many labours and perils, do not think you may repose. What remains for you to do, is far more difficult and more important than what you have done. You must collect all the strength of mind you are known to possess, to govern that kingdom with justice which you have acquired with glory. You have struggled with Fortune in adversity, and have been victor; you must now combat her in prosperity. She is the same enemy; her appearance is only changed; and she is more difficult to subdue under the form of an enchantress

than any other. She has conquered mighty heros! Annibal, who overcame at Cannæ, was enslaved by pleasure at Capua.

Your prince is young; but his understanding is ripe, and he promises great things. After having weathered a thousand tempests by sea and by land, and conducted him over rocks and precipices, to the utmost point of greatness, teach him to preserve the dignity he has acquired, and prove that the sceptre, hereditary in his family, was due to his virtue more than to his birth. It is more honourable to be raised than born to a throne; hazard bestows the one, but merit obtains the other. Teach him to serve his God, to love his country, and to render exact justice, without which no kingdom can endure. Let him accustom himself to desire nothing but honour, and to fear

nothing but shame. Let him know that the higher he is elevated, the less he can be concealed; that the more power he has, the less he ought to allow himself; and that a king should be distinguished by his manners more than by his robes. Keep him at a distance in general from the extremes either of prodigality or avarice; virtue lies between them. Nevertheless, he should be sparing of his time, and profuse of his private money, that it may circulate in his kingdom, and not lie useless in his treasury. The master of a rich estate can never be poor. Let him never forget the speech of that Roman, "I will not have any gold; but I love to reign over those who have." Let

him not think himself happy, nor a true king, until he has relieved his kingdom from its calamities, repaired its ruins, extinguished tyranny, and re-established peace and freedom. Sallust says that a kingdom ought always to be present to the mind of its master. The surest guard of kings is not armies and treasures, but friends; and they are only acquired by beneficence and justice. "We

must deliberate before we choose them," says Seneca, "but when once chosen, place in them an entire confidence."

It is important, but not easy, to distinguish a true friend from an agreeable enemy; just praises are spurs to virtue, but flatteries are

a subtle poison. We should not break lightly with a friend, nor of a sudden. According to the old proverb, we must unrip, not tear away. It is an error to suppose that we shall be loved by those to whom we are not attached, and an injustice to exact from them more than we can give. Nothing is freer than the heart: it will bear no yoke; it knows no master but love. Never suffer your king to open his soul to suspicion, nor to lend his ear to informers; but let him despise slanderers, and confound them by the virtue of his conduct. Augustus wrote thus to Tiberius :-"Let us permit men to speak evil of us; is it not sufficient that they cannot do it? Does the