.~>7<> Aphorisms on Man. [Nov. 



ing a person member of parliament who refuses to come forward as a 

 candidate. On the other hand, let a man have impudence in lieu of all 

 other qualifications, and he needs not despair. The part of quack or 

 coxcomb is a favourite one with the town. The only character that is 

 likely to get on by passing for a poor creature is the legacy-hunter. 

 Nothing can be too low or insignificant for that. A man is only grate- 

 ful to you in the other world for having been a foil to him in this. A 

 miser (if he could) would leave his fortune to his dog, that no human 

 being might be the better for it, or no one that he could envy in the 

 possession of it, or think raised to an equality with himself. 



XXVI. 



We complain of old friends who have made their fortunes in the world 

 and slighted us in their prosperity, without considering those who have 

 been unsuccessful, and whom we have neglected in our turn. When 

 our friends betray or desert us, we cling the closer to those that remain. 

 Our confidence is strengthened by being circumscribed ; we do not wish 

 to give up a forlorn hope. With the crumbling and decayed fragments 

 of friendship around us, we maintain our point to the last ; like the 

 cobbler, who kept his stall and cooked his beef-steak in the ruins of 

 Drury-lane. Buonaparte used to speak of old generals and favourites 

 who would not have abandoned him in his misfortunes if they had lived ; 

 it was perhaps well for them that they were dead. The list of traitors 

 and the ungrateful is too much swelled without any probable additions 

 to it. 



XXVII. 



When we hear of any base or shocking action or character, we think 

 the better of ourselves ; instead of which, we ought to think the worse. 

 It strikes at the grounds of our faith in human nature. The reflection 

 of the old divine was wiser on seeing a reprobate " There goes my 

 wicked self!" 



XXVIII. 



Over-civility generally ends in impertinence ; for as it proceeds from 

 design, and not from any kindness or respect, it ceases with its object. 



XXIX. 



I am acquainted with but one person, of whom I feel quite sure that 

 if he were to meet an old and tried friend in the street, he would go up 

 and speak to him in the same manner, whether in the interim he had 

 become a lord or a beggar. Upon reflection, I may add a second to the 

 list. Such is my estimate of the permanence and sincerity of our most 

 boasted virtues. " To be honest as this world goes, is to be one man 

 picked out of ten thousand." 



XXX. 



It has been said that family attachments are the only ones that stand 

 the test of adversity, because the disgrace or misfortune is there in some 

 measure reflected upon ourselves. A friend is no longer a friend, pro- 

 vided we choose to pick a quarrel with him ; but we cannot so easily 

 cut the link of relationship asunder. We therefore relieve the distresses 

 of our near relations, or get them out of the way, lest they should shame 

 us. But the sentiment is unnatural, and therefore must be untrue. 



