Or bleating sheepfold. Hence utility With happy hamlets drown'd in apple bloom, Through all conditions; hence the joys of And ivy-muffled churches still with graves, Letting down buckets into empty wells, No doubt hard work is a great police-agent. If everybody were worked from morning till night, and then carefully locked up, the register of crimes might be greatly diminished. But what would become of human nature? Where would be the room for growth in such 1 a system of things? It is through sorrow and mirth, plenty and need, a variety of passions, circumstances, and temptations, even through sin and misery, that men's natures are developed. LANDSCAPE-Beauties of the. Helps. And restless fires subdued and tamed by day, The gliding sunbeam, the grey trailing shower, Smith. Take the case of a common English landscape-green meadows with fat cattle; canals, or navigable rivers; well-fenced, well-cultivated fields; neat, clean, scattered cottages; humble antique church, with churchyard elms; and crossing hedgerows, all seen under bright skies, and in good weather: there is much beauty, as every one will acknowledge, in such a scene. But in what does the beauty consist? Not, certainly, in the mere mixture of colours and forms; for colours more pleasing, and lines more graceful, (according to any theory of grace that may be preferred), might be spread upon a board, or a painter's pallet, without engaging the eye to a second glance, or raising the least emotion in the mind; but in the picture of human happiness, that is presented to our imaginations and affections,-and in the visible and unequivocal signs of comfort, and cheerful and peaceful enjoyment,-and of that secure and successful industry that insures its continuance,-and of the piety by which it is exalted, and of the simplicity by which it is contrasted with the guilt and the fever of a city life, in the images of health and temperance and plenty, which it exhibits to every eye, and in the glimpses which it affords to warmer imaginations, of those primitive or fabulous times, when man was uncorrupted by luxury and ambition; and of those humble retreats on which we still delight to imagine that love and philosophy may find an unpolluted asylum. Jeffrey. LANDSCAPE-An Interesting. Ascend While radiant summer opens all its pride, LANDSCAPE-Mountainous. There is not, perhaps, amid all the rich treasures of colour and form strewn throughout the globe, a more lovely and inspiriting sight than that bright bit of the world seen-with LANGUAGE. the bloom of early morning upon it-from the summit of the Drachenfels. It is an exquisite treat to look down upon the earth there, with an almost eagle's eye, and to find that you have the power, by your mere vision, of extending your consciousness to scenes that are miles away,-to feel the half-divinity of your own being in the faint sense that you thus obtain of Omnipresence; and to have a foretaste, as it were,-in the very dwindling of the earth, the nearer you draw towards heaven-of that vast spiritual expansion of your nature which is destined to ensue when the faculties are no longer "cribbed, cabined, and confined" within the close prison-walls of the body. Mayhew. LARK Sailing o'er the landscape dark, The lowly lark, unseen and little prized, sits, hard by, in his nest on the earth, gathering strength to bear his song up to the sun. Slowly rise basement and monumental aisle, column and architrave, dome and lofty tower; and when the cloud-piercing spire is burnished with gold, and the fabric stands perfect and wondrous, up springs the forgotten lark, with airy wheel, to the pinnacle, and standing poised and unwondering on his giddy perch, he pours out his celestial music till his bright footing trembles with harmony. And when the song is done, and, mounting hence, he soars away to fill his exhausted heart at the mountains of the sun, the dwellers in the towers below look up to the gilded spire and shout-not to the burnished shaft, but to the lark-lost from it in the sky. Willis. The lark that shuns on lofty boughs to build Marreth the perfect thought, and the dull ear Doth err in its most tortuous embassy; But the heart's lightning hath no obstacle; Quick glances, like the thrilling wires, transfuse The telegraphic look! Mrs. Sigourney. LANGUAGE-the Depository of Truth. A language will often be wiser, not merely than the vulgar, but even than the wisest of those who speak it. Being like amber in its efficacy to circulate the electric spirit of truth, it is also like amber in embalming and preserving the relics of ancient wisdom, although one is not seldom puzzled to decipher its contents. Sometimes it locks up truths which were once well known, but which, in the course of ages, have passed out of sight and been forgotten. In other cases, it holds the germs of LARK-the Messenger of Morn. truths, of which, though they were never plainly discerned, the genius of its framers Shrill-voiced, and loud-the messenger of caught a glimpse in a happy moment of divination. A meditative mar cannot refrain from wonder, when he digs down to the deep thought lying at the root of many a metaphorical term employed for the designation of spiritual things even of those with regard to which philosophers