ht when he said, "See, my son, how little wisdom
it requires to govern States,"--that is, Men! That so many millions
of persons, each with a profound assurance that he is possessed of an
exalted sagacity, should concur in the ascendancy of a few inferior
intellects, according to a few stupid, prosy, matter-of-fact rules as
old as the hills, is a phenomenon very discreditable to the spirit and
energy of the aggregate human species! It creates no surprise that one
sensible watch-dog should control the movements of a flock of silly
grass-eating sheep; but that two or three silly grass-eating
sheep should give the law to whole flocks of such mighty sensible
watch-dogs--Diavolo! Dr. Riecabocca, explain that, if you can! And
wonderfully strange it is, that notwithstanding all the march of
enlightenment, notwithstanding our progressive discoveries in the
laws of Nature, our railways, steam-engines, animal magnetism, and
electrobiology,--we have never made any improvement that is generally
acknowledged, since men ceased to be troglodytes and nomads, in the
old-fashioned gamut of flats and sharps, which attunes into irregular
social jog-trot all the generations that pass from the cradle to the
grave; still, "the desire for something have have not" impels all the
energies that keep us in movement, for good or for ill, according to the
checks or the directions of each favourite desire.

A friend of mine once said to a millionaire, whom he saw forever engaged
in making money which he never seemed to have any pleasure in spending,
"Pray, Mr ----, will you answer me one question: You are said to have
two millions, and you spend L600 a year. In order to rest and enjoy,
what will content you?"

"A little more," answered the millionaire. That "little more" is the
mainspring of civilization. Nobody ever gets it!

"Philus," saith a Latin writer, "was not so rich as Laelius; Laelius was
not so rich as Scipio; Scipio was not so rich as Crassus; and Crassus
was not so rich--as he wished to be!" If John Bull were once contented,
Manchester might shut up its mills. It is the "little more" that makes a
mere trifle of the National Debt!--Long life to it!

Still, mend our law-books as we will, one is forced to confess that
knaves are often seen in fine linen, and honest men in the most shabby
old rags; and still, notwithstanding the exceptions, knavery is a very
hazardous game, and honesty, on the whole, by far the best policy.
Still, most of