ΟΡΙΝΙΟΝ.

very glad to have passed over. Yet the most beautiful part of private life, the silent revolutions in men's souls, the most quiet heroism on earth, are all to be found twined together in one continued chain of finely-wrought action and meditation, constituting the secret history of a great cause. Consider the growth of opinion in any one man's mind; how crudely the opinion is formed at first in his thought; how he is affected by discussion with friends, by controversy with sincere opponents, by some remote analogy in present life or in past history; how, strange to say, when his mind has apparently been disengaged from the subject, he finds, all of a sudden, great growth or change of opinion has been going on in him, so that it seems as if he had been thinking while he had been sleeping. Then, if the mind of this man is of deep and

fertile soil, how all the beautiful influences of literature, of natural scenery, of science, and of art, enlarge and modify the growing opinion, hardly now to be called by so small a name as an opinion, but a cause; how this thought is modified by chance remarks from his fellows,

which were not meant to influence him-those remarks which tell so much upon most of us, because the moral we draw from them is all

our ow11. Then consider how the ordinary

motives and occurrences of life affect the growth of this great cause; how it is lapped in the indolence of public and private men, now strangled by cares, now overpowered by the loud noises of really unimportant events; now oppressed by a vicious conservation, now fairly conquered by sophistry; so that, like some great subterranean river, it is forced to descend into the soil, burying itself in the hearts of the few faithful until, being a divine thing, it emerges clear and beautiful as ever, and unobservant men suppose that it has sprung up amongst them for the first time. Soon it enters on a larger career, is at one time furthered, at another hindered, by men's vanity; partakes largely of love, of honour, and ambition; enters into the intrigues of courts, of senates, of administrations; is borne out in fleets and armies, and comes forth to conquer or to die.

OPINION-Diversity of.

Helps.

OPINION.

OPINION-Evil attending.

Opinion is more often the cause of discontent than nature. Epicurus.

OPINION-Fallacy of.

There are numbers of circumstances which attend every action of a man's life, which can never come to the knowledge of the world, yet ought to be known, and well weighed, before sentence with any justice can be passed upon him. A man may have different views, and a different sense of things, from what his judges have; and what he understands and feels, and what passes within him, may be a secret treasured up deeply there for ever. A man, through bodily infirmity or some complexional defect, which perhaps is not in his power to correct, may be subject to inadver tencies to starts-and unhappy turns of tem per; he may lie open to snares he is not always aware of; or, through ignorance and want of information and proper helps, he may labour in the dark: in all which cases he may do many things which are wrong in themselves, and yet be innocent; at least, an object rather to be pitied than censured with severity and ill-will. These are difficulties which stand in everyone's way, in the forming a judgment of the character of others,

It is interesting and useful, though often very painful, to retire into ourselves, after the first tumult of excited feelings has subsided, and consider the probable consequences of our words and actions. We may indeed frequently be mistaken, and magnify or diminish the importance of what has occurred; or look forward to events that may never happen; but by en deavouring to connect the past and the future, we strengthen a habit of thoughtfulness, and are able to trace more easily the secret sources of the sufferings which so frequently arise, apparently from the ignorance or selfishness of our fellow-creatures, but in reality from some error in ourselves.

OPINION-Force of.

Sewell.

There is no accounting for the difference of minds or inclinations, which leads one man to observe with interest the development of phenomena, another to speculate on their causes; but were it not for this happy disagreement, it may be doubted whether the higher sciences could ever have attained even their present degree of perfection.

ΟΡΙΝΙΟΝ.

the temptation is to refer things to an enlightened public opinion, rather than to the law of God. Bishop Forbes.

Opinion is the rate of things,
From hence our peace doth flow;
I have a better fate than kings,
Because I think it so. Katharine Philips.

OPPORTUNITY.

cellency of virtue itself, consists in adopting this enlarged and comprehensive idea, and all criticism built upon the confined view of what is natural, may properly be called shallow criticism, rather than false; its defect is, that the truth is not sufficiently extensive. Sir Joshua Reynolds.

OPINIONS-Forming.

OPINION-Popular.

Hume.

Social opinion is like a sharp knife. There are foolish people who regard it only with terror, and dare not touch or meddle with it; there are more foolish people who, in rashness or defiance, seize it by the blade, and get cut and mangled for their pains; and there are wise people, who grasp it discreetly and boldly by the handle, and use it to carve out their own purposes. Jameson.

OPINIONS-Correct.

Correct opinions well established on any subject, are the best preservative against the Bishop Mant.

seductions of error.

OPINIONS-First.

As beauty does not consist in taking what lies immediately before you, so neither, in our pursuit of taste, are those opinions which we first received and adopted, the best choice or the most natural to the mind and imagination. In the infancy of our knowledge we seize with greediness the goodness that is within our reach; it is by after consideration, and in consequence of discipline, that we refuse the present for a greater good at a distance. The nobility or elevation of all arts, like the ex

must be contented with such as the absurdity of it will afford. South.

OPPORTUNITIES-Pursuit of.

The person who is in continual pursuit of opportunities for exercising the benevolent affections, either by conferring or acknowledging kindness, will overlook a thousand trifling causes of offence, which might have awakened resentment in the breast of another; while those in whom the selfish passions prevail will be equally insensible to numberless instances of kindness, which would have filled the hearts of others with gratitude and joy; just as a person who is eager in the chase will disregard the beauties of the prospect which surrounds him, and know no more of the country through which he passed, than if he

had never seen it.

