372 MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS. If I were to live always, surely I would wish to be Lycidas, that I might have my heart ever at my right - hand, in the phrase of Solomon; that I might know on the sudden how to speak pertinently, and what course to take in every new occurrence of a world that is in perpetual change : I would have an under- standing ever ready to suggest the thing that is proper in every time and place. It must be allowed, that Lycidas was much the more useful man on, earth, though his name was soon for- gotten. But Gravonius bath this to compensate his slowness, that in some sense he lives the longer for it: His regular con- duct was learned and copied by his family: His sentences are often rehearsed among his friends; he speaks while he is under ground, and gives advice to the living twenty, years after he is dead. There is nothing on earth excellent on all sides : there must be something wanting in the best of creatures, to shew how far they are from perfection : God. has wisely ordained it, that excellencies and defects should be mingled amongst men ; advantage and disadvantage are thrown into the balance, the one is set over against time other, that no man might be su- premely exalted, and none utterly contemptible. XLI. Envy discovered. ENVY is a malignant vice ; of so hateful an aspect, and so black a character, that every man abhors it, when appearing in its own colours ; and whosoever is accused, renounces the charge with indignation. When Athon was a boy, and read the description of this foul fury in the books of the Greek and Roman poets, he ima- gined it was some beldam that infested heathen countries; but he could not believe that she should dwell among christians, and have a temple in their very bosoms. Could one ever suppose that envy should mix itself with the blood and spirits of a good man, or find any room in the same heart where there is a savour of true religion ? Religion con- sists in an intercourse of divine and human love. " But Envy smiles at sorrows not her own, " And laughs to hear a nation groan: " But Envy feeds on infamy and blood, " And grieves at all that's great and good: " But Envy pines, because her neighbours thrive, " And dies to see a brother live." 'Yet this very malignant vice, this fury of hell, makes, her way sometimes into the very soul that is born of God, and that hopes to be an inhabitant of heaven ; but it generally takes care to conceal its name, and to disguise its odious appearance, that it may not be known in the heart where it dwells. It too often
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