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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Blossoms of Morality, by Richard Johnson
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
-
-
-Title: The Blossoms of Morality
-       Intended for the Amusement and Instruction of Young Ladies and Gentlemen
-
-Author: Richard Johnson
-
-Illustrator: John Bewick
-
-Release Date: September 30, 2013 [EBook #43854]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLOSSOMS OF MORALITY ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Chris Curnow, Charlie Howard and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-    THE
-    BLOSSOMS OF MORALITY;
-
-    INTENDED FOR THE
-    AMUSEMENT AND INSTRUCTION
-    OF
-    Young Ladies and Gentlemen.
-
-    BY THE EDITOR OF
-    THE LOOKING-GLASS FOR THE MIND.
-
-    WITH FORTY-SEVEN CUTS, DESIGNED AND ENGRAVED
-    BY
-
-    [Illustration: I. Bewick]
-
-
-    _THE FOURTH EDITION._
-
-    LONDON:
-
-    Printed by J. Swan, 76, Fleet Street,
-    FOR J. HARRIS; SCATCHERD AND LETTERMAN; B. CROSBY AND CO.
-    DARTON AND HARVEY; LACKINGTON, ALLEN, AND CO.
-    J. WALKER; AND VERNOR AND HOOD.
-
-    1806.
-
-
-
-
-PREFACE.
-
-
-The very flattering encouragement the Public have been pleased to give
-"The Looking-glass for the Mind, or Intellectual Mirror," has invited
-the Editor of that work to intrude once more on their indulgence. As
-a general preceptor, he wishes to be useful to the rising generation,
-and with that view recommends to their serious perusal "The Blossoms of
-Morality."
-
-The Looking-glass is a _very free_ translation of some of the most
-interesting tales of Mons. Berquin, and other foreign writers, whose
-works in the juvenile line undoubtedly merit the highest encomiums,
-and claim the most extensive patronage of their fellow-citizens. It
-certainly must be allowed, that great merit is due to those foreign
-celebrated writers, who, after studying the higher branches of
-literature, instead of attempting to acquire honour and fame by
-delivering lectures on the abstruse sciences, have condescended to
-humble themselves to the plain language of youth, in order to teach
-them wisdom, virtue, and morality.
-
-With respect to the present work, though we have not so largely
-borrowed from foreign writers, yet we have endeavoured to supply that
-deficiency by the introduction of original matter. The juvenile mind
-very early begins to enlarge and expand, and is capable of reflection
-much sooner than we are generally apt to imagine.
-
-From these considerations, we have carried our ideas in this volume one
-step higher than in the last: and, though we have given many tales that
-may contribute to amuse the youthful mind, yet we have occasionally
-introduced subjects which, we hope, will not fail to exercise their
-judgment, improve their morals, and give them some knowledge of the
-world.
-
-For instance: in the History of Ernestus and Fragilis, which is the
-first, and one of the original pieces inserted in this volume, the
-youthful reader is led to reflect on the instability of all human
-affairs; he is taught to be neither insolent in prosperity nor mean in
-adversity; but is shown how necessary it is to preserve an equality of
-temper through all the varying stages of fortune. He is also shown,
-how dangerous are the indulgences of parents, who suffer children to
-give themselves up to indolence and luxury, which generally, as in this
-history, terminate in a manner fatal to all the parties concerned.
-
-May these Blossoms of Morality, in due time, ripen to maturity, and
-produce fruit that may be pleasing to the youthful taste, tend to
-correct the passions, invigorate the mental faculties, and confirm in
-their hearts true and solid sentiments of virtue, wisdom, and glory.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS.
-
-
-    _Ernestus and Fragilis_                                   Page 7
-
-    _Juvenile Tyranny conquered_                                  19
-
-    _The Book of Nature_                                          28
-
-    _The unexpected Reformation_                                  39
-
-    _The Recompence of Virtue_                                    49
-
-    _The Pleasures of Contentment_                                58
-
-    _The happy Effects of Sunday Schools on the Morals of the
-        rising Generation_                                        68
-
-    _The Happy Villager_                                          76
-
-    _The Indolent Beauty_                                         86
-
-    _An Oriental Tale_                                            98
-
-    _Generosity rewarded_                                        104
-
-    _An Evening Vision_                                          109
-
-    _The Anxieties of Royalty_                                   113
-
-    _The generous Punishment_                                    124
-
-    _Female Courage properly considered_                         134
-
-    _The beautiful Statue_                                       141
-
-    _Dorcas and Amarillis_                                       156
-
-    _The Conversation_                                           170
-
-    _Edwin and Matilda_                                          188
-
-    _The pious Hermit_                                           197
-
-    _The Caprice of Fortune_                                     207
-
-    _The melancholy Effects of Pride_                            216
-
-    _The Nettle and the Rose_                                    224
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-_Ernestus and Fragilis._
-
-
-The faint glimmerings of the pale-faced moon on the troubled billows
-of the ocean are not so fleeting and inconstant as the fortune and
-condition of human life. We one day bask in the sunshine of prosperity,
-and the next, too often, roll in anguish on the thorny bed of adversity
-and affliction. To be neither too fond of prosperity, nor too much
-afraid of adversity, is one of the most useful lessons we have to learn
-and practise in the extensive commerce of this world. Happy is the
-youth whose parents are guided by these principles, who govern their
-children as good princes should their subjects, neither to load them
-with the chains of tyranny, nor suffer them to run into the excesses
-of dissipation and licentiousness. The following History of Ernestus
-and Fragilis is founded upon these general principles.
-
-Ernestus and Fragilis were both the children of Fortune, but rocked
-in two different cradles. Philosophy and Prudence were the nurses
-of the first, and Vanity and Folly lulled the second to his repose.
-Ernestus was early used to experience the various changes of the air,
-and accustomed to a regular diet; while Fragilis was treated in a very
-different manner, being kept in a room where, it was supposed, no rude
-wind could intrude itself; and hurtful delicacies were given him, under
-the idle notion, that strength is to be acquired in proportion to the
-dainties and excesses of our meals.
-
-Hence it is no wonder if, after a few years had strengthened their
-limbs and mental faculties, that there appeared an indisputable
-difference between the two youths.
-
-Ernestus was all life and gaiety, and soon showed a propensity to be
-at the head of all kinds of mischief. Though this disposition often
-got him into disgrace with his parents, yet he always showed much
-contrition and sorrow when he really found he had injured any one, and
-seldom slept after the commission of a boyish crime till he had made
-ample amends to the party injured.
-
-Fragilis had very different passions, and very contrary notions of
-things. Being accustomed to be indulged with whatever he cried for,
-his ideas soon wandered from real to imaginary wants, and as these
-could not possibly be gratified, he naturally became peevish, fretful,
-and ill-natured. Whenever the mind is affected, the body must partake
-of the shock it occasions. Fragilis was weak, rickety, and feeble; and
-the remedies they applied to relieve him only contributed to increase
-the evil.
-
-As the two little heroes of my history lived in the same neighbourhood,
-and their parents were nearly equal in point of fortune, they
-consequently became intimate companions, and frequently visited each
-other. It was easily to be discovered which of these two children would
-one day figure most on the busy stage of the world. Ernestus and his
-lady with pleasure beheld in their little son an ample share of spirit
-and activity, kindness and affability, resolution and integrity. The
-parents of Fragilis, however, had not the same pleasing prospect in
-their favourite and darling; for he was of a dull and gloomy turn,
-seldom contented with any thing, perpetually wrangling with every one
-about him, and constantly pining after those things which he knew were
-not to be procured.
-
-Ernestus made a rapid progress in his literary pursuits, under the
-tuition of his masters; for his application to his books was equal to
-the genius nature had bestowed on him. On the other hand, Fragilis
-advanced very slowly in the paths of science; for his genius had been
-spoiled by the pernicious indulgences of his parents in his infant
-years, and he had been suffered to acquire a habit of indolence, which
-made the least labour of body or of mind tiresome and disgustful.
-
-These circumstances, however, did not seem to interrupt the rising
-friendship between these two youths, their connections growing stronger
-as they ripened in years. They were joint proprietors in their kites,
-their tops, their marbles, and their dumps; though Ernestus was
-generally the manufacturer of the first and last articles. Indeed, the
-kites made by Fragilis were always too heavy, and not equally balanced
-on both sides; consequently they were difficult to be raised into the
-air, and when there, they had a wavering and unsteady motion; whereas,
-those made by Ernestus were light and elegant, darted into the air like
-an eagle, and remained there as steady as a hawk resting on its wings;
-his dumps had the elegance of medals; and his tops and marbles were so
-judiciously chosen as to claim the admiration of all the neighbouring
-youths.
-
-The time at length arrived, when it is usual for parents to begin
-to think of sending their children from home, to engage in the busy
-commerce of the world, and to learn how to provide for themselves. The
-feathered inhabitants of the woods and groves give up every pleasure to
-that of rearing their little brood; but, as soon as they have acquired
-a proper degree of maturity, they then drive them from their nests, to
-form new connections, and to shift for themselves. Man, more helpless
-than birds, requires the assistance of the parental hand, for some
-years, to rear and cherish him; nor do their cares and anxieties for
-him cease till life is no more.
-
-Though Ernestus loved his parents with all the affections of a dutiful
-child, yet he could not help rejoicing at the idea of embarking in
-the bustle of the world, and making a figure as a man. On the other
-hand, Fragilis could not prevail on himself to quit the apron-string
-of his mother, and engage in the rude clamour of a commercial life, in
-which so much attention, thought, and industry, are required. Neither
-could his parents part with their darling, whose constitution they had
-spoiled, and rendered unfit for business. Ernestus, in a short time
-after, by his own desire, was placed as a clerk in a merchant's house
-in London; while Fragilis continued with his parents, to squander away
-his time in destructive scenes of indolence and luxury.
-
-Five years had glided away as it were imperceptibly, when Ernestus
-found himself disengaged from the ties of his clerkship. His person was
-by this time arrived at the state of manhood, his figure was graceful
-and genteel, and his mind was improved from the polite companies he
-had engaged in at his leisure hours. As business had ever been the
-first object of his attention, and as he had thereby made himself of no
-small consequence to his late master, the latter, to connect him more
-closely with his interests, offered Ernestus his daughter in marriage,
-and a considerable share in the trade of the house. Such a flattering
-offer could not admit of a moment's hesitation, especially as a secret
-passion had long mutually glowed in the bosom of each party. They were
-married, and they were happy.
-
-Soon after this period, a most dreadful inundation happened on the
-sea-coast, on the very spot where the houses and lands of the parents
-of Ernestus and Fragilis were situated. Dreadful indeed it was, for it
-not only washed down their houses, but drowned some hundreds of cattle,
-and left that as a part of the briny ocean, which, but a few hours
-before, was beautiful meadows and gardens, adorned with every thing
-pleasing to regale the appetite, or please the eye.
-
-Deplorable indeed was now the situation of those two families:
-their houses washed away, their cattle destroyed, and all their
-fruitful lands, on the produce of which their fortunes depended, were
-irrecoverably lost, and become of no value. Surely, to support such a
-situation with any tolerable degree of tranquility of mind, requires
-more courage and philosophy than generally fall to the lot of imperfect
-mortals!
-
-After the first transports of terror and affright were a little
-abated, and calm reason and reflection succeeded the sad emotions of
-horror and despair, the old Ernestus thus addressed the fair partner of
-his misfortunes:--
-
-"My dearest Emelia," for that was the name of his amiable lady, "in the
-midst of this terrible misfortune, we have the happiness to reflect,
-that what has befallen us is not derived from any fault of our own,
-but by the pleasure of Him who gave us every thing, and who has a just
-right to take what he pleases from us. Though he has taken from us our
-house and lands, he has still graciously left us our beloved son, who
-will not fail to console us in our misery, and who will perhaps help us
-in our distresses. Though we are deprived of our fortune, we have the
-pleasing consolation to reflect, that, by bringing him up in the school
-of Prudence and Industry, we have secured him from sinking under the
-wreck of our present calamity. Nothing can more contribute to soften
-the calamities of good parents, than to reflect that their children are
-not exposed to partake of their miseries."
-
-The heart of this amiable spouse was, for some time, too full of grief
-for the misfortune she felt, to give any immediate reply: but, at last,
-recovering her usual spirits and sensibility, she withdrew her head
-from the bosom of her generous husband, on which it had been for some
-time tenderly reclined.
-
-"Ah! my beloved partner of happiness and misery," said she, "why
-am I thus sorrowful and wretched? why do I thus fly in the face of
-Providence, for depriving us only of the baubles of life? Have I not
-still left an amiable and tender husband, and a dutiful and beloved
-son. These are treasures which I still possess--treasures infinitely
-beyond those I have lost--treasures that will support me in the stormy
-hour of adversity, and enable me to make a mockery and derision of
-every thing that the cruel hand of fabled Fortune can inflict."
-
-She then caught her husband in her arms, and there fainted, rather
-through excess of joy than grief. Virtuous minds, however they may
-be distressed for a moment, by unforeseen accidents, soon find an
-inexpressible consolation in the integrity of their hearts.
-
-Such was the character of Ernestus and his lady, that this dreadful
-calamity was no sooner known, than all the neighbouring gentry flocked
-round them, and seemed to contend with each other for the honour of
-assisting such distinguished characters. What is the empty parade of
-riches acquired by fraud, rapine, and plunder, when compared to the
-heartfelt satisfaction which virtue in distress must have here felt?
-
-It may reasonably be supposed, that it was not long before this
-dreadful calamity of these amiable parents reached the ears of young
-Ernestus. A youth, brought up in the wilds of modern extravagance,
-would have exclaimed, perhaps in bitter terms, on being thus suddenly
-deprived of a fine patrimonial estate; he would, probably, have even
-arraigned the severe hand of Providence, and have dared to utter
-impieties against his omnipotent Maker!
-
-Such was not the conduct of Ernestus. His parents had taken care to
-give him, not a flighty and frothy, but a rational and manly education,
-the foundation of which was honour, probity, and virtue; not folly,
-luxury, and vanity. It is a just proverb, that the first seasoning
-sticks longest by the vessel, and that those who have been accustomed,
-in their early days, to tread the paths of Prudence, will seldom, when
-they grow up, run into those of Folly.
-
-Ernestus received the news of this terrible calamity, just as he and
-his lady returned from a party of pleasure. It is too often found, that
-after pleasure comes pain, and never was it more truly verified than
-in this instance; with this exception, that here the one was not the
-consequence of the other.
-
-He tenderly embraced his lady, took leave of her for the present, and
-instantly set out for the fatal scene of ruin, to assist, console,
-and comfort, his unfortunate parents. What passed between them in the
-first moments of their meeting, afforded such a scene of tenderness
-and affection, as exceeds the possibility of description to reach: the
-feelings of the heart, in such a situation, exceed every thing the most
-lively imagination can fabricate.
-
-Ernestus found his dear parents had taken shelter in the house of an
-old gentleman, who lived in the neighbourhood, who was immensely rich,
-and had neither children nor relations living. Here they enjoyed all
-the consolation and comfort their generous hearts could wish for;
-nor was the young Ernestus suffered to contribute his mite to their
-aid. "It is enough," said the old gentleman of the house, "that you
-have lost your patrimony; but I have riches sufficient, and have no
-near relation to succeed me. How can I dispose of it better than in
-cherishing the distressed, and in taking virtue by the hand to raise it
-above the wrecks of fortune?"
-
-In a little time after, this worthy old gentleman paid the debt of
-nature, and left the bulk of his fortune to the parents of Ernestus;
-who, by this act of generosity, were become as opulent as ever, and
-consequently resumed their former figure in the world. The fortune
-of young Ernestus was every day increasing, from his great success
-in commerce, till he at length found himself master of a sufficient
-independency, when he quitted trade; and he and his lady retired to the
-country, where they passed their days under the same roof with their
-parents, happy in themselves, and diffusing happiness to all who lived
-within the circle of their knowledge.
-
-We could wish here to drop the curtain, and leave the mind filled with
-those pleasing ideas, which the good fortune of the family of Ernestus
-must raise in the bosoms of the generous and humane--but we must return
-to the unhappy family of Fragilis.
-
-Young Fragilis, owing to the mistaken manner in which he was brought
-up, was feeble and enervated at that age, in which youths generally
-grow strong and robust. Hence it happened, from the sudden inundation
-of the waters, that it was with great difficulty he could save his
-life. However, though he escaped the fury of the unrelenting waves,
-he caught such a cold, that a fever ensued, which, heightened by the
-fright he had received, proved too much for his weakly constitution to
-support, and put a period to his existence in a few days.
-
-Trying indeed was the situation of Mr. Fragilis and his lady: in one
-day, deprived of all their wealth and possessions, and in a few days
-afterwards of their only son, whom they loved to excess, whom they
-ruined by false indulgences, and by whom they were reproached for
-their mistaken conduct in his dying moments. To be reproached by the
-only object they loved in this world, as being in some distant degree
-instrumental to his death, was too cutting a consideration for them to
-bear. They felt the wound effectually, it festered in their hearts, and
-they soon followed their son to his untimely tomb.
-
-Reflect, ye too tender and indulgent parents, how dangerous it is
-to rear your children in the lap of Luxury and Indolence, since you
-thereby make them unfit members of the community, frequently a heavy
-load to themselves, and always a source of anxiety and fear to their
-mistaken parents. Without health, strength, and vigour, life is but a
-burthen; why should then so many parents take such trouble to deprive
-their children of the three principal blessings of this life, which,
-when once lost, are never known to return?
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-_Juvenile Tyranny conquered._
-
-
-Mr. Wilson, his lady, and little family, left the noise and bustle
-of the city, to pass the more agreeable half of the year amidst the
-delights of rural scenes and prospects. Mr. Wilson, to a refined
-education, had added much knowledge and experience in the commerce
-of the polite world. His lady, though an amiable and sensible woman,
-had, in the education of her children, given rather too much into the
-fashionable errors of the metropolis.
-
-As soon as they were properly settled in their rural retirement, Mr.
-Wilson thus addressed his lady: "I flatter myself, my dear, that you
-will now leave me at liberty to manage our two children, in the manner
-that shall appear to me most proper; for I wish to eradicate those
-seeds of pride, obstinacy, and perversity, which the little circle of
-their acquaintance in London has sown in their minds, and to which the
-corrupted manners of the city have given deep root."
-
-Mrs. Wilson seemed a little angry at this introduction, and wished to
-know what were those defects he imagined to have discovered in the
-minds of her two little ones: she entreated him not to conceal them
-from her, as it was equally her duty to assist in every thing where the
-happiness of their children was concerned.
-
-"I do not wish, my dear," replied Mr. Wilson, "to complain of your
-conduct as a wife; but I think you are too fond and indulgent as a
-mother, you encourage them too much in the pride of dress, and fill
-their minds with the love of those things, which, so far from being
-of any use to them, may in time be productive of the worst of evils.
-Children, who are taught to value themselves only on their dress, or in
-proportion as they expect a superiority of fortune to others, will with
-difficulty consent to be governed by the rigid rules of prudence, or
-submit with cheerfulness to those laborious studies, from which alone
-true greatness is derived."
-
-Mrs. Wilson laughed at the oddities of her husband, as she called them,
-and represented him as one born in the beginning of the last century.
-She considered it as an indispensable duty to educate her children in
-conformity to the manners of the times, and the modes of education
-almost universally adopted in the fashionable world.
-
-Mr. Wilson, however, was of a very different opinion, and considered
-nothing so dangerous to the morals of his children, as to suffer them
-to be brought up in the modern school of extravagance and pride. He
-owned it was a privilege which most wives claimed, of being permitted
-to spoil their daughters in their own way; and if, out of complaisance,
-he gave up that point, he hoped he should be permitted to educate his
-son as he thought proper.
