XIX. Of the use and necessity of small change in XX. Of the great social Law enjoining it upon each XXI. Of the necessity of learning how to use money, 67 XXV. Of the salutaiy effects of the necessity laid XXVI. Of the design and use of the thumb, 80 XXVIII. Of productive labor, other than that of XXIX. A sorrow-soothing Scottish Legend, 89 XXX. Of maternal tenderness-or the sorrows of XXXI. Of Prudence in the ordinary concerns of XXXII. Or Truth speaking as denoting courage, 97 XXXIV. Of friendship and the choice of friends, 102 XXXV. Of the importance of learning to say No, 106 XXXVI. Of the calamities of hereditary idleness, 108 XXXVII. Of the lamentable species of helpless- ness, occasioned by Pride and false Shame, 111 XXXVIII. Of the Proper and Improper, as depend- ing upon the diverse circumstances and ages XXXIX. Of keeping children from the company XL. Of habitual discontent, arising from imaginary XLI. Of Custom, as respects individuals and whole XLII. Of one, of the many, remarkable instances of Divine Providence, rewarding filial piety, 126 XLIII. Qf the inestimable benefits of Law, 129 XLVII. Of general diffusion of knowledge, 141 XLVIII. Of adapting Education to the various XLIX. Of adapting female education to the pecul- L. Of cruelty to the brute animals—instanced in the barbarous usage of that noble animal, LI. Of the Folly of trying to please every body, 154 LII. A comment upon a celebrated Allegory of LIII. Of devotedness to Pleasure, LIV. Of Vanity, as making part of the warp of LV. Of the rueful consequences of living too fast, 166 LVI. Of banqueting upon horrowing, LVII. Of the principle of Shame, LIX. Of Frivolity of Character, LX. Of the Natural and the Moral Heart, LXI. Of an interesting Trial of old, before the LXIII. Of the power of the imagination over young minds-instanced in George Hopewell, 192 LXIV. Of the almost insuperable power of Habit, 195 LXVI. Of the attention due both to mind and body, 201 LXVII. Of the general propensity to petty scandal, 205 LXVIII. Of enjoying Independence without pos- LXX. Of useful Industry, considered as a Moral LXXI. Of the two opposite errors—the extreme of suspicion and the extreme of confidence, 217 LXXII. Of the mis-usage of the Faculty of Mem- LXXIV. A comment upon the fable of the Invisi- LXXV. Of the misuse, and the proper use of Read- LXXVI. Of the impassable and unalterable limits LXXVIII. Of Brevity in relation to sundry par- LXXIX. Of regarding accomplishments as the principal part of female Education, 240 LXXX. Of officiously meddling with, and a total disregard of, the affairs of others, LXXXI. Of a restless desire to know what others LXXXII. Of the necessity of seasonable precaution, 250 LXXXIII. Of our proneness to go from one ex- LXXXIV. Of despising small things, LXXXV. Of Cutting the Coat to the Cloth, 258 THE BRIEF REMARKER, &c. CHAPTER I. Of the Inventions and Improvements of the present age. THERE are two opposite extremes in sentiment, and both productive of evil in practice: the one, a supercilious contempt of the wisdom of former ages; and the other, a blind veneration for it. Within the period of the last thirty years, the world has teemed with authors and admiring readers, in whose visionary fancies a new and most sublime order of things was rising out of the chaos of the past, and to be consummated—not through the regenerating influences of christianity, but by the omnipotence of human reason. In their wild conceptions, what had been called the light of antiquity was gross darkness, and its maxims and institutions were to be swept away as vile and cumbrous rubbish. The men of all former ages they regarded as pigmies, rather entitled to scorn than veneration. The world, they imagined, had been all along in swaddling clothes—in the imbecility of puling infancy; that the Age of Reason was now dawning, and men, ere long, would be as gods; that ships and ploughs would be taught to guide themselves, and balloons would supersede the necessity of horses and carriages for travelling. All old things, being the offspring of barbarian ignorance and vile prejudice, were to be done away. An end was fortunately to be put to the partition of property, to the unnatural ties of matrimony, to all peculiar affection for one's own children, to all the narrow partialities arising from kindred blood. Every heart was to embrace, in its warm affections, nothing less than the whole living world. A system of morals and customs entirely new was to be reared ; a system beautiful, magnificent, lofty-reaching to heaven! These impious fooleries having had their day, have since, with general consent, been scoffed off the stage. On the other hand, some are ever lecturing about the superior wisdom of antiquity; as if the world were constantly retrograding rather than advancing. Now this, though not so pernicious an error as the other, is, nevertheless, an error of hurtful consequence, inasmuch as it tends to damp and discourage the laudable spirit of enterprize and improvement. 66 In ancient times the world was by so many ages younger and less experienced than it is in our own times"-observed the great Chancellor Bacon, who left this stage of mortality nearly two centuries ago. And with the like propriety may the same observation be made now, and retorted. In Chancellor Bacon's times (we have a good right to say) the world was so many ages younger and less experienced than it is in our own times. Neither is there wanting the fullest evidence arising out of the progress of civil society. Deeply astonished must have been that wonderful man, could he have foreseen the immense harvest of improvement already yielded from the seed, of which he was kimself, as respects human agency, the principal sower. The chequered age that we ourselves live in, is, along with all its pernicious follies and heavy iniquities, an age fraught with useful discoveries, with rare inventions, and with grand designs and plans of philanthropy. This terraqueous globe, and the nations and tribes inhabiting it, are much better known now, than at any former period. Through means of new inventions we enjoy very many comforts and conveniences, of which our progenitors of all former times were destitute; while fresh sources of knowledge are opened to us with regard to the customs, manners, and conditions of the various branches of the human family. I should far exceed my proper limits were I so much as to name even an inconsiderable part of the useful inventions, discoveries, and improvements of the present |