him that declares himself an Enemy; but the secret and domestic Evil oppresseth us before we can perceive or find it out.

3. Gerunds in dum, with a Preposition.

1. We are prone by Nature, not only to learn, but to teach.

2. Nature and Genius are the greatest Helps to learning.

3. Though it may be useful sometimes to speak off-hand, yet far more advantageous is it, having taken Time to think, to speak more completely and accurately.

4. In the Things themselves, which are learned and known, there are Inducements by which we are incited to learn and know them.

5. Sometimes to honor a Man more than is just, is to provoke others to deserve well.

6. Prosperity is apt to hide and conceal the Vices of Men; but when Adversity comes, then are they discovered and known to all Men.

7. We are all Members of one great Body; we are all Kindred by Nature, who hath formed us of the same Elements, and to the same End: she hath implanted in us mutual Affection, and made us sociable: she hath commanded Justice and Equity; and, by her Command, the Hand is ever ready to give Assistance. X

8. As there is great Variety in our Persons ; some are swift in running, others strong for wrestling; some have a Dignity, and others a Sweet ness of Aspect; so is there still a greater Variety in our Minds.

9. Serpents creep, Ducks swim, Merlins fly, Bulls push with their Horns, Scorpions sting: and thus to every Animal Nature is their Guide how to live.

10. I could not but be angry with him for contradicting me, when what I said was true.

11. Having got a Plank in the Wreck, he resigned it to save his Friend.

12. In praying, the Mind must not wander, but be fixed most attentively on the present Business. 13. Before we judge, we ought to deliberate; and to think before we speak.

Cùm significatur Necessitas, &c.

A Gerund in dum, without a Preposition, and joined with the Verb est, and implying some Necessity or Duty to do a Thing, may have both the Active and Passive Construction of the Verb from whenee it is derived :-And the Person which in English seems to be the Nominative Case, is put in the Dative: as, He must be watchful, Vigilandum est ei: but this Dative is always expressed.

1. As all Things that are excellent, are difficult to be attained, we must labor if we would acquire Knowledge.

2. If any Thing be spoken more freely in Conversation, it must not be divulged.

3. Great Things must be judged of by great Minds, otherwise the Fault will seem to lie in the Things, which is really our own.

4. There is no Evil but what has some Excuse to authorise it: Covetousness promiseth Wealth; Luxury many and various Pleasures; Ambition

promises Glory, Applause, and Power: but we must live here free and disinterested.

5. We must principally take care to avoid the Love of Money; for nothing shews a mean and narrow Spirit more than Avarice; and nothing is more noble and exalted, than to despise Riches if you have them not; and if you have them, to employ them in virtuous and generous Purposes.

6. We must remember, that Justice is to be observed even to the lowest of Mankind.

7. When any Thing darkens the Mind, so as to prevent its seeing the Order of Duties, it is in vain to direct a Man, saying, So you must live: for Precepts avail nothing, so long as Error cloudeth the Understanding: if this be removed, then will ap pear what is required by every Duty.

8. Our Conversation ought to be free from all Emotions of the Mind, neither over-angry, nor over-earnest, but without Drawling or Indolence: and above all Things we must endeavour to express our Esteem and Love for those we converse with.

9. We must never, by avoiding Danger, subject ourselves to be thought irresolute and cowardly : but, at the same time, we must take care not to expose ourselves to Danger wantonly; than which nothing can be more stupid.

10. We are necessarily moved with the Appearance of Profit or Utility; but if upon examining the Object more attentively, you perceive Wickedness connected with it, the true Utility is not to be abandoned: but it must be understood, that where there is Wickedness, there can be no Utility.

11. In all Transactions, we must be sure that

what seems profitable, be not disgraceful; and if it be disgraceful, not to think it profitable.

12. We are to endeavour to avoid Absurdities, rather than attempt those Excellencies which Nature has not given us.

Vertuntur etiam Gerundia, &c.

GERUNDS also are often elegantly turned into Nouns Adjective (or Gerundives in dus), and then they agree in Case, Gender and Number, with the Word that they govern as Gerunds. For Example-The Glory of making Honey: here, if you use the Gerund, it would be generandi mel, but if the (Gerundive) Adjective, it must be generandi mellis so in the Rule, the Gerund would be Ad accusandum homines; but, being rendered by the Adjęctive, it is Ad accusandos homines.

Note. The Gerund in di passes into a Genitive; the Gerund in do into a Dative or Ablative, and the Gerund in dum into an Accusative.

1. With a Genitive.

1. Frudence is the Knowledge of Things to be sought after.

2. Do you ask what makes us forget a Benefit received? The Desire of one to be received: We consider not what is already obtained, but what is still to be obtained.

3. There are two kinds of Generosity; the one of conferring a Benefit, the other of repaying: It is in our own power whether we give or no; but not to repay it, is inconsistent with the Character

of a good Man, provided he can repay it without Injury to any one.

4. The means of revenging an Injury are easier than of repaying a Kindness: for 'tis not so difficult to be superior to the bad, as to equal the good; nor is it indeed so necessary to repay what you owe to those who have deserved ill, as to those who have deserved well.

5. As the Swarms of Bees do not assemble on account of forming their Combs, but naturally associating together, they then form them; thus Men, through a much stronger Principle, being associated by Nature, assiduously apply themselves to thinking and speaking.

6. To be always happy, and to pass Life without Trouble, is not to know the other Side of the Nature of Things: you are a great Man, but how do you know it, unless Fortune gives you an Opportunity of exhibiting your Virtue?

7. The Necessity of bearing our Condition, reminds us that we are Men, and restrains us from rebelling against the Will of God; and this Thought serves, in a great measure, to alleviate our Sorrows.

8. There are three sorts of Things to be desired: First, such as attract us of themselves, not by any View of Profit, but by their own Dignity; of this sort are Virtue, Knowledge, Truth: the second, such as are desirable, not in their own Nature, but on account of Profit and Utility, as Money: the third, compounded as it were of these two, attracts us both by their own Power and Dignity, and these carry with them Utility and Profit, as Friendship and Reputation.