Pole. minæ, by others formed by fresh water. The Doctor found afterwards, it is true, thicker and somewhat more solid ice but the sea water had already been so much concentrated by repeated congelations, that it is no wonder the ice formed in it became at last brackish: it should seem, then, that no conclusive arguments can be drawn from these experiments. "There are two other objections against the formation of the ice in the great ocean. The first is taken from the immense bulk and size of the ice masses formed in the ocean, which is the deepest mass of water we know of. But it has been experimentally proved, that in the midst of summer, in the latitudes of 55°, 55° 26', and 64° south, at 100 fathoms depth, the thermometer stood at 34°, 344°, and 32°; and that in all instances, the difference between the temperature at top and 100 fathoms depth never exceeded four degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, or that the temperature of the air did not differ five degrees from that of the ocean at 100 fathoms deep. If we now add to this, that beyond the 71° south the temperature of the air and ocean must be still colder, and that the rigours of an antarctic winter are certainly more than sufficient to cool the ocean to 281, which is requisite for congealing the aqueous particles in it; if we moreover consider, that these severe frosts are continued during six or eight months of the year, we may easily conceive that there is time enough to congeal large and extensive masses of ice. But it is likewise certain, that there is more than one way by which those immense ice masses are formed. We suppose very justly, that the ocean does freeze, having produced so many instances of it; we allow likewise, that the ice thus formed in a calm, perhaps does not exceed three or four yards in thickness; a storm probably often breaks such an ice-field, which Crantz allows to be 200 leagues one way and 80 the other; the pressure of the broken fragments against one another frequently sets one upon the other piece, and they freeze in that manner together; several such double pieces, thrown by another pressure upon one another, form at last large masses of miles extent, and of 20, 40, 60, and more fathoms thickness, or of a great bulk or height. Martens, in his description of Spitzbergen, remarks, that the pieces of ice cause so great a noise by their shock, that the navigators in those regions can only with difficulty hear the words of those that speak; and as the ice-pieces are thrown one upon another, ice-mountains are formed by it. And I observed very frequently, in the years 1772 and 1773, when we were among the ice, masses which had the most evident marks of such a formation, being composed of strata of some feet in thickness. This is in some measure confirmed by the state in which the Cossack Markoff found the ice at the distance of 420 miles north from the Siberian coasts. The high masses were not found formed, as is suspected in the Second supplement to the probability of reaching the north pole, p. 143 145, near the land, under the high cliffs, but far out at sea; and when these ice mountains were climbed by Markoff, nothing but ice, and no vestiges of land, appeared as far as the eye could reach. The high climates near the poles are likewise subject to heavy falls of snow, of several yards in thickness, which grow more and more compact, and by thaws and rain are formed into solid ice, which increase the stupendous size of the floating ice mountains. The second objection against the freezing of the ocean into such ice as is found floating in it, is taken from the opacity of ice formed in salt water; because the largest masses are commonly transparent like crystal, with a fine blue tint, caused by the reflection of the sea. This argument is very specious, and might be deemed unanswerable by those who are not used to cold winters and their effects. But whosoever has spent several winters in countries which are subject to intense frosts, will find nothing extraordinary or difficult in this argument: for it is a well-known fact in cold countries, that the ice which covers their lakes and rivers is often opaque, especially when the frost sets in accompanied by a fall of snow; for, in those instances, the ice looks, before it hardens, like a dough or paste, and when congealed it is opaque and white; however, in spring, a rain and the thaw, followed by frosty nights, change the opacity and colour of the ice, and make it quite transparent and colourless like a сгуstal but, in case the thaw continues, and it ceases entirely to freeze, the same transparent ice becomes soft and porous, and turns again entirely opaque. This I believe may be applicable to the ice seen by us in the ocean. The field-ice was commonly opaque; some of the large masses, probably drenched by rain, and frozen again, were transparent and pellucid; but the small fragments of loose ice, formed by the decay of the large masses, and soaked by long-continued rains, we found to be porous, soft, and opaque. It is likewise urged as an argument against the formation of ice in the ocean, that it always requires land, in order to have a point upon which it may be fixed. First, I observe, that in Mr Nairne's experiments, the ice was generated on the surface, and was seen shooting crystals downwards: which evidently evinces, in my opinion, that ice is there formed or ge nerated where the intensest