few observations of an ancient Greek, secondly, by a report given of
them by a bystander, and, thirdly, by the accidental perusal of them,
after twenty centuries, by one of his customers.

CHEERFULNESS.

Sullen and good, morbid and wise, are impossible conditions. The best
test, both of a man's wisdom and goodness, is his cheerfulness. When one
is not cheerful, he is almost invariably stupid. A sad face seldom gets
into much credit with the world, and rarely deserves to. "Sorrow," says
old Montaigne, "is a base passion."

"The quarrel between Gray and me," said Horace Walpole, "arose from his
being too serious a companion." In my opinion, this was a good ground
for cutting the connection. What right has any one to be "too serious a
companion?"

COWARDS.

In desperate straits the fears of the timid aggravate the dangers that
imperil the brave. For cowards the road of desertion to the enemy should
be left open; they will carry over to them nothing but their fears. The
poltroon, like the scabbard, is an incumbrance when once the sword is
drawn.

CRITICISM.

No work deserves to be criticized which has not much in it that deserves
to be applauded. The legitimate aim of criticism is to direct attention
to what is excellent The bad will dig its own grave, and the imperfect
may be safely left to that final neglect from which no amount of present
undeserved popularity can rescue it.

Ever so critical of things: never but good-naturedly so of persons.

CULTURE.

Partial culture runs to the ornate; extreme culture to simplicity.

DEATH.

Without death in the world, existence in it would soon become, through
over-population, the most frightful of curses. To death we owe our life;
the passing of one generation clears the way for another; and thus, in
the economy of Providence, the very extinction of being is a provision
for extending the boon of existence. Even wars and disease are _a good
misunderstood_. Without them, child-murder would be as common in
Christendom as it is in over-populated China.

DEBTORS AND CREDITORS.

To interest a number of people in your welfare, get in debt to them. If
they will not then promote your interest, it is because they are not
alive to their own. It is to the advantage of creditors to aid their
debtors. Caesar owed more than a million of dollars before he obtained
his first public employment, and at a later period his liabilities
exceeded his assets by ten millions.