At home all day writing. In the evening read The Universal Magazine for December; think the following observations worth notice:
1st. He who is vexed at a reproach may thereby know that he would be proud if he were commended.
2dly. Pride upon the account of preferment shows that it is not deserved, for he who values himself upon his outward character acknowledges thereby that he wants intrinsic worth. But the greatest men are valued more for their abilities than for their fortunes; and if virtue were esteemed above all things, no favor or advancement would change men in their temper.
3dly. We should often blush for our best actions if we saw all the motives upon which they were grounded.
4thly. It is idleness which induces men to be guilty of bad actions, but whatsoever art is able to busy the minds of men with a constant source of innocent labor will certainly have its effect in composing and purifying their thoughts, surer than all the precepts of the moralists.
5thly. There can be no arguing with an obstinate man, for when he has once contradicted you all conviction is excluded from his mind. None but manly souls can acknowledge themselves mistaken and forsake an error when they find themselves in the wrong.
6thly. We should not measure men by Sundays without regarding what they do all the week after, for devotion does not necessarily make men virtuous.