e of thine enemies, but
hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; behold, I have
done according to thy words, so I have given thee a wise and
understanding heart, so that there was none like thee before thee,
neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee."

13. "And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both
riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like
unto thee all thy days. And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my
statutes and my commandments as thy father _David_ did walk, then I will
lengthen thy days." And Solomon awoke and behold it was a dream.

14. The French poet has shadowed this story in an allegory, of which he
seems to have taken the hint from the fable of the three goddesses
appearing to Paris, or rather from the vision of _Hercules_, recorded by
_Xenophon_, where _Pleasure_ and _Virtue_ are represented as real
persons making their court to the hero with all their several charms and
allurements.

15. _Health_, _Wealth_, _Victory_ and _Honor_ are introduced
successively in their proper emblems and characters, each of them
spreading her temptations, and recommending herself to the young
monarch's choice. _Wisdom_ enters last, and so captivates him with her
appearance, that he gives himself up to her. Upon which she informs him,
that those who appeared before her were nothing but her equipage, and
that since he had placed his heart upon _Wisdom_, _Health_, _Wealth_,
_Victory_ and _Honor_ should always wait an her as her handmaids.

_Directions how to spend our Time._

1. We all of us complain of the shortness of time, saith _Seneca_, and
yet have much more than we know what to do with. Our lives, says he, are
spent either in doing nothing at all, or in doing nothing to the
purpose, or in doing nothing that we ought to do; we are always
complaining our days are few, and acting as though there would be no end
of them. That noble philosopher has described our inconsistency with
ourselves in this particular, by all those various turns of expression
and thought which are peculiar to his writings.

2. I often consider mankind as wholly inconsistent with itself in a
point that bears some affinity to the former. Though we seem grieved at
the shortness of life in general, we are wishing every period of it at
an end. The minor longs to be at age, then to be a man of business, then
to make up an estate, then to arrive at honors, then to reti