9. "They say it was a shocking sight
After the field was won;

For many thousand bodies here
Lay rotting in the sun;

But things like that, you know, must be
After a famous victory.

10. "Great praise the Duke of Marlbro' won,
And our young prince, Eugene."
"Why, 't was a very wicked thing!"
Said little Wilhelmine.

"Nay, nay, my little girl," quoth he,
"It was a famous victory.

11. "And every body prais'd the Duke
Who this great fight did win."

"But what good came of it, at last?"
Quoth little Peterkin.

CXXXIV. TACT AND TALENT.

1. TALENT is something, but tact is everything. serious, sober, grave, and respectable: tact is

Talent is

all that and

more too. It is not a sixth sense, but it is the life of all the five. It is the open eye, the quick ear, the judging taste, the keen smell, and the lively touch; it is the interpreter of all riddles, the surmounter of all difficulties, the remover of all obstacles. It is useful in all places, and at all times; it is useful in solitude, for it shows a man into the world; it is useful in society, for it shows him his way through the world.

2. Talent is power, tact is skill; talent is weight, tact is momentum; talent knows what to do, tact knows how to do it; talent makes a man respectable, tact will make him respected; talent is wealth, tact is ready money. For all the practical purposes, tact carries it against talent ten to one.

3. Take them to the theatre, and put them against each other on the stage, and talent shall produce you a tragedy that shall scarcely live long enough to be condemned, while tact keeps the house in a roar, night after night, with its successful

+farces. There is no want of +dramatic talent, there is no want of dramatic tact; but they are seldom together: so we have successful pieces which are not respectable, and respectable pieces which are not successful.

4. Take them to the bar, and let them shake their learned curls at each other in legal rivalry; talent sees its way clearly, but tact is first at its journey's end. Talent has many a compliment from the bench, but tact touches fees. Talent makes the world wonder that it gets on no faster, tact exciting astonishment that it gets on so fast. And the secret is, that it has no weight to carry; it makes no false steps; it hits the right nail on the head; it loses no time; it takes all hints; and by keeping its eye on the weather-cock, is ready to take advantage of every wind that blows.

5. Take them into the church. Talent has always something worth hearing, tact is sure of abundance of hearers; talent may obtain a living, tact will make one; talent gets a good name, tact a great one; talent convinces, tact converts; talent is an honor to the profession, tact gains honor from the profession.

6. Take them to court: talent feels its weight, tact finds its way; talent commands, tack is obeyed; talent is honored with approbation, and tact is blessed by +preferment. Place them in the senate. Talent has the ear of the house, but tact wins its heart, and has its votes; talent is fit for employment, but tact is fitted for it. It has a knack of slipping into place with a sweet silence and glibness of movement, as a billiard ball insinuates itself into the pocket.

7. It seems to know every thing, without learning any thing. It has served an extemporary apprenticeship; it wants no drilling; it never ranks in the awkward squad; it has no left hand, no deaf ear, no blind side. It puts on no look of wondrous wisdom, it has no air of profundity, but plays with the details of place as dexterously, as a well-taught hand flourishes over the keys of the piano-forte. It has all the air of common-place, and all the force and power of genius.

CXXXV. - THE VOYAGE OF LIFE: AN ALLEGORY.

FROM DR. JOHNSON.

1. "LIFE," says Seneca, "is a voyage, in the progress of which we are perpetually changing our scenes; we first leave childhood behind us, then youth, then the years of ripened manhood, then the better and more pleasing part of old age."

2. The perusal of this passage having excited in me a train of reflections on the state of man, the incessant fluctuation of his wishes, the gradual change of his disposition to all external objects, and the thoughtlessness with which he floats along the stream of time, I sank into a slumber amid my +meditations, and, on a sudden, found my ears filled with a tumult of labor, the shouts of alacrity, the shrieks of alarm, the whistle of winds, and the dash of waters.

3. My astonishment, for a time, *repressed my curiosity; but soon recovering myself, so far as to inquire whither we were going, and what was the cause of such clamor and confusion, I was told that we were launching out into the ocean of life, that we had already passed the straits of infancy, in which multitudes had perished, some by the weakness and +fragility of their vessels, and more by the folly, *perverseness, or negligence of those who undertook to steer them; and that we were now on the main sea, abandoned to the winds and billows, without any other means of security than the care of the pilot, whom it was always in our power to choose among the great numbers that offered their direction and tassistance.

