Again, most men so celebrated are sure to be more or less spoiled. They become themselves insensibly influenced by that assentation which, when detected, they sincerely despised. The moral seems to be, that the impulses of the most benevolent heart may be obscured or frustrated by an irritable temper; that habits the most faulty may rise from motives which, in their origin, were pure or praiseworthy; that it is the character of Vice to tempt us by small beginnings; that, knowing her own deformity, she seldom fails to recommend herself as the representative, and too often to assume the garb, of Virtue; that the most just and benevolent are not safe, unless habitual self-government preside over the dictates of the intellect and the heart, and that the _impulse_ to which _assent_ is yielded to-day, may exert the influence of a command to-morrow; that, in fact, we must be masters or slaves. "Rege animum qui nisi paret Imperat." The views which we have thus ventured on submitting, are verbatim those which appeared in the former editions of these Memoirs, and, consequently, were written long before we were favoured with the following letter. It was written to his daughter Anne, before her marriage with the late Dr. Warburton, dated Littlehampton, August 13, and is remarkably corroborative of some of the preceding remarks. "My dear Anne, "Lack of employment is, as I believe, the cause of your receiving this note in reply to the one I received from you by your mother. Certain I am that I never thought of writing an answer till just now, when it occurred to me that it would be polite to do so, which very phrase had nearly prevented the intention. Why have all the legitimate children of John Bull an aversion to politeness? 'Tis because it so commonly covereth a multitude of sins; because, with honest simplicity, they have often caught hold of the garb and found that it concealed deformity and malice. I frankly acknowledge that I may have carried my detestation too far, because it does not necessarily follow that our best friends should not wear becoming and fashionable apparel. I like to see them _en deshabille_, however. 'Tis the man, and not the dress, I am concerned about. I tell you, sincerely, that I take your note to be one of many evidences of your having both a good head and heart. Other young ladies would have spoken to mamma. Enough of this unprofitable chat. "Yours ever, "JOHN ABERNETHY. "Little Hampton, 13th August." When the editors of the medical periodicals first began to publish the lectures given at the different hospitals, there was considerable discussion as to the propriety of so doing. The press, of course, defended its own views in a spirit which, though not always unwelcome to readers, is frequently "wormwood" to the parties to whom the press may be opposed.