“Your committee, simply from the want of a new theme, have been compelled, even at the hazard of proving tedious, to confine themselves to an old one. The many extravagancies daily exhibited by those around us might perhaps afford more matter for ridicule than admonition, but few are willing that their follies should be made the means of amusing others, whilst none will object to a little kind advice, though he be determined not to heed it. We therefore concluded that the latter mode of treating our subject, if the most stupid, would still possess the merit of being the least annoying. Then, too, stupidity having become a common quality, in which each is privileged to deal, a sacred right not to be denied without closing the mouths of more than nine-tenths of the world, our dullness can be no trespass and consequently needs no apology.” AN ESSAY. THE WISDOM OF PRESERVING MODERATION IN OUR WISHES. “Life runs best on little: nature’s store Can make all happy that will use their power.” IN the extended range of our wishes and their diversified character, the reflective man will recognise one of the greatest sources of human misery. The many desires which impel us affect alike the mind and heart, frequently disturbing the healthy repose of the one, and rendering the other cold and selfish. The illusory nature of life and its schemes, and the changing influences which ever surround us, seldom permit us to attain the most moderate aspirations of our youth. Through the lively impetus constantly given to the imagination during that period of life, we are prone to devise certain plans and arrange magnificent schemes to accomplish our desires; yet the weight of years steals upon us gradually, until we look upon the past but as a long chain of circumstances, and our present life and condition as its result. One by one our determinations, however long and fervently cherished, pass away unrealized; whilst our sanguine wishes, with their ardor perhaps somewhat abated through the influence of experience and the cool meditations of riper age, still remain ungratified. He who had contrived and contemplated schemes to amass wealth, and then retire to repose amid the comforts and luxuries of the world, may linger out a life of toil and poverty in some humble hamlet; he who had longed to ascend the steeps of science and gather in abundance its noble treasures, may feel the admonishing wrinkles upon his brow even before he has made one permanent acquisition; and he who had encouraged dreams of ambition, and courted the uncertain plaudits of fame, may die at last forgotten and unknown.