cold is; as the air sooner cools the surface than the depth of the ocean, the ice shoots naturally downwards, and cools the ocean more and more, by which it is prepared for further congelation. I suppose, however, that this happens always during calms, which are not uncommon in high latitudes, as we experienced in the late expedition. Nor does land seem absolutely necessary in order to fix the ice; for this may be done with as much ease and propriety to the large ice mountains which remain undissolved floating in the ocean in high latitudes; or it may, perhaps, not be improper to suppose, that the whole polar region, from 8c and upwards, in the southern hemisphere, remains a solid ice for several years toge ther, to which yearly a new circle of ice is added, and of which, however, part is broken off by the winds and the return of the mild season. Wherever the ice floats in large masses, and sometimes in compact bodies formed of an infinite number of small pieces, there it is by no means difficult to freeze the whole into one piece; for amongst the ice the wind has not a power of raising high and great waves. This circumstance was not entirely unknown to the ancients, and it is probable they acquired this information from the natives of ancient Gaul, and from the Britons and other northern nations, who sometimes undertook long voyages. The Pole. 10 Observa tion.on ters rea aning. Pole penetrate into the polar seas. Two expeditions were fitted out at Deptford, the one under Captain Ross, for Baffin's bay, the other under Captain Buchan for Polerio. the polar seas beyond Spitzbergen. They sailed in April. Captain Buchan returned in October, having been unable to penetrate beyond the latitude of 80° 30" on account of the ice. Captain Ross also failed in bis attempt to find a passage out of Baffin's bay to the westward, and returned in November. The result of Captain Ross's investigation seems not to have been considered decisive, as a new expedition has since been fitted out for the same object. On this reasoning of Mr Forster's, however, we must observe, that it cannot possibly invalidate any fact which Mir for Mr Barrington has advanced. The best concerted and most plausible theory in the world must yield to experience; for this is in fact what must judge all theories. Now, from what we have already related, it is demonetrated, that in the space between the mouths of the rivers Piasida and Chatanga more ice must be formed, and more intense colds generated, than in any other part of the world; consequently, for a considerable space both on the east and west side of that, the sea must be more full of ice than anywhere else. Now, between these two rivers there is the promontory of Taimura, which runs out to the latitude of 78°, or near it, and which of necessity must obstruct the disper-ion of the ice; and that it actually does so is in some degree probable, because in one of the Russian voyages above mentioned the eastern mouth of the Lena was quite free, when the western ones were entirely choked up with ice. Now the mouth of the Yana lies several degrees to the eastward of the Lena: consequently, when the ice comes eastward from the cape of Taimura, it must necessarily fill all that sea to the latitude of 78° and upwards; but the Cossack Markoff, if he proceeded directly north, could not be farther than the promontory of Taimura, and consequently still enveloped among the ice. Besides, we are certain, that the sea in 78° is not at all frozen into a solid cake in some places, since Lord Mulgrave, in 1773, reached 81°. Mr Forster's argument, therefore, either proves nothing, or it proves too much. If it proves, that about the middle of the eastern continent the cold is so intense that a sufficient quantity of ice is formed to obstruct the navigation for several hundred miles round, this proves nothing; because we knew before that this must be the case: But if it proves, that the sea must be unnavigable by reason >of ice all round the globe at 78° north latitude, this is too much; because we certainly know, that in 1773 Lord Mulgrave reached the latitude of 81°. However, though it should be allowed that the sea is quite clear all the way to the pole, it must be a very great uncertainty whether any ship could by that way reach the East Indies; because we know that it must sail down between the continents of Asia and America, through that strait whose mouth must often be blocked up with ice driving eastward along the continent of Asia. The south pole is still more inaccessible than the north pole; for the ice is found in much lower southern than northern latitudes. This superior degree of cold has by many been supposed to proceed from a greater quantity of land about the south than *See &- the north pole *; and the notion of a vast continent in these regions prevailed almost universally, No 35 insomuch that many have sought for it, but hitherto in vain. See the articles Cook's Discoveries, N° 38-49, and No 68, and 69; SOUTH Sea, and TERRA No 35, &c. Australis. A new attempt was made in 1818 to MERICA, and Cook's Discove rics. Pole-axes are also said to have been successfully used on some occasions in boarding an enemy, whose sides were above those of the boarder. This is executed by detaching several gangs to enter at different parts of the ship's length, at which time the pole axes are forcibly driven into her side, one above another, so as to form a sort of