-
-The first thing he should endeavour to break him of, he said, should
-be his pride, which induced him to despise every one who was not
-dressed like himself, or whom he otherwise thought beneath him. Mr.
-Wilson considered it as very pernicious, to suffer children to value
-themselves merely on account of their dress or fortune.
-
-Mrs. Wilson, however, could not be convinced of the truth of these
-arguments. "I suppose," said she, "you would have him brought up like
-a ploughman, or as if he were born to nothing greater than little
-Jackson, the son of the gardener, who lives at the bottom of your
-grounds."
-
-The conversation now began to grow serious, and the gentleman could
-not help saying, he most heartily wished that his son, born as he
-was to an ample fortune, possessed all the good qualities which were
-conspicuous in that _poor_ boy. He very judiciously observed, that
-what the world generally calls a _polite_ education, often falls short
-of producing those happy effects, which Nature sometimes bestows on
-uncultivated minds. Children of humble birth are often despised, merely
-on account of their poverty, without considering, whether Nature may
-not have done more for them than for the children of Fortune. "Happy
-should I think myself," said he, "if my son and heir possessed half
-the civility and condescension which are so much taken notice of and
-admired in that little fellow you seem inconsiderately to despise."
-
-Mrs. Wilson, though a little disconcerted by these observations,
-seemed by no means inclined to give up the argument. "Did I not know
-otherwise," said the lady, "I should suspect you of being prejudiced
-against every thing the world considers as polite, in favour of poverty
-and rusticity. With all your boasted qualifications of this little
-Jackson, what would you say, should I clearly prove to you, that he
-possesses secret faults, such as may be hurtful to your son; that he is
-guilty of robbing yours and every orchard in the neighbourhood? that he
-gluttonizes on the fruits of his robberies in private? and that, though
-he is so very complaisant with the children of Fortune in the presence
-of their parents, he is a tyrant over the little ones in private?"
-
-Mr. Wilson observed, that if his lady could prove little Jackson to be
-guilty of one half of the crimes she had laid to his charge, he would
-instantly order, that he should never more be suffered to enter his
-house.
-
-The lady then proposed to make a fair and candid experiment of this
-matter. "I will," said she, "order a little feast for our son and
-daughter, and young Jackson shall be one of the party. We will find an
-opportunity to conceal ourselves, when we shall hear every thing that
-passes. From thence we shall have an opportunity of judging whether you
-or I be right."
-
-The proposal was so just and reasonable, that both parties instantly
-agreed to it. Some fruit and other things were immediately ordered to
-be brought into the parlour, and Miss and Master Wilson were sent for,
-as well as little Jackson. As soon as the latter entered, the little
-lady and her brother complained of the strong smell of dung he brought
-with him; and, though he was very clean and decent, they were afraid of
-his coming too near them, lest he should spoil their fine clothes.
-
-Though Mr. Wilson did not approve of this kind of behaviour in his
-children, he took no notice of it at present, but desired that they
-would be all happy together, while he and his lady took a walk into
-the garden. They then left the room, but softly entered it at another
-door, before which a screen was designedly placed, by which means they
-plainly overheard every thing that passed among the young folks.
-
-The first thing they heard, was their little daughter calling to her
-brother to come and sit by her; at the same time telling young Jackson
-he must stand, and think himself happy that he was, at any rate,
-permitted to remain in their company. The little fellow seemed no ways
-displeased at this treatment, but told them he was not at all tired,
-and was very happy to be with them in any situation.
-
-Master Wilson and his sister then divided the fruit into three parcels,
-as though they intended one of them for young Jackson; but, as soon
-as they had eat up their own shares, they began upon that intended
-for him, and eat it all up without giving him a taste, and even made
-ridicule of him all the time. They told him they would give him the
-parings of the apples, which were as much as such a poor creature as
-he could expect, and that he ought to think himself happy he could be
-indulged with them.
-
-Young Jackson told them he was not hungry, and he hoped they would not
-deny themselves any thing on his account. They promised him they would
-not, and then set up a loud laugh; all which Jackson bore without
-uttering the least word of complaint.
-
-At last, Miss Wilson and her brother having eaten up all the fruit,
-without permitting poor Jackson to taste a bit of it, they ordered him
-to go into the garden, and steal them some apples, promising, if he
-behaved well, to give him one for his obedience.
-
-"I cannot think of doing any such thing," replied Jackson. "You indeed
-forced me twice to do so, and then went and told the gardener that I
-stole them for myself, though you very well know I did not eat a morsel
-of them."
-
-"Poor thing!" said the young gentlefolks in derision, "and did they
-serve you so? Well, we insist on your going and doing the same now, or,
-look you, that cane in the corner shall be laid across your shoulders.
-We will teach you, that it is the duty of you beggars to obey us
-gentlefolks."
-
-Jackson still persisting in his refusal to be again guilty of any thing
-of the kind, Master Wilson took up the cane, and gave poor Jackson two
-or three blows with it, as hard as he could, while Miss Wilson stood
-looking on, encouraging her brother, telling Jackson at the same time,
-that if he complained of being beaten to their papa, they would again
-accuse him of stealing fruit, and that their words would be sooner
-believed than his.
-
-Poor Jackson replied, that he would rather be beaten all day than do
-so dishonest a thing as they desired him. He observed to them, that
-this was not the first by many times that he had been beaten by them
-unjustly and wantonly, and he did not suppose this would be the last.
-However, he said he should put up with it, without complaining to any
-one.
-
-Mr. Wilson and his lady could not patiently hear any more, but
-instantly came from behind the screen.--"Sweet children, indeed!" said
-Mrs. Wilson. "We have, behind that screen, unseen by you, heard all you
-have been saying, and in what manner you have treated that poor little
-fellow!" Little Jackson was all in a tremble, and told her, that they
-were only at play, and meant no harm. But this would not satisfy the
-lady, who was now convinced of the bad conduct of her son and daughter.
-
-"You wicked children," said she to them, with a resolute look and stern
-voice, "you have accused this innocent child of gluttony and theft,
-while you only are the authors of those abominable crimes. You have not
-scrupled to tell me the grossest falsehood, such as God will one day
-call you to account for, and severely punish you in the next world,
-where it will not be in my power to intercede for you. This moment
-ask pardon of that little boy, whom you have so unjustly treated, and
-sincerely ask pardon of God, for the wickedness you have been guilty
-of!"
-
-Her children were so overcome with shame, confusion, and sorrow, that
-they both fell down at their mother's feet, and with tears of sincerity
-most humbly begged pardon of God and her, promising never to be again
-guilty of such crimes. Little Jackson ran to them, and endeavoured to
-lift them up, while the tears stole down his cheeks in abundance. "Do
-not be angry with them, madam," said he to the lady, "for we were only
-in play; and I am sorry I am come here to breed so much uneasiness.
-But, if you are angry with them, let me humbly beg of you to forgive
-them."
-
-Mr. Wilson also interfered, and promised, if their mamma would forgive
-them this time, to be bound for their better conduct in future. The
-lady ordered them instantly to rise, to kiss little Jackson, and
-beg his pardon. This they did in so affecting a manner, as gave the
-most pleasing satisfaction to both their parents, who were now fully
-persuaded, that reason and tenderness will do more with children than
-the iron hand of correction.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-_The Book of Nature._
-
-
-My dear papa, said young Theophilus to his father, I cannot help
-pitying those poor little boys, whose parents are not in a condition
-to purchase them such a nice gilded library, as that with which you
-have supplied me from my good friend's at the corner of St. Paul's
-Church-yard. Surely such unhappy boys must be very ignorant all their
-lives; for what can they learn without books?
-
-I agree with you, replied his father, that you are happy in having
-so large a collection of books, and I am no less happy in seeing
-you make so good a use of them.--There is, however, my dear child,
-another book, called _The Book of Nature_, which is constantly open
-to the inspection of every one, and intelligible even to those of the
-tenderest years. To study that book, nothing more is required, than to
-be attentive to the surrounding objects which Nature presents to our
-view, to contemplate them carefully, and to explore and admire their
-beauties; but without attempting to search into their hidden causes,
-which youths must not think of, till age and experience shall enable
-them to dive into physical causes.
-
-I say, my dear Theophilus, that even children are capable of studying
-this science; for you have eyes to see, and curiosity sufficient to
-induce you to ask questions, and it is natural for human nature to wish
-to acquire knowledge.
-
-This study, if it may be so called, so far from being laborious or
-tiresome, affords nothing but pleasure and delight. It is a pleasing
-recreation, and a delightful amusement.
-
-It is inconceivable how many things children would learn, were we but
-careful to improve all the opportunities with which they themselves
-supply us. A garden, the fields, a palace, are each a book open to
-their view, in which they must be accustomed to read, and to reflect
-thereon. Nothing is more common among us than the use of bread and
-linen; and yet how few children are taught to know the preparation of
-either! through how many shapes and hands wheat and hemp must pass
-before they are made into bread and linen!
-
-A few examples will serve to show, how far we ought to study nature in
-every thing that presents itself to our view, and therein trace out the
-handy-works of the great Creator.
-
-The first preacher that proclaimed the glory of the supreme God was the
-sky, where the sun, moon, and stars shine with such amazing splendour;
-and that book, written in characters of light, is sufficient to render
-all inexcusable who do not read and contemplate it. The Divine Wisdom
-is not less admirable in its more humble productions of what the earth
-brings forth, and these we can survey with more ease, since the eye is
-not dazzled by them.
-
-Let us begin with plants. What appears to us mean and despicable, often
-affords wherewith to astonish the sublimest minds. Not a single leaf is
-neglected by Nature; order and symmetry are obvious in every part of
-it, and yet with so great a variety of pinking ornaments and beauties,
-that none of them are exactly like the others.
-
-What is not discoverable by the help of microscopes in the smallest
-seeds! and with what unaccountable virtues and efficacies has it not
-pleased God to endow them! Nothing can more demand our admiration, than
-the choice which our great Creator has made of the general colour that
-beautifies all plants. Had he dyed the fields in white or scarlet,
-we should not have been able to bear either the brightness or the
-harshness of them. If he had darkened them with more dusky colours, we
-should have taken little delight in so sad and melancholy a prospect.
-
-A pleasant verdure keeps a medium between these two extremes, and it
-has such an affinity with the frame of the eye, that it is diverted,
-not strained by it, and sustained and nourished, rather than wasted.
-What we considered at first but as one colour, is found to afford an
-astonishing diversity of shades: it is green every where, but it is in
-no two instances the same. Not one plant is coloured like another, and
-that surprising variety, which no art can imitate, is again diversified
-in each plant, which is, in its origin, its progress, and maturity, of
-a different sort of green.
-
-Should my fancy waft me into some enamelled meadow, or into some garden
-in high cultivation, what an enamel, what variety of colours, what
-richness, are there conspicuous! What harmony, what sweetness in their
-mixture, and the shadowings that temper them! What a picture, and by
-what a master! But let us turn aside from this general view, to the
-contemplation of some particular flower, and pick up at random the
-first that offers to our hand, without troubling ourselves with the
-choice.
-
-It is just blown, and has still all its freshness and brightness. Can
-the art of man produce any thing similar to this? No silk can be so
-soft, so thin, and of so fine a texture. Even Solomon's purple, when
-contrasted with the flowers of the fields, is coarse beyond comparison.
-
-From the beauties of the meadows and gardens, which we have just been
-surveying, let us take a view of the fruitful orchard, filled with all
-sorts of fruits, which succeed each other, according to the varying
-seasons.
-
-View one of those trees bowing its branches down to the ground,
-and bent under the weight of its excellent fruit, whose colour and
-smell declare the taste. The quantity, as well as the quality, is
-astonishing. Methinks that tree says to me, by the glory it displays
-to my eyes, "Learn of me what is the goodness and magnificence of that
-God, who has made me for you. It is neither for him, nor for myself
-that I am so rich: he has need of nothing, and I cannot use what he has
-given me. Bless him, and unload me. Give him thanks; and since he has
-made me the instrument of your delight, be you that of my gratitude."
-
-The same invitations catch me on all sides, and, as I walk on, I
-discover new subjects of praise and adoration. Here the fruit is
-concealed within the shell; there the fruit is without, and the kernel
-within: the delicate pulp without shines in the most brilliant colours.
-This fruit sprung out of a blossom, as almost all do; but this other,
-so delicious, was not preceded by the blossom, and it shoots out of
-the very bark of the fig-tree. The one begins the summer, the other
-finishes it. If this be not soon gathered, it will fall down and
-wither; if you do not wait for that, it will not be properly ripened.
-This keeps long, that decays swiftly; the one refreshes, the other
-nourishes.
-
-Among the fruit-trees, some bear fruit in two seasons of the year,
-and others unite together spring, summer, and autumn, bearing at the
-same time the blossom and green and ripe fruit; to convince us of the
-sovereign liberality of the Creator, who, in diversifying the laws of
-nature, shows that he is the master of it, and can at all times, and
-with all things, do equally what he pleases.
-
-It is observable, that weak trees, or those of an indifferent pith, are
-those that bear the most exquisite fruits; and the higher they grow,
-the less rich is their productions. Other trees, which bear nothing but
-leaves, or bitter and very small fruit, are nevertheless useful for the
-important purposes of building and navigation.
-
-If we had not seen trees of the height and bigness of those that are
-in forests, we could not believe that some drops of rain falling from
-heaven were capable to nourish them; for they stand in need of moisture
-not only in great plenty, but also such as is full of spirits and
-salts of all kinds, to give the root, the trunk, and branches, the
-strength and vigour we admire in them. It is even remarkable, that the
-more neglected these trees are, the handsomer they grow; and that if
-men applied themselves to cultivate them, as they do the small trees
-of their gardens, they would do them more harm than service. You,
-therefore, O Author of all things! thus establish this indisputable
-proof, that it is you alone who have made them; and you teach man to
-know, that his cares and industry are useless to you. If indeed you
-require his attention to some shrubs, it is but to employ him, and warn
-him of his own weakness, in trusting weak things only to his care.
-
-Let us now turn to the scaly inhabitants of the water, and what a
-number and variety of fishes are there formed!
-
-At the first sight of these creatures they appear only to have a head
-and tail, having neither feet nor arms. Even their head has no free
-motion; and were I to attend their figure only, I should think them
-deprived of every thing necessary for the preservation of their lives.
-But, few as their exterior organs are, they are more nimble, swift,
-artful, and cunning, than if they had many hands and feet; and the use
-they make of their tail and fins shoot them forward like arrows, and
-seem to make them fly.
-
-How comes it to pass, that in the midst of waters, so much impregnated
-with salt that I cannot bear a drop of them in my mouth, fishes live
-and sport, and enjoy health and strength? How, in the midst of salt do
-they preserve a flesh that has not the least taste of it?
-
-It is wonderful when we reflect, how the best of the scaly tribe, and
-those most fit for the use of man, swarm upon our shores, and offer
-themselves, as it were, to our service; while many others, of less
-value to him, keep at a greater distance, and sport in the deep waters
-of the ocean.
-
-Some there are that keep in their hiding places unknown to men, whilst
-they are propagating and growing to a certain size, such as salmon,
-mackerel, cod, and many others. They come in shoals, at an appointed
-time, to invite the fishermen, and throw themselves, as it were, of
-their own accord, into their nets and snares.
-
-We see several sorts of these scaly animals, and those of the best kind
-get into the mouths of rivers, and come up to their fountain head, to
-communicate the benefits of the sea to those who are distant from it.
-The hand that directs them, with so much care and bounty for man, is at
-all times, and every where to be seen; but the ingratitude of man, and
-the capricious wanderings of his heart, often make him forgetful of the
-greatest bounties.
-
-From the scaly inhabitants of the water, let us turn our attention to
-the feathered animals of the air. In several dumb creatures we see
-an imitation of reason which is truly astonishing; but it no where
-appears in a stronger degree, than in the industry and sagacity of
-birds in making their nests.
-
-In the first place, what master has taught them that they had need of
-any? Who has taken care to forewarn them to get them ready in time,
-and not to be prevented by necessity? Who has told them how they must
-be contrived? What mathematician has given them such regular plans for
-that purpose? What architect has directed them to chuse a firm place,
-and to build upon a solid foundation? What tender mother has advised
-them to line the bottom of them with materials so soft and nice as down
-and cotton? and when these are wanting, who suggested to them that
-ingenious charity, which urges them to pluck from their breast with
-their bill, as much down as is requisite to prepare a convenient cradle
-for their young ones?
-
-In the second place, what wisdom has traced out to each kind a
-particular way of making their nest, where the same precautions are
-kept, but in a thousand different ways? Who has commanded the swallow,
-the most industrious of all birds, to come near man, and chuse his
-house to build her habitation, immediately in his view, without fearing
-to have him for a witness, but on the contrary, seeming to invite him
-to survey her works? She does not imitate other birds, who build their
-nests with hay and small twigs: she uses cement and mortar, and makes
-her whole work so solid, as not to be destroyed without some labour.
-Her bill is her only instrument; and she has no other means of carrying
-her water, than by wetting her breast while she expands her wings.
-It is with this dew she sprinkles the mortar, and with this only she
-dilutes and moistens her masonry, which she afterwards arranges and
-sets in order with her bill.
-
-In the third place, who has made these little feathered animals
-sensible, that they are to hatch their eggs by sitting over them? that
-both the father and mother must not be absent at the same time from the
-nest; and that if one went in quest of food, the other was to wait till
-its partner returned? Who has taught them that knowledge of calculating
-time, so as to make them able to know precisely the number of days of
-this rigorous attendance? Who has told them how to relieve the egg
-of the burthen of the young one, perfectly formed therein, by first
-breaking the shell at the critical moment, which they never fail to
-perform?
-
-Lastly, what lecturer has read lessons to birds, to teach them to
-take care of their young, till they have proper strength and agility
-to shift for themselves? Who has taught them that wonderful sagacity
-and patience, to keep in their mouths either food or water, without
-permitting them to pass into their stomachs, and there preserve them
-for their young ones, to whom it supplies the place of milk? Who has
-made them capable of distinguishing between so many things, of which
-some are adapted to one kind, but are pernicious to another; and
-between those which are proper for the old ones, but would be hurtful
-to their young? We have daily opportunities of seeing the anxities of
-mothers for their children, and the tenderness of nurses for the little
-ones committed to their charge; but it will admit of a doubt, whether
-we see any thing so perfect in the nursing of the human race as we see
-among the feathered inhabitants of the air.
-
-It cannot be for birds alone that the Omnipotent Creator has united in
-their natures so many miracles, of which they are not sensible. It is
-obvious, that his design was to direct our attention to Him, and to
-make us sensible of his providence and infinite wisdom; to fill us with
-confidence in his goodness. Think of these things, my Theophilus, and
-do not fail to read the Book of Nature, from which you will learn to
-perceive your own insignificancy, and the omnipotency of him who made
-you.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-_The Unexpected Reformation._
-
-
-Little Marcus was the only child of a wealthy tradesman, who had
-acquired an ample fortune by the sweat of his brow, and the reputable
-character he had invariably supported in the course of his business.
-He had always been an enemy to those little arts which some people
-put in practice to deceive those they have dealings with, being fully
-persuaded in his own mind, that no fortune could be so pleasing and
-grateful as that acquired by integrity and honour.
-
-Being much hurried in his business, both he and his amiable spouse
-agreed, that it would be more prudent to send young Marcus into the
-country for his education, where he would not be likely to receive
-those pernicious examples he would every day see before him in the
-metropolis.
-
-After a very nice enquiry, they were satisfied with the account they
-received of an academy at the distance of about a hundred miles from
-London, for the good management of which they were referred to several
-young gentlemen, who had there received their education, and were
-universally admired for their learning and prudence.
