ness of disposition towards his wife for more than twenty years, and the more tractably and affectionately she behaved, the more brutal and overbearing he became. The wild boar of the woods was never more ready to rend his enemy, nor the wolf to rush upon the helpless lamb, than he was to upbraid and afflict his unoffending wife. His remains now lie under the churchyard sod, where I saw them deposited, but his wife is living still.

Oh, what discomfort, uneasiness, and unhappiness, does churlishness produce! and yet how many Farmer Grumleys are there to be found, who, instead of obeying the Divine injunction, "Husbands, love your wives," Eph. v. 25, are ruling them with an iron rod, and going through the world grumbling, growling, and spreading discord around, instead of increasing in affection, and dwelling in domestic joy!

ON FITS.

THOUGH no doctor, I have by me some excellent prescriptions; and as I shall charge you nothing for them, you cannot grumble at the price. We are most of us subject to fits; I am visited with them myself, and I dare say that you are also now then for my prescriptions.

For a fit of passion, walk out in the open air: you may speak your mind to the winds, without hurting any one, or proclaiming yourself to be a simpleton." Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry for anger resteth in the bosom of fools," Eccles. vii. 9.

For a fit of idleness, count the tickings of a clock. Do this for one hour, and you will be glad to pull off your coat the next, and work like a negro. "Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger." Prov. xix. 15.

For a fit of extravagance and folly, go to the

workhouse, or speak with the ragged and wretched inmates of a jail, and you will be convinced,

"Who makes his bed of brier and thorn,

Must be content to lie forlorn."

"Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not?" Isa. lv. 2.

For a fit of ambition, go into the churchyard, and read the gravestones. They will tell you the end of ambition. The grave will soon be your bedchamber, the earth your pillow, corruption your father, and the worm your mother and your sister. "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall," Prov. xvi.

18.

For a fit of repining, look about for the halt and the blind, and visit the bedridden, the afflicted, and the deranged, and they will make you ashamed of complaining of your lighter afflictions. "Wherefore doth a living man complain?" Lam. iii. 39.

For a fit of envy, go to a watering place, and see how many who keep their carriages are afflicted with rheumatism, gout, and dropsy; how many walk abroad on crutches, or stay at home wrapped up in flannel; and how many are subject to epilepsy and apoplexy. "A sound

heart is the life of the flesh envy the rottenness of the bones," Prov. xiv. 30.

For a fit of despondency, look on the good things which God has given you in this world, and at those which he has promised to his followers in the next. He who goes into his garden to look for cobwebs and spiders, no doubt will find them; while he who looks for a flower, may return into his house with one blooming in his bosom. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God," Psalm xlii. 5.

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For all fits of doubt, perplexity, and fear, whether they respect the body or the mind, whether they are a load to the shoulders, the head, or the heart, the following is a radical cure which may be relied on, for I had it from the Great Physician: "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee," Psalm lv. 22.

BRIEF NOTES

OF

OLD HUMPHREY.

OUR frail bodies are tottering habitations; every beat of the heart is a rap at the door, to tell us of our danger.

Do you want to know the man against whom you have most reason to guard yourself? your looking-glass will give you a very fair likeness of his face.

Whether we go backwards, or forwards, to the right hand, or to the left, every step we take is a step towards the grave.

When I put my finger on my pulse, it tells me, at the same moment, that I am a living and a dying man.

True wisdom is to know what is best worth knowing, and to do what is best worth doing. When the infidel would persuade you to abandon your Bible, tell him you will do so when he brings you a better book.

A man should always look upwards for com