scaling-ladders. POLE Cat. See MUSTELA, MAMMALIA Index. POLE Star. See ASTRONOMY, N° 3, 17, and 39. POLEIN, in English antiquity, is a sort of shoe, sharp or piked at the point. This fashion took its rise in the time of King William Rufus; and the pikes were so long, that they were tied up to the knees with silver or golden chains. They were forbidden by stat. an. 4. Edw. IV. cap. 7. Tunc fluxus crinium, tunc luxus vestium, tunc usus calceorum cum arcuatis aculeis inventus est. Malmesb. in Will. ii. Grecian POLEMARCHUS was a magistrate at Athens, who had under his care all the strangers and sojourners in the city, over whom he had the same authority that the archon had over the citizens. It was his duty to offer Potter's a solemn sacrifice to Enyalus (said to be the same with Antiqui Mars, though others will have it that he was only one ties. of his attendants), and another to Diana, surnamed Aygorge, in honour of the famous patriot Harmodius. It was also his business to take care that the children of those that had lost their lives in the service of their country should be provided for out of the public treasury. POLEMICAL, in matters of literature, an appellation given to books of controversy, especially those in divinity. POLEMO, who succeeded Xenocrates in the direction of the academy, was an Athenian of distinguished birth, and in the earlier part of his life a man of loose morals. The manner in which he was reclaimed from the pursuit of infamous pleasures, and brought under the discipline of philosophy, affords a memorable example of the power of eloquence employed in the cause of virtue, His history is thus related by Dr Enfield: "As he was, one morning about the rising of the sun, returning home from the revels of the night, clad in a loose robe, crowned with garlands, strongly perfumed, and intoxi N 2 cated Π after staying only four years, and being handsomely re- Polenbu warded by his majesty for several pieces which he performed for him, he returned to Utrecht, and died Polianth there at the age of 74. His works are very scarce and valuable. POLERON, one of the Banda or Nutmeg islands in the East Indies. This was one of those spice islands which put themselves under the protection of the English, and voluntarily acknowledged James I. king of England for their sovereign; for which reason the natives of this and the rest of the islands were murdered or driven thence by the Dutch, together with the English. POLESIA, a province of Poland, bounded by Polachia and Proper Lithuania on the north, and by Volhinia on the south. It is one of the palatinates of Lithuania, and is commonly called Brescia, and its capital is of this name. It is full of forests and lakes. POLESINO DE ROVIGO, a province of Italy, in the republic of Venice, lying to the north of the river Po; and bounded on that side by the Paduan, on the south by the Ferrarese, on the east by Degado, and on the west by the Veronese. It is 45 miles in length, and 17 in breadth, and is a fertile country. Rovigo is the capital. Polemo cated with wine, he passed by the school of Xenocrates, H and saw him surrounded with his disciples. Unable to Polenburg, resist so fortunate an opportunity of indulging his sportive humour, he rushed without ceremony into the school, and took his place among the philosophers. The whole assembly was astonished at this rude and indecent intrusion, and all but Xenocrates discovered signs of resentment. Xenocrates, however, preserved the perfect command of his countenance; and with great presence of mind turned his discourse from the subject on which he was treating to the topics of temperance and modesty, which he recommended with such strength of argument, and energy of language, that Polemo was constrained to yield to the force of conviction. Instead of turning the philosopher and his doctrine to ridicule, as he at first intended, he became sensible of the folly of his former conduct; was heartily ashamed of the contemptible figure which he had made in so respectable an assembly; took his garland from his head; concealed his naked arm under his cloak; assumed a sedate and thoughtful aspect; and, in short, resolved from that hour to relinquish his licentious pleasures, and devote himself to the pursuit of wisdom. Thus was this young man, by the powerful energy of truth and eloquence, in an instant converted from an infamous libertine to a respectable philosopher. In such a sudden change of character it is difficult to avoid passing from one extreme to another. Polemo, after his reformation, in order to brace up his mind to the tone of rigid virtue, constantly practised the severest austerity and most hardy fortitude. From the thirtieth year of his age to his death, he drank nothing but water. When he suffered violent pain, he showed no external sign of anguish. In order to preserve his mind undisturbed by passion, he habituated himself to speak in an uniform tone of voice, without elevation or depression. The austerity of his manners was, however, tempered with urbanity and generosity. He was fond of solitude, and passed much of his time in a garden near his school. He died, at an advanced age, of a consumption. Of his tenets little is said by the ancients, because he strictly adhered to the doctrine of Plato." POLEMONIUM, GREEK VALERIAN, or Jacob's Ladder; a genus of plants belonging to the pentandria ess; and in the natural method ranking under the 29th