1830.] Aphorisms on Man. 



anathema,, a by-word they get rid of this idle literature " at one fell 

 swoop" disqualify the present race from all pretensions whatevr, 

 get into a corner with an obscure writer, and devour the cobwebs and 

 the page together, and pick out in the quaintest production, the quaintest 

 passages, the merest choke-pear, which they think nobody can swallow 

 but themselves. 



X. 



The source of the love of nature or of the country has never been 

 explained so well as it might. The truth is this. Natural or inanimate 

 objects please merely as objects of sense or contemplation, and we ask 

 no return of the passion or admiration from them, so that we cannot be 

 disappointed or distracted in our choice. If we are delighted with a 

 flower or a tree, we are pleased with it^r its own sake ; nothing more is 

 required to make our satisfaction complete ; we do not ask the flower 

 or tree whether it likes us again ; and, therefore, wherever we can 

 meet with the same or a similar object, we may reckon upon a recur- 

 rence of the same soothing emotion. Nature is the only mistress that 

 smiles on us still the same ; and does not repay admiration with scorn, 

 love with hatred. She is faithful to us, as long as we are faithful to 

 ourselves. Whereas, in regard to the human species, we have not so 

 much to consider our own dispositions towards others, as theirs towards 

 us ; a thousand caprices, interests, and opinions, may intervene before 

 the good understanding can be mutual ; we not only cannot infer of 

 one individual from another, but the same individual may change to-mor- 

 row : so that in our intercourse with the world, there is nothing but 

 littleness, uncertainty, suspicion, and mortification, instead of the gran- 

 deur and repose of nature. 



XL 



It has been objected to the soothing power of Nature, that it cannot 

 take away the sharp pang of vehement distress, but rather barbs the dart, 

 and seems to smile in mockery of our anguish. But the same might 

 be said of music, poetry, and friendship, which only tantalize and 

 torment us by offering to divert our grief in its keenest paroxysms ; but 

 yet cannot be denied to be enviable resources and consolations of the 

 human mind, when the bitterness of the moment has passed over. 



MARRIAGE A LA MODE. 



SHE loved him just as modern ladies love ; 



Admired his figure on a rainy day, 

 And suffered him to reach her fallen glove : 



She liked him, present ; if he stayed away 

 She did not miss him. " Men were meant to rove," 



Was still her theme ! " To honour, and obey," 

 She had no thought of; but she looked on marriage 

 As something requisite to keep a carriage ! 



And he liked her as much as creatures can 

 Who live at balls, and vegetate by night ; 



Not useless, since they serve to hold a fan ; 



Whose heads are heavy, while their heels are light ; 



Who, wanting other titles, are called Man ! 

 Yet ladies liked him, he was so polite ; 



'Twas strange how favour from mammas he won ; 



And yet not strange ; he was an eldest son. 