-
-The master of the academy considered all his pupils as his children;
-he was equally attentive to instruct them in the different branches
-of science, and to admonish them against those errors which young
-people are naturally prone to run into. He endeavoured to excite their
-industry by proper encouragement, and, by example, to implant in their
-minds the seeds of honour and probity. He had also taken the most
-prudent precautions in the choice of those who were to assist him in so
-arduous an undertaking.
-
-From so promising a situation, every parent would naturally expect the
-most happy consequences; but their son Marcus, whether from too tender
-a treatment at home, or not having been properly attended to, had an
-unhappy turn of mind, and an utter aversion to every kind of study.
-His thoughts were perpetually wandering after childish pastimes, so
-that his masters could make him comprehend nothing of the rudiments
-of science. The same marks of indolence appeared in the care of his
-person; for every part of his dress was generally in disorder; and
-though he was well made and handsome, yet his slovenly appearance made
-him disgustful to every one.
-
-Let me advise my young readers to be particularly attentive, next to
-their studies, to the neatness of their persons; for no character is
-more prejudicial to a youth than that of a sloven. But do not let
-them mistake me, and suppose that I mean, by neatness in their dress,
-foppish and ridiculous apparel.
-
-It may easily be supposed, that these defects in his conduct rendered
-him contemptible in the eyes of those children who were at first much
-behind him, but soon overtook him, to his inevitable disgrace. His
-master was so much ashamed of him, as well on account of his ignorance
-as slovenliness, that whenever any visitors came to the school, poor
-Marcus was sent out of the way, lest such a figure as he was might
-bring disgrace on the academy.
-
-It might reasonably be expected, that so many humiliating circumstances
-would have made some impression on his mind; but he continued the same
-course of inconsistence, indolence, and dissipation; nor did there
-appear the least dawn of hope, that he would ever return into the paths
-of industry and prudence.
-
-His master was very uneasy on his account, and knew not how to act:
-to keep him at his school, he considered as a robbery on his parents,
-and to send him home as a dunce and a blockhead would be a cutting
-consideration to his father and mother. He would sometimes say to his
-unworthy pupil, "Marcus, what will your father and mother think of me,
-when I shall send you home to them, so little improved in learning and
-knowledge?" It was, however, in vain to talk to him; for he seldom made
-any answer, but generally burst into tears.
-
-Two years had glided away in this miserable manner, without his having
-made the least progress in learning, and without showing the least
-inclination for study. One evening, however, just as he was going to
-bed, he received a letter sealed with black wax, which he opened with
-some degree of indifference, and then read as follows:
-
-    "MY DEAR MARCUS,
-
-    "This morning has deprived me of the most affectionate husband,
-    and you of the most tender parent. Alas, he is gone, to return
-    no more! If there be any thing that can enable me to support
-    this dreadful calamity, it is only in what I receive from
-    the recollection, that I have left in my son the dear image
-    of his father. It is from you only therefore I can look for
-    comfort; and I am willing to flatter myself, that I shall
-    receive as much pleasure from your conduct as I do from my
-    tender affection for you. Should I find myself disappointed
-    in my hopes, should you be only like your father in person,
-    and not resemble him in his industry, integrity, and virtue,
-    sorrow and despair will put a period to my miserable life.
-    By the person who brings you this letter, I have sent you a
-    miniature picture of your father. Wear it constantly at your
-    bosom, and frequently look at it, that it may bring to your
-    remembrance, and induce you to imitate, all the purest virtues
-    and uncommon endowments of the dear original. I shall leave
-    you in your present situation one year longer, by which time
-    I hope you will be complete in your education. In the mean
-    time, do not let this slip from your memory, that my happiness
-    or misery depends on your conduct, industry, and attention to
-    your studies. That God may bless you, and give you patience
-    cheerfully to tread the rocky paths of science, is my sincere
-    wish."
-
-The errors of Marcus were the consequence of bad habits and customs he
-had imbibed in his infancy, and not from any natural depravity of the
-heart. He had no sooner read this letter than he found every sentiment
-of virtue awakening in his bosom. He burst into a flood of tears, and
-frequently interrupted by sighs, exclaimed, "O my dear father! my dear
-father! have I then lost you for ever?" He earnestly gazed on the
-miniature picture of his parent, pressed it to his bosom, while he,
-in faultering accents, uttered these words:--"Thou dear author of my
-existence, how unworthy am I to be called your son! How shamefully have
-I abused your tenderness, in idling that time away for which you have
-paid so dearly! But let me hope that reformation will not come too
-late."
-
-He passed that night in sorrow and contrition, he bedewed his pillow
-with tears, and sleep was a stranger to his troubled mind. If he
-happened but to slumber, he suddenly started, imagining he saw the
-image of his deceased father standing before him in the dreadful garb
-of death, and thus reproaching him: "Ungenerous youth! is this the
-manner in which you ought to return my past cares and attention to
-your interest?--Thou idle sloven, thou ungenerous son! awaken from
-your state of indolence, and properly improve the little time you have
-left for the pursuit of science, which you have hitherto so shamefully
-neglected; and do not, by an unpardonable inattention to yourself,
-shorten the few remaining days of your dear mother's life!"
-
-I hope my youthful readers are well convinced that there are no such
-things as ghosts or apparitions, and that they are nothing more than
-the effects of a troubled imagination. Such was the ease with Marcus,
-who fancied he saw his father on the one hand, reproaching him for what
-was past, and his dear mother on the other, exhorting him to better
-conduct in future. "What a wretch I am," said he to himself, "to act
-in this manner! When my time for leaving this academy shall arrive,
-and I must appear before my mother to give proofs of my literary
-knowledge, what must be the pangs of her maternal heart, when she
-shall find that the child, on whom she had placed all the prospects of
-her future felicity, is an ungrateful, ignorant, and unworthy wretch?
-She will call on the friendly hand of Death to take her from such an
-insupportable scene!"
-
-Poor Marcus thus lay rolling on the thorny bed of trouble and anxiety,
-till, at last, totally overcome by grief and despair, he fell asleep.
-As soon as he awoke in the morning, on his bended knees he implored
-the assistance of the Almighty in the reformation he intended to
-make in his conduct. He instantly hastened to his master's chamber,
-and there threw himself on his knees before him: "Behold, sir," said
-he, "prostrate before you, an ungrateful wretch, who has hitherto
-treated, with the most shameful indifference, all the wise lessons you
-would have bestowed on him. Yet, unworthy as I may be of your future
-instructions, let me implore you, for the sake of my dear mother, whose
-life I fear I shall shorten by my unworthy conduct, to extend your
-bounty to me once more, and I will endeavour to convince you, by my
-future conduct, how much ashamed I am of what is past."
-
-His master raised him up, took him in his arms, and tenderly embracing
-him, they shed tears together. "My dear Marcus," said his master to
-him, "to be sensible of your errors is half way to reformation. You
-have, it is true, squandered away, in the pursuit of trifles, two
-years that ought to have been employed in the acquisition of useful
-science. You have still one year left, and, as you appear to stand
-self-convicted of the imprudence of your past conduct, I would not
-wish to drive you to despair; but to encourage you by saying, that, by
-proper application, great things may be done, even in the remaining
-year. Begin this moment, lose no more time, and may God give you
-resolution to proceed suitably to my wishes, and your own interest."
-
-Marcus seized the hand of his master, tenderly kissed it, and then
-retired, being totally unable to utter a single word. He instantly ran
-to his chamber, there eased his heart in a flood of tears, and then
-set about the necessary business. He applied himself so closely to his
-books, and made therein so rapid a progress, as astonished his master
-and teachers. His companions, who had hitherto treated him with the
-utmost contempt, began to love and revere him. Marcus, thus encouraged
-by the different treatment he now received, pursued his studies with
-the utmost attention and alacrity. He was no longer despised for his
-wickedness and perversity, but admired and caressed for the affability
-and goodness of his temper. Formerly no severities or entreaties could
-make him attend to his studies; but they were now forced to use some
-degree of violence to make him partake of necessary recreations.
-
-In this manner his last twelvemonth passed on, and he viewed with
-regret the approach of that time when he was to leave school, and
-engage in pursuits of a different nature. He was hereafter to study
-men, and endeavour to acquire a knowledge of the latent motions of the
-human heart, perhaps the most difficult study in the commerce of this
-world.
-
-The time allowed him being expired, his mother ordered him up to
-London. By the end of the year, the change he had made in his conduct
-so operated in his favour, that his departure was regretted by all
-his school companions; and, when he took his leave, sorrow visibly
-appeared in the countenance of every one. It was a pleasing reflection
-to his master, that a youth he had given up as lost, should on a sudden
-reform, and, in the circle of one year, make as great a progress in the
-sciences as the generality of youths do in three.
-
-The journey afforded Marcus the most pleasing reflections; for he had
-now nothing to apprehend from the interrogatories of his mother, with
-respect to his education; and though he sincerely lamented the two
-years he had lost, yet he could not but feel the effects of the happy
-employment of the third.
-
-His schoolmaster had before acquainted his mother of the happy
-reformation in her son, and the great improvement he had made since
-the death of his father. These considerations, added to the natural
-feelings of a mother, made their meeting a scene of the most tender
-delights and heartfelt transports.
-
-Marcus lost only a week in paying visits to his relations and friends,
-and then applied himself to his father's business with unremitted
-assiduity and the most flattering success. In a few years he took an
-amiable partner for life, with whom he lived happy and contented. He
-was blessed with dutiful children, to whom he would frequently give
-this lesson: "My dear children, do not forget, that time once lost is
-not to be recalled; and that those hours you trifle away in your early
-years, you will severely lament the loss of when you shall have reached
-the age of maturity. An old age of ignorance is despicable indeed; for
-he who has neglected properly to cultivate his mind in his youth, will
-embitter the evening of his life with self-accusations and reproaches.
-Happy the youth who, having toiled hard during spring in the garden of
-science, sits down in the autumn at leisure to regale on the fruits of
-his labour!"
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-_The Recompence of Virtue._
-
-
-The northern confines of France boast of a small spot of ground, where
-virtue renders law unnecessary, and procures the inhabitants a state
-of peace as pure and unsullied as the air they breathe. In process of
-time, this territory fell into the hands of a widow, who merited a much
-more valuable patrimony.
-
-Madam Clarisse, for that was the lady's name, joined benevolence of
-heart to a cultivated mind and an elevated genius. The place afforded
-neither physician nor apothecary; but Madam Clarisse supplied the want
-of them by her own knowledge of the medical qualities of different
-roots and plants. Her conduct evidently proved how much good a
-generous heart is capable of doing, even where Fortune has not been
-lavish of her smiles.
-
-This lady had a servant maid, whose name was Maria, and who had seen
-twelve revolving suns in her service. Her attachment to her mistress,
-her disinterested behaviour, affability, and attention, procured
-her the just esteem of all who lived in the neighbourhood. It was a
-happiness for this girl, that she had all her life been brought up on
-this spot of innocence, and had not been exposed to the corrupting and
-pestiferous air of the metropolis.
-
-Madam Clarisse had the highest opinion of the good qualities of Maria,
-and had entertained a strong affection for her. Maria, who in her turn
-tenderly loved her mistress, and was a little older than her, always
-wished that her good lady might be the longer survivor; but Providence
-had ordered it otherwise. Madam Clarisse was attacked with a disorder,
-which, on its first appearance, was supposed to be of no consequence;
-but, by the improper treatment of her physicians, who mistook her
-disorder, it at last proved fatal.
-
-The visible approach of death did not disturb the peace and tranquility
-of the mind of this virtuous lady: her bosom was fortified with
-religious consolations; her heart had never been the receptacle of
-evil; and, while every one around her was bewailing her approaching
-dissolution, she alone seemed peaceful and tranquil. The salutary
-regimen she exactly followed, protracted her death for a little while,
-and her courage gave her strength. She was not confined to her bed, but
-walked about, and had the village girls around her, whom she instructed
-in the principles of religion and virtue.
-
-One delightful morning, in the blooming month of May, she rose very
-early, and took a walk in the fields, accompanied by Maria, who never
-forsook her. She reached the summit of a verdant hill, from whence the
-eye wandered over the most delightful prospects. She sat down on the
-enamelled turf, and Maria by her side.
-
-"What a delightful view!" said she. "See, Maria, that verdant meadow,
-over which we have so frequently walked! It is not long since, if you
-remember, that we there met the good old Genevive, who bent beneath
-the load on her back, while she carried in her hand a basket full of
-apples: you insisted on taking the load from her, and, in spite of all
-her resistance, I seized her basket of apples. Do you not remember what
-joy and pleasure every step afforded us, how grateful the good creature
-seemed, and what a hearty breakfast we ate in her cottage?
-
-"Look a little to the right, and there you see the willow-walk by the
-lake, in which, when we were young, we used so frequently to angle.
-How often have we there made ozier baskets, and then filled them with
-cowslips and violets! You recollect that cottage in front of us, the
-peaceful habitation of Myrtilla, for whom you in two days made up the
-wedding clothes I gave her. To the left, see the entrance of the wood,
-where I used every holiday to keep my evening school in the summer, for
-the instruction of the peasants' children. How happily those moments
-glided away, while surrounded by my youthful neighbours! How many sweet
-and delightful tales has the lovely Priscilla there told, and how many
-enchanting songs did the sweet Miranda there warble forth, while the
-feathered songsters seemed to stop their own notes to listen to her
-divine warblings! Methinks every thing around me brings back something
-pleasing to my reflection, and gives an inexpressible delight to my
-present sensations!
-
-"You are sensible, Maria, that there is a school in this village kept
-by a poor old woman. Many who attend her school can pay for instruction
-without any inconvenience, while there are others, who, for want of
-money, are obliged to keep their children at home in ignorance. Had I
-any hopes of living a few years longer, I should be much pleased with
-the idea, that I should by that time have saved a hundred crowns, which
-would have been sufficient to provide education for the children of
-those who cannot afford to pay for it; but, since it is the will of God
-that such shall not be the case, I submit without repining."
-
-Here Maria turned her head aside, in order to conceal from her lady the
-tender tear that stole down her cheeks. Madam Clarisse perceiving the
-situation of her amiable servant, "My dear Maria," said she, "why do
-you weep? We shall again meet each other to part no more, and for the
-present let my serenity console you. I have not a doubt but you will
-always have a sure asylum in my house long after I shall have left it.
-Had it pleased God, I should have been happy to have it in my power to
-make some provision for you; but I cannot; and it is for me to submit."
-
-Lifting up her hands, she exclaimed, "Accept, O gracious God! my most
-grateful acknowledgments for having placed me in a situation far from
-the temptations and vanities of this world. A stranger to headstrong
-passions and delusive pleasures, I have passed my tranquil life on this
-retired spot of innocence, secure from the tumultuous pursuits of pride
-and vanity, and a perfect stranger to the gnawing pangs of jealousy or
-envy. Innocence and peace, and all the tender feelings of friendship
-and humanity, have been my constant companions. In that critical
-and awful moment, when the remembrance of past actions is not to be
-supported by the wicked, my mind enjoys inexpressible serenity and
-composure."
-
-Madam Clarisse here stopped short, and her head sunk on the bosom of
-Maria; who, looking on the face of her amiable mistress, found it
-turned pale, and her eyes closed-never more to be opened!--Thus cracked
-the cordage of a virtuous heart;--good night, thou amiable woman; may
-choirs of angels sing you to your rest!
-
-Maria was undoubtedly much afflicted at the death of her lady, and her
-sorrow on that account, added to the fatigues she had undergone, threw
-her into a fever, from which her recovery was for a long time doubtful.
-Nature, however, at last conquered her disorder, when she determined
-to quit that place, as soon as her strength would permit her. When
-she found herself capable of pursuing the journey, she packed up the
-little matter she had, and first repaired to the church-yard where her
-amiable lady lay buried. Having there paid the tribute of a tear upon
-her grave, she instantly set out for Charleville, her native place,
-sincerely regretted by the minister and people, who knew not what was
-become of her.
-
-Two years had elapsed, and no news was heard of Maria, though every
-possible enquiry was made in the neighbourhood. About that time,
-however, the minister of the parish received a parcel containing some
-money, and the following letter with it:
-
-    "At last, my dear reverend sir, I am enabled to send you the
-    hundred crowns which my worthy lady, in her expiring moments,
-    so ardently wished to be possessed of, not for her own use,
-    but for the emolument of others. Her wishes shall now be
-    fulfilled, and the pious work she projected shall be completed.
-    Had not this been the all I am possessed of in this world, I
-    would have brought it myself. I am too poor to support myself
-    among you; but I am happy in my poverty, and feel no anxieties
-    but those occasioned by the loss of my dear lady. I beseech
-    you to put this money out to interest, and inform the mistress
-    of the school that it is for her use. This I hope will enable
-    her to take under her care the children of such poor people,
-    who cannot afford to pay for their education. If I have any
-    favour to ask of Heaven, it is only this, that I may, before I
-    am called hence, be enabled to save a little money, in order
-    to be in a condition to pay you a visit. Should I live to see
-    this school established on the plan my deceased lady wished
-    for, I shall then be perfectly happy, and shall quit this world
-    without envying those who roll in the gifts of fortune, but
-    have not a heart properly to use them.--MARIA."
-
-The curate, who was a man of generous feelings, read this letter with
-admiration, and the next day, in the church, communicated the contents
-of it to his congregation, who could not refrain from tears on the
-relation of so generous an action. According to Maria's request, he
-placed the hundred crowns out to interest; and thus, from the produce
-of two year's incessant labour of this amiable woman, was a foundation
-laid for the education of the poor children of the parish.
-
-The generous Maria, having thus disposed of every thing she was
-possessed of, again sat down to work; but not with so much ardour as
-before, as she had now only to labour for her own maintenance. About
-this time, however, a relation died and left her ten pounds a year,
-which to her was a little fortune.
-
-It soon came to the knowledge of Maria, that the curate had read
-her letter to his congregation, which gave her no small degree of
-uneasiness, as she wished it to remain unknown. However, it soon became
-the conversation of every one, and at last reached the place where she
-lived.
-
-People of the first character and fortune in Charleville, at which
-place she then lived, were anxious to be acquainted with her; and some
-of them even went so far as to offer her apartments in their house. But
-she preferred her present situation to a life of ease and indolence.
-
-The curate, having occasion soon after to visit Paris, mentioned Maria
-in all companies, and related the affecting story of her charity, which
-soon became the general subject of conversation in that metropolis, was
-publicly related in the Paris Gazette, and from thence copied into most
-of the public papers in Europe.
-
-A young prince, who lived with his parents, at Paris, and who was
-hardly nine years of age, was so affected, young as he was, with this
-generous action of Maria, that he talked of nothing else from morning
-till night. "I wish I were a man," said the little prince one morning
-in his father's hearing. "And if you were a man," replied the peer,
-"what then would you do?"
-
-The young prince threw his arms round his father's neck, and having
-obtained a promise that he would grant him what he asked, "I would,"
-said he, "give Maria a pension." His father embraced him, applauded the
-generosity of his heart, and instantly settled fifty pounds a year on
-Maria for life.
-
-We may learn from hence, that virtue often meets with its recompence
-in the possession of the good things of this life, besides that
-inexpressible delight it receives from the inward feelings of the
-heart. Maria received this donation with all becoming gratitude; but
-she used it as though she were only the steward of it: she fed the
-hungry, she clothed the naked, and diffused through the whole village a
-spirit of industry, prudence, and benevolence.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-_The Pleasures of Contentment._
-
-
-Amidst all the objects of our pursuits in this world, in order to
-acquire happiness, Contentment is the first. Without this, all the
-parade of grandeur, the possession of the most beautiful villa, and
-all the studied delicacies of the table are dull and tasteless. When
-contentment has taken up its seat in the bosom, the straw-built hut is
-a palace, and the coarsest viands are preferable to the most sumptuous
-delicacies. The following history of an eastern vizier will contribute
-to support this opinion.