4. I then looked around with anxious eagerness, and first, turning my eyes behind me, saw a stream flowing through flowery islands, which every one that sailed along seemed to behold with pleasure, but no sooner touched, than the current, which, though not noisy, or turbulent, was yet irresistible, bore him away. Beyond these islands all was darkness, nor could any of the passengers describe the shore at which he first embarked. Before me, and on each side, was an expanse of waters +violently agitated, and covered with so thick a mist, that the most perspicacious eye could see but a little way. It appeared to be full of rocks and whirlpools:

for many sank unexpectedly, while they were courting the gale with full sails, and insulting those whom they had left behind.

5. So numerous, indeed, were the dangers, and so thick the darkness, that no caution could confer security. Yet there were many, who, by false intelligence, betrayed their followers into whirlpools, or, by violence, pushed those whom they found in their way against the rocks. The current was +invariable and unsurmountable. But, though it was impossible to sail against it, or to return to the place that was once passed, yet it was not so violent as to allow no opportunities for dexterity or courage, since, though none could retreat from danger, yet they might avoid it by an oblique direction.

6. It was, however, not very common to steer with much care or prudence; for, by some universal *infatuation, every man appeared to think himself safe, though he saw his consorts every moment sinking around him; and no sooner had the waves closed over them, than their fate and their misconduct were forgotten. The voyage was pursued with the same jocund confidence; every man congratulated himself upon the soundness of his vessel, and believed himself able to stem the whirlpool in which his friend was swallowed, or glide over the rocks on which he was dashed; nor was it often observed that the sight of a wreck made any man change his course; if he turned aside for a moment, he soon forgot the rudder, and left himself again to the +disposal of chance.

7. This negligence did not proceed from indifference, or from weariness of their condition; for not one of those, who thus rushed upon destruction, failed, when he was sinking, to call loudly upon his associates for that help which could not now be given him; and many spent their last moments in cautioning others against the folly, by which they were intercepted in the midst of their course. Their benevolence was sometimes praised, but their admonitions were unregarded. 8. In the midst of the current of life was the gulf of Intemperance, a dreadful whirlpool, interspersed with rocks, of which the pointed crags were concealed under water, and the tops covered with herbage, on which Ease spread +couches of repose, and with shades where Pleasure warbled the song of invitation. Within sight of these rocks, all who sail on the ocean of life must necessarily pass. Reason, indeed, was

always at hand, to steer the passenger through a narrow outlet by which they might escape; but few could, by her *entreaties or remonstrances, be induced to put the rudder into her hand, without stipulating that she should approach so near to the rocks of Pleasure, that they might solace themselves with a short enjoyment of that delicious region, after which they always determined to pursue their course without any other deviation.

9. Reason was too often prevailed upon so far, by these promises, as to venture her charge within the teddy of the gulf of Intemperance, where, indeed, the +circumvolution was weak, but yet interrupted the course of the vessel, and drew it, by insensible rotations, toward the center. She then repented her +temerity, and, with all her force, endeavored to retreat; but the draught of the gulf was generally too strong to be overcome; and the passenger, having danced in circles, with a pleasing and giddy velocity, was at last overwhelmed and lost.

10. As I was looking upon the various fate of the multitude about me, I was suddenly alarmed with an admonition from some unknown power: "Gaze not idly upon others, when thou thyself art sinking. Whence is this thoughtless +tranquillity, when thou and they are equally endangered? I looked, and seeing the gulf of Intemperance before me, started and awoke.

CXXXVI.

COLLOQUIAL POWERS OF FRANKLIN.
FROM WIRT.

WILLIAM WIRT, the author of the following extract, was born in Maryland, in 1772. He was by profession a lawyer, and at the trial of Aaron Burr, for treason, assisted the Attorney General of the United States. He was the author of Essays in The British Spy, and The Old Bachelor, and also of a Life of Patrick Henry. He died in 1834.

1. NEVER have I known such a fire-side companion. Great as he was both as a statesman and philosopher, he never shone in a light more winning, than when he was seen in a domestic circle. It was once my good fortune to pass