Conduct yourselves with meekness and humility, for they are the steps of the ladder by which ye may climb the highest hill of virtue and excellency, and then ye hardly need forbearance. Know that there is no ornament so beautiful as that of humility. Behold the master of all prophets (Moses) was not so distinguished in Scripture for any of his high attributes as for that of humility. Keep a bridle upon your tongue and a muzzle upon your mouth.

If the spiritual part, the understanding, rules and subdues the physical desires, the latter will succumb and seek but that which is necessary, will be satisfied with the little, and disdain superfluities; he will be contented in life and comforted in death. Eat that ye may live, and condemn all that is superfluous. Believe not that the multitude of eating and drinking enlarges the body and increases the understanding, as a sack which is filled by that which is put therein for it is just the contrary. Be careful in taking wine, for it destroys the mighty and disgraces the honourable.

...

Know, that Expenditure is divided into four classes: Profit, Loss, Disgrace, and Honour. Profit is the expenditure of charity and benevolence, the interest of which ye enjoy in this world, whilst the capital is laid up as an endowment for the future. Loss is gambling, by which man loseth his money, his respect, and his time; for if he gaineth, he weaveth spiders' webs, and "it is a trespass he hath certainly trespassed." Disgrace is that which is extravagantly spent in eating and drinking. Honour is the expenditure for garments for his skin. Dress, therefore, as well as your means will possibly allow; but eat less than your means, only sufficient to preserve your lives. Despise gambling, and keep aloof from gamblers. "Sow in righteousness," that is, spend in alms even some

what more than your means will permit, and "ye will reap in mercy." Live happily in the society of your friends, and with the wife of your youthful years; but touch not the one which is not yours, for "she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her." Serve your friends and your friendless with all your physical power and might, "according to the good hand of the Lord upon you"; but take heed lest ye serve them with your souls, for they are a godly portion. Remember this, my son Abraham; and the Lord, blessed be he, shall have mercy upon thee!

WELSH TRIADS

(12th-14th centuries.)

A FAVORITE form of mediæval Welsh literature was that of the sententious compositions known as "triads, " in which Considerable thoughts or subjects were grouped by threes.

collections of these have survived, and some writers have endeavored to trace their origin to Druidical times; but recent Celtic scholars seem to be generally persuaded that the triads have no earlier source than among the Welsh bards of the twelfth century and afterwards. The following is a collection grouped as "Moral Triads:

MORAL TRIADS

(From "Ecclesiastical Antiquities of the Cymry," by Rev. John Williams, p. 28.)

1. The three primary principles of wisdom: obedience to the laws of God, concern for the welfare of mankind, and suffering with fortitude all the accidents of life.

2. The three great laws of man's actions: what he forbids in another, what he requires from another, and what he cares not how it is done by another.

3. Three things well understood will give peace: the tendencies of nature, the claims of justice, and the voice of truth.

4. There are three ways of searching the heart of man : in the thing he is not aware of, in the manner he is not aware of, and at the time he is not aware of.

5. There are three things, and God will not love him

that loves to look at them: fighting, a monster, and the pomposity of pride.

6. Three things produce wisdom: truth, consideration, and suffering.

7. The three great ends of knowledge: duty, utility, and decorum.

8. There are three men that all ought to look upon with affection: he that with affection looks at the face of the earth, that is delighted with rational works of art, and that looks lovingly on little infants.

9. Three men will not love their country: he that loves luxurious food, he that loves riches, and he that loves

ease.

10. The three laughs of a fool: at the good, at the bad, and at he knows not what.

11. Three things corrupt the world: pride, superfluity, and indolence.

SAINT LOUIS

(A. D. 1215-1270.)

OF Louis IX., king of France, who reigned from A. D. 1226 to 1270, and who became "Saint Louis" in the calendar of the Roman Church by the canonizing decree of Pope Boniface VIII. in 1297, M. Guizot says: "The world has seen more profound politicians on the throne, greater generals, men of more mighty and brilliant intellect, princes who have exercised a more powerful influence over later generations and events subsequent to their own time; but it has never seen such a king as this St. Louis; never seen a man possessing sovereign power and yet not contracting the vices and passions which attend it; displaying upon the throne in such a high degree every human virtue purified and ennobled by Christian faith. St. Louis did not give any new or permanent impulse to his age; he did not strongly influence the nature or the development of civilization in France; whilst he endeavored to reform the gravest abuses of the feudal system by the introduction of justice and public order, he did not endeavor to abolish it, either by the substitution of a pure monarchy, or by setting class against class in order to raise the royal authority high above all. He was neither an egotist nor a scheming diplomatist; he was in all sincerity in harmony with his age, and sympathetic alike with the faith, the institutions, the customs, and the tastes of France in the thirteenth century. And yet, both in the thirteenth century and in later times, St. Louis stands apart as a man of profoundly original character; an isolated figure, without any peer among his contemporaries or his successors; so far as it was possible in the Middle Ages, he was an ideal man, king, and Christian."