-
-Alibeg, in his youth, had been a very great favourite of the Sultan
-Mahmud: he had been the partner of his childish sports, and, as they
-grew up, the companion of his more manly amusements. He entrusted him
-with all his secrets, and generally followed his advice in most matters
-of importance. Mahmud, therefore, out of gratitude, advanced him to the
-first office of state in the empire.
-
-Alibeg was a man of a noble and generous heart, and of a complexion
-of mind very different from those who generally flock about royalty,
-like drones about the hive, only to rob it of its sweets. The inferior
-ministers of Mahmud were avaricious, cruel, and oppressive, and
-sacrificed the ease and happiness of the people to gratify their own
-pleasure, avarice, and ambition. Alibeg was determined, whatever might
-be the consequences, to set about a reformation of many shameful abuses.
-
-An attempt of this nature naturally brought upon him the united
-opposition of the imans and grandees. They first endeavoured to ruin
-Alibeg in the opinion of the sultan, by charging him with those very
-crimes, which he was in reality endeavouring to correct; but their
-endeavours were for a long time ineffectual. The sultan loved Alibeg,
-and well knew that all the accusations against him were false and
-groundless.
-
-Men in power, who have no other object in view but the gratification of
-their unbounded passions, dread nothing so much as the influence which
-wise and virtuous minds sometimes have over good princes. The wicked
-courtiers finding they could not prevail on the sultan, by fair means,
-to give up his favourite Alibeg, called in to their aid diabolical
-rebellion.
-
-The deluded multitude rose against their best friend, whose only wish
-was to make them happy, by freeing them from the shameful tyranny in
-which the ministers and great men held them. What a pity it is, that
-the lower class of people, on whom the prosperity of almost every
-nation undoubtedly depends, should be so often blind to their own
-interest, as to be persuaded, by artful and designing men, to forge
-fetters for themselves!
-
-The sultan, finding he must either give up his empire or his favourite,
-consented to the disgrace of Alibeg; but not till the leaders of
-the rebellion had sworn, by the holy Prophet, that Alibeg should
-be permitted to retire where he pleased, without being insulted or
-molested.
-
-Alibeg, thus divested of power and all his property, without a friend
-who dared to give him the least assistance, retired to spend the
-remainder of his days among the rocks and deserts of the Korasan. Here,
-on the borders of a limpid and meandering stream, he erected himself
-a little hut; and here, remote from the converse of ambitious and
-deceitful man, he passed his time unnoticed by any human being.
-
-He had lived in this solitary retreat, amidst rocks and deserts for
-upwards of two years, when the virtuous Mentor discovered his gloomy
-abode. This good man, who was the intimate friend of Alibeg, and who
-had advised him to attempt the reformation of the state, was thereby
-instrumental in the ruin of his friend. However, as soon as Alibeg
-was banished by the people, Mentor banished himself, and retired to a
-little village at a great distance from the capital.
-
-Mentor sighed for the absence of his friend, and, as he knew he was
-retired to the Korasan, he determined to set out in search of him. As
-he was walking on, and at about a furlong distant from the abode of
-Alibeg, they suddenly met in a winding path. They instantly knew each
-other, embraced, and wept. When they had wiped away their tears, and
-had got over the first emotions of joy which so sudden and unexpected a
-meeting had occasioned, Mentor was astonished to see how much serenity
-and composure were visible on the countenance of his friend Alibeg,
-whose bosom was the repository of peace and contentment.
-
-"Blessed be the Eternal," said Mentor, "who gives strength to the weak,
-and contentment to the unfortunate! He, who had fertile plains at his
-command in the environs of the capital, is now contented and happy in a
-cottage, among barren rocks and deserts! But Alibeg has brought virtue
-with him to these rocks, and he despises the roses that for ever bloom
-in the garden of Hiera, the diamonds that harden in the rich mines of
-Nishapous, and the silks that rustle in the manufactories of Mezendran.
-But tell me, my dear friend, has it taught you to live alone? Is it
-possible, that any one can live without the converse of a friend? Such
-a life would be the solitude of a tomb!"
-
-While Mentor was thus addressing his friend, they kept walking on; when
-they approached the cottage, which Alibeg left that morning before the
-sun had given light to the eastern parts of the horizon, their ears
-were first assailed with the neighing of a colt that came to meet them.
-When the animal approached its master, its motions seemed to express
-its satisfaction on seeing him again: it turned about either walking or
-prancing before him all the way home.
-
-Presently two beautiful heifers came running towards them from an
-adjoining meadow. They moved in a circle round them, then stopped, as
-it were, to offer him their milk, and holding out their necks to him
-to be yoked; for nature had taught these animals to be grateful to the
-hand that fed them.
-
-When they had proceeded a little further, two goats, attended by their
-kids, as soon as they caught sight of Alibeg, descended from the rocks,
-and expressed their joy on seeing him again by skipping and sporting
-round him.
-
-While Mentor was amusing himself with this pleasing scene, his
-attention was called aside to observe five or six sheep, which had just
-issued from a neighbouring thicket, and were bleating as they ran. They
-leaped with joy, and approached to lick their master's hand, who, in
-return, made much of them, and showed them, by the manner in which he
-received those marks of their gratitude, how much he was satisfied with
-their affection for him.
-
-This tender scene engaged much the attention of Mentor, who was still
-more surprised when he saw a flock of doves surround Alibeg, some of
-which hovered over his head, and others perched on his shoulders.
-
-By this time he had entered the inclosure of his cottage, when a cock
-perceiving him, instantly began crowing; and, to complete the concert,
-the hens flew from their pursuit of food, and endeavoured, in their
-way, to welcome his return.
-
-But all these marks of attachment were not equal to those shown by two
-dogs who waited, at the door of the cot, the arrival of Alibeg, their
-generous master. Neither of them would stir out to meet him, but kept
-to the post he seemed to have assigned them, that of taking care of his
-house. However, as soon as he and his friend had entered the cot, they
-pawed and jumped round him, played a thousand antics, crouched before
-him, and expressed their joy by their agility; they licked their
-master's feet, and, when he stretched his hand to pat and stroke them,
-they would hardly stay to receive the fond mark of approbation, but,
-rushing through the door-way, sprung forward, and made long circuits
-over the rocks, and scoured backwards and forwards to express their
-joy. When they had tired themselves, they returned and lay down at the
-feet of their beloved master.
-
-Mentor seemed lost in astonishment, and was convinced, in his own mind,
-that his friend must be happier in this cot, amidst these irrational
-beings, if they deserved to be so called, than he could possibly be
-among faithless men, in the palaces of Mahmud.
-
-"You here see, my good friend," said Alibeg, "that I know how to
-make myself happy, even among the rocks and deserts of Korasan. I
-endeavoured to teach men the love of virtue, to inspire the subjects
-of Mahmud with the proper notions of liberty, and to shake off that
-tyranny they laboured under from the usurpation of the rich and
-powerful; but they despised my advice, and drove me from my native
-spot, to seek shelter here, where I have found animals of the brute
-creation more grateful than men. Thus, you see, my solitude is not a
-tomb, and that I here enjoy a kind of sovereignty over those animals,
-which is far more grateful, and less dangerous, than the condition of
-Mahmud, who reigns over a fickle and inconstant people, who is every
-hour deceived by them, and who may perhaps one day drive him from his
-throne."
-
-While they were thus conversing together, they heard the sound of a
-number of horses' feet on the solid rock. Alibeg was alarmed, and could
-not conceive that any band of robbers could inhabit those regions; nor
-could he suppose that any civilized beings would come that way in the
-pursuit of pleasure.
-
-A few minutes, however, cleared up all his doubts, when he saw about
-a hundred horsemen approaching his cot. At the head of these Alibeg
-perceived his old friend Sha-abba, who had been the principal cause of
-changing Alibeg's sentence, from that of losing his head to perpetual
-banishment.
-
-Sha-abba leaped from his horse, and caught Alibeg in his arms. Mentor,
-who was a witness to this scene, could not conceive what all this
-could mean; but he soon learned, that the people were so wearied out
-with the oppressions of the great, which had been carried to a more
-enormous height than ever since the banishment of Alibeg, that they
-unanimously rose in their defence, and destroyed all the authors of
-their oppression; but remained firm in their duty and attachment to the
-Sultan Mahmud.
-
-The sultan had sent these horsemen, a hundred in number, with Sha-abba
-at their head, in quest of the virtuous Alibeg, whom he was to bring
-back with him by force, if entreaty could not prevail, to assume
-his former post of vizier. When Alibeg was informed of this, he
-wept bitterly, and exclaimed, "After having learned to know in what
-happiness and contentment consist, why am I thus to be snatched in
-a moment from them, and again compelled to hazard my peace of mind
-among men more savage than the rocks and deserts of Korasan? How can I
-forsake these faithful companions of my retirement, my dogs, my doves,
-and my cattle? No, if I must go, they shall follow me, that I may have
-them ready to attend me when Fortune shall again drive me to these
-deserts."
-
-Sha-abba and Mentor endeavoured to pacify his mind: the former assured
-him, that all his enemies had been killed by the hands of the oppressed
-multitude, and the general voice of both the sultan and people was for
-the return of Alibeg. By these and such like arguments they prevailed
-on Alibeg to return to the capital, and resume his former exalted
-employments.
-
-Alibeg mounted his colt, and, after shedding a flood of tears, as a
-tributary farewell to the rocks and deserts of Korasan, he proceeded
-on his journey; his two faithful dogs by his side, while the doves
-fluttered around him, and his kids, sheep, and heifers, followed in the
-rear.
-
-When they arrived within a few miles of the metropolis, they were met
-by some thousands of the citizens, who seemed at a loss how properly to
-express their happiness on the return of their faithful Alibeg, while
-shame, for having treated him so unjustly, in some measure diminished
-their joy. Mahmud waited for him at the door of his palace; he received
-him with open arms; and Alibeg all his life afterwards was equally
-esteemed by the sultan and his people. Happy is he who, in every
-various station of life, in prosperity or adversity, can maintain the
-same equanimity, resolution, and fortitude.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-_The happy Effects of Sunday Schools on the Morals of the rising
-Generation._
-
-
-Whatever may be said of the increasing luxury and dissipation of
-Englishmen, their hearts have not yet lost any part of their ancient
-reputation for the feelings of humanity, and they are still ever ready
-to provide clothing for the naked, medical assistance for the sick and
-lame, and education for the untaught children of the poor.
-
-The great number of hospitals, infirmaries, free-schools, and other
-charitable establishments, with which almost every part of this
-country abounds, afford an ample display of British benevolence. The
-institution of Sunday Schools owes its foundation to the humanity
-of the present times, and will be a credit to it in future ages. The
-following history of Dorcas and Amarillis may serve as one instance of
-the happy effects of Sunday Schools.
-
-In a solitary village, far remote from the metropolis, and not near
-to any capital city, lived the parents of Dorcas and Amarillis. The
-husband was a shepherd and his wife a shepherdess; but their earnings
-were so little, that even with their joint labour they could hardly
-procure bread for themselves and their children, and a morsel of meat
-once a week was the highest pitch of their luxury, though even that was
-of the very coarsest kind.
-
-As soon as Dorcas and Amarillis grew up, the former was sent into the
-fields to frighten birds from the grain, and the latter was kept at
-home to knit coarse yarn stockings for the use of the family.
-
-Their whole library consisted only of a Testament and a Prayer-book;
-but these were so injured by the depredations of time, having passed
-from hand to hand for many years, that what was not torn away, was
-rendered nearly illegible. However, that was of little consequence,
-since neither of them could read, and consequently could have no idea
-of writing. The church was at some distance from them, which served as
-an excuse to be absent from thence.
-
-Dorcas had neither hat, shirt, shoes, nor stockings; and all the
-apparel of poor Amarillis was only a straw hat and a coarse gown
-and petticoat.--These considerations alone were sufficient to keep
-them from church, admitting they had any inclination to go there. In
-course, as Sunday was the only day of rest they had from their labour,
-both boys and girls passed it in such tricks and gambols as were most
-suitable to their age and taste.
-
-Thus they lived almost in a state of nature, without knowing any thing
-of the Supreme Being, or of any of the duties we owe to him. They had
-no idea of prayer, further than, "I thank God we have had a fine season
-this year, &c." and herein consisted all their devotion. However,
-amidst all this ignorance and poverty, Dorcas, his sister, and family,
-were all strictly honest, and never, like others in their village,
-employed their Sunday in stealing fowls, and other things from their
-rich neighbours, which they thought it no crime to do: the only dread
-they had of the commission of these robberies, was the fear of being
-discovered, and the punishment that would inevitably follow it.
-
-These two children, Dorcas and Amarillis, lived in this state of
-ignorance till they were ten or eleven years of age. It had been some
-time a custom with Dorcas and his sister, with a black-lead pencil
-they had found by chance, to imitate, on the back of a clean white
-trencher, all the letters they found in the remains of their Common
-Prayer-book, though they knew not the sound, nor combination of the
-different letters of the alphabet, in order to form and connect words.
-
-As they were one winter's evening hovering over the fire, Dorcas said
-to his sister, "How happy are those young people, who, having parents
-that can afford to pay for their education, are taught to read, write,
-and cast accounts! and yet how many of those children prefer the most
-idle pastimes to the more invaluable improvement of their minds? There
-must be something vastly pretty, in being able to read that Testament
-and Prayer-book."
-
-"I agree with you, my dear Dorcas," said the blooming Amarillis, "that
-there must be something uncommonly delightful, to be able to unriddle
-the meaning of all those words we see in that book. What a hardship it
-is, that we should be born to spend our days in ignorance, and know
-none of the pleasures which learning must undoubtedly bring with it!"
-
-The next morning, the principal person in the village, who owned a
-great part of it, came to their hovel, and acquainted the old folks
-that they might the next Sunday send their children to church, where
-they would be instructed in the principles of the Christian religion,
-and be likewise taught to read, without any expence to themselves.
-
-The next Sunday morning, accompanied by other children in the village,
-they accordingly repaired to church, where they were all dressed in new
-apparel, prepared for them by the voluntary subscriptions of the humane
-and generous. Though their clothes were but of coarse materials, yet
-Dorcas and Amarillis had never been so fine before; the one thought
-herself as elegant as Cleopatra, and the other considered himself as
-great as Cæsar.
-
-Besides clothing, such as could read tolerably well had a Bible,
-Testament, and Common Prayer given them; while others who could not
-read, had only a spelling-book. A schoolmaster was appointed in each
-village to instruct the poor children in the evening; and every Sunday
-they went regularly to church, to be examined by the parson in public.
-
-It was a pleasing change to behold: instead of noise, riot, and
-confusion, every Sunday, from one end of the village to the other,
-peace, order, and decorum were every where seen. Instead of having
-recourse to mischievous inventions to pass away the time, each was now
-seen quietly seated on the enamelled turf, with a book in his hand, and
-either reading to himself or to some others.
-
-Among all these youthful students, Dorcas and Amarillis made the most
-distinguished figures, and displayed such a genius and attention as
-attracted the wonder and amazement of every one. In a few months they
-learned to read with some degree of emphasis, and could write a hand
-sufficient for any of the common concerns of business.
-
-Such an uncommon display of genius created them many friends, and
-they frequently received invitations from the younger branches of
-the neighbouring gentry. From these visits they learned a polite and
-graceful behaviour, and consequently soon got rid of their awkward
-rusticity. As they increased in knowledge, so their minds opened and
-expanded; and, though their wishes were at first only to learn to read,
-they now sighed after the higher branches of literature.
-
-"What a pleasing thing it must be," said Dorcas one day to his sister,
-"to read of what passed in the former ages of the world, and trace out
-the tempers and dispositions of the people in those days! What a narrow
-span of earth are we confined to, in comparison of what we are told
-the world is at large! I should like to read those books which give a
-description of the different parts of the earth and seas; what animals
-inhabit them, and what curiosities they contain superior to our own."
-
-"I have the same wish," replied Amarillis; "but let us be thankful to
-that good God, and to the generosity of our opulent neighbours, by
-whose bounty and goodness we were rescued from a state of ignorance and
-gloomy despair, have been enabled to read the Sacred Writings, and
-imbibe the glorious doctrines of salvation."
-
-This conversation was overheard by a gentleman, who immediately bought
-them some small books of history and geography, of which they made so
-proper a use, that there were very few young people, within several
-miles of them, who were able to converse with them on geographical and
-historical subjects.
-
-Within the course of two years, Dorcas and his sister had made great
-improvements in the sciences, when it was thought necessary to send
-them into the world to provide for themselves, as their parents were
-now engaged in a gentleman's family, in a much better situation than
-that of a shepherd and shepherdess. Amarillis was taken as a waiting
-maid, attendant and companion of a young lady of distinction and
-fortune; and Dorcas thought himself happy in being taken as clerk in
-the shop of a capital tradesman.
-
-In this situation all parties at present remain, and afford an
-unanswerable proof of the utility of Sunday Schools. Had it not been
-for that noble institution, Dorcas and Amarillis must have lived and
-died in the grossest ignorance, overwhelmed with poverty and despair;
-their parents must have lingered out a half-starved life in their
-miserable cot, without being able to bequeath any thing to their
-children but rags and poverty. What may be the future situation of
-Dorcas and Amarillis we cannot say; but we need not search the roll of
-fate to know this, that they are bound to pray, as they undoubtedly do,
-for the first promoters of Sunday Schools.
-
-Let me advise my youthful readers, whatever their condition in life may
-be, to imitate the industry of Dorcas and Amarillis. Let them remember
-that, however painful a few years of hard study may be, how pleasing
-will be the consequences to them all the rest of their lives, when they
-will be possessed of that which nothing but their final dissolution can
-take from them!
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-_The Happy Villager._
-
-
-Mr. Jackson had been an eminent tradesman in the city of London, where
-he by trade acquired an independent fortune, and was now retired into
-the country to spend the remainder of his days amidst rural retreats,
-to enjoy the pleasures of rambling through woods and groves, by the
-side of purling and meandering streams, while the harmony of the
-feathered songsters would charm the ear, and lull the busy mind into
-the most tranquil repose.
-
-The retreat Mr. Jackson had chosen was situated in the county of
-Worcester, and near to the place where he drew his first breath. His
-house was a well-designed mean between the vast piles raised for
-magnificence and those smaller ones in which convenience alone is
-considered. The walk from the back of the house led through a wood, by
-the side of a delightful stream, which meandered over grass from out of
-a deep hollow. A gush of water, which fell into it, gurgled through a
-rocky cavity; and in front you looked down on a fine lawn, terminated
-with a noble bank of hanging woods.
-
-He would frequently ramble to a great distance from home, to survey
-the beauties of the surrounding country. He had already visited every
-neighbouring village, and therefore one day strayed farther than usual
-in pursuit of new objects. On a sudden he discovered a delightful
-valley, the appearance of which seemed to correspond with every thing
-descriptive of a rural scene.
-
-It was surrounded on all sides by hills, at the feet of which were
-thickly scattered cottages, groves, and gardens, which seemed to be
-the abode of rural happiness. The silence of the scene was broken
-only by the dashings of a torrent, which, rushing from an eminence,
-precipitated, bellowing, into a cavern beneath. Having there vented
-its rage in foam, it then divided into a multitude of little rills,
-and forming serpentine sweeps, refreshed the meadows and surrounding
-gardens with its friendly streams.
-
-However pleased Mr. Jackson was with the natural beauties of the
-place, he was no less struck with the neatness and simplicity of the
-many cottages that presented themselves to his view, every house having
-a garden, an orchard, and some well-cultivated ground about it. Their
-only fences were hedges of holly, which afforded a convincing proof of
-two things, the fertility of the soil, and the confidence each one had
-in his neighbour.
-
-Mr. Jackson was so wholly employed in contemplating this pleasing
-scene, that he paid no attention to a storm that was gathering around
-him, till the lightning flashed in his face, the thunder rolled over
-his head, and the rain began to fall in torrents. He instantly ran
-to the nearest farm door, and having there knocked, gained immediate
-admittance.
