it to the observation of such groundless prodigies and predictions. For as it is the chief concern of wise men to retrench the evils of life by the reasonings of philosophy, it is the employment of fools to multiply them by the sentiments of superstition.

For my own part, I should be very much troubled were I endowed with this divining quality, though it should inform me truly of every thing that can befal me. I would not anticipate the relish of any happiness, nor feel the weight of any misery, before it actually arrives.

I know but one way of fortifying my soul against these gloomy presages and terrors of mind; and that is, by securing to myself the friendship and protection of that Being who dispòses of events and governs futurity. He sees, at one view, the whole thread of my existence; not only that part of it which I have already passed through, but that which runs forward into all the depths of eternity. When I lay me down to sleep, I recommend myself to his care; when I awake, I give myself up to his direction. Amidst all the evils that threaten me, I will look up to him for help, and question not but he will either avert them, or turn them to my advantage. Though I know neither the time nor the manner of death I am to die, I am not at all solicitous about it; be

et de soupçons: ce qui ne peut que le disposer à l'observation de tous ces prodiges et de ces prédictions ridicules. Car, de même que les hommes éclai rés s'efforcent de diminuer les maux de la vie humaine par les lumières de la philosophie, les sots ne cherchent qu'à les multiplier par les craintes de la superstition.

Pour moi, je serois très-fâché d'avoir le don de deviner tout le bien et le mal qui peuvent m'arriver; je ne voudrois pas sentir d'avance la joie de l'un ou le poids accablant de l'autre.

Je ne connois qu'un seul moyen de me fortifier contre ces funestes présages et ces terreurs de l'esprit; c'est de m'assurer de la bienveillance et de la protection de cet Être-Suprême qui dispose des événemens, et qui gouverne l'avenir. Il voit d'un coup d'oeil toute mon existence, non seulement ce qui s'en est déjà écoulé, mais encore jusqu'où elle s'étend dans les profondeurs de l'éternité. Avant de m'endormir, je me recommande à ses soins; à mon réveil, je m'abandonne à sa direction. Au milieu de tous les maux dont je suis menacé, j'aurai recours à lui, et je ne doute pas qu'il ne les éloigne, où qu'il ne les tourne à mon avantage. Quoique je ne sache pas l'heure de ma mort ni quelle sera ma fin, je n'en ai pas la moindre inquiétude, parce que je suis sûr qu'il les connoît,

cause I am sure that he knows them both, and that he will not fail to comfort and support me under them. ADDISON.

Female Levity.

WHEN I was in France, I used to gaze with great astonishment at the splendid equipages and party-coloured habits of that fantastic nation. I was one day in particular contemplating a lady that sat in a coach adorned with gilded Cupids, and finely painted with the loves of Venus and Adonis. The coach was drawn by six milk-white horses, and loaded behind with the same number of powdered footmen. Just before the lady were a couple of beautiful pages, that were stuck among the harness, and by their gay dresses and smiling features, looked like the elder brothers of the little boys that were carved and painted in every corner of the coach.

The lady was the unfortunate Cleanthe, who afterwards gave an occasion to a pretty melancholy novel. She had, for several years, received the addresses of a gentleman, whom, after a long and intimate acquaintance, she forsook, upon the account of this shining equipage, which had been offered to her by one of great riches, but a crazy

et qu'il ne manquera pas de me consoler et de me soutenir dans ce dernier moment.

ADDISON.

Frivolité des Femmes.

LORSQUE j'étois en France, je regardois avec étonnement la pompe des équipages, et la bigarrure des habits de cette nation frivole. Un jour, entre autres, je fixai ma vue sur une dame qui étoit assise dans un carrosse enrichi de Cupidons dorés, et de la peinture fidèle des amours de Vénus et d'Adonis. Ce carrosse, attelé de six chevaux, couleur blanc de lait, étoit chargé, sur le derrière, d'un pareil nombre de laquais bien poudrés. Il avoit sur le devant deux beaux pages, qui, par la fraîcheur de leurs habits et leur mine riante, ressembloient aux frères aînés des petits Cupidons peints et sculptés aux quatre coins du carrosse.

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Cette dame étoit l'infortunée Cléanthe, qui servit bientôt après de triste sujet à un joli roman. Elle avoit reçu, pendant plusieurs années, les visites d'un cavalier, qu'elle abando nua après une longue intimité; éblouie par l'éclat de cet équipage que lui offrit un autre amant beaucoup plus riche, mais d'une santé délicate. La magnificence où

constitution. The circumstances in which I saw her, were, it seems, the disguises only of a broken heart, and a kind of pageantry to cover distress; for in two months after she was carried to her grave with the same pomp and magnificence, being sent thither partly by the loss of one lover, and partly by the possession of another.

I have often reflected with myself on this unaccountable humour in womankind, of being smitten with every thing that is showy and superficial; and on the numberless evils that befal the sex, from this light fantastic disposition. I myself remember a young lady that was very warmly solicited by a couple of importunate rivals, who, for several months together, did all they could to recommend themselves, by complacency of behaviour and agreeableness of conversation. At length, when the competition was doubtful and the lady undetermined in her choice, one of the young lovers very luckily bethought himself of adding a supernumerary lace to his liveries, which had so good an effect, that he married her the very week after.

The usual conversation of ordinary women very much cherishes this natural weakness of being taken with outside and appearance. Talk of a new-married couple, and you immediately hear whether they keep their coach and six, or eat in plate. Mention the name of an absent lady, and