WIT AND TRUTH.

People may talk about fiction being the source of fancy, and wit being
at variance with truth. Now, some of the wittiest things in the world
are witty solely from their truth. Truth is the soul of a good saying.
"You assert," observes the Socrates of modern times, "that we have a
virtual representation; very well, let us have a virtual taxation too!"
Here the wit is in the fidelity of the sequitur. When Columbus broke the
egg, where was the wit? In the completeness of conviction in the broken
egg.

AUTO-THEOLOGY.

Not only every sect but every individual modifies the general attributes
of the Deity towards assimilation with his own character: the just man
dwells on the justice, the stern upon the wrath; the attributes that do
not please the worshipper he insensibly forgets. Wherefore, O my pupils,
you will not smile when you read in Barnes that the pygmies declared
Jove himself was a pygmy. The pious vanity of man makes him adore his
own qualities under the pretence of worshipping those of his God.

GLORIOUS CONSTITUTION.

A sentence is sometimes as good as a volume. If a man ask you to give
him some idea of the laws of England, the answer is short and easy: In
the laws of England there are somewhere about one hundred and fifty laws
by which a poor man may be hanged, but not one by which he can obtain
justice for nothing!

ANSWER TO THE POPULAR CANT THAT
GOODNESS IN A STATESMAN IS
BETTER THAN ABILITY.

As in the world we must look to actions, not motives, so a knave is the
man who injures you; and you do not inquire whether the injury be the
fruit of malice or necessity. Place, then, a fool in power, and he
becomes unconsciously the knave. Mr. Addington stumbled on the two very
worst and most villanous taxes human malice could have invented,--one on
medicines, the other on justice. What tyrant's fearful ingenuity could
afflict us more than by impeding at once redress for our wrongs, and
cure for our diseases? Mr. Addington was the fool in se, and therefore
the knave in office; but, bless you! he never meant it!

COMMON-SENSE.

Common-sense,--common-sense,--of all phrases, all catchwords, this is
often the most deceitful and the most dangerous. Look, in especial,
suspiciously upon common-sense whenever it is opposed to discovery.
Common-s