A married man has many cares, but a bachelor no pleasures. -DR. JOHNSON.

Meditation.-Meditation is the soul's perspective glass, whereby, in her long removes, she discerneth God, as if He were near at hand.-FELTHAM.

Meditation is the life of the soul; action is the soul of meditation; honor is the reward of action; so meditate, that thou mayst do; so do, that thou mayst purchase honor; for which purchase, give God the glory.—QUARLES.

Melancholy.-I once gave a lady two-andtwenty receipts against melancholy: one was a bright fire; another, to remember all the pleasant things said to her; another, to keep a box of sugar-plums on the chimney-piece and a kettle simmering on the hob. I thought this mere trifling at the moment, but have in after life discovered how true it is that these little pleasures often banish melancholy better than higher and more exalted objects; and that no means ought to be thought too trifling which can oppose it either in ourselves or in others.-SYDNEY SMITH.

Melancholy sees the worst of things,-things as they may be, and not as they are. It looks upon a beautiful face, and sees but a grinning skull.-BOVEE.

There are some people who think that they should be always mourning, that they should put a continual constraint upon themselves, and feel a disgust for those amusements to which they are obliged to submit. For my own part, I confess that I know not how to conform myself to these rigid notions. I prefer something more simple, which I also think would be more pleasing to God.-FENELON.

Mercy. Let us be merciful as well as just.— LONGFELLOW.

Consider this,

That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.
-SHAKESPEARE.

Among the attributes of God, although they are all equal, mercy shines with even more brilliancy than justice.-CERVANTES.

God's mercy is a holy mercy, which knows how to pardon sin, not to protect it; it is a sanctuary for the penitent, not for the presumptuous. BISHOP REYNOLDS.

It is enthroned in the heart of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;

And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. —SHAKESPEARE.

There is no better rule to try a doctrine by than the question, Is it merciful, or is it unmerciful? If its character is that of mercy, it has the image of Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life. -HOSEA BALLOU.

The quality of mercy is not strain'd;

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice bless'd;
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes;
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown.
-SHAKESPEARE.

Lenity will operate with greater force, in some instances, than rigor. It is therefore my first wish to have my whole conduct distinguished by it.-WASHINGTON.

Teach me to feel another's woe,

To hide the fault I see;

That mercy I to others show,

That mercy show to me.

-POPE.

Underneath the wings of the seraphim are stretched the arms of the divine mercy, ever ready to receive sinners.-THE TALMUD.

Sweet mercy is nobility's true badge.-SHAKE

SPEARE.

Merit.-There is merit without elevation, but there is no elevation without some merit.-LA ROCHEFOUCAULD.

Distinguished merit will ever rise to oppression, and will draw lustre from reproach. The vapors which gather round the rising sun, and follow him in his course, seldom fail at the close of it to form a magnificent theatre for his reception, and to invest with variegated tints and with a softened effulgence the luminary which they cannot hide.-ROBERT HALL.

On their own merits modest men are dumb.GEORGE COLMAN.

The art of being able to make a good use of moderate abilities wins esteem and often confers more reputation than real merit.-LA BRUYÈRE.

The mark of extraordinary merit is to see those most envious of it constrained to praise.—LA ROCHEFOUCAULD.

Method.-Method is essential, and enables a larger amount of work to be got through with satisfaction. "Method," said Cecil (afterward Lord Burleigh), “is like packing things in a box; a good packer will get in half as much again as a bad one. "" Cecil's despatch of business was extraordinary; his maxim being, "The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at once."-SAMUEL SMILES.

Mind. Our minds are like certain vehicles,— when they have little to carry they make much noise about it, but when heavily loaded they run quietly.-ELIHU BURRITT.

We ought, in humanity, no more to despise a man for the misfortunes of the mind than for those of the body, when they are such as he cannot help; were this thoroughly considered we should no more laugh at a man for having his brains cracked than for having his head broke.-POPE.

It is the mind that makes the body rich.— SHAKESPEARE.

A weak mind is like a microscope, which magnifies trifling things, but cannot receive great ones.-CHESTERFIELD.

Were I so tall to reach the pole,

Or grasp the ocean with my span,
I must be measur'd by my soul:

The mind's the standard of the man.

-DR. WATTS. The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. -MILTON.

The blessing of an active mind, when it is in a good condition, is, that it not only employs itself, but is almost sure to be the means of giving wholesome employment to others.

He that has treasures of his own

May leave the cottage or the throne,
May quit the globe, and dwell alone
Within his spacious mind. -DR. WATTS.

The mind grows narrow in proportion as the soul grows corrupt.-ROUSSEAU.

Every great mind seeks to labor for eternity. All men are captivated by immediate advantages; great minds alone are excited by the prospect of distant good.—SCHILLER.

Mind unemployed is mind unenjoyed.—BOVEE.

As the mind must govern the hands, so in every society the man of intelligence must direct the man of labor. -DR. JOHNSON.

As the soil, however rich it may be, cannot be productive without culture, so the mind without cultivation can never produce good fruit. SENECA.

Few minds wear out; more rust out. -BOVEE.

There is nothing so elastic as the human mind. Like imprisoned steam, the more it is pressed the more it rises to resist the pressure. The more we are obliged to do, the more we are able to accomplish.-T. EDWARDS.

Minds of moderate calibre ordinarily condemn everything which is beyond their range. —LA ROCHEFOUCAULD.

Guard well thy thoughts: our thoughts are heard in heaven.-YOUNG.

It is the mind that maketh good or ill,

That maketh wretch or happy, rich or poor.

-SPENSER.

He that has no resources of mind, is more to be pitied than he who is in want of necessaries for the body; and to be obliged to beg our daily happiness from others, bespeaks a more lamentable poverty than that of him who begs his daily bread.-COLTON.

A good mind possesses a kingdom.

Mirth.-Harmless mirth is the best cordial against the consumption of the spirit; wherefore jesting is not unlawful, if it trespasseth not in quantity, quality, or season. -FULLER.

Mirthfulness is in the mind, and you cannot get it out. It is the blessed spirit that God has set in the mind to dust it, to enliven its dark places, and to drive asceticism, like a foul fiend, out at the back door. It is just as good, in its place, as conscience or veneration. Praying can no more be made a substitute for smiling than smiling can for praying. ~BEECHER.