lging the foolish vanity of claiming any merit to
yourself. Thus a person of but an indifferent capacity, may be so
assisted, as, in many instances, to shine with borrowed lustre, scarce
distinguishable from the native, and by degrees he may be brought into a
kind of mechanical method of acting properly, in all the common
occurrences of life. Odd as this position may seem, it is founded in
fact. I have seen the method successfully practised by more than one
person, where a weak mind, on the governed side, has been so prudently
set off as to appear the sole director; like the statue of the Delphic
god, which was thought to give forth its own oracles, whilst the humble
priest, who lent his voice, was by the shrine concealed, nor sought a
higher glory than a supposed obedience to the power he would be thought
to serve."

A LETTER TO A NEW MARRIED MAN.

I received the news of your marriage with infinite delight, and hope
that the sincerity with which I wish you happiness, may excuse the
liberty I take in giving you a few rules, whereby more certainly to
obtain it. I see you smile at my wrong-headed kindness, and, reflecting
on the charms of your bride, cry out in a rapture, that you are happy
enough without any rules. I know you are. But after one of the forty
years, which I hope you will pass pleasingly together, is over, this
letter may come in turn, and rules for felicity may not be found
unnecessary, however some of them may appear impracticable.

Could that kind of love be kept alive through the marriage state, which
makes the charm of a single one, the sovereign good would no longer be
sought for; in the union of two faithful lovers it would be found: but
reason shows that this is impossible, and experience informs us that it
never was so; we must preserve it as long, and supply it as happily as
we can.

When your present violence of passion subsides, however, and a more cool
and tranquil affection takes its place, be not hasty to censure yourself
as indifferent, or to lament yourself as unhappy; you have lost that
only which it was impossible to retain, and it were graceless amid the
pleasures of a prosperous summer to regret the blossoms of a transient
spring. Neither unwarily condemn your bride's insipidity till you have
recollected that no object however sublime, no sounds however charming,
can continue to transport us with delight when they no longer strike us
with novelty. The skill to renovate the powers