associate.

The hares of the sensitive Cowper were his evening companions; and he informs us that their cheerfulness and frolicsomeness beguiled his hours of sadness.

The following are the rules, much abridged, which the judicious Mason gives to the student, in regard to conversation.

(1.) Choose your company for profit, just as you do your books. The best company and the best books are those which are the most improving and entertaining. If you can receive neither improvement nor entertainment from your company, furnish one or both for them. If you can neither receive nor bestow benefit, leave that company at once.

(2.) Study the character of your company. If they are your superiors, ask them questions, and be an attentive hearer; if your inferiors, do them good.

(3.) When the conversation droops, revive it by introducing some topic so general that all can say something upon it. Perhaps it will not be amiss to stock your mind beforehand with suitable topics.

(4.) When anything is said new, valuable, or instructive, enter it in your memorandum-book. Keep all that you can lay your hand on that is worth keeping; but reject all trash.

(5.) Never be a cipher in company. Try to please, and you will find something to say that will be acceptable. It is ill manners to be silent. Even what is trite, if said in an obliging manner, will be better received than entire silence; and a common remark may often lead to something valuable. Break a dead silence, at any rate, and all will feel relieved and grateful to you.

(6.) Join in no hurry and clamour. If a point is handled briskly, wait till you have seen its different sides, and have become master of it. Then you may speak to advantage. Never repeat a good thing in the same company twice.

(7.) Remember that others see their foibles and mistakes in a light different from what you do; therefore be careful not to oppose or animadvert too freely upon them in company.

(8.) If the company slander or are profane, reprove it in words, if that will do; if not, by silence; and if that fails, withdraw.

(9.) Do not affect to shine in conversation, as if that were your peculiar excellency, and you were conscious of superior ability.

(10.) Bear with much that seems impertinent. It may not appear so to all, and you may learn something from it.

(11.) Be free and easy, and try to make all the rest feel so. In this way, much valuable thought may be drawn out.

"It

To these I would add, Never get out of temper in company. If you are ill treated, or affronted, that is not the place to notice it. If you are so unfortunate as to get into a dispute with a loud, heated antagonist, keep cool, perfectly so. is cold steel that cuts," and you will soon have the best end of the argument. The sympathy and respect of the circle will always move towards him who is cool under provocation. "If a man has a quarrelsome temper, let him alone. The world will soon find him employment. He will soon meet with some one stronger than himself, who will repay him better than you can. A man may fight duels all his life, if he is disposed to quarrel." What is usually understood by dis

pute, namely, something in which the feelings. are strongly enlisted, and in which there is strife for victory, ought never to be admitted into company. The game is too rough. And discussion, when it approaches that point, should be dropped

at once.

I cannot close without reminding my reader, that the power of communicating our thoughts and feelings by conversation, is one of the greatest blessings bestowed on man. It is a perpetual source of comfort, and may be an instrument of great usefulness. The tongue is an instrument, also, of vast mischief. It is our chief engine for doing good or mischief. The gift brings a vast responsibility upon us.

The

emotions of the soul, when expressed in language, will always affect others, more or less. If they are rightly affected, good is done; if improperly, evil is the result. You will never pass a day without having a heavy responsibility rest upon you for the use of this gift. Every word is heard by Him who planted the ear; and for every word you are bound over to give an answer at the great day of account. A man of piety, with a cultivated mind, with a fund of ready knowledge, with manners and habits that make him welcome wherever he goes, with an influence which cultivation always gives, such a man can do much for the good of man, the honour of his God, and for his own future peace, by the manner in which he uses his powers of conversation. His words, his tones, will pour delight into the soul of friendship; they will form the character of the little prattler who listens to him; they will pave his way to high and glorious scenes of usefulness; or they will fall heavy on the ear of affection, and will roll a deep night of sorrow

back upon his own soul. Remember that every word you utter, wings its way to the throne of God, and is to affect the condition of your soul for ever. Once uttered, it can never be recalled; and the impression which it makes, extends to the years beyond the existence of earth.

CHAPTER VII.

ON EXERCISE.

Ir must be plain to every reader, in the very outset, that the hopes and prospects of a student must depend very much upon his health. If the powers of the body be palsied or prostrated, or in any way abused, his mind must so far sympathise as to be unfitted for making progress in study. You may let the system run down and lose its tone by neglect, and, for a time, the mind retains its activity, as the fires created by some kinds of fuel burn brighter and brighter till they sink away at once.

You may be poorer, you may have had but small advantages heretofore; but above these, by industry and application, you may rise. But if your health be gone, you are, at once, cut off from doing anything by way of study. The mind cannot, and will not accomplish anything, unless you have good health. Resolve, then, that, at any rate, so far as it depends upon yourself, you will have the mens sana in sano corpore, "a sound mind in a healthy body."

It is frequently the case that the student, as the fields of knowledge open before him in all their boundless extent, feeling strong in his buoyancy and elasticity of youth, sits down