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Article COLLECTANEA. ← Page 3 of 3
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Collectanea.
PAGAN PHILOSOPHY . — " What is it which can conduct us honourably out of life ancl accompany us in our future progress ? Philosophy alone , and this consists in preserving the divinity within us free from all affronts and injuries , superior to pleasure and pain , doing nothing either inconsiderately or insincerely and hypocritically ; —being independent on what others may do or not;—embracing cheerfully whatever befals or is appointed , as coming from Him from whom itself was derived : —and , above all , expecting death with calm satisfaction , conceiving it to be only a dissolution of those elements of which every animal is compounded . "—Marcus Antoninus .
HUMAN HAPPINESS . — " I have lived , " says the indefatigable Dr . Clarke , " to know that the great secret of human happiness is thisnever suffer your energies to stagnate . The old adage of ' too many irons in the fire , ' contains an abominable falsehood , you cannot have too many ; pokers , tongs , ancl all—keep them all going . " THE TOADY . — "Under the cold shade of aristocracy—how often is to be met with—the sycophant ? Mr . Vernon Tuft was one of
them . His character was written in his face—disagreeable to look atthough he thought far otherwise—he yet contrived to make himself pleasant , to be listened to by the languid and ennuyed fashionable . He spoke ever— 1 In a toady's key , 1 With bated breath and whispering humbleness . *
His person was at once effeminate and coarse , his gesture and address were cringing—there was an intolerable calmness and gentleness about them at all times , but especially when labouring in his vocation . He had the ait of administering delicate and appropriate flattery by a look only , deferential and insinuating , as well ashy words . He had always at command a copious store of gossip , highly seasoned with scandal ; which he collected and prepared with industry and judgment . Clever
toadies are generally bitter ones—with sense enough to perceive , but not spirit enough to abandon their odious propensities ; they are aware of the ignominious spectacle they exhibit before the eyes of men of the least degree of independence and discernment , and whose open contempt they have not power or manliness enough to resent . Then their smothered rage takes an inward turn ; it tends to and centres in the tongue , from which it falls in drops of scalding virus ; and thus it is
that the functions of sycophant and slanderer are so often found united in the same miserable individual . Does a sycophant fancy that his patron—if one may use such a term—is not aware ofhis character and position ? would that he could hear himself spoken of by those to whom he has last been cottoning ! If he could but for one moment ' see himself as others see him , ' surely he would instantly wriggle out ofthe sight of man . "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Collectanea.
PAGAN PHILOSOPHY . — " What is it which can conduct us honourably out of life ancl accompany us in our future progress ? Philosophy alone , and this consists in preserving the divinity within us free from all affronts and injuries , superior to pleasure and pain , doing nothing either inconsiderately or insincerely and hypocritically ; —being independent on what others may do or not;—embracing cheerfully whatever befals or is appointed , as coming from Him from whom itself was derived : —and , above all , expecting death with calm satisfaction , conceiving it to be only a dissolution of those elements of which every animal is compounded . "—Marcus Antoninus .
HUMAN HAPPINESS . — " I have lived , " says the indefatigable Dr . Clarke , " to know that the great secret of human happiness is thisnever suffer your energies to stagnate . The old adage of ' too many irons in the fire , ' contains an abominable falsehood , you cannot have too many ; pokers , tongs , ancl all—keep them all going . " THE TOADY . — "Under the cold shade of aristocracy—how often is to be met with—the sycophant ? Mr . Vernon Tuft was one of
them . His character was written in his face—disagreeable to look atthough he thought far otherwise—he yet contrived to make himself pleasant , to be listened to by the languid and ennuyed fashionable . He spoke ever— 1 In a toady's key , 1 With bated breath and whispering humbleness . *
His person was at once effeminate and coarse , his gesture and address were cringing—there was an intolerable calmness and gentleness about them at all times , but especially when labouring in his vocation . He had the ait of administering delicate and appropriate flattery by a look only , deferential and insinuating , as well ashy words . He had always at command a copious store of gossip , highly seasoned with scandal ; which he collected and prepared with industry and judgment . Clever
toadies are generally bitter ones—with sense enough to perceive , but not spirit enough to abandon their odious propensities ; they are aware of the ignominious spectacle they exhibit before the eyes of men of the least degree of independence and discernment , and whose open contempt they have not power or manliness enough to resent . Then their smothered rage takes an inward turn ; it tends to and centres in the tongue , from which it falls in drops of scalding virus ; and thus it is
that the functions of sycophant and slanderer are so often found united in the same miserable individual . Does a sycophant fancy that his patron—if one may use such a term—is not aware ofhis character and position ? would that he could hear himself spoken of by those to whom he has last been cottoning ! If he could but for one moment ' see himself as others see him , ' surely he would instantly wriggle out ofthe sight of man . "