-
-It was an elderly woman that came to the door, and who, though old,
-was not decrepid, and appeared to have something venerable in her
-countenance. "Come in, sir," said she, "and I will make a fire to dry
-you. I am glad our cottage was so near to you; but you would have met
-with a kind reception in any of these cottages. There is hardly a house
-here which is not kept by some of our children or descendants."
-
-Mr. Jackson had sufficient leisure, while the good woman was lighting
-the fire, to survey the apartment. Every thing appeared uncommonly
-neat, and it was easy to be seen, from the nature of the furniture,
-that necessity had no abode under that roof. The novelty of the whole
-scene, and the particular words the good old woman had dropped in
-conversation during the lighting of the fire, gave Mr. Jackson a strong
-desire to know further particulars.
-
-While he was drying his clothes, he heard a voice in the other room,
-asking if the stranger was taken care of, to which the good woman
-replied in the affirmative. "I suppose," said Mr. Jackson, "that is
-your husband in the next room, whose voice I hear. May I go in and
-thank him for his hospitality and kindness!"
-
-"With all my heart, sir," replied the woman, "you will please to step
-in, and I believe you will not be dissatisfied with your reception."
-Mr. Jackson did so; and there found an old man reclining on a bed, of
-which the clothes and furniture were very neat and clean. He had on a
-cap, and his snow-white locks hung over his venerable shoulders. His
-countenance indicated the goodness and serenity of his heart, and even
-Time had here been more sparing of his devastations than is generally
-the case.
-
-The appearance of this happy villager had a very great effect upon Mr.
-Jackson, who could not look on him without being, in some measure,
-prejudiced in his favour. "What is the matter with you?" said he to the
-old cottager, "I suppose you are ill, and obliged to keep your bed?"
-
-"God be praised," replied the old man, "that is not the case; though
-it cannot be expected, that a person turned of fourscore years of age
-should be free from all kinds of complaints. It is not a long time
-since I have given up daily labour, which my children obliged me to do;
-for they said I had worked long enough for them, and that it was now
-time they should work for me in their turns."
-
-Mr. Jackson highly applauded the conduct of his children; and observed
-to the old man, that he must have purchased his present repose at the
-expence of a great deal of labour; but he wished to know, after having
-passed his life in such active scenes, how he could amuse himself at
-present.
-
-"My whole life," replied the old man, "has been a constant succession
-of labour. There are few men who have carried in more hay, or tied
-more sheaves together than I have; but my labour procured me health,
-contentment, and happiness. As to time, it never sits heavy on my
-hands; and, when my body is at rest, my mind is at work. How can any
-person be at a loss for thoughts who has ten children, and fifty
-children's children to think for? They every day give me an account of
-their affairs and labour, and it is I who put every thing in order.
-There is always one constantly upon my hands that must be married, and
-matches of that kind are not to be settled in a moment. If those I
-have provided for in this way are now in a thriving state, it is to me
-they owe their welfare. I have at this time three marriages in hand,
-and I hope they will soon be settled to the mutual satisfaction of all
-parties."
-
-Mr. Jackson observed, that he must be very happy in so numerous a
-family, and asked him how many he had at home with him. "I have at
-present only two," replied the old man, "who are my grand-daughters,
-for I cannot lodge an army here. It is my lands, and not my house,
-that I wish to enlarge. Thank God, I have been able to give each of my
-children a tolerable portion; not in gold, but acres, and that without
-impoverishing myself. For a mere trifle, I bought a large quantity of
-land, which none of my neighbours thought worth meddling with: but I
-set about improving it, and gave it to my daughters as so many marriage
-portions, which are now, in their improved state, of great value.
-
-"Whenever any of my children were ill, I had skill enough to cure them
-by the use of those few plants I am acquainted with, and of their
-behaviour to me I never had any reason to complain. I always took care
-to set them a good example; for though in my youth I was as wild as
-any other, and there could not be a dance in this or any neighbouring
-parish but I was sure to be there, yet, as soon as I was married, I
-left off those pranks. My wife was fortunately handsome, good, and
-sprightly, and that kept me in awe.
-
-"I took my boys into the fields with me as soon as they could walk, and
-I presently made them useful in one way or other. I put my youngest son
-on the plough, and was pleased to see the others frolic round him; and,
-on my return home in the evening, my little girls would divert me with
-singing, while they were spinning at their wheel.
-
-"I used to go among my children and grandchildren, to see if every
-thing went on properly; but now, since old age has prevented me, they
-come and see me. The sermon is no sooner over on a Sunday, than my
-daughters and grand-daughters bring their little ones; and it would
-please you, sir, to behold me in the midst of twenty women dressed as
-for a marriage, and as pretty as angels. There is a family resemblance
-in their children, and that charms me."
-
-Mr. Jackson observed, that the other six days of the week must be very
-tiresome to him, since he could not have the company of his family to
-amuse him. To this the old man replied, "If I be denied this pleasure,
-yet I have others to supply its place. I know every inch of ground in
-this parish, and am as well acquainted with all who live in it. My
-neighbours, therefore, frequently come to ask my opinion on matters
-of husbandry, in which they are engaged. I give them my advice with
-pleasure; and if they be poor people, I provide them with the seed they
-want, and they repay it me the ensuing harvest. Thus am I serviceable
-to others, without injuring myself or my family.
-
-"In my endeavours to do good to my neighbours, I am assisted by our
-vicar, who is a very good man, and of whom I have, in some degree,
-made a bishop, by the weddings, christenings, and tithes with which I
-have enriched him. I have even given him some instructions concerning
-his business in the pulpit; for the country people, in general, like
-example better than precept. The general rule I taught him to lay down
-to his congregation was no more than this: _No rest, good neighbours,
-to your land; but peace among yourselves._"
-
-Mr. Jackson could not help applauding such principles, and told the
-good old villager, that he apprehended he was of more service to the
-vicar than he was to the lawyer, if any such professional man lived
-near them.
-
-The good old man replied, "We have indeed one lawyer among us, but I
-have pretty well spoiled his trade. Had I taken only sixpence every
-time I have been consulted, in order to settle disputes, I should at
-this time have been a very rich man. In all places, there frequently
-will happen disputes of one kind or other, and principally when
-the ground of any deceased person is to be parceled out among his
-successors.
-
-"On these occasions, they generally come to me for my advice; and if
-there be children to be married, I soon settle the affair. If there
-be any ground in dispute, and the parties cannot agree about it, they
-take me in their little cart, and, being on the spot, I have the ground
-surveyed; I then weigh the good and bad qualities of it in my mind, and
-endeavour, if I can, to satisfy the different parties.
-
-"When I find the parties are not inclined to agree, the next day I get
-them all together here, and I always keep a barrel of good ale on the
-run, such as will soften the most obdurate and flinty heart. I give
-them a glass or two of it, and in the mean time I tell them, that a
-lawsuit would cost ten times more than the ground is worth; that if
-they proceed in it, they will lose a great deal of time as well as
-money, and ever after be enemies to each other. These arguments and a
-few glasses of ale, never fail to make up the matter, and bring about a
-perfect reconciliation. It is true, I lose my ale by such a practice;
-but then I am amply repaid by the reflection of having done good."
-
-Here the cottager called to his wife, and told her to bring a jug
-of their ale. Mr. Jackson drank some of it, and confessed that it
-was admirably calculated to make peace among his neighbours in the
-village, especially when administered by so able a hand, who knew how
-to extract friendship from the very means that often produce strife and
-disaffection.
-
-By this time the storm was entirely abated, Nature had put off her
-gloomy aspect, and the returning sun began to enliven every thing. Mr.
-Jackson took a friendly leave, and promised to see them again in a few
-days. On his return home, "Who would not," said he to himself, "prefer
-the healthful age of this good cottager, happy in his own esteem and
-the love of others, to the vanity of those great men, who make no other
-use of their abundance, than to set examples of luxury and dissipation,
-who make light of public scorn and hatred, and whom the very grave will
-not protect from infamy and execration!"
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-_The Indolent Beauty._
-
-
-We too often see beauty contaminated by vanity, and a fine genius by
-indolence. Bella was the only daughter of a tender and affectionate
-mother, whose virtue and discretion were a source of happiness to her
-family, and a credit to her sex. Bella, on her arrival at six years of
-age, afforded every symptom of a good heart, complaisance, affability,
-and a tolerable share of understanding. This was the glaring part of
-the picture; for the shade afforded a strange attachment to indolence,
-and a disgust to every species of refined education.
-
-Though her mother possessed all the talents necessary for an excellent
-instructress, yet she had never before any opportunity of reducing them
-to practice, and an only child was not perhaps the most proper object
-for her experience in the science of juvenile education. It should
-ever be one important point with parents, never to give up a command
-they have once laid on their children, but punctually to insist on its
-performance. The observation of this rule would frequently save a great
-deal of uneasiness to both parents and children.
-
-Her mother could not think of applying even the most tender correction,
-and the use of threatenings only added to her own uneasiness. She
-hoped, as her daughter grew older, she would become more sensible of
-her indolence and inattention to business, and, as she ripened in
-years, would proportionably increase in sense and judgment; but the
-older the twig grew the less pliant it became, and what might have
-been accomplished in its younger state, was by time become almost
-impracticable.
-
-Bella, however, when she arrived at eight years of age, showed very
-little inclination to make any alteration in her conduct; the little
-creature's idleness rather increased than diminished, and she began to
-be troublesome even to herself. Her mother now conceived the plan of
-putting down on paper, every evening, the value of such things as she
-had lost or spoiled in the course of the day, in consequence of her
-carelessness and invincible indolence.
-
-Her mother had flattered herself that Bella, when she came to know
-the value of money, would act in a more prudent manner; but she read
-over the account with the utmost indifference, and considered the sums
-there mentioned as too insignificant for her notice and attention.
-A pretended head-ache was almost her constant excuse to avoid her
-attendance on her masters; and thus, though naturally sincere, she
-began to accustom herself to deviate from the truth.
-
-Bella had reached her thirteenth year, without the least appearance
-of alteration in her conduct, and the lost and broken account, kept
-by her mother, was increased to a large sum. One irregularity, if not
-timely checked, brings on others; and thus Bella to indolence soon
-added inconsistence. She presently grew tired of every thing; her
-harpsichord, which was one week her favourite instrument, was the next
-discarded with disgust, to make room for the guitar; and this, in a
-short time after, for something else. She had masters to teach her
-geography, French, and Italian; writing, accounts, dancing, drawing,
-and music. These added to her mother's long catalogue of expences,
-contributed but little to her improvement.
-
-It is natural to suppose, that when the follies of youth are not
-early corrected, they will, like pernicious weeds, thrive so fast
-as to check the growth of every thing that is valuable in the same
-soil. Hence it happened, that after three years more had elapsed,
-the lovely Bella, instead of growing wiser by age, as her mother had
-vainly expected, became more indolent, whimsical, and capricious. All
-the money paid to her masters was thrown away, she learned nothing,
-and was in fact little more than an _ignorant beauty_: a character I
-most sincerely wish is not applicable to any of my fair readers, since
-nothing can be more dangerous, pernicious, and derogatory to female
-reputation.
-
-At this period of her folly, a young gentleman of fortune and
-character, whom I shall call by the name of Honestus, among other
-company, visited the parents of Bella. He was struck with her charms,
-and immediately conceived some thought of paying his addresses to that
-capricious beauty; but, when he learned what was her character, he
-declined all thoughts of forming such a connection.
-
-The tender mother did not fail to represent this disappointment to
-her daughter, who was then of an age capable to receive remonstrances
-of that nature. To her natural disposition for indolence she had now
-added pride, the forerunner of all evils to a female mind. Instead
-of properly feeling the reproaches of a tender mother, she haughtily
-replied, "It is true, I have lost a great deal of time, and have not
-improved myself much from the lessons of my masters; but what need
-have I of learning, when my parents are so rich, and you yourself
-acknowledge I am so pretty?"
-
-As soon as Bella had attained her eighteenth year, she began to think
-herself happy in being no longer incommoded with the visits of her
-teachers; so, when a young lady arrives at that age, she is supposed
-to be accomplished in point of education, and has nothing else to do
-but to apply herself to the application of those rules she learned from
-her masters. Alas! this was not the case of the lovely Bella: she had
-learned nothing but those principles which never fail to be pernicious
-to the youthful mind.
-
-That morning, which on its opening appeared to her so delightful and
-brilliant, was soon enveloped in dark and heavy clouds. Her mother
-entered her chamber with a countenance that convinced Bella something
-was amiss. After an awful pause, she thus addressed her daughter:
-"My dear child, you are this day eighteen years of age; but I fear
-your education is far short of what it now ought to be. I fear the
-indulgences I have granted you have made you too vain of yourself, and
-have fatally induced you to believe, that you had less occasion for an
-education than others. Will beauty make you lovely? separated from the
-graces of the mind, it will not so much as please. Are you not always
-uneasy in yourself, and constantly dissatisfied with others? Besides,
-rich as you imagine your father to be, are you sure that, while we are
-now speaking, he is not a ruined and undone man?"
-
-The last words awakened in the bosom of Bella all the alarms which an
-unexpected disappointment to ambition is capable of feeling. Her mother
-got up, and left the room without saying any thing more.
-
-The apprehensions of Bella on this occasion were but too well founded;
-for, in a few days after this conversation, her father stopped payment.
-This imprudent gentleman, not contented with a fortune of six thousand
-pounds a year, engaged in a very hazardous undertaking, which,
-happening to fail, brought on a bankruptcy. He had all his life been
-the child of fortune, and therefore made but a poor pupil in the school
-of adversity: he took this matter so to heart, that in spite of all the
-care and attention of his wife and daughter, he soon bid adieu to the
-cares of this world, and fled for repose to the next. He died perfectly
-sensible, exhorting those around him, never to give way to the emotions
-of avarice and rapacity, since these first brought him to ruin, and
-then to his grave.
-
-His wife undoubtedly felt this shock severely, though she supported
-it with Christian fortitude. She had a small jointure, which the
-creditors could not, nor did they wish to touch. Having performed the
-duties of the last funeral rites to her husband, she and her daughter
-retired to a private situation in the west of England, where every
-necessary article of life was cheaper than in the metropolis.
-
-Bella, however, behaved with all the propriety that could be expected
-from a repenting daughter, and made every effort she was capable of to
-console her unhappy mother. She would frequently reproach herself with
-her past negligence, and reckon up the vast sums of money that had been
-squandered away upon her to so little purpose.
-
-Bella had valued herself much on the fortune she supposed herself born
-to; but it pleased Providence to deprive her of it. She had, however,
-her beauty still left to boast of; but even of this she was soon to be
-deprived. Be cautious, my youthful readers, how you place too great
-a confidence in the possession of wealth and beauty, since they are
-fleeting as the wind, and as unsteady as the vessel on the troubled
-billows of the ocean. Fortify your minds with religion and virtue, and
-a proper knowledge of the useful sciences; the storms and hurricanes of
-Fortune may then attack you, but you will always safely withstand their
-rage, and deride their fury.
-
-One evening, while she was bewailing her past neglect, and vowing a
-reform for the future, she was seized with a head-ache, and being
-otherwise very ill, she went to bed. The next morning a violent fever
-seized her, and a physician being sent for, her disorder was declared
-to be that which is frequently so fatal to female beauty.
-
-It was one of the most unpromising kind; the doctors could say but
-little, and the mother was driven to despair. Day after day, and night
-after night, her mother never left her bed-side, but was constantly
-with her, in a state of uncertainty, worse than that of death itself.
-The afflicted Bella became delirious, the disorder made a rapid
-progress, and her eyes were soon excluded from the light.
-
-Though this circumstance is not uncommon in this fatal disorder, and
-therefore did not at first create any alarm in her mother, yet at last
-it increased to such a dangerous height, that the physicians were
-no longer able to dissemble matters, and candidly confessed their
-apprehensions, that her daughter would be blind all her life. Judge, if
-you can, what must be the feelings of a tender mother on so trying a
-calamity!
-
-However, youth got the better of her disorder, very contrary to the
-expectation of her mother, the physicians, and every one around her;
-she also recovered her sight, but there were left terrible marks on
-her face of the devastation it had there made. As soon as she was able
-to walk about the room, she looked in the glass, and then exclaimed:
-"Ah! what is become of that lovely face, of which the proud Bella so
-lately boasted? Has cruel fortune robbed her of all she boasted, of all
-she valued herself for but a month ago, her fortune and her beauty? I
-am justly punished, and I will patiently submit."
-
-Bella, thus instructed by misfortune, soon conquered her indolence, and
-all her former imperfections; a sudden revolution took place, and her
-very nature seemed to be reformed. Her mother's conversation now became
-delightful to her, and she began to sit down to study with unwearied
-attention. Reading, music, and drawing were her daily amusements; and
-so great were her improvements therein, that she soon made up for the
-time she had before thrown away in the most shameful indolence.
-
-Her beauty was indeed vanished, but the improvements she made in her
-mind procured her more friends than she was ever before able to acquire
-by the charms of her person. Her shape was still truly elegant, and
-her eyes and countenance were still expressive of the vivacity of her
-heart. She was no longer expensive in her dress, though she was always
-neat and fashionable.--Though her visitors did not look upon her with
-that astonishment as formerly, yet they soon became captivated with the
-charms of her mind and the politeness of her conversation.
-
-Two years had passed away in this retired situation, when Honestus,
-who had long before ceased to think of making a partner of Bella, on
-account of her capricious and indolent temper, being on some business
-in that quarter, called on the mother and daughter to see them. He
-was introduced into a parlour elegantly furnished, and adorned with
-pictures. "Is not this," said the lady, "a neat apartment? Every thing
-you here see, and these drawings in particular, are the works of my
-daughter."
-
-Honestus was much surprised at hearing what he considered as a
-tale, and his looks expressed his incredulity. He turned round, and
-stedfastly gazing on the face of Bella, was equally astonished at
-seeing her so changed. "Is this the lovely creature," said he to
-himself, "with whose beauty I was once so much enraptured, and whom I
-forsook on account of her pride, vanity, and indolence!"
-
-Out of politeness he entered into conversation with her, and found in
-her a most pleasing alteration: before she was a beauty without sense;
-now she had lost the charms of her face, but had found those of the
-mind, which are infinitely the most to be valued.
-
-Honestus passed day after day in the company of Bella, whose
-conversation was so pleasing and attracting, that he began to feel
-himself uneasy when she was out of his sight. In order, therefore, that
-he might enjoy the pleasure of her company without interruption, he
-offered her his hand for life. "You certainly deserve her," said her
-mother, "since you refused her in the bloom of her beauty, when her
-fortune too afforded the most splendid promises, and now admire her
-when they are both for ever vanished."
-
-Though the fortune of Honestus was not very splendid, yet it was
-sufficient, with the assistance of his trade, to keep up a genteel
-appearance, and to provide decently for a family, should such be the
-consequence of their marriage. They soon quitted this rural retreat and
-returned to London, where they now live in the enjoyment of all those
-pleasures which conjugal love, friendship, and virtue are capable of
-producing.
-
-Let my youthful readers reflect on what they have here read, and they
-will then become sensible how vain and momentary, how fickle and
-inconstant are the possession of riches and beauty. They are like
-habitations built on the sands of the ocean, which are perpetually
-liable to be swept away by the violence of winds and floods. I mean
-not, that fortune and beauty are to be spised, I mean only that they
-should be used properly, and that the possessor of them should not
-vainly imagine, that they will supply the place of education, industry,
-benevolence, charity, and virtue.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-_An Oriental Tale._
-
-
-Time, the devourer of all things, has permitted me to be the spectator
-of a long series of events. The colour of my locks is now changed to
-that of the swans, which sport in the gardens of the mighty kings
-of the earth. Age and experience have taught me to believe, that
-the sovereign Disposer of our destinies has given to man a heart
-susceptible of virtue, and a soul capable of tasting the pleasures
-which arise from doing good. A noble and disinterested action must
-somewhere meet with its reward. Listen, O sons of Adam! listen to my
-faithful tale.