order, Campanacea. See BOTANY Index. POLEMOSCOPE, in Optics, the same with OPERA-GLASS. See DIOPTRICS. POLENBURG, CORNELIUS, an excellent painter of small landscapes and figures, was born at Utrecht in 1586, and educated under Blomaert, whom he soon quitted to travel into Italy; and studied for a long time in Rome and Florence, where he formed a style entirely new, which, though preferable to the Flemish, is unlike any Italian, except in his having adorned his landscapes with ruins. There is a varnished smoothness and finishing in his pictures, that render them always pleasing, though simple and too nearly resembling one another. The Roman cardinals were charmed with the neatness of his works, as was also the great duke; but could not retain him. He returned to Utrecht, and pleased Rubens, who had several of his performances. King Charles I. invited him to London, where he generally painted the figures in Steenwyck's perspectives: but the king could not prevail on him to fix here; for POLETE were ten magistrates of Athens, who, with three that had the management of money allowed for public shows, were empowered to let out the tribute-money and other public revenues, and to sell confiscated estates; all which bargains were ratified by their president, or in his name. They were by their office also bound to convict such as had not paid the tribute called Milozov, and sell them in the market by auction. The market where these wretches were sold was called walngiov ty piloimis. POLIANTHES, the TUBEROSE; a genus of plants belonging to the hexandria class; and in the natural method ranking under the 10th order, Coronaria, Sre BOTANY Index. The varieties are the common tuberose with single flowers,-double-flowered,-dwarfstalked,-variegated leaved. They all flower here in June, July, and August. All the varieties being exotics from warm countries, although they are made to flower in great perfection in our gardens by assistance of hot-beds, they will not prosper in the open ground, and do not increase freely in England; so that a supply of the roots is imported hither annually from Genoa, and other parts of Italy, by most of the eminent nursery and seedsmen, and the Italian warehouse-keepers; generally arriving in February or March, time enough for the ensuing summer's bloom; and are sold commonly at the rate of twelve or fifteen shillings per hundred, being careful always to procure as large roots as possible, for on this depends the success of having a complete blow. Requiring artificial heat to blow them in this country, they are planted in pots, and plunged in a hot-bed, under a deep frame furnished with glass lights; or placed in a hot-house, where they may be blowed to great perfection with little trouble. The principal season for planting them is March and April: observing, however, that in order to continue a long succession of the bloom, it is proper to make two or three different plantings, at about a month interval; one in March, another in April, and a third the beginning of May, whereby the blow may be continued Polidoro. Polianthes continued from June until September; observing, as 0 above mentioned, they may be flowered either by aid of a common dung or bark hot-bed, or in a hot-house. With respect to the propagation of these plants, it is principally by offsets of the roots. The blowing roots that are brought annually from abroad for sale are often furnished with offsets, which ought to be separated previous to planting. Those also that are planted here in our gardens frequently furnish offsets fit for separation in autumn when the leaves decay: they must then be preserved in sand all winter in a dry sheltered place; and in the beginning of March, plant them either in a bed of light dry earth in the full ground; or, to forward them as much as possible, allow them a moderate hot-bed and in either method indulge them with a shelter in cold weather, either of a frame and lights, or arched with hoops and occasionally matted; but let them enjoy the full air in all mild weather, giving also plenty of water in dry weather during the season of their growth in spring and summer. Thus let them grow till their leaves again decay in autumn: then take them up, clean them from earth, and lay them in sand till spring; at which time such roots as are large enough to blow may be planted and managed as already directed, and the small roots planted again in a nursery-bed, to have another year's growth; afterwards plant them for flowering. The Egyptians put the flowers of tuberose into sweet oil; and by this means give it a most excellent flavour, scarce inferior to oil of. jasmine. POLICANDRO, a small island in the Archipelago, seated between Milo and Morgo. It has no harbour, but has a town about three miles from the shore near a huge rock. It is a rugged stony island, but yields as much corn as is sufficient for the inhabitants, who consist of about 120 Greek families, all Christians. The only commodity is cotton: of which they make napkins, a dozen of which are sold for a crown. E. Long. 35. 25. N. Lat. 36. 36. POLICASTRO, an episcopal town of Italy, in the kingdom of Naples, and in the Hither Principato; but now almost in ruins, for which reason the bishop resides in another town. E. Long. 15. 46. N. Lat. 40. 