generally turns to another, and there hope will probably illumine his footsteps. If he can find nothing to support him in this life, he looks forward to a cessation of his troubles. But the description of Satan, by Milton, is a representation of perfect despair :

"Me miserable! which way shall I fly
Infinite wrath and infinite despair?

Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell."

Men should encourage a feeling of hope from the very circumstance that they know not what may happen. The method of judging by analogy is not always applicable to human experience. Because a man was prosperous, it does not follow that he must always be so; indeed, too much confidence will cause his ruin: and because he has been unsuccessful, there is no reason why he should continue to fail, except he become dispirited and do nothing; for as the wheel of fortune revolves, and exhibits to us only one part of its margin, the next gift may be more pleasing; for if we have had what is very bad, we may sooner expect a change: we may gain hope, therefore, from the very cause of our despondency. A young man in London had met with many cross circumstances; he seemed, in all his speculations, to go astray; he was, as Moore says,

"A wandering bark, upon whose pathway shone
All stars of heav'n, except the guiding one!"

In the bitterness of his distress he determined to destroy himself; and was walking towards the

New River, into which he intended to plunge himself; but a carriage attracted his attention; and looking on the armorial bearings, he perceived the motto "Never despair:" he immediately took courage; the clouds of despondency rolled away, and he became tranquil and cheerful; he turned his attention, with much energy and caution, to his worldly engagements; and in a short time he rose above his difficulties, and afterwards became rich. The principal reason why men do not succeed in the acquirement of good, is because they have not a sufficient stimulus, or because they are not sufficiently careful. Most men, after a failure, can look back, and attribute their misfortune to indolence or carelessness. And if this be the case, why should we, as we generally do, attribute our evils to Providence? Cowper says to the desponding

man,

"Beware of desp'rate steps; the darkest day
(Live till to-morrow) will have pass'd away."

There is a beautiful example of the bounty of Providence under the most desperate circumstances, in the case of Hagar and Ishmael. There was also an eminent example, unconnected with miraculous power, in the history of Aristomenes. This skilful and successful general was taken by the Lacedemonians, and thrown into a deep cavern among a number of dead bodies, where no beams of hope scarcely could reach him. But after he had remained there for three or four days, he heard a fox gnawing a body at a short distance from him: he sprang forwards and seized the animal by the

hind leg with one hand, while with the other he held it by the under jaw, that it might not bite him; he then followed the struggling beast to a hole, through which he suffered it to go. He

began immediately with his hands to enlarge the orifice, and in the course of two days he found himself in the midst of his delighted country

men.

There is a pleasing instance of the influence of hope in the history of Alexander. This warrior, as Bayle observes, was endowed with qualities which were extremely noble and extremely base. Before the Macedonian set out on his Asiatic expedition, he divided his hereditary possessions among his friends; giving to one one a village, to another a town, and to a third a city: and when he was asked what he had reserved for himself, he replied - Hope. When Louis XVI. had mounted the scaffold on which his life was to be offered as a victim to popular fury, his confessor, Edgworth, seeing that all earthly hope was gone, used this sublime and consolatory exclamation: -"Enfant de Saint Louis, montez au ciel!" All nations, whether they be polished or barbarous, rationally delight themselves with the hopes of a future life. The Greenlander, among his snows, looks forward to a paradise of perennial summer; to an everbrilliant sun; to a region of rest and enjoyment. The African, on the torrid zone, anticipates a period when he shall dwell in some delightful country, beneath the pleasant shade of myrtle and orange trees, by the side of cool and grateful streams. The Indian also, agreeably with Pope's

poetical description, pleases himself with a similar reflection:

"Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutor❜d mind
Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind;
His soul proud Science never taught to stray
Far as the solar walk or milky way;

Yet simple nature to his hope has given,
Beyond the cloud-topt hill, an humbler heaven;
Some safer world in depth of woods embraced,
Some happier island in the watery waste,
Where slaves once more their native land behold;
No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold."

The Mahomedan looks forward to a region of the
most enchanting beauty, where he shall have his
senses refined and made more susceptible of de-
light; where he will walk on plains of silver;
where the river of immortal life will glide along
its crystal waves glittering in perpetual sunshine;
where golden palm-trees adorn the margin of rivu-
lets, whose waters roll on precious stones; where
the most fragrant perfumes, the most delicious
fruits, the most enchanting songs, and the most
ecstatic pleasures, will always delight the faithful
follower of Mahomed. The Christian possesses a
more sublime and less sensual heaven. The Moslem
imagines the description in the Koran to be literal;
the Christian supposes the account in the Bible to
be figurative. The Moslem's is a heaven of sense;
the Christian's is a heaven of mind. The Chris-
tian, therefore, has an equally delightful anticipa-
tion, builded on a firmer foundation.

CHAP. XIX.

ON LOVE AND HATRED.

Love is admiration, accompanied with a desire of possession. It applies more commonly to conscious beings; but a man is said to love a jewel, a painting, or a statue. If our regard be excited by irrational animals a dog or a bird, for example

we indulge its inclinations, and endeavour to increase its happiness. If it be raised by rational creatures, it causes friendship; and if between the sexes, it forms what is more emphatically designated love. This term, however, can be applied only in a low sense to inanimate things; indeed, the phrase, I love this, or that, in reference to food or clothing, is exceedingly vulgar. And it cannot generally be used with much propriety towards brute creatures. There may be fondness, liking, kindness, and tenderness; but the words respect, esteem, and friendship, are totally inapplicable, if they be used in this way.

As the terms to which I have alluded should seldom be used except towards rational beings; so we should take care to regulate our feelings, so as not to lavish on a cat, an owl, or a lap-dog, what would be appropriate only for a child, a wife, or a husband. Cornelius Agrippa was fond of a large