-
-In one of those delightful valleys which cut the chain of the mountains
-in Arabia, for a long time lived a rich pastor. He was happy because
-he was contented, and his happiness consisted in doing good. One day,
-as he was walking on the enamelled borders of a purling stream, under
-the shade of a grove of palm-trees, which extended their verdant
-branches even to the heads of the lofty cedars with which the mountain
-was crowned, he heard a voice that frequently echoed into the valley
-the most piercing cries, and sometimes low murmuring plaints, which
-were lost in the noise of the torrent.
-
-The venerable pastor hastened to the place from whence the voice
-proceeded, when he saw a young man prostrate on the sand, at the foot
-of a rock. His garment was torn, and his hair, in wild confusion,
-covered his face, on which were easily to be traced the flowers of
-beauty, faded by grief: tears trickled down his cheeks, and his head
-was sunk on his bosom: he appeared like the rose which the rude blast
-of a storm had leveled to the earth. The pastor was touched at the
-sight: he approached the youth, and said to him, "O child of Grief!
-hasten to my arms. Let me press to my bosom the offspring of Despair!"
-
-The youth lifted up his head in mournful silence; in astonishment
-he fixed his eyes on the pastor; for he supposed no human being was
-capable of feeling for his sufferings. The sight of so venerable a
-figure inspired him with confidence, and he perceived in his eyes the
-tear of pity and the fire of generosity. If to a generous soul it is
-pleasure to complain, and unfold the latent secrets of the heart, that
-pleasure surely must be heightened when we complain to those who will
-not shut their ears to the voice of truth, but will weigh every thing
-in the scale of reason, even though those truths may be disagreeable,
-and such as they wish to have no existence.
-
-The youth rose up, covered with dust, and, as he flew to the arms of
-the pastor, uttered cries which the neighbouring mountains trebly
-echoed. "O my father!" said he: "O my father!" when he had a little
-recovered himself, after the tender embraces and the wise counsels of
-the old man who asked him many questions.
-
-"It is," continued the unfortunate youth, "behind those lofty cedars,
-which you behold on those high mountains, it is there dwells Shel-Adar,
-the father of Fatima. The abode of my father is not far distant from
-thence. Fatima is the most beautiful damsel of all those in the
-mountains. I offered my service to Shel-Adar, to conduct one particular
-part of his flock, and he granted me my request. The father of Fatima
-is rich; mine is poor. I fell in love with Fatima, and she fell in love
-with me. Her father perceived it, and I was ordered to retire from the
-quarter in which lived every thing that was dear to my heart.
-
-"I besought Shel-Adar, in the most suppliant terms, to permit me to
-attend his far-distant flocks, where I could have no opportunity to
-speak to the object of my soul. My entreaties were in vain, and I was
-ordered instantly to retire. My mother is no more; but I have an aged
-father, and two brothers so young, that they can yet hardly reach
-the most humble of the palm-tree branches. They have long depended
-on me for support; but that support is now at an end. Let me die,
-hoary-headed sire, and put an end to my woes!"
-
-The pastor went instantly in search of Shel-Adar, and having found
-him, thus addressed him. "A dove from Aleppo took refuge at Damos, and
-lived with a dove of that country. The master feared that the dove
-from Aleppo would one day entice away his companion, and therefore
-caused them to be separated. They would eat no grain but that which
-they received when together; they languished; they died. O Shel-Adar!
-separate not those who cannot live unless they live together!"
-
-Shel-Adar listened with attention to the words of the pastor; and, when
-he found that the flock and the horses he had brought with him were now
-given to the bewailing youth, he took Fatima by the hand, and led her
-to the arms of her lover. They then retired to the neighbouring grove,
-where the nymphs and swains from the mountains assembled around them,
-crowned them with garlands, and in circles tripped over the enamelled
-grass to the sweet notes of the lute.
-
-The day had passed too swiftly, when the twinkling stars appearing in
-the heavens, gave the signal for retiring each to their habitation.
-The reverend pastor then withdrew, but not till he had uttered these
-words:--
-
-"Listen, ye tender branches, to your parent stock; bend to the lessons
-of instruction, and imbibe the maxims of age and experience. As the
-pismire creeps not to its labour till fed by its elder, as the young
-eagle soars not to the sun but under the shadow of its mother's wings,
-so neither doth the child of mortality spring forth to action, unless
-the parent hand point out its destined labour. Dangerous are the
-desires of pleasure, and mean the pursuits of the sons of the earth.
-They stretch out their sinews like the patient mule; they persevere,
-with the swiftness of the camel in the desert, in their pursuit of
-trifles. As the leopard springs on his prey, so does man rejoice
-over his riches, and, like the lion's cub, basks in the sunshine of
-slothfulness. On the stream of life float the bodies of the careless
-and intemperate, as the carcasses of the dead on the waves of the
-Tigris. Wish not to enjoy life longer than you wish to do good."
-
-The worthy pastor then retired, and the moon darted forth her
-glimmering lights to illumine the way to his habitation. The amiable
-young shepherd and shepherdess, being now left by themselves, "My
-adorable Fatima," said the youth, "let us not retire to repose till
-we have offered up our most grateful thanks to him, whose throne is
-as far above that of earthly princes, as all the waters of the mighty
-ocean exceed one single drop falling from the clouds. To him we owe all
-the gratification of our wishes, and to him alone we must hereafter
-look up as our friend, guardian, and protector. May it be recorded in
-after times, that among these mountains once lived the happy Fatima and
-Dorillis, whose affections for each other, whose universal benevolence
-to all within the narrow sphere of their knowledge, and whose virtues
-and piety have left an example worthy the imitation of all who wish and
-know how to be happy."
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-_Generosity rewarded._
-
-
-Of all the graces that contribute to adorn the human mind, there are
-perhaps none, more estimable than generosity and gratitude. To define
-the exact boundary between generosity and profusion, is not perhaps
-easy, since every one will explain it by the ideas they have of their
-own motives for action; yet how far soever avarice may have deprived
-some men of every spark of generosity, yet those very men fail not to
-expect it from others, and are sure to complain bitterly of those who
-do not display it in all their actions.
-
-Nothing can equal the pleasure arising from the glow of a generous
-heart, which is prompted to a noble action solely from the love of
-virtue, and who wishes not to make of it a worldly parade. Fame is
-often purchased by generous donations, which would never have been
-given, had not popular idolatry been the motive; while others, like the
-generous man in the following tale, consult only the approbation of
-their own honest feelings.
-
-One of the califs of Egypt, being in the field of battle, was
-unexpectedly surrounded by a great number of rebels, who were preparing
-to give that fatal blow, which would at once have finished his life and
-put an end to his mortal career. Fortunately for him an Arab happened
-to be near the spot with other soldiers of his party, who, seeing the
-situation of the calif, rushed upon the rebels, and soon put them to
-flight.
-
-The name of this Arab was Nadir, who had for some months lived a
-wandering life in the most retired and unfrequented places, in order
-to escape the vengeance of the calif, against whom he had joined the
-people in a late insurrection.
-
-This generous conduct of Nadir was so much admired by all the Arabians,
-that the sires still tell it their children among their evening tales.
-This adventure had the happy effect of perfectly reconciling Nadir to
-the calif, who, charmed with the generosity of a man who had saved his
-life, at the very instant he might have destroyed it, promised to place
-in him an implicit confidence. "But," said the calif, "let me hear how
-you have passed your time, during your banishment."
-
-"I have been a wandering fugitive," replied Nadir, "ever since your
-family were elevated to the throne of this empire; conscious that the
-sword of vengeance was at all times hanging over my head, it became
-natural for me to seek security in retirement. I found refuge for some
-time in the house of a friend at Basra; but fearing that my stay in
-that city might be dangerous, I one night quitted it under the favour
-of a disguise, and pursued my journey towards the desert.
-
-"I had escaped the vigilance of the guards, and thought myself out of
-all danger, when a man of a suspicious countenance seized my camel's
-bridle, and expressed his suspicions that I was the man the calif was
-in search of, and for the apprehension of whom a very considerable
-reward had been promised.
-
-"I answered, that I was not the man he was in quest of."--"Is not your
-name Nadir?" said he. "This disconcerted me, and I could no longer
-deny myself to be the object of his pursuit. I put my hand into my
-bosom, and pulling out a jewel of some value, 'Receive,' said I, 'this
-trifling token of my gratitude, for the important service I hope you
-will now do me, in keeping silence, and favouring my escape. Should
-fortune again smile on me, I will share my prosperity with you.'
-
-"He took my diamond, and examined it very attentively, 'Before I put
-this diamond into my turban, as your gift,' said he, 'I would wish
-you to answer me one question honestly. I have heard you have been a
-liberal man, and always ready to assist the poor and necessitous; but
-did you ever give away one half of your wealth at one time?' I answered
-in the negative; and he renewed his questions till he came down to
-one-tenth; when I replied, that I believed I had, at one time, given
-away more than one-tenth of my whole fortune.
-
-"'If that be the case,' said the man, as soon as I had made him that
-reply, 'that you may know there is at least one person in the realm
-more bountiful than yourself, I, who am nothing better than a private
-soldier, and receive only two dollars per month, return you your jewel,
-which must certainly be worth three thousand times that money.' Having
-thus said, he threw me back my diamond, and pursued his journey.
-
-"Astonished at so benevolent and generous an action, I rode after him,
-and begged him to return. 'Generous friend,' said I to him, 'I would
-rather be discovered, and forfeit my head, than be thus vanquished in
-point of generosity. Magnanimous stranger, either I must follow you all
-day or you must accept this tribute of my gratitude.'
-
-"He then, turning about, said to me, 'Were I to take from you your
-diamond, I should consider myself as a robber on the highway, since you
-receive no value from it. Let me advise you to lose no time, but set
-off for your proposed retreat.' He continued inflexible, and we parted."
-
-The calif knew not which to admire most, the generosity of Nadir or the
-soldier. A proclamation was published, ordering the generous soldier to
-appear at the calif's court, that he might receive the reward of his
-virtues; but all was to no effect, as no one came forward to claim the
-glorious reward. However, about a twelvemonth afterwards, when Nadir
-attended the calif at a general review, a private soldier received a
-blow from his officer, for holding down his head as the calif passed.
-This drew the attention of Nadir, who, after looking stedfastly in the
-face of the offending soldier, leaped from his horse, and caught him in
-his arms. To conclude, this proved to be the man who had so generously
-treated Nadir, and had endeavoured to shun the reward of his virtues.
-The calif paid him singular honours; and at last raised him to the
-highest rank in his army.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-_An Evening Vision._
-
-
-One beautiful, serene, summer evening, after rambling in a grove of
-laurels, till the lamp of night arose to illumine the objects around
-me, I seated myself on the bank of a meandering river; a weeping
-willow spread over me its branches, which bent so humbly as to sweep
-the stream. An antique tower, partly in ruins, mantled in ivy, and
-surrounded with yew and cypress, was the only building to be seen.
-
-I had been reading a melancholy tale, which in strong colours impressed
-itself on my memory, and led me to reflect on the strange pleasure we
-sometimes feel in perusing the most tragical adventures. What, said I
-to myself, can occasion it? Can the human heart feel any delight in the
-misfortunes of others?--Forbid it Heaven!
-
-My eyes were fixed on the surface of the water; the soft beams of Luna
-sported on the curling waves, and all nature seemed hushed to repose;
-when a gentle slumber stole upon my senses, and methought a being of
-angelic form seated herself before me.
-
-A mantle of the palest sapphire hung over her shoulders to the ground,
-her flaxen hair fell in waving curls on her lovely neck, and a white
-veil, almost transparent, shaded her face. As she lifted it up, she
-sighed, and continued for some moments silent. Never did I behold
-a countenance so delicate; and, notwithstanding a smile sported on
-her coral lips, her lovely blue eyes were surcharged with tears, and
-resembled violets dropping with dew. Below her veil she wore a wreath
-of amarinths and jessamines. "Wonder not," said she, in accents soft
-as the breath of zephyrs, "that a state of woe can please. I am called
-_Sensibility_, and have been from my infancy your constant companion.
-My sire was _Humanity_, and my mother _Sympathy_, the daughter of
-_Tenderness_. I was born in a cavern, overshadowed with myrtles and
-orange-trees, at the foot of Parnassus, and consigned to the care of
-Melpomene, who fed me with honey from Hybla, and lulled me to rest with
-plaintive songs and melancholy music.
-
-"Down on one side of the cavern ran a stream from Helicon, and in the
-trees around it the doves and nightingales built their nests. I make
-it my sole care to augment the felicity of some favoured mortals, who
-nevertheless repine at my influence, and would gladly be under the
-dominion of _Apathy_.
-
-"Alas, how inconsiderate! If the rose has thorns, has it not also a
-balsamic tincture and ambrosial sweetness? If the woodbine droops,
-laden with the dew drops of the morning, when the sun has exhaled them,
-will it not be refreshed, and yield richer fragrance? So, if a heart be
-touched with a story of distress, it will at the same time experience
-a delightful sensation; and, if the tears sometimes flow, say, can you
-call it weakness? can you wish to be divested of this genuine test of
-_tenderness_, and desire the departure of _Sensibility_? Were I totally
-to forsake you, man would become a senseless being, and presently
-imbibe the ferocity of the savage inhabitants of the forest."
-
-"Ah no, fair nymph!" said I, "still deign to be my attendant; teach
-me to sigh with the unhappy, and with the happy to rejoice. I am now
-sensible, that the pleasures which arise from legends of sorrow, owe
-their origin to this certain knowledge, that our hearts are not callous
-to the finer feelings, but that we have some generous joys, and some
-generous cares beyond ourselves."
-
-Scarcely had I pronounced these words, when the loud tolling of the
-village bell broke the fetters in which Morpheus had bound me, and
-dispelled the airy illusion.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-_The Anxieties of Royalty._
-
-
-The califs of the East having extended their dominions as far as
-the boundaries of Europe, found their iron sceptre too heavy to be
-supported with any degree of pleasure or satisfaction. They therefore
-appointed what are called emirs; but each of these governors soon
-assumed the power of sultans. Not contented with the appearance of
-being equal to their master, they frequently arraigned his conduct, and
-sometimes dethroned him.
-
-Mahmoud was the most celebrated of all the califs who had kept
-their court at Ispahan. He was a patron of the arts and sciences,
-and naturally a friend to the blessings of peace. Some of his
-predecessors, however, had been of different sentiments, and thought
-their happiness and glory consisted only in warlike exploits, in the
-desolation of villages, towns, and cities, without regarding the
-horrible carnage of human beings, and the miseries to which thousands
-of families were thereby reduced. His subjects being thus accustomed
-to warlike achievements, being naturally savage, and thinking nothing
-but a victorious hero fit to govern them, they rebelled against their
-peaceful monarch.
-
-Though Mahmoud wisely preferred peace to war, yet he was by no
-means destitute of true courage, and he now found himself under the
-disagreeable necessity of taking the field, as the only means of
-quelling his rebellious subjects. His arms were every where victorious,
-and he returned in triumph to Ispahan, where he hoped to enjoy the
-fruits of his victories in peace and tranquility.
-
-In this, however, he was much disappointed; for his rebellious subjects
-attributed his successes more to good fortune than wisdom or courage,
-and they seemed only to be in want of a chief to lead them to open
-rebellion. Selim put himself at the head of these rebels; but, in the
-course of two years' contest, Selim lost his head, and Mahmoud returned
-in triumph to his capital.
-
-The man, who has long been accustomed to scenes of blood and
-slaughter, will naturally become hardened and of savage feelings,
-totally the reverse of those of pity, tenderness, and humanity. Almost
-every day convinced Mahmoud, that he must part with either his tender
-feelings or his throne. He wished to pursue the middle path between
-clemency and tyranny; but the rebellious spirit of his subjects by
-degrees so hardened his heart, that he at last became the complete
-tyrant.
-
-The people soon began to groan under the weight of his iron hand, and
-offered up their prayers to the great prophet for a peaceful king, such
-as Mahmoud had been. Alas! all their prayers were in vain, for Mahmoud
-was young and vigorous, and beloved by his army. He was once loved; he
-was now dreaded in every part of the Persian empire.
-
-The calif, after having some time exercised his tyranny with a high
-hand, suddenly withdrew from public affairs, and shut himself up in the
-recesses of his palace, visible to no one but the emir he had always
-trusted. In this unprecedented solitude he passed his time during the
-whole course of a moon, and then suddenly appeared again on his throne.
-A visible alteration had taken place in his countenance, and, instead
-of the ferocity of a tyrant, clemency and mercy seemed seated on his
-brow. He was no longer the savage calif, but the father of his country.
-
-Such an unexpected change undoubtedly became the universal topic
-of conversation, and various reasons were assigned for his sudden
-transformation, but none of their conjectures came near the truth. An
-accident, however, brought every thing to light.
-
-Among the wise men of Ispahan was Alicaun, who was one day conversing
-with an iman, and several dervises, concerning the change of the
-calif's conduct. One of the dervises laid claim to the honour of this
-change, having obtained it of Mahomet by fasting and prayer. Another
-said, that this great work had been accomplished by a beauty in the
-seraglio; but an iman, or priest, was bold enough to contradict them
-both, and boasted, that it was by his remonstrances that the calif's
-heart was softened. Alicaun being then called upon to give his opinion,
-replied, "The lion, weary of the chase, lies down to repose a little:
-but let the traveller be upon his guard; perhaps he is only sleeping to
-recover his lost strength, that, when he wakes, he may rush forth with
-additional fury."
-
-One of the treacherous dervises reported this conversation to the
-calif, and, in consequence thereof, Alicaun was ordered to appear
-before him.
-
-Alicaun accordingly made his appearance, when the calif, having taken
-his seat at the tribunal, thus addressed him: "I have been informed of
-the particulars of your late conversation; your having compared me to
-the noble lion, can have nothing in it that ought reasonably to offend
-me; but tell me sincerely, in which of these lights you considered the
-lion; as the generous monarch of the forest, or as the savage tyrant?"
-
-Alicaun bowed down his head to the earth, and replied, "My sovereign,
-you have ordered me to speak sincerely: I will obey your orders,
-regardless of the consequences that may follow. When I lately took
-the liberty to compare you to the lion, I must own I had in my view
-the ferocity of that animal. I am sensible I deserve to die:--your
-decree will determine, whether you are the monarch of the forest, or
-the savage tyrant. Should you be graciously pleased to spare me, it
-will turn to your own advantage; because if you condemn me to die, my
-accusers will think I spoke truth; but pardon me, and they will be
-confounded."
-
-"I forgive you, Alicaun," said the calif; "and I will tell you,
-and all present, my motive for doing so. You are not a stranger to
-the influence my favourite emir, Abdalla, has over me. Like many
-other monarchs, I became jealous of my favourite, on the unbounded
-acclamations he received on his return home from a war of no great
-consequence. I therefore resolved on putting him to death, but was at a
-loss in what manner I should accomplish that purpose.
-
-"To attempt it by open violence would endanger my throne; I therefore
-resolved to do it by stratagem. At the bottom of my palace gardens,
-you all know, is a tremendous precipice, whose base is washed by the
-waters of the Tigris. Hither I resolved to take him, under the idea of
-consulting him on some important matters of state, and, when I found
-him off his guard, as he could not suspect my intentions, to shove him
-headlong over the precipice into the river.