have blundered grossly; and often it would seem as though rays of truths, which were still below the intellectual horizon, had dawned upon the imagination, as it was looking up to heaven. Sala. LARK-Habits of the. Fraught with a transient frozen shower, Or power to climb, she made so low a choice; morn. Up springs the lark, LARK-Song of the. To hear the lark begin its flight, Milton. Ibid. LAUGHTER-Causes of. Laughter is properly an expression of joyous emotion. This remarkable perturbation of the system is brought on in many ways, and often by very slight causes. Mere hilarity, or animal spirits; cold, and acute pains, when not so intense as to stimulate the expression proper to pain; tickling, hysterical fits; selfcomplacency, and a feeling of triumph at some striking effect produced by self or others (the point insisted on by Hobbes in his theory of kughter), kindly feeling; the spectacle or notion of filthy, degraded, or forbidden things; the so-called ludicrous, which is usually the clash of dignity with meanness: these, and perhaps other circumstances besides, rank among the causes of laughter. The medulla oblongata, which is the immediate organ in bringing on the outburst, is very prone to be irritated to a discharge of this special influence. We find that some temperaments are pecuEarly liable to be excited to laughter; the liability may be so great as to be a positive weakness, indicating a sort of dissolute inconBain. tinence of the nervous system. LAUGHTER-Characteristics of. In order to look into any person's temper, I generally make my first observations upon his laugh, whether he is easily moved, and what are the passages which throw him into that agreeable kind of convulsion. People are never so much unguarded as when they are pleased; and laughter being a visible symptom of some inward satisfaction, it is then, if ever, we may believe the face. There is, perhaps, no better index to point us to the particularities of the mind than this, which is itself one of the chief distinctions of our rationality. For, as Milton says, How much lies in laughter: the cipher-key, wherewith we decipher the whole man! Some men wear an everlasting, barren simper; in the smile of others lies the cold glitter, as of ice; the fewest are able to laugh what can be called laughing, but only sniff and titter and sniggle from the throat outwards, or at least produce some whiffling, husky cachinnation, as if they were laughing through wool: of none such comes good. The man who cannot laugh is only fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils; but his own whole life is already a treason and a stratagem. Carlyle. LAUGHTER-physically Healthful. Laughter is an external expression of joy; it is the most salutary of all the bodily movements; for it agitates both the body and the soul at the same time, promotes digestion, circulation, and perspiration, and enlivens the vital power Hukeland. in every organ. LAUGHTER-Different Kinds of. The We may range the several kinds of laughers under the following heads :-The dimplers, the smilers, the laughers, the grinners, the horselaughers. The dimple is practised to give a grace to the features, and is frequently made a bait to entangle a gazing lover; this was called by the ancients the Chian laugh. smile is for the most part confined to the fair It expresses our sex, and their male retinue. satisfaction in a silent sort of approbation, doth not too much disorder the features, and is practised by lovers of the most delicate address. This tender motion of physiognomy the ancients called the Ionic laugh. The laugh among us is the common risus of the ancients. The grin, by writers of antiquity is called the Syncrusian; and was then, as it is at this time, made use of to display a beautiful set of teeth. The horse-laugh, or the Sardonic, is made use of with great success in all kinds of disputation. The proficients in this kind, by a well-timed laugh, will baffle the most solid argument. This, upon all occasions, supplies the want of reason; is always received with great applause in coffee-house disputes; and that side the laugh joins with is generally observed to gain the better of his antagonist. LAUGHTER-Loudness of. Steele. The loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind. Goldsmith. LAUGHTER-Unseasonable. He who always prefaces his tale with laughter, is poisoned between impertinence Lavater. and folly. LAUGHTER-A Sudden Vent of. Laughter is a vent of any sudden joy that strikes upon the mind, which, being too volatile and strong, breaks out in this tremor of the LEARNING. LAWS-of God. Laws, written, if not on stone tables, yet on the azure of infinitude, in the inner heart of God's creation, certain as life, certain as death! I say, the laws are there, and thou shalt not disobey them. It were better for thee not. Better a hundred deaths than yes! Terrible "penalties" withal, if thou still need penalties, are there for disobeying ! Carlyle. LAWS-Restraining Influence of. Laws were made to restrain and punish the wicked: the wise and good do not need them. as a guide, but only as a shield against rapine and oppression; they can live civilly and orderly, though there were no law in the world. Feltham LAW AND USAGE. Men, with