larged views; in proportion as little minds prevail in number over those which have been expanded and extended by study and reflection, and above all, by christian motive; so is vanity more extensively operative than pride. A similar reason will explain its greater prevalence over the young and the old than upon the middle-aged: it reigns and revels most in the periods of development and decay, before the mental powers have been thoroughly expanded, and when they have begun to wither, and are advancing towards their period of decadence. Neither need we go farther for an explanation of the phenomenon, why vanity is supposed to be more generally operative upon females it is not that they do not possess an equal degree of mental vigour, but that never having been called into action, it is not exhibited; it is as if it were not, and had no existence : besides that they possess more of exterior decoration about them, which they are early taught to be fond of, while their whole system of education fixes their attention, rather on accomplishments, than on solid possessions, and teaches them to set a value on that which will give effect, rather than on that which will produce solid and lasting esteem.

Vanity is exhibited even in savage life, in the decoration of the person, in a fondness for display, and in a relish for gaudy ornament: and it is perhaps equally prevalent, in a state of refined society, advancing towards too great a degree of luxury only that here, it is more carefully con

cealed, more perfected by art, than in the simplicity of the uninstructed.

Vanity rests upon the surface of thought the veriest emptinesses afford the means of its nutrition; it will live upon air,-aye more, it will exist without it: for when deprived of the applause of others, it will retire within itself, and feed upon its own resources, and be vain even of suffering injustice from the want of a due appreciation of the little and contemptible peculiarities, which have afforded the pubulum for its existence. Numerous almost beyond calculation are the avenues by which it gains access to the heart. One individual is vain of personal beauty; another of rank; a third of ancestry, and of the multiplied quarterings upon the family escutcheon; and another of his country: one is vain of his wealth, his dress, his equipage, and every absurd trifle in the appointment of his domestic arrangements: another is vain of the vanity of his immediate predecessors, and thus inherits it as an heir-loom to be handed down to his posterity. But this evil principle will sometimes assume a still lower standard: one man will become vain in the proficiency of his imitation of those below him; he will be vain of identifying himself with the lowest vulgarities of the coachman and the groom; he will degrade himself to become acquainted with the arcana of pugilism, with the levelling society of the cock-pit,-nay, even with the art and mystery of cock-feeding; and will be vain of these most manly, most gentlemanlike, most rational,

most intellectual, most noble, most moral pursuits, most admirably suited to the wants and desires of an immortal soul; most excellently calculated to fulfil the great end of his existence here, to promote his own worth, and the wellbeing of others; so degrading is folly, so base the attempt to reduce man to a mere automaton of vulgar slang; the pure offspring, of the purest association, with the lowest scoundrels of the turf, the cock-pit, and the ring!

But vanity will stoop a grade lower, and there are some who will be vain of their vices; who will glory in the success of their intrigues, to smite the innocent, or dupe the unwary: there are those who will be vain of their mighty strength to drink wine; of their disregard of every social and religious institution; of their contempt of laws human and divine; of their disbelief in the Scriptures of truth; of their escape from the thraldom of priestcraft, that is, from the sanction of reason; the dictates of judgment; the results of reflection; the monitions of conscience; the strivings of the Spirit of the Most High God, with mortal man on the brink of the grave, and with the gulf of eternity before him.

Vanity will generally be found ostentatiously displayed; for individuals are commonly vain of its possession, and anxious to proclaim it to their neighbours; but it is sometimes concealed, especially when it has been unsuccessful in attracting attention and applause; and when this is the case, it produces a very marked and deleterious

agency ugon the peace of the individual who consumes in secret the humiliation to which he is subjected; who writhes under the affronts he is called to suffer, and yet does not acknowledge by a word or a sign that he feels at all; and who endures all the consequent punishment of disturbed peace and irritated mind, and yet dares not for a moment allow that he is unhappy or unsuccessful. And on the contrary, the vanity which is fed by the incense of adulation, and which grows and thrives upon the attention and flattery of others, conducts its possessor to the intoxication of success; drowns him in the insensibility of the giddy height to which it has attained, and leaves its victim to the wretched insecurity of self-dependence, or suddenly plunges him into the gloomy abandonment of friends and patrons, the neglect of acquaintance, and the contempt of the world at large. Yet in either case, during the unclouded hours of self-gratulation, or in the obscurity of desertion and selfreproach, the principle of vanity remains unextinguished, and inextinguishable; it survives the wreck of fortune, the loss of opportunity, and even the gratification of desire; and is still found floating on the surface of life, even when its slender thread is well nigh snapped asunder by the invisible, intangible, inappreciable zephyr of time!

Such is vanity! a vice for which the present age of the world is perhaps peculiarly remarkable; and yet what does it possess to render it desir

able? It is fixed upon objects which are unprofitable, and without real enjoyment; its hopes and its confidence are vain and empty; for it will deceive and disappoint its votary at the last, at that awful crisis when he will most stand in need of consolation and support; at that great day, when the thoughts of the heart shall be made manifest, and the most secret vices shall be exposed. "Let not him that is deceived, trust in vanity; for vanity shall be his recompense." Job xv. 31. It is indeed true that "childhood and youth are vanity;" yet know thou, O young man, that if thou "walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the light of thine eyes, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment." Ecclesiastes ix. 10. All present objects, all temporary pursuits, even the very best of them, the desire after, and the acquisition of literary stores, are absolutely vain, and insufficient to produce satisfaction, or to procure lasting happiness. "Vain man would be wise, though he be born like a wild ass's colt;" man that is weak, ignorant, helpless, blind, the creature of a day, existing now in the flower of beauty, and gone before to-morrow's sun shall have dawned upon his closing moments; and what has he to be vain of, even in the highest application of his intellectual powers? that foolish creature, who since the fall of his first parent is void of all true wisdom, and solid knowledge; whose attention is caught by the vanity of his compatriot's applause; whose perception of good is well nigh extinguished by