first of these take his young master to the
kingdom of Spain, in order to marry the infanta, and then break off the
match for no cause at all? Did he not afterwards involve the nation in a
quarrel with the king of France, only because her most christian majesty
would not let him go to bed to her? What was the character of the second
duke? This nobleman,

Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong,
Was every thing by starts, and nothing long,
But, in the course of one revolving moon,
Was chymist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon.

My lord, I do not flatter you so far as to suppose that your abilities
are as great, or that you will ever make so distinguished a figure as
either of these noblemen. But I would have you imitate them in your
humbler circle, and venture greatly, though the honour you should derive
from it, should be only, that you greatly fell. Accept therefore, my
lord, of one of the principal responsible offices without thought and
without hesitation. Through terror or manly spirit, or whatever you
choose to call it, resign again the next day. As soon as you have done
this, make interest for another place, and if you can obtain it, throw
it up as soon again. This, my lord, is not, as an ignorant and
coxcomical writer has represented it, "the vibration of a pendulum," but
a conduct, wise, manly, judicious, and heroic. Who does not know, that
the twinkling stars are of a more excellent nature, than those which
shine upon us with unremitted lustre? Who does not know that the comet,
which appears for a short time, and vanishes again for revolving years,
is more gazed upon than either? But I am afraid the comet is too sublime
an idea for your lordship's comprehension. I would therefore recommend
to you, to make the cracker the model of your conduct. You should snap
and bounce at regular intervals; at one moment you should seem a blazing
star, and the next be lost in trackless darkness.

My lord, there is nothing, which at all times I have taken more pains to
subdue, than that overweening pride, and immeasurable conceit, which are
the principal features of your lordship's character. Nature, indeed, has
furnished you with one corrective to them, or they must infallibly have
damned you. It is timidity. Other people may laugh at this quality. For
my part I esteem it worthy the loudest praise and most assiduous
cultivation. When the balance hangs in doubt between the adventurousness
of vanity and the frigidi