a multiplicity of transactions pressing on them, and moving in a narrow circle, and meeting each other daily, desire to write little, and leave unwritten what they take for granted in every contract. In spite of the lamentations of judges they will continue to do so; and in a vast majority of cases, of which courts of law hear nothing, they do so without loss or inconvenience; and upon the whole they find this mode of dealing advantageous, even at the risk of occasional litigation. It is the business of courts reasonably so to shape their rules of evidence as to make them suitable to the habits of mankind, and such as are not likely to exclude the actual facts. To exclude the usage is to exclude a material term of the contract, and must lead to an unjust decision. Lord Campbell. LEADERS-Natural to Follow. It is an instinct in our nature to follow the tract pointed out by a few leaders; we are gregarious animals in a moral as well as a physical sense, and we are addicted to routine, because it is always easier to follow the opinions of others, than to reason and judge for ourselves. Paris. LEARNING-Acquisition of. A little learning is a dangerous thing! In fearless youth we tempt the height of arts, When the state is most corrupt, then the Short views we take, nor mind the lengths laws are most multiplied. Tacitus. behind; But more advanced, behold, with strange amiable, and pliant to government; whereas How empty learning, and how vain is art, LEARNING-End of. The end of learning is to know God, and out of that knowledge to love him, and to imitate him, as we may the nearest, by posMilton. sessing our souls of true virtue. LEARNING-nothing without Goodness. Many persons, after once they become learned, cease to be good: all other knowledge is hurtful to him who has not the science of honesty and good-nature. Montaigne. LEARNING-with Holiness is best. Learning is good, but holiness is better: Learning with holiness combined-what then? Aye, that is best of all; th' instructed mind, Which ignorance nor prejudice can fetter, That looks thro' nature with a searching ken And knows the history of human kind, And hath a store of treasures at command. If such can meekly bend, and humbly wait Beside the footstool of the Infinite, Eager to bask in beams of saving grace, Learning and goodness then go hand in hand, And happy is the people and the state, That hath such learned men to shed the light Of their example round their earthly restingplace. Egone. LEARNING-Beneficial Influence of. For that conceit, that learning should undermine the reverence for laws and government, it is assuredly a mere depravation and calumny, without any shadow of truth. For to say that a blind custom of obedience should be a surer obligation than duty taught and understood, is to affirm that a blind man may tread surer by a guide, than a seeing man can by a light. And it is without all cont-oversy, that learning doth make the minds of men gentle, ignorance makes them churlish, thwarting, and mutinous; and the evidence of time doth clear this assertion, considering that the most barbarous, rude, and unlearned times have been most subject to tumults, seditions, and changes. Bacon. LEARNING-Intention of. Every artificer and profession endeavours to make the thing fit and to answer the end for which it is intended. Those that till the ground, or that break in horses, or train dogs, their business is to make the most of things, and drive them up to the top of their kind; and what other view has learning and education, but to improve the faculties, and to set them the right way to work. Antoninus. LEARNING-Absolute Necessity of. He that knoweth not that which he ought to know, is a brute beast among men; he that knoweth no more than he hath need of, is a man amongst brute beasts; and he that knoweth all that may be known, is as a god amongst men. Pythagoras. LEARNING-Overmuch. Bishops are now unfit to govern, because of their learning. They are bred up in another law: they run to the text for something done among the Jews that concerns not England. 'Tis just as if a man would have a kettle, and he would not go to our braziers to have it made as they make kettles, but he would have it made as Hiram made his brass-work, who wrought in Solomon's Temple. Seldon. LEARNING-Pretenders to. A pretender to learning is one that would make all others more fools than himself; for though he know nothing, he would not have the world know so much. He conceits nothing in learning but the opinion, which he seeks to purchase without it, though he might with less labour cure his ignorance than hide it. He is indeed a kind of scholar-mountebank, and his art our delusion. He is tricked out in all the accoutrements of learning, and at the first encounter none passes better. He is oftener in his study than at his book, and you cannot pleasure him better than to deprehend him : yet he hears you not till the third knock, and then comes out very angry, as interrupted You find him in his slippers and a pen in his ear, in which formality he was asleep. His table is spread wide with some classic folio, which is as constant to it as the carpet, and hath lain open at the same page this halfyear. His candle is always a longer sitter-up |