-
-"Thought I in myself, this is the last sun Abdalla shall ever behold;
-for, by this time, we had reached the fatal spot; when, on a sudden, by
-chance, let me say rather, by the will of Heaven, the ground trembled
-beneath my feet, and I perceived part of the rock on which I stood was
-parting from the main body. At this critical moment, Abdalla seized me
-by the arm, and forcibly pulled me to him, otherwise I should certainly
-have fallen down the horrible precipice into the foaming billows
-beneath, and thus have met with that fate I designed for another.
-
-"Shame and gratitude for some moments struck me dumb and motionless:
-with shame, that a sovereign prince should stoop to such mean
-treachery; and with gratitude, that I should owe my life to that man,
-who saved mine at the very moment I was plotting his destruction!
-
-"I instantly retired to the most secret chamber in my palace, and
-opened my soul in prayer and thanksgiving to the Eternal. In this
-dejected situation, I suffered several days and nights to pass away,
-bitterly reflecting on my folly, and reproaching myself for sinking so
-much beneath the real dignity of royalty. What, said I, is the life of
-a sovereign more than that of his meanest subject, since the one is no
-more secure from the arrows of death than the other!
-
-"In a little time, by reasoning in this manner, I found all my tyranny
-and self-consequence humbled, and I wished in future to be considered
-only as a man. As the nights were long and tedious to me, in order to
-divert my mind from painful and disagreeable reflections, I resolved to
-take my rambles in disguise through the different parts of Ispahan.
-
-"Among these rambles, chance carried me one night into a house of
-public entertainment. Here, while drinking the liquor I had ordered, I
-listened to the conversation of several parties round me.
-
-"One of these parties consisted of a grave old man, surrounded by
-several youths, who seemed to pay the greatest veneration and attention
-to the words of the aged sire. I drew nearer to them, and was surprised
-to find them talking of the late transaction between me and Abdallah.
-The substance of their debates will never be erased from my memory.
-
-"'There was a time,' said the old man, 'when all Persia would have
-extolled to the skies the generous action of Abdalla; but I fear, there
-is not at present a single voice that will thank him for saving the
-life of the calif.'
-
-"One of the youths, who I found was the old man's son, said he
-perfectly agreed in what he had mentioned, but advised him at the same
-time to be cautious in his observations; 'for,' said he, 'what is more
-quick than the ears of a tyrant, or more baneful than the tongue of a
-courtier!'
-
-"'I fear not,' said the venerable old man, 'the ears of a tyrant, nor
-the tongue of a courtier. The most they can do is to shorten a life
-that has already almost finished its career. A man on the verge of
-fourscore has little to fear from the terrors of this life. My father,
-who has been dead half that time, left behind him in his cellar nine
-bottles of wine of a most delicious flavour. Believe me, this is the
-only liquor I ever dared to drink in opposition to the laws of Mahomet;
-and not even this, but on very particular occasions; nor have I yet
-consumed the whole.
-
-"I drank the first two bottles, continued the old man, on the birth of
-your eldest brother: two other bottles were dispatched, when the father
-of the present calif delivered Persia from the invasion of a tyrant:
-and two others when the present tyrant mounted the throne. Believe me,
-I shall be happy to live to treat you with the other three bottles,
-when Mahmoud shall be called into the next world, to give an account
-of his conduct in this. Yet I would much rather wish to drink them with
-you, should he reform, cease to be a tyrant, and again become that good
-prince he one day was."
-
-"The company could not help smiling at such a declaration; but I was
-far from wishing to partake of their mirth. Had the old man, but a few
-days before, uttered such words as these, his head would undoubtedly
-have been the price of his temerity; but what would then have excited
-my revenge, now filled my mind with the deepest reflections. I stole
-away for fear of being discovered, and hastened home to my palace,
-there to ruminate by myself on this adventure. It is evident, said I to
-myself, that I must have been the worst of tyrants, since this good old
-man, who drank but two bottles at the birth of his eldest son, wishes
-to drink three on the news of my decease. He hopes for such an event to
-crown all his wishes, and to complete his victory.
-
-"In this manner my thoughts were agitated, and it was not till some
-time afterwards I recollected he said, that he should finish his
-bottle with still greater pleasure, should he hear of my reformation.
-All my former notions of tyranny and power appeared to vanish before
-me, and my heart seemed to receive impressions of a different nature.
-To accomplish this work was my motive for being so long hidden from
-public view, and from thence has arisen that change in my conduct with
-which I see all my good subjects so much astonished and delighted. I
-will endeavour to change no more, but to live in the affections of
-my people. I leave you now to judge whether the good old man may not
-venture to drink his remaining three bottles."
-
-"Those three bottles are already drank," exclaimed a youth, while he
-was endeavouring to penetrate through the crowd of courtiers to the
-throne. As soon as he got to the calif, he threw himself at his feet,
-and again exclaimed, "Commander of the faithful under Mahomet, they are
-already drank!"
-
-Mahmoud then ordered him to rise, and asked him who he was that had
-thus spoken. The youth replied, "Most gracious sovereign, I am one
-of five children, of whom the old man you have just mentioned is the
-father. I was one of the party in that conversation, which has made
-such a noble and generous impression on your royal heart. As we were
-yesterday surrounding him, he thus addressed us: 'I feel nature is
-nearly exhausted in me; but I shall now die with pleasure, since I have
-lived to see such an unexpected reformation in Mahmoud. Let us drink
-the three remaining bottles and be merry.'"
-
-The calif then ordered him to fetch his father, that he might have the
-sire and son always near him. The youth then retired, and Mahmoud
-dismissed the assembly for the present.
-
-Thus you see, my youthful readers, how easily you are to be led astray
-by your passions, when you suffer them to prevail over reason. Learn
-early to give law to your passions, or your passions will in time give
-law to you, and govern you with a tyrannical power.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-_The Generous Punishment._
-
-Kalan was one of the principal favourites of Mahmoud, of whom we have
-said so much in the preceding article. He had chosen him from among
-the number of his courtiers, to bestow on him those favours of which
-royalty was possessed, and which he merited. He was more beholden to
-nature than to art for his education, which would have been sufficient
-to make him happy, had it been his lot to live remote from the snares
-and artifices of a court.
-
-An open and disinterested heart, instead of procuring him love and
-esteem, often carried him to the brink of ruin; for those with whom he
-mingled, were artful and treacherous hypocrites, a set of vermin that
-infest every court. Though he wished to hate no man, yet he could not
-love those who were every day privately seeking his destruction.
-
-These ungenerous attempts were so often repeated, that Kalan, fearing
-he should acquire a habit of despising human beings, resolved to retire
-from the noise and bustle of a court. He was strengthened in this
-resolution by a review of his affairs, which were so much deranged by
-his unbounded charity and benevolence, that he found it impossible any
-longer to support such expences.
-
-Kalan, before he retired to enjoy a peaceful and tranquil life, left
-the following lines engraven on his door:
-
-    "The man who no ingratitude has found,
-    Has never trod on courtiers' slipp'ry ground."
-
-The calif, having one day heard these lines repeated, desired to know
-who was the author of them. At this time Kalan was supposed to be dead,
-and therefore the courtiers had nothing to fear, and no reason to
-conceal the name of the author. Those people who had formerly returned
-all his favours with ingratitude, now launched into high encomiums
-on his merit. In all this there is nothing astonishing. With respect
-to the arts and sciences, we see how different is the treatment the
-professors of them receive during their lives, and after they are no
-more. While living, he could perhaps hardly support his miserable
-existence; when dead, sumptuous and costly monuments are erected to his
-memory.
-
-Kalan, having accidentally heard how much Mahmoud was pleased with the
-inscription on his door, quitted his retreat, and again appeared at
-Ispahan, to the astonishment of his friends, and the invidious regret
-of the courtiers. The calif received him kindly, and made him ample
-amends for all the neglect of his friends. Kalan was put into an office
-which enabled him to gratify all his beneficent wishes.
-
-As the nettle and the rose thrive together on the same soil, so was
-the bosom of Kalan not without a weed. His too strong attachment to
-women sometimes led him astray, and made him unmindful of his duty. The
-calif was not ignorant of this fault in Kalan, for the courtiers that
-surrounded him took care that this error should not remain concealed.
-Mahmoud, though he pitied his weakness, did not esteem him the less on
-that account. "True it is," said the calif, "that an unbounded passion
-for women is much to be censured; but this folly will in time forsake
-him; while ambition, cruelty, and avarice, had any such vices got
-possession of him, would grow stronger as he advanced in age."
-
-The calif's courtiers extolled the sublimity of this observation; but
-no sooner had he turned his back on them, than they ridiculed such a
-paltry idea. How much are courtiers to be pitied, who take so much
-pains to render themselves contemptible!
-
-Some little time afterwards, the calif gave Kalan a commission to the
-furthest part of Persia, and fixed even the day and hour when he should
-expect him back. Kalan immediately set out on his journey, discharged
-his duty with the strictest punctuality, and returned a day before
-the time allowed. He received the applause due to his diligence, and
-was told, that every hour he gained on the stipulated time was of the
-utmost service to his country.
-
-Kalan was the more pleased with these marks of the calif's approbation,
-as he received it in the presence of many courtiers, who all showed him
-the highest marks of applause, while in their hearts they hated and
-detested him, and envied the honours paid him by the calif.
-
-The next day, however, one of these courtiers, deputed by the rest,
-approached Mahmoud, and, after bowing to the earth, thus addressed
-him:--"Most noble and glorious sovereign of the faithful, though I
-know not the nature of Kalan's late commission, yet I judge it was of
-the highest importance. Pardon then my zeal if, notwithstanding the
-transcendent light in which I behold him, I am under the disagreeable
-necessity of informing your highness, that he presumed to pass five
-days of that time so precious to the state, in the enjoyment of the
-pleasures of love."
-
-The calif, astonished at this declaration, told the malevolent
-informer, that he hoped he could prove what he had asserted. "Dread
-sovereign," answered he, "his own slave will prove to you, that, at
-Gauri, nearly a hundred miles from this capital, he loitered in the lap
-of pleasure. The daughter of a caravanserist had influence over him
-sufficient to induce him to neglect, for five days, the confidence you
-had reposed in him, and the most important concerns of the state. If
-time should prove that I have accused him falsely, let me be the victim
-of your resentment."
-
-Mahmoud thanked him for his vigilant information, which he presumed
-could arise from no other motive than his great attachment to his
-glory; and he assured him, that he would nicely search into the truth
-of what he had informed him. "Neither will I be forgetful," said
-the calif, "of the greatness of your soul, which has induced you to
-sacrifice to my interest the man, you say, you so much admire and
-revere."
-
-The courtier then bowed his head to the earth, and retired, not much
-pleased, however, with the last words of the calif, who, he had
-from thence reason to believe, was not greatly satisfied with the
-accusation, and who might let fall that vengeance on this head, which
-he was endeavouring to prepare for another.
-
-Mahmoud presently afterwards sent for Kalan; which being known to the
-courtiers, they secretly triumphed in the idea, that the hour was
-hastily approaching, in which they hoped to find their revenge and
-hatred amply gratified.
-
-As soon as Kalan appeared before the calif, "I will not," said
-the latter, "ask you any artful questions, such as may lead you
-inadvertently to criminate yourself; and, in the course of this
-business I will be your judge and counsellor, and will afford you
-every opportunity of clearing yourself of the charge laid against you.
-You cannot forget how precious I told you was the time I allowed you
-for the completion of your embassy; yet it has been reported to me,
-that you stopped five days on the road, to enjoy yourself in the lap
-of pleasure, without blushing at the praises you received for that
-one day, which I supposed your zeal and attachment to my interest had
-procured me. Say, are these things true?"
-
-"My dread sovereign," replied Kalan, "had I a soul mean enough of
-having recourse to a falsehood to cover a crime, I should perhaps
-answer in the negative; but, sorry I am to say, that the charge is
-true. I really did saunter away in idleness five whole days at Gauri.
-I was intoxicated; yes, commander of the faithful, I was intoxicated
-with a passion that destroyed all my other faculties. I know I have
-merited death; but it is not the fear of death that terrifies me, but
-the hateful recollection of having displeased my friend and sovereign.
-Having completed the business of my embassy, and being arrived, on my
-return, at Gauri, wanting horses, and my slave too being harassed with
-the journey, I resolved to stop one night, which was the first I had
-indulged myself in from the time of my leaving the palace.
-
-"Having taken a little refreshment, and being seated near a window, I
-suddenly heard a voice in the adjoining chamber strike forth in such
-melodious notes, that nothing could equal it. I listened with eager
-attention, and could plainly distinguish they were the lamentations of
-love. I was in great doubt to determine which were the more excellent,
-the music or the words. As soon as she had finished, I enquired who
-she was, and found it was the daughter of my host; that her voice was
-not her only merit, since the words were of her own composition, and
-besides, she was said to be as lovely as Venus, and as chaste as Diana.
-
-"No wonder if this description excited my desire to see her; and I
-begged the caravanserist would gratify my wish. He for some time
-objected; but I persisted in my request, and at last, his great respect
-for the ambassador of Mahmoud made him yield to my entreaties. The
-moment she appeared I was enamoured with her beauty; but, when I heard
-her play upon her harp, O powerful love! my embassy, my duty as a
-subject, and the punishment to which my delay might expose me, every
-thing of this sort was totally forgotten.
-
-"All my thoughts were absorbed at this time in one wish only, that of
-being beloved by Zada. I offered my hand in marriage, but during two
-days she made many trifling excuses. On the third day she confessed,
-that if ever she could love any man, it probably would be me. The
-fourth day she received my addresses, and on the fifth gave me every
-thing to hope for. On the arrival of the evening of this day, she
-happened to mention your name, when, recollecting myself, I became
-fully sensible of my guilt. She perceived my confusion, and begged to
-know the cause of it. As soon as I told her, she insisted on my setting
-out that night--that very night on which I promised myself so much
-felicity.
-
-"Sensible I am that I merit death, for having thus shamefully neglected
-my duty; but one thing I have to beg, that my sufferings may not be
-long."
-
-All was silent for a few moments. After which said the calif--"Your
-punishment shall be the slowest that human ingenuity can possibly
-invent. Imprisonment shall be your fate as long as life shall be
-able to support it. Take him hence, soldiers, and let his treatment
-henceforward be the severest man can endure."
-
-The soldiers conducted Kalan to his place of confinement, and the
-courtiers followed him with their eyes, which seemed to be moistened
-with tears, while their hearts rejoiced in his disgrace.
-
-In about an hour or two after this event, it was reported, that the
-calif had dispatched a messenger; but no one could tell whither, or on
-what account. In the course of the five following days, the name of
-Kalan was forgotten; but on the sixth, to the astonishment of every
-one, the calif ordered him again to be brought before him.
-
-As soon as Kalan appeared, the calif, after asking him some taunting
-questions, "Yes," said he, "a song on some voluptuous subject, and a
-harp in that fair damsel's hand you saw upon your journey, made you
-negligent of what you knew your duty. I am, therefore, resolved both to
-punish and remind you of the fault you have committed, by decreeing,
-that in future you shall listen to such songs as are descriptive of
-complaining lovers. Let the Egyptian take her harp and play upon it."
-
-Instantly was heard a voice so sweet, that Mahmoud's courtiers scarce
-dared to breathe, for fear of interrupting so much harmony. As soon as
-it began, the prisoner gave a cry, fell down, and beat the ground with
-his forehead.
-
-"Rise, Kalan," said the calif, "and hear your sentence. You that at
-present surround my throne," speaking to his courtiers, "who so often
-stand in need of indulgence, tell me, which among you, being in Kalan's
-place, on the point of having all his wishes accomplished, and after
-having passed five days in the pursuit of it, would not have presumed
-to hazard a sixth day?" (_Here a pause ensued._) "No answer?--Kalan,
-since even envy thus keeps silence, you find favour with your king.
-Take your Zada, therefore, and be happy for the time to come; she is
-now yours."
-
-Kalan, after having thrown himself at the feet of the calif, was no
-sooner risen up than he flew into the arms of his beloved Zada. They
-retired in mutual embraces; and the courtiers with hearts full of envy
-and fell malignity.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-_Female Courage properly considered._
-
-
-The Rev. Mr. Sherlock being one day in company with a number of young
-ladies, the conversation happened to turn on the courage of their own
-sex. One observed, that Miss Lovelace had a resolution above being
-curbed by her guardians, and was determined to dress as she liked;
-while another gave it as her opinion, that it would be better for her
-to check her temper, and submit to the will of her guardians. "If ever
-I should be married," said one of the young ladies, "I think I shall
-have courage enough to make my husband do as I please."--"You may be
-right, miss," said another, "but I think, should I ever be married, I
-shall always consult my husband's opinion, and readily submit to it,
-whenever reason seems to require it."
-
-The young ladies kept up this kind of conversation for some time; when,
-at last, finding their opinions were so different, they requested
-the reverend divine to give them his sentiments, wherein true female
-courage consisted.
-
-"I have," said Dr. Sherlock, "been listening to your conversation, and,
-as you have been pleased to appeal to me, I shall speak truth, without
-the least reserve. I hope you will attend to what I am going to say,
-and treasure it up in your minds.
-
-"I consider _true_ courage as one of the noblest ornaments of the fair
-sex, since it must be allowed, that without a becoming resolution, many
-female accomplishments would be lost, and sunk in obscurity, and that
-even virtue itself, unassisted by true courage, would soon dwindle to a
-shadow. I doubt not but that each of you amiable young ladies flatter
-yourselves with being possessed of this noble accomplishment; but
-permit me to tell you, that it is not every possessor of a pretty face
-who knows what it is. It is not Xantippe, but Lucretia, whom I call the
-woman of true courage.
-
-"Xantippe is the daughter of two noble personages, and the wife of a
-sensible and prudent man; the mother of a blooming offspring, and the
-sole mistress of a plentiful fortune, the produce of which her husband
-cannot receive without her order. Elated with the thoughts of her high
-birth, and sensible of the dependence her husband has on her will, she
-subjects him to the most rigorous discipline, is cruelly severe to her
-children, and arbitrary and tyrannical over her servants.--Insolent and
-disdainful in her behaviour to her equals, and haughty and arrogant in
-her demeanour to her superiors, her jealousy is equalled only by her
-ill-nature; the most innocent freedom of her husband to a visitor is
-sufficient to give rise to the former; and the most trifling repartee
-is sure to occasion the latter. These are her qualities, which she is
-so far from endeavouring to amend, that she considers them as marks of
-true courage; or, to speak in a more polite phrase, they make her pass
-for a woman of spirit!
-
-"How reverse is the conduct of Lucretia!--Possessed of no other fortune
-than what good sense and a proper education give her, she passes
-through life with peace and serenity of mind.--The will of her husband,
-the care of her children, and the due preservation of order and economy
-in her house, are her principal studies. Easy, good-natured, and
-affable to her equals, and humble, submissive, and obliging to her
-superiors; as no height of prosperity makes her forgetful of adversity,
-so no storms of angry fortune are able to disturb the calm within her
-breast, or deprive her of that hope with which true courage will always
-support those who possess it.
-
-"True courage, rightly understood, and properly cultivated, will
-inspire the fair sex with the noblest sentiments of honour and
-generosity. It will elevate their minds above those mean and paltry
-methods, which too many of them put in practice, to captivate the
-hearts of the giddy and unthinking. It will raise in them a noble and
-emulative zeal for literary studies, which will rescue them from the
-odium that is too frequently, and too justly, cast on many of them,
-of being pretty, but silly, prattling creatures. It is true courage
-only that can raise in them such sentiments as shall preserve them the
-esteem and affection of all, when the bloom of youth shall be lost in
-the evening of life; when the lily and rose shall fade on their cheek,
-and the beautiful form of their persons can be no longer admired.
