Certainly It Were As Well, That He Might Be Up To The Occasion.

That is a superfluous wonder, which Dr. Johnson expresses at the assertion of Sir Thomas Browne that "his life

Has been a miracle of thirty years, which to relate, were not history but a piece of poetry, and would sound like a fable." The wonder is, rather, that all men do not assert as much. That would be a rare praise, if it were true, which was addressed to Francis Beaumont, - "Spectators sate part in your tragedies."

Think what a mean and wretched place this world is; that half the time we have to light a lamp that we may see to live in it. This is half our life. Who would undertake the enterprise if it were all? And, pray, what more has day to offer? A lamp that burns more clear, a purer oil, say winter-strained, that so we may pursue our idleness with less obstruction. Bribed with a little sunlight and a few prismatic tints, we bless our Maker, and stave off his wrath with hymns.

I make ye an offer, Ye gods, hear the scoffer, The scheme will not hurt you, If ye will find goodness, I will find virtue. Though I am your creature, And child of your nature, I have pride still unbended, And blood undescended, Some free independence, And my own descendants. I cannot toil blindly, Though ye behave kindly, And I swear by the rood, I'll be slave to no God. If ye will deal plainly, I will strive mainly, If ye will discover, Great plans to your lover, And give him a sphere Somewhat larger than here.

"Verily, my angels! I was abashed on account of my servant, who had no Providence but me; therefore did I pardon him." - _The Gulistan of Sadi._

Most people with whom I talk, men and women even of some originality and genius, have their scheme of the universe all cut and dried, - very _dry_, I assure you, to hear, dry enough to burn, dry-rotted and powder-post, methinks, - which they set up between you and them in the shortest intercourse; an ancient and tottering frame with all its boards blown off. They do not walk without their bed. Some, to me, seemingly very unimportant and unsubstantial things and relations, are for them everlastingly settled, - as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and the like. These are like the everlasting hills to them. But in all my wanderings I never came across the least vestige of authority for these things. They have not left so distinct a trace as the delicate flower of a remote geological period on the coal in my grate. The wisest man preaches no doctrines; he has no scheme; he sees no rafter, not even a cobweb, against the heavens. It is clear sky. If I ever see more clearly at one time than at another, the medium through which I see is clearer. To see from earth to heaven, and see there standing, still a fixture, that old Jewish scheme!

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