Bowdler.

Thou, when my dire and bloody resolutions, Like sick and froward children,

Were rock'd asleep by reason, or religion, Thou, like a violent noise, com'st rushing in, And mak'st them start, and wake to now unquietness. Denham.

OPPOSITION-Utility of.

A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against and not | with the wind. Even a head-wind is better than none. No man ever worked his passage anywhere in a dead calm. Let no man wax pale, therefore, because of opposition. Opposition is what he wants, and must have, to be good for anything. Hardship is the native soil of manhood and self-reliance. He that

they have done, and falls asleep in the stillness that follows. J. Neal.

ORCHARD-Fruits of the.
Hence from the busy joy-resounding fields,
In cheerful error let us tread the maze
Of autumn unconfined; and taste, revived,
The breath of orchard, big with bending fruit.
Obedient to the breeze and beating ray,
From the deep-loaded bough a mellow shower
Incessant melts away; the juicy pear
Lies, in a soft profusion, scatter'd round.
A various sweetness swells the gentle race,
By nature's all-refining hand prepared;
Of temper'd sun, and water, earth and air:

There are persons who are never easy unless they are putting your books and papers in order-that is, according to their notions of the matter, and hide things, lest they should be lost, where neither the owner nor anybody else can find them. This is a sort of magpie faculty. If anything is left where you want it, it is called litter. There is a pedantry in housewifery, as well as in the gravest concerns. Abraham Tucker complained that whenever his maid-servant had been in his library, he could not set comfortably to work again for several days.

ORDER-Limits of.

Hazlitt.

ORPHAN.

will be bravely eccentric, and scorn the beaten road, from universal benevolence. Goldsmith.

ORIGINALITY-Meaning of.

People are always talking about originality; but what do they mean? As soon as we are born, the world begins to work upon us; and this goes on to the end. And after all, what can we call our own, except energy, strength, and will? If I could give an account of all that I owe to great predecessors and contemporaries, there would be but a small balance in my favour.

Goethe. ORGANIZATION (Animal) Adaptability of.

Very curious is the power of adaptation to an external medium possessed by the organism. In an atmosphere so vitiated that a vigorous animal instantly perishes if plunged into it. an animal of the same species can live for some time, and will quite recover if restored to a purer atmosphere. In an air-tight glass bell jar a sparrow was placed. After he had remained there two hours another sparrow was introduced, and was instantly suffocated by the foul air; nevertheless the original occupant remained another hour in the glass, after which he was withdrawn, nearly dead. The fresh air and warmth revived him. In a little while he had recovered sufficiently to fly. When he had recovered all his vigour, he was again placed in the atmosphere from which he had been withdrawn, and immediately died. the reader remembers what a suffocating sensation has seized him on entering a crowded room, or one full of smokers, and how, after a few minutes, he has grown so used to the atmosphere as to be almost unconscious of any discomfort, he will understand how a depression of the functions in a vitiated atmosphere tends to establish a sort of equilibrium between his organism and the atmosphere.

If

Claude Bernard.

The little mind who loves itself, will write and think with the vulgar; but the great mind

That his bones,

When he has run his course, and sleeps in blessings,

1

PAIN-Effects of.

Paley.

Pleasure is oft a visitant; but pain
Clings cruelly to us, like the gnawing sloth
On the deer's tender haunches; late and loth,
'Tis scared away by slow-returning pleasure.
Keats.

PAIN-Endurance of.

Long pains, with use of bearing, are half eased.

PAIN-Expression of.

Dryden.

There was never yet philosopher That could endure the toothache patiently;

PAINTING.

However they have writ the style of gods, And made a pish at chance and sufferance. Shakspeare.

PAIN-Sensations of.

The brute animals have all the same sensations of pain as human beings, and, consequently, endure as much pain when their body is hurt; but in their case the cruelty of torment is greater, because they have no mind to bear them up against their sufferings, and no hope to look forward to, when enduring the last extreme of pain, their happiness | consisting entirely in present enjoyment.

PAIN-Uses of.

Chalmers.

Pain has been the means of increasing our knowledge, our skill, and our comforts. Look to the discoveries made in Science, in Botany, in Chemistry, in Anatomy; what a knowledge have we gained of the structure and uses of plants, while we were seeking some herb to soothe pain or cure disease!-what a know ledge have we gained of drugs, and salts, and earths, useful for agriculture or for the fine arts, while we have been seeking only to find an ointment or a medicine; we have sought a draught to allay the burning thirst of a fever, and we have found a dozen delicious beverages to drink for our pleasure or relief. We studied anatomy to find out the seat of disease, and how to attack it, and we found what we did not seek, a thousand wonderful works of God! a thousand most curious contrivances, most admirable delights! We found a model for the ribs of a ship-we found a pattern of a telescope in the eye-we found joints, and straps, and knittings, and valves which have been copied into the workshop of the mechanic, and the study of the philosopher. Yes, we may thank our liability to pain for these for if pain had not existed, who can tell whether these things would have been so soon, if at all, discovered?

PAINTER-Characteristics of the.

Sharpe.

Yet still how faint by precept is express'd The living image in the painter's breast! Thence endless streams of fair ideas flow, Strike in the sketch, or in the picture glow; Thence beauty, waking all her forms, supplies An angel's sweetness or Bridgewater's eyes.

Pope.