ch their
tether. I cannot say of any man that he has gone on improving for
years; his mark is fixed, and he knows it--though he is exceptionally
sagacious if he knows where it is drawn as respects others--and there
he stays till he begins to deteriorate. The first warning of decadence
is the loss of memory, after which it is a question of time (and good
sense) when he shall withdraw from the ranks of the fighting men and
become a mere spectator of the combat. It was said by a great gambler
that the next pleasure in life to that of winning was that of losing;
and to the real lover of whist, the next pleasure to that of playing a
good game is that of looking on at one.

Whist has been extolled, and justly, upon many accounts; but the
peculiar advantage of the game is, perhaps, that it utilises socially
many persons who would not otherwise be attractive. Unless a player is
positively disagreeable, he is as good to play whist with as a
conversational Crichton. Moreover, though the poet has hinted of the
evanescent character of 'friendships made in wine,' such is not the
case with those made at whist. The phrase, 'my friend and partner,'
used by a well-known lady in fiction, in speaking of another lady, is
one that is particularly applicable to this social science, and holds
good, as it does, alas, in no other case, even when the partner becomes
an adversary.

_RELATIONS._

It is a favourite utterance of a much 'put-upon' Paterfamilias of my
acquaintance, when he finds his family more than usually too much for
him, and cynically confesses his own shortcomings, that 'children
cannot be too particular in their choice of their parents, or begin
their education too early.'

But not only are children a necessity--that is, if the world of men and
women is to be kept going, concerning the advantage of which there
seems, however, just now, to be some doubt,--but when they have
arrived, they cannot, except in very early life, be easily got rid of.
In this respect they differ from the relations whose case I am about to
consider, and also possess a certain claim upon us over and above the
mere tie of blood, since we are responsible for their existence. The
obligation on the other side is, I venture to think, a little
exaggerated. If there is such a thing as natural piety, which, even in
these days, few are found to deny, it is the reverence, it is true,
with which children regard their parents; but their moral indebtedness