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MISCELLANIES.

"And join both profit and delight in one." CREECH'S HORACE.

SCHOLAR.-The life that is devoted to knowledge passes silently away, and is very little diversified by events. To talk in public, to think in solitude, to read and to hear, to inquire and answer inquiries, is the business of a scholar. He wanders about the world without pomp or terror, and is neither known nor valued but by men like himself.-Rasselas.

EPITAPH ON THE POET GAY,

In Westminster Abbey, 1732.

In manners gentle; of affections mild;
In wit a man; simplicity a child;

With native humour tempering virtuous rage,
Proud to delight at once and lash the age;
Above temptation in a low estate,

And uncorrupted e'en among the great;
A safe companion and an easy friend,
Unblam'd thro' life, lamented in thy end.
These are thy honours! Not that here thy bust
Is mix'd with heroes or with kings thy dust-
But that the worthy and the good shall say,
Striking their pensive bosoms, here lies Gay.

Pope.

WRITING. Among all the productions and inventions of human wit, none is more admirable and useful than writing, by means whereof a man may copy out his very thoughts, utter his mind without

A

Timba, Johnn

LACONICS;

OR

INSTRUCTIVE MISCELLANIES,

SELECTED

FROM THE BEST AUTHORS,
Ancient and Modern.

A maxim is sometimes like the seed of a plant which the soil it is thrown nto must expand into leaves and flowers, and fruit; so that a great part must be written as it were by the reader,"

BY A GENERAL READER.

PHILADELPHIA:

PRINTED BY WILLIAM BROWN.

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Daily Studies for the long vacation of 1758.
Morning-One Letter,

Ten chapters of the Bible,
Sanscrit Grammar,

Hindu Law, &c.

Afternoon-Indian Geography.
Evening-Roman History, &c.

Memoirs of the Life of Sir Wm. Jones:

AN EPITAPH.

My name-my country-what are they to thee?
What whether base or proud, my pedigree?
Perhaps I far surpass'd all other men-
Perhaps I fell below them all, what then?—
Suffice it stranger, that thou seest a tomb,-
Thou knowest its use-it hides-no matter whom.
Cowper.

ETERNITY. That the conception of eternity may be more distinct and affecting, it is useful to represent it under some temporal resemblances that sensibly, though not fully represent it. Suppose that the vast ocean were distilled drop by drop, but so slowly that a thousand years should pass between every drop, how many millions of years were required to empty it? Suppose this great world in its full compass from one pole to another, and from the top of the firmament to the bottom, were to be filled with the smallest sand, but so slowly that every thousand years only a single grain should be added, how many millions would pass away before it were filled? If the immense superficies of Heaven, wherein are innumerable stars, the least of which equals the magnitude of the earth, were filled with figures of numbers without the least vacant space, and every figure signified a million, what created mind could tell their numbers, much less their value? Having these thoughts I reply the sea will be emptied drop by drop, the universe filled grain by grain,

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