and not to allow it to wander from the point under consideration. This practice, steadily observed, would strengthen the faculties of thinking and reasoning, and consequently highly improve the powers of conversation.

Of books, a considerable number, besides those in the foregoing passage, has already been suggested. But, though we have ventured to recommend many works which seemed peculiarly applicable to the present purpose, we do not presume to point out any thing like a systematic course of reading. This will be arranged by far abler judges, especially in that most important instance, the choice of books of divinity. In a language so abounding as the English with the treasures of theological composition, the difficulty will consist, not in finding much that is excellent, but in selecting that which unites the most excellencies.

Of elementary books which teach the first rudiments of Christianity, there is no doubt but the best use has been already made. In aid of these, the deepest and most impressive knowledge will be communicated to the mind by familiar colloquial explanation of every portion of scripture, daily, as it is read. Such an habitual, and, at the same time, clear and simple exposition, would tend to do away the most material of those difficulties and obscurities with which the sacred writings are charged, and which are commonly pleaded as a reason for not putting them, in their genuine form, into the hands of youth. There is no book whatever which affords more matter for interesting and animated conversation; and for variety, there is no book which is at all comparable to it. It were to be wished, that the sacred volume were not too generally made to give way to histories and expositions of the Bible. These last are excellent subordinate aids; but it is to be feared that they are sometimes almost exclusively adopted, to the neglect of the Bible itself. Thus the mere facts and incidents being retained, separated from the doctrines, sentiments, and precepts, which, like a golden thread, run through every part of the history, and are every where interwoven with its texture; and the narrative being also stripped of its venerable phraseology and touching style, the Bible is robbed of its principal charm; and the devotional and historical ideas being thus separated, the impression both on the memory and the feelings oecomes much weakened. Our remarks on the scripture itself we shall reserve for a future chapter.

It has been a rule observed throughout this work, to forbear naming living authors, except incidentally in one or two instances. This rule, which was adopted from delicacy, is at present become inconvenient, as it prevents our giving highly merited