26. POLICY, or POLITY, in matters of government. See POLITY. POLICY of Insurance, or Assurance, of ships, is a contract or convention, whereby a person takes upon himself the risks of a sea-voyage; obliging himself to make good the losses and damages that may befal the vessel, its equipage, tackle, victualling, lading, &c. either from tempests, shipwrecks, pirates, fire, war, reprisals, in part. or in whole; in consideration of a certain sum of seven, or eight, or ten per cent. more or less according to the risk run; which sum is paid down to the assurer by the assuree upon his signing the policy. See INSURANCE. POLIDORO DA CARAVAGGIO, an eminent painter, born at Caravaggio in the Milanese in 1492. He went young to Rome, where he worked as a labourer in preparing stucco for the painters; and was so animated by seeing them at work in the Vatican, that he solicited some of them to teach him the rules of designing. He attached himself particularly to Maturino, a young Florentine; and a similarity in talents and taste producing a disinterested affection, they associated like brothers, laboured together, and lived on one common purse, un- Polidoro til the death of Maturino. He understood and practised น the chiaro-scuro in a degree superior to any in the Ro- Polishing man school and finished an incredible number of pictures both in fresco and in oil, few of the public buildings at Rome being without some of his paintings. Being obliged to fly from Rome when it was stormed and pillaged, he retired to Messina, where he obtained a large sum of money with great reputation, by painting the triumphal arches for the reception of Charles V. after his victory at Tunis: and when he was preparing to return to Rome, he was murdered, for the sake of his riches, by his Sicilian valet with other assassins, in year 1543. the POLIFOLIA. See ANDROMEDA, BOTANY In dex. POLIGNA, MELCHIER DE, an excellent French genius and a cardinal, was born of an ancient and noble family at Puy, the capital of Velay, in 1662. He was sent by Louis XIV. ambassador extraordinary to Poland, where, on the death of Sobieski, he formed a project of procuring the election of the prince of Conti. But failing, he returned home under some disgrace; out when restored to favour, he was sent to Rome as auditor of the Rota. He was plenipotentiary during the congress at Utrecht, at which time Clement I. created him a cardinal; and upon the accession of Louis XV. he was appointed to reside at Rome as minister of France. He remained there till the year 1732, and died in the year 1741. He left behind him a MS. poem entitled Anti-Lucretius, seu De Deo et Natura; the plan of which he is said to have formed in Holland in a conversation with Mr Bayle. This celebrated poem was first published in the year 1749, and has since been several times printed in other countries besides France. He had been received into the French Academy in 1704, into the Academy of Sciences in 1715, into that of the Belles Lettres in 1717: and he would have been an ornament to any society, having all the accomplishments of a man of parts and learning. POLISHER, or BURNISHER, among mechanics, an instrument for polishing and burnishing things proper to take a polish. The gilders use an iron-polisher to prepare their metals before gilding, and the blood-stone to give them the bright polish after gilding. The polishers, among cutlers, are a kind of wooden wheels made of walnut-tree, about an inch thick, and. of a diameter at pleasure, which are turned round by a great wheel; upon these they smooth and polish theirwork with emery and putty. The polishers for glass consist of two pieces of wood; the one flat, covered with old hat; the other long and half-round, fastened on the former, whose edge it exceeds on both sides by some inches, which serves the workmen to take hold of, and to work backwards and forwards by. The polishers used by spectacle-makers are pieces of wood a foot long, seven or eight inches broad, and an inch and a half thick, covered with old beaver hat, whereon they polish the shell and horn frames their spectacle-glasses are to be set in. POLISHING, in general, the operation of giving a gloss or lustre to certain substances, as metals, glass, marble, &c.. The Tolishing. POLITENESS means elegance of manners or good breeding: Lord Chesterfield calls it the art of pleasing. It has also been called an artificial good nature; and indeed good nature is the foundation of true politeness ; without which art will make but a very indifferent fi gure, and will generally defeat its own ends. 66 Where compliance and assent, caution and candour, says an Dr Knox.elegant essayist *, arise from a natural tenderness of disposition and softness of nature, as they sometimes do, they are almost amiable and certainly excusable; but as the effects of artifice, they must be despised. The persons who possess them are, indeed, often, themselves dupes of their own deceit, when they imagine others are deluded by it. For excessive art always betrays itself; and many, who do not openly take notice of the deceiver, from motives of delicacy and tenderness for his character, secretly deride and warmly resent his ineffectual subtilty." + Beauties "True politeness (says another author+) is that conHistory-tinual attention which humanity inspires us with, both to please others, and to avoid giving them offence. The surly plain-dealer exclaims loudly against this virtue, and prefers his own shocking bluntness and Gothic freedom. The courtier and fawning flatterer, on the contrary, substitute in its place insipid