It was the maxim, I think, of Alphonsus of Aragon that _dead counsellors
are safest_. The grave puts an end to flattery and artifice, and the
information that we receive from books is pure from interest, fear, or
ambition. Dead counsellors are likewise most instructive, because they
are heard with patience and with reverence. We are not unwilling to
believe that man wiser than ourselves from whose abilities we may
receive advantage without any danger of rivalry or opposition, and who
affords us the light of his experience without hurting our eyes by
flashes of insolence.--S. JOHNSON. _Rambler_, 87.