thing. Far from it. But while you have one great object in view, you can attend to other things which have a bearing on your object. If you were now sent on an express object to a distant part of the country, while the great object before you would be, to do your errand well and expeditiously, ought you not, as you pass along, to use your eyes, and gaze upon the various scenes and objects which lie in your way? Ought you not to have your ears open, to pick up what information, anecdote, fact, every thing of the kind, you can, and thus return wiser? Would all this hinder you in the least? And would you not be fitting yourself, by every such acquisition, to be a more agreeable, intelligent, and useful man?

7. Form fixed principles on which you can think and act.

A good scholar tries so to fix every word in his memory, that, when he meets with it again, he need not turn to a dictionary. His companion may dispute its derivation, or its gender, and he may not be able to tell just how the word appeared when he looked it out; but he has made up his mind about it, and has a fixed opinion. He may not now be able to tell you by what process he came to that opinion. It should be so with every thing. Do not examine a subject in order to get some general notion of it, but, if now in haste, wait till you can do it thoroughly. No matter what it be, of great importance or small, if it be worth examining at all, do it thoroughly, and do it once for all; so that, whenever the subject shall again come up, your mind may be settled and at rest. It is the pos session of established and unwavering principles that makes a man a firm character. These prin

ciples relate to right and wrong, and, indeed, to every thing about which the judgment has to balance probabilities. Do not be hasty in coming to conclusions. Young men generally err more by being precipitate, than for want of judgment. If they will only give themselves time to weigh the matter, their conclusions will usually be correct.

I have never read of the martyrdom of the venerable Latimer, without being touched, almost to tears, to see him clinging to his long-established principles. They urged him to dispute and prove his religion true, and the popish, false. He knew that he was old, and had lost somewhat of the strength of his mind. He would not dispute. He left that for young and vigorous minds, while he died simply repeating his belief! He knew very well that he had once examined the subject with all the vigour of his intellect, and he was not to go and again prove his principles to be correct. Conduct which stands on such a basis, and character which strikes its roots thus deep, will be such as will bear scrutiny, and such as no storm can shake.

8. Be simple and neat in your personal habits.

Let your dress be neat and simple. Do not feel that the body, which is merely a case for the soul, is of too great importance. At the same time, he who is a "good and true man," will be likely to keep the outside of his house in good order. I would recommend that your clothes be of good quality; so good, that you constantly feel that they are worth preserving, and that you feel anxious to show your economy, by the length of time they last. For exercise, you should have a different dress. No one can enjoy himself who undertakes to study and exercise in the same dress. In your study, use an old coat or gown.

You will feel more easy and comfortable, and your best coat will last all the longer for it.

Your dress should be warm. If you wear flannels next the skin, mind they are often changed. Be sure, also, to keep your feet dry and warm. In order to this, you must use them every day in walking.

No slave is so abject as he who tries to keep near the foremost in the race of fashion. But cannot a student be particularly nice about his dress without having his heart all in it? I reply, "that whenever you see the tail of a fox out of the hole, you may be pretty sure that the fox is in the hole." Keep your clothes neat and clean; your coat, your hat, your boots or shoes; and be neat, as to your linen: but do not show or feel that this is by any means the great business of life.

Pay particular attention to your teeth. By this I mean, simply cleanse them with a soft brush and with water, in which a little common salt is dissolved, the last thing before you retire at night. This simple direction faithfully followed, will ordinarily keep the teeth good till old age. I would urge this, because, if neglected, the following are the results :-Your breath will inevitably become offensive from defective teeth; your comfort will be destroyed by frequent tooth-ache; your health will suffer for the want of good teeth to masticate the food; and last, though not least, you will early lose your teeth. These may seem small affairs now, but the habit of neglect will assuredly bring much suffering when it is too late to remedy the neglect.

Do not affect singularity in any of your habits. We never feel at home with a man of odd habits; and any such will assuredly increase upon him.

Any person makes a heavy draft upon the kindness of mankind who every day demands that they bear with his eccentricities.

Be particularly attentive to your behaviour at table; for, from his situation, the student is peculiarly tempted to err there. A man is never more mistaken than when he supposes that any strength of mind or attainments will render his company agreeable, while his manners are rude. If you are accustomed to society, behave as you know how to do; if not accustomed to it, behave modestly, and you will behave well. In all your intercourse with your fellow-students, always maintain the appearance and character of a gentleman, never that of a buffoon, or of a sloven. As your character now is, in these respects, so it is likely to be through life. Keep your room and person at all times just as you would have it if you expected your mother or sister to visit you. Neatness is the word by which to designate all that is meant in regard to your personal appear

ance.

9. Acquire the habit of doing every thing well.

It is well known that Johnson used to write and send copy to the press without even looking it over by way of revising. This was the effect of habit. He began by composing slowly, but with great accuracy. We are naturally impatient of restraint, and have so little patience at our command, that it is a rare thing to find a young man doing anything as well as he can. He wishes to do it quickly. And in the conversation of students, you seldom hear one tell how well he did this or that, but how quickly. This is a pernicious habit. Anything that is worth doing at all, is worth doing well; and a mind well disciplined in other respects, is defective, if it have not this habit.

Everything should be done well, and practice will soon enable you to do it quickly. How many are miserable readers, and miserable writers, as to manner and matter, because they do not possess this habit! Euripides used to compose but three lines while a contemporary poet composed three hundred; but one wrote for immortality, and the other for the day. Your reading had better be but little, your conversations but few, your compositions short, and well done. The man who is in a “great hurry," is commonly the one who hurries over the small stages of the journey, without making the great business of life to consist in accomplishing as much as possible.

"How is it that you do so much?" said one, in astonishment at the efforts and success of a great man. 'Why, I do but one thing at a time, and try to finish it once for all." I would, therefore, have you keep this in mind :-Do not send a letter home blotted or hurried, and then make excuses because you are in a hurry. You have no right to be in such a hurry. It is doing injustice to yourself. Do not make a memorandum so carelessly, that in five years you can make nothing of it. Do not hurry anything so that you know not what you do, or do not know certainly about it, and have to trust to vague impressions. What we call a superficial character is formed in this way; and those who are not careful to form and cherish the habit of doing everything well, may expect to be nothing else than superficial.

10. Make constant efforts to be master of your temper.

The often-quoted remark of Solomon, in regard to authorship and study, is true as to life; and that study which is such a "weariness to the flesh,”