intellect. 'l'he man who is to rule others should be every Inch a king, not in bodily appearance only, but in mental capacity as well. No greater calamity can befall a country than to have its throne filled by a fool or an intellectual baby. In this sense, to be ruled by a "child" is surely the last indignity that can be offered to reasoning and reasonable men. 4. Of lA11rge experience. Unlike a child, or a boy, or a youth, whose knowledge of men and things must at the best be limited, the idea.I sovereign should be one whose accumulated stores of wisdom, gathered in many ways and from many lands, may be used for promotin~ the welfare of bis people. II. A TEMPERATE ABISTOORAOY. 1. Dissipation, shameful in all, is specially ,o in princes. Noblesse obUge. The higher one's rank, the more incumbent on one is virtue. Hence for princes to eat in the morning, or to be addicted to gluttony and other bodily gratificstions, to be so intent upon them as not merely to sit up late indulging them, but to rise up early for the purpose of renewing them, is to degrade their dignity, and trail their honour in the mire, besides shaming virtue and outraging decency. 2. Moderation, dutiful in all, is specially promotive of health. Those who live to eat and drink seldom live so long as they might, but by indulgeuce, setting up disease in their bodies, often shorten their days and die before their time. Those who eat and drink to live, and therefore eat in due season and in due measure, which is what is meant by temperance, take the best means of maintaining themselves in health and strength. III. A VIRTUOUS PEOPLE. 1. Industrious. "By slothfulness the roof sinketh in; and through idleness of the hands the house leaketh" (ver. 18). What is true of a material edifice is also true of the body politic. As the timbers or rafters of a private dwelling will decay unless watched over and from time to time repaired by its inmate, so the fa.bric of the state will go to ruin unless it be surveyed by vigilant eyes and upheld by untiring hands. 2. Joyous. Not only is there nothing sinful in feasting nncl wine-drinking when these are kept in virtuous moderation, but the absence of glarlness from the face of any people is a. bad omen. Gloom on the countenance and wretched- ness in the heart mean that social disorder a.nd perhaps revolution a.re at hand. Every- thing that contributes to the happiness and contentment of a people is a distinct contribution to the stability of a. state. 3. Moneyed. A people without money or money's worth is a people on the verge of starvation; and no state can stand long whose population consists of paupers. Money there must be, or its equivalent in material goods, and this not concentrated in a. few hands, but distributed as widely as possible. The main problem of statesmen should be to secure a population, not only industrious and happy, but well paid, and therefore well fed, well clothed, and well housed. 4. Loyal. A people given to treasonable practices cannot be either prosperous or happy. Hence the Preacher dissuades all good subjects from cursing the king even in their thoughts. The impossibility of escsping detection under the nil-pervading espionage of an Oriental despotism rendered it unsare in the times of the Preacher ; but, even in times when the liberty of the subject is respected, it is not a.lways prudent to be hatching conspiracies against the crown, however secret these may be ; a.nd certainly it is not conducive to the welfare of a people that such should be common in the land. 5. Law-abiding. As little given to curse the rich as to plot against the king. Not communistic, socialistic, or revolutionary in the bad sense of these exprea- sions ; since a. people may be all of these in a. good sense without losing its character for virtue.
HOMILIES BY VA RIO US AUTHORS. Vera. 1, 3.-Folly self-betrayed. To the writer of this book it seemed that the great antithesis of human life, of human society, was pointed out by the distinction between wisdom and folly. As by wisdom he meant not merely speculative knowledge or profound statecraft, but, much rather, reflective habits, deliberate judgment, and decisive action, in the practical affairs of life; so by folly he intended exactly the opposite of such oharacter and mental ha.bits. A certain contemptuous o.nd weary abhorrence of the foolish breathes through his language. His remarks are full of sagacity •nd justice. 2G2 ECCLESIASTES; OR, 'l'HE PREACHER. [en. x. 1-20,