[95] Funereal airs. It must be remembered that many of the Psalms of David were written by him when persecuted by Saul, as also in the tribulation caused by the wicked conduct of his son Absalom. Some of them, too, though called “The Psalms of David,” were really composed by the Jews in their captivity at Babylon; as, for instance, the 137th Psalm, which so beautifully commences, “By the waters of Babylon there we sat down.” One of them is supposed to be the composition of Moses. [96] This fine passage, beginning at “Prosperity is the blessing,” which was not published till 1625, twenty-eight years after the first Essays, has been quoted by Macaulay, with considerable justice, as a proof that the writer’s fancy did not decay with the advance of old age, and that his style in his later years became richer and softer. The learned critic contrasts this passage with the terse style of the Essay of Studies (Essay 50), which was published in 1597. [97] Tac. Ann. v. 1. [98] Tac. Hist. ii. 76. [99] A word now unused, signifying the “traits,” or “features.” [100] A truth.—_A. L._ II. xxiii. 14. [101] Proverbs x. 1: “A wise son maketh a glad father, but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.” [102] Petted—spoiled. [103] This word seems here to mean “a plan,” or “method,” as proved by its results. [104] Ends in. [105] There is considerable justice in this remark. Children should be taught to do what is right for its own sake, and because it is their duty to do so, and not that they may have the selfish gratification of obtaining the reward which their companions have failed to secure, and of being led to think themselves superior to their companions. When launched upon the world, emulation will be quite sufficiently forced upon them by stern necessity. [106] “Select _that course of life_ which is the most advantageous; habit will soon render it pleasant and easily endured.” [107] His meaning is, that if clergymen have the expenses of a family to support, they will hardly find means for the exercise of benevolence toward their parishioners. [108] “He preferred his aged wife Penelope to immortality.” This was when Ulysses was entreated by the goddess Calypso to give up all thoughts of returning to Ithaca, and to remain with her in the enjoyment of immortality.—_Plut. Gryll._ 1. [109] “May have a pretext,” or “excuse.” [110] Thales, _Vide_ Diog. Laert. i. 26.