compliments, cringings, and a jargon of unmeaning sentences. The one blames politeness, because he takes it for a vice; and the other is the occasion of this, because that which he practices is really So. Both these characters act from motives equally absurd, though not equally criminal. The conduct of the artfu flatterer is guided by self-love, while that of the plain-dealer is the effect of ignorance for nothing is more certain, than that the desire of pleasing is founded on the mutual wants and the mutual wishes of mankind; on the pleasure which we wish to derive from society, and the character which we wish to acquire. Men having discovered that it was necessary and agreeable to unite for their common interests, they have made laws to repress the wicked, they have settled the duties of social life, and connected the idea of respectability with the practice of those duties; and after having prescribed the regulations necessary to their common safety, they have endeavoured to render their commerce with one another agreeable, by establishing the rules of politeness and good breeding. "Indeed," as an elegant author already quoted remarks, "the philosopher who in the austerity of his virtue, should condemn the art of pleasing as unworthy cultivation, would deserve little attention from mankind, and might be dismissed to his solitary tub, like his brother Diogenes. It is the dictate of humanity, that we should endeavour to render ourselves agreeable to those in whose company we are destined to travel in the journey of life. It is our interest, it is the source of perpetual satisfaction; it is one of our most important duties as men, and particularly required in the professor of Christianity." It is needless to particularize the motives which have induced men to practise the agreeable virtues; for, from whatever source the desire of pleasing proceeds, it has always increased in proportion to the general civilisation of mankind. In a rude state of society, pleasure is limited in its sources and its operation. When the Politeness. wants of mankind, and the means of attaining them, are few, personal application is necessary to gratify them, and it is generally sufficient; by which means an individual becomes more independent than can possibly be the case in civilized life, and of course less disposed to give or receive assistance. Confined to the solitary wish of furnishing means for his own happiness, he is tittle intent on the pleasures of conversation and society. His desire of communication is equal to the extent of his knowledge. But as soon as the natural wants of life are filled up, we find unoccupied time, and we labour hard to make it pass in an agreeable manner. It is then we perceive the advantage of possessing a rational nature, and the delights of mutual intercourse. When we consider society in that state of perfection which enables a great part of the members of it to pursue at leisure the pleasures of conversation, we should expect, both from the ease of acquitting ourselves to the satisfaction of our associates, and from the advantages arising from this conduct, that the art of pleasing might be reduced to a few plain and simple rules, and that these might be derived from a slight attention to general manuers. The art of pleasing, in our intercourse with mankind, is indeed so simple, that it requires nothing more than the constant desire to please in all our words and actions; and the practice of it can neither wound a man's selflove, nor be prejudicial to his interest in any possible situation. But though this be certain, it is doubtless less attended to than in reason it ought to be. Each particular man is so zealous to promote his own ends or his own pleasure, as to forget that his neighbour has claims equal to his own; that every man that enters into company gives up for the time a great many of his peculiar rights; and that he then forms part of an association, met together not for the particular gratification of any one, but for the purpose of general satisfaction. BREEDING, CONVERSATION, and Good MANNERS. See The qualities essential in the art of pleasing, are virtue, knowledge, and manners. All the virtues which form a good and respectable character in a moral sense are essential to the art of pleasing. This must be an established principle, because it depends on the wants and mutual relations of society. In all affairs of common business, we delight in transacting with men in whom we can place confidence, and in whom we find integrity; but truth is so naturally pleasing, and the common affairs of life are so interwoven with social intercourse, that we derive abundantly more satisfaction from an honest character than from specious manners. "Should you be suspected (says Chesterfield) of injustice, malignity, perfidy, lying, &c. all the parts and knowledge of the world will never procure you esteem, friendship, and respect.” The first of virtues in our commerce with the world, and the chief in giving pleasure to those with whom we associate, is inviolable sincerity of heart. We can never be too punctual in the most scrupulous tenderness to our moral character in this respect, nor too nicely affected in preserving our integrity. The peculiar modes, even of the fashionable world, which are founded in dissimulation, and which on this account have induced several to recommend the practice, would not prevent a man of the highest integrity |