versity are followed
by seasons of sweet prosperity; and thus, like the immortal Sir
Hudibras, when "in doleful dumps", we may "cheer ourselves with ends
of verse, and sayings of philosophers."

In the following small selection of aphorisms, a considerable
proportion are drawn from Eastern literature. Indian wisdom is
represented by passages from the great epics, the _Mahabharata_ and
the _Ramayana_; the _Panchatantra_ and the _Hitopadesa_, two
Sanskrit versions of the famous collection of apologues known in
Europe as the Fables of Bidpai, or Pilpay; the _Dharma-sastra_ of
Manu; Bharavi, Magha, Bhartrihari, and other Hindu poets. Specimens
of the mild teachings of Buddha and his more notable followers are
taken from the _Dhammapada_ (Path of Virtue) and other canonical
works; pregnant sayings of the Jewish Fathers, from the Talmud;
Moslem moral philosophy is represented by extracts from Arabic and
Persian writers (among the great poets of Persia are, Firdausi,
Sa'di, Hafiz, Nizami, Omar Khayyam, Jami); while the proverbial
wisdom of the Chinese and the didactic writings of the sages of
Burmah are also occasionally cited.

The ordinary reader will probably be somewhat surprised to discover
in the aphorisms of the ancient Greeks and Hindus several close
parallels to the doctrines of the Old and New Testaments, and he
will have reasoned justly if he conclude that the so-called
"heathens" could have derived their spiritual light only from the
same Source as that which inspired the Hebrew prophets and the
Christian apostles.

Among English writers of aphorisms Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, is
pre-eminent, but none of his pithy sentences find place here,
because they are procurable in many inexpensive forms, (_e.g._,
_Counsels from my Lord Bacon_, 1892), and must be familiar to what is
termed "the average general reader." _The Enchiridion_ of Frances
Quarles and the _Resolves_ of Owen Feltham are, however, laid under
contribution, as also Robert Chamberlain, an author who is probably
unknown to many pluming themselves on their thorough acquaintance
with English literature, some of whose aphorisms (published in 1638,
under the title of _Nocturnal Lucubrations_) I have deemed worthy of
reproduction.

In more modern times, with the sole exception of William Hazlitt,
our country has produced no very successful writer of aphorisms.
Colton's _Lacon; or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those
who Think_, went through sev