gur's prayer; 'feed me with
food convenient for me, lest I be full and deny Thee, and say, Who
is the Lord? or lest I be poor and steal.' And there are many
things--flatteries, disgraceful humiliations, hypocrisies--which are
almost as bad as stealing. One of the sharpest pinches of poverty to
some minds must be their inability (because of their dependency on him
and that of others upon them) to tell a man what they think of him.

Riches and poverty are of course but relative terms; but the happiest
material position in which a man can be placed is that of 'means with a
margin.' Then, however small his income may be, however it may behove
him to 'cut and contrive,' as the housekeepers call it, he does not feel
the pinch of poverty. I have known a rich man say to an acquaintance of
this class, 'My good friend, if you only knew how very small are the
pleasures my money gives me which you yourself cannot purchase!' And for
once it was not one of those cheap and empty consolations which the
wealthy are so ready to bestow upon their less fortunate
fellow-creatures. Dives was, in that instance, quite right in his
remark; only we must remember he was not speaking to Lazarus. 'A dinner
of herbs where love is,' is doubtless quite sufficient for us; only
there must be enough of it, and the herbs should be nicely cooked in an
omelette.

_THE LITERARY CALLING AND ITS FUTURE._

One would think that in writing about literary men and matters there
would be no difficulty in finding a title for one's essay, or that any
embarrassment which might arise would be from excess of material. I find
this, however, far from being the case. 'Men of Letters,' for example,
is a heading too classical and pretentious. I do indeed remember its
being used in these modern days by the sub-editor of a country paper,
who, having quarrelled with his proprietor, and reduced him to silence
by a violent kick in the abdomen, thus addressed him: 'I leave you and
your dirty work for ever, and start to-night for London, to take up my
proper position as a Man of Letters.' But this gentleman's case (and I
hope that of his proprietor) was an exceptional one. The term in general
is too ambitious and suggestive of the author of 'Cato,' for my humble
purpose. 'Literature as a Profession,' again, is open to objection on
the question of fact. The professions do not admit literature into their
brotherhood. 'Literature, Science, and Art' are all spoken of in the
l