-
-"I have now, young ladies, given you my opinion of what really ought
-to be considered as _true courage_ in your sex, and I hope it will
-have some influence on your minds, as well as on your conduct in the
-commerce of this busy world. It is not at all surprising, that you
-young ladies should differ in your opinions on so delicate a question,
-since _true courage_ is, in these times of refinement, considered in a
-very different light to what it was in the remote ages of antiquity.
-In order to amuse you, and perhaps instruct you, I shall beg your
-attention to a piece of ancient history; from which you will judge what
-was the barbarous ideas the ladies of antiquity had of true courage.
-
-"Mithridates, king of Pontus, proving unsuccessful in the war in which
-he was engaged against Lucullus, a Roman general, had shut up two of
-his wives (for the custom of that country allowed of a plurality) and
-two of his sisters, whom he most loved, in that part of his kingdom
-which was the most remote from danger. At last, not being able to brook
-the apprehensions of their falling into the hands of the Romans, he
-sent orders to Bacchalides, a eunuch, to put them to death. The manner
-in which they received this order, strongly marks the ideas the ladies
-of those times and regions had of true courage.
-
-"Berenice and Monimes were these unfortunate princesses. The first was
-born in the island of Chio, and the other in Miletus, a city of Ionia,
-towards the borders of Cairo, on the coast of the Ægean Sea. Monimes
-was celebrated for the invincible resistance which she made to all
-the offers of Mithridates, who was most violently in love with her,
-and to which she never consented, till he had declared her queen, by
-calling her his wife, and sending her the royal diadem--a ceremony
-indispensable in the marriage of kings in that part of the world.
-
-"However, even then she consented with reluctance, and only to gratify
-the inclinations of her family, who were dazzled with the lustre of the
-crown and power of Mithridates, who was at that time victorious and
-loaded with glory. Monimes abandoned herself to a perpetual melancholy,
-which the abject slavery in which Mithridates kept his wives, the
-distance she then was from Greece, where she had no hopes of returning,
-and perhaps too, a secret passion, which she always disguised, rendered
-insurmountable.
-
-"When Bacchalides had declared to them the fatal message, and that
-they were at liberty to chuse what death appeared to them the most
-easy, Monimes tore off the royal bandage which she always wore on her
-head, and, fixing it round her neck, endeavoured to strangle herself;
-but the bandage broke, and left her in a condition truly to be pitied.
-'Unfortunate diadem,' said she, trampling it under her feet, 'thou hast
-brought me to all my miseries! thou hast been witness of my slavery
-and wretchedness! Why wouldst thou not at last help me to put an end
-to them all?'--After having shown these marks of her resentment, she
-snatched a dagger from the hand of Bacchalides, and sheathed it in her
-bosom.
-
-"Berenice swallowed the dreadful potion with astonishing resolution,
-and obeyed, without murmuring, the frenzy of a barbarous lover.
-
-"The king's two sisters, Statira and Roxana, followed the example of
-Berenice. Roxana, after having a long time kept a profound silence,
-swallowed the fatal draught, and died without uttering a single word.
-As for Statira, after having shown her grief for the king's defeat, she
-highly praised his conduct, and ordered Bacchalides to thank him for
-thinking of her amidst the wreck of his affairs, and thereby securing
-her, by a timely death, from the shameful slavery of the Romans."
-
-Dr. Sherlock having now finished, the young ladies all rose and thanked
-him for the instruction he had been pleased to give them. They assured
-him, that they should in future endeavour to distinguish between the
-_true courage_ of these modern times, and those in which lived the
-wives and sisters of Mithridates.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-_The beautiful Statue._
-
-
-One of the kings of Balsora proved unfortunate in the choice of his
-queen, whose temper was as disgustful and displeasing as her person
-was lovely and beautiful. Discontented with every one around her, she
-made her own life miserable, and did all she could to interrupt the
-happiness of others.
-
-They had an only son, and his father began very early to turn his
-thoughts, in what manner he should secure the young prince, when he
-came of age, from forming a connection in matrimony so disagreeable
-as his own. "If it should please Heaven," said he, "to spare my life
-till my son shall attain the years of discretion, I then shall be able
-properly to direct him in the search of a prudent wife; but, as there
-is no certainty in human life, and as I may be taken from him in his
-early days, before he can be capable of comprehending my admonitions,
-I will leave proper instructions with my executors, who, I hope, will
-fulfil my requests, when I shall be at rest in my peaceful grave."
-
-In consequence of this resolution, the king took every precaution he
-thought necessary in so important a business; and scarcely had he
-finished his regulations, when the unrelenting decree of death summoned
-him from this world to take up his eternal abode in the ever-blooming
-regions of felicity.
-
-No sooner was the king dead than his will was examined. By this it
-was directed, that his son Achmet should be instructed in all the
-principles of rigid virtue, and in every scientific accomplishment
-necessary to form the mind of a wise and good prince. It was also
-directed, that at the age of eighteen years he should be put in
-possession of all his wealth, which was deposited in spacious vaults
-under the palace. The will, however, strongly directed that these
-vaults were not to be opened, under any pretence whatever, before the
-appointed time, on pain of Achmet losing the whole contents of them.
-
-It may easily be supposed what were the anxieties of a youthful mind,
-while he waited with impatience for the arrival of that day, which
-was to make him master of so many hidden treasures. At length the day
-arrived, the vaults were opened, and the heart of Achmet leaped within
-his bosom at the sight of such unbounded riches.
-
-Amidst all this glare of profuse wealth, in one particular apartment of
-the vault, the eye of Achmet was caught by the dazzling view of nine
-pedestals of massy gold, on eight of which stood as many beautiful
-adamantine statues.
-
-Achmet could not help expressing his astonishment, where his father
-could collect such uncommon and valuable curiosities. The ninth
-pedestal, however, increased his surprise, and he could not conceive
-why that alone should be without a statue on it. On going nearer to
-it, he found it covered with a piece of satin, upon which were written
-these words: "My dear Achmet, the acquisition of these statues has cost
-your father much; yet, beautiful as they are, you see there is one
-wanting, which is far more brilliant than either of those which now
-present themselves to your view. This, however, must be sought for in
-a remote quarter of the world, and, if you wish to be possessed of it,
-you must depart for Cairo, in the kingdom of Egypt. You will there find
-one Alibeg, formerly one of my slaves. Inform him who you are, and what
-is your business. He will properly direct your pursuits after this
-incomparable statue, the possession of which will make you one of the
-happiest and greatest monarchs of the East."
-
-As soon as Achmet had appointed proper persons to govern his kingdom in
-his absence, he set out in quest of this grand object. He pursued his
-journey without any thing particular happening; and, on his arrival at
-Cairo, he soon found out the house of Alibeg, who was supposed to be
-one of the richest persons in that city.
-
-As Alibeg knew the time was nearly advanced, in which he was to expect
-a visit from Achmet, the arrival of the latter at Cairo did not at all
-surprise him. However, he appeared ignorant of the business; enquired
-of him what brought him to that city, his name, and his profession.
-To all these questions Achmet gave the most satisfactory answers; and
-informed him, that it was a statue he was engaged in the pursuit of.
-
-This declaration of Achmet seemed at once to convince Alibeg, that he
-was talking with the son of the late king; and he blessed the great
-prophet for permitting him so honourable an interview. "My dear and
-honoured prince," said Alibeg, "your father bought me as a slave,
-and never made me free; consequently I am a slave still, and all my
-property is yours."--"From this moment," replied Achmet, "you are a
-free man, and I for ever renounce any future claim on your person or
-possessions."
-
-Alibeg then assured the young king, that he would do every thing in his
-power to procure him the ninth statue he was so ardent in the pursuit
-of; but advised him, after so fatiguing a journey, to take a few
-weeks rest. The next day, however, the king told Alibeg, that he was
-sufficiently rested; that he came not there for pleasure, and therefore
-wished immediately to enter on the pursuit of his grand object.
-
-Alibeg told him, that he should certainly obtain his wish; but reminded
-him, that he must encounter much toil and fatigue before he could
-accomplish that desirable end. "I fear neither toils nor fatigues,"
-replied the young king, "I am equal to the task, and by the blessing of
-the great prophet I will undertake any thing, however difficult it may
-appear. I entreat you only to let me know what part I am to act."
-
-Alibeg, after a short pause, thus addressed his youthful sovereign:
-"You must swear to me by the holy prophet, that, when you set out from
-hence, you will immediately return to your own dominions. As soon as
-you arrive on the borders of it, you will immediately proceed on the
-search of what I am going to direct you to. Your search must be to
-find out a youthful female, whose age must not exceed sixteen years,
-nor be less than fifteen. She must be the offspring of virtuous
-parents, and who has never been the dupe to a previous passion of love.
-She must be as lovely as Venus, as chaste as Diana, and a native of
-your own kingdom. You must, therefore, traverse every part of your
-extensive dominions; and as soon as you shall be so fortunate to find
-one who corresponds with this description, you must bring her to me,
-and I will soon after put you in possession of the statue you sigh
-for. Remember, however, that should your pursuits be attended with
-success, you must have the most rigorous command over your passions
-while you are conducting the fair one hither, and not have even the
-least conversation with her. If this last condition be not punctually
-fulfilled, you will lose all claim to what you are now in pursuit of.
-Consider within yourself, whether the possession of the statue has so
-many charms in it, as to enable you to surmount all these obstacles, so
-difficult to one of your age."
-
-The young king, with an ardour natural to a youth of his years, was
-going to reply, when Alibeg, stopped him, by saying, that he had not
-yet done, but had still something further to say on the subject.
-
-"You may idly imagine," continued Alibeg, "that should you be fortunate
-enough to find such a maiden as I have described to you, and your
-youthful ideas should lead you astray, you may imagine they will not
-be discovered; but herein you will be mistaken, for the great prophet
-will reveal your deceit, and you will thereby infallibly lose all
-pretensions to the statue. I must tell you still further, that, in
-order to give a sanction to your search for so virtuous a maiden, you
-must cause it to be reported, that you mean to make her the lawful
-partner of your throne."
-
-Achmet listened with attention to every word that dropt from the mouth
-of Alibeg, and in proportion as difficulties were mentioned to him, the
-more did his youthful bosom burn to show how much he was above them. He
-eagerly took the oath prescribed to him, grew more and more impatient
-to become possessed of the statue, and thought every hour an age that
-retarded his departure in pursuit of his favourite object.
-
-The next morning, Alibeg, being unwilling to abate the ardour of the
-young prince, presented him with a looking-glass. "I here give you,"
-said he to Achmet, "an invaluable present. In the course of your
-pursuit, you will meet with many beautiful damsels, fair to external
-appearance as Aurora herself; but outward forms may deceive you, and
-what your eye may applaud, your heart, on a more intimate acquaintance,
-may despise. Believe me, royal youth, the beauties of the person and
-those of the mind are very different. A degenerate and wicked heart may
-be concealed under the most lovely external appearances. Whenever,
-therefore, you meet with a beautiful female, whose charms may dazzle
-your eye, tell her to breathe upon this mirror. If she be chaste, her
-breath will not long remain upon the glass; but, if her pretensions are
-not founded in truth, her breath will long remain on the mirror, as a
-testimony of the falsehood she has advanced."
-
-These useful lessons, which Alibeg gave his royal pupil, were not the
-result of thoughts of his own, but were the consequence of the wise
-plan the late king of Balsora had prescribed for his son. He well knew
-that little artifices of this nature seldom failed of succeeding with
-youthful minds naturally fond of mystery.
-
-The young prince took an affectionate leave of Alibeg, promised to be
-punctual to all his instructions, and then, taking up his miraculous
-glass, took the direct road from Egypt to Balsora. His intention was
-to commence his enquiries as soon as he reached the borders of his
-dominions; but a thought struck him, that it would be mean in him to
-seek the wished-for damsel among shepherds and peasants, when his own
-court furnished such a display of beauties.
-
-As soon as he arrived in his own dominions, he proclaimed the
-resolution he had taken concerning marriage. He invited every maiden of
-fifteen years of age, who was born of virtuous parents, and had never
-experienced the passion of love, to repair to his court, out of which
-he proposed to chuse the fortunate partner of his crown and empire.
-
-This proclamation soon surrounded his palace with the first beauties
-of the kingdom; but as soon as the king presented to them the mirror,
-which was to be the touchstone of their prudence, they all shrunk back
-from the trying ordeal, conscious that they could not, with safety to
-their characters, run the hazard of such a trial.
-
-Here it seems necessary to say a few words by way of explanation,
-lest the youthful part of my readers should be led into an error. The
-properties which Alibeg ascribed to this looking-glass were merely
-fabulous, and calculated only to strike a terror on the minds of
-youthful females, who, from the apprehensions of being discovered in
-their attempt to deceive an eastern monarch, refused to breathe on the
-glass. So that the young prince could not find, in any part of his
-capital, a maiden of fifteen perfectly answerable to the terms proposed
-by Alibeg.
-
-Achmet, being thus disappointed in his capital, traversed every part
-of his dominions, and visited even the most sequestered villages; but
-he every where found the morals of the people so very corrupt, that no
-maiden could be found who would venture to look on the mirror, which
-they apprehended would reveal their most trifling defects. Achmet,
-therefore, began to be disheartened, and feared he should at last be
-disappointed in the grand object of his pursuit, and never be able to
-obtain the statue he so ardently sighed for.
-
-As he was one evening reposing himself in a mean habitation, situated
-in a lonely and recluse village, an iman came to pay him a visit,
-having previously learned what was the cause of the king's journey.
-"I must confess," said he to the king, "that your majesty is engaged
-in a very difficult pursuit; and I should be led to believe, that all
-your researches would be in vain, did I not know of a beautiful damsel,
-who perfectly answers to the description of your wants. Her father
-was formerly a vizier of Balsora; but he has now left the court, and
-leads a private and recluse life, solely occupied in the education
-of his daughter. If it is your pleasure, royal sir, I will to-morrow
-attend you to the habitation of this lovely damsel. Her father will
-undoubtedly be exceedingly happy to have the king of Balsora for his
-son-in-law."
-
-Achmet very prudently replied, "I cannot think of promising to marry
-the beauty you mention till I have seen her, and have put her to those
-trials which none have yet been able to withstand. I am satisfied
-with your account of her beauty, but I must have proof of her virtue
-and prudence." The king then told him of the glass he had in his
-possession, and which had hitherto so far terrified every damsel, that
-none had dared to look into it.
-
-The iman, however, still persisted in every thing he had advanced
-concerning this beautiful female; and, in consequence, they went the
-next morning to see her and her father. As soon as the old gentleman
-was acquainted with the real character and business of his royal
-visitor, he ordered his daughter Elvira to attend unveiled. The king
-was struck with wonder and astonishment, when he beheld in this
-beautiful damsel such perfections as his court could not equal. After
-gazing on her some time with inexpressible astonishment, he pulled out
-his glass, and acquainted the lovely Elvira with the severe trial she
-would be put to on looking into that mirror of truth. Her conscious
-innocence derided all fear, she breathed on the glass without the least
-apprehension, when the high-polished surface rejected the breath thrown
-on it, and soon recovered its usual brightness.
-
-As Achmet was now in possession of the person he had so long wished
-for, he asked her father to give him his permission to marry her; to
-which he readily consented, and the marriage ceremony was performed
-with all the decency a country village would admit of.
-
-Achmet, however, could not help feeling the impressions which the
-charms of Elvira had made on his mind; and, though he hastened the
-preparations for his departure, yet it was with evident marks of
-reluctance. The vizier, who attended him in the pursuit of this fair
-one, plainly perceived it, and enquired the cause of it.
-
-It seemed very singular to Achmet, that the vizier should ask him such
-a question. "Can there be any creature," said he, "more lovely than
-the angel I have married? Can you be any ways surprised, should I be
-tempted to dispute the instructions of Alibeg, and place her as the
-partner of my throne?"
-
-"Be cautious what you do," said the vizier. "It will not be becoming of
-a prince like you, to lose the statue after you have done so much to
-obtain it." This rebuke roused him, and he determined not to lose it;
-but he desired the vizier to keep her from his sight, as he feared he
-had seen her too much already.
-
-As soon as every thing was ready, Achmet set out for Cairo, and on his
-arrival there was introduced to Alibeg. The fair bride had performed
-the journey in a litter, and had not seen the prince since she was
-married. She enquired where she was, and whether that was her husband's
-palace.
-
-"It is time, madam," said Alibeg, "to undeceive you. Prince Achmet only
-aimed at getting you from your father as a present to our sultan, who
-wishes to have in his possession such a beautiful living picture as you
-are." At these words Elvira shed a torrent of tears, which greatly
-affected both Achmet and Alibeg. As soon as her grief would permit her
-to speak, "How can you," said she, "be so treacherous to a stranger!
-Surely the great prophet will call you to an account for this act of
-perfidy!"
-
-However, her tears and arguments were in vain. Achmet, indeed, seemed
-to feel for her situation, which Alibeg viewed with pleasure. "You
-have now performed your promise," said he to Achmet, "by bringing
-hither this beautiful virgin. The sultan will undoubtedly reward you,
-by putting you in possession of the statue you seek after. I will
-immediately send a person to Balsora to fetch the pedestal; and, within
-the compass of nine days, you may expect to see it and the statue in
-one of the apartments of my palace; for surely you only are worthy of
-such a precious possession."
-
-Elvira was immediately separated from Achmet; she made the bitterest
-bewailings, and wished for death to hide her sorrows and disgrace.
-Notwithstanding the fond desire of Achmet to be in possession of the
-statue, he could not reconcile his mind to the hard fate of Elvira.
-He reproached himself with having taken her from an indulgent father,
-to throw her into the arms of a tyrant. He would sometimes say with a
-sigh, "O beautiful damsel, cruel indeed is your condition!"
-
-At the expiration of the nine days, which had passed between hope and
-sorrow, Achmet was conducted into an apartment of the palace, in order
-to be put in possession of the inestimable statue. But it is impossible
-to express his astonishment and surprise, when, instead of such a
-figure as he expected, he beheld the beautiful maiden he had seduced
-from her father.
-
-"Achmet," said the lovely virgin, "I doubt not but your expectations
-are sadly disappointed, in finding me here, instead of the inestimable
-statue you expected, and to obtain which you have taken so much pains."
-As soon as Achmet had recovered from his surprise, "The great prophet
-can bear me witness," said he, "that I was frequently tempted to break
-the oath I had solemnly taken to Alibeg, and to sacrifice the idea of
-every statue in the world to you. I love my dear, beautiful Elvira more
-than all the world besides!"
-
-"Prince Achmet," said Alibeg, "this is the ninth statue, which you
-have so long been in pursuit of, and which was the intentions of your
-father, who had contrived this method, in order to procure you a queen
-with whom you might be happy. Love her tenderly, be faithful to her,
-and in proportion as you endeavour to procure her happiness so will she
-yours."
-
-Achmet, enraptured with the lovely countenance and virtuous
-dispositions of his dear Elvira, that day proclaimed her queen of
-Balsora, and thereby amply made her amends for the short disquietude he
-had occasioned her.
-
-We may from hence draw this conclusion, that merit is not every where
-to be found; but, like diamonds of the first lustre, take up much toil
-and time in the pursuit. What we gain too easily, we are apt to think
-too little of; and we are accustomed to estimate the value of every
-thing in proportion to the care and pains it costs us. This the wise
-father of Achmet well knew, and therefore devised those means which
-were most likely to enable him to discover the woman of beauty, virtue,
-and prudence, without leaving him any hopes of finding it in the lap of
-pride, indolence, and luxury.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-_Dorcas and Amarillis._
-
-
-Dorcas was born in a village far remote from the capital, amidst rocks
-and precipices, in the northern parts of the island. His parents
-laboured hard for their daily bread, and with difficulty procured a
-subsistence for themselves and their little son. A fever, which they
-both caught, put an untimely end to their existence, and Dorcas was
-taken care of by the parish, being then of too tender an age even to be
-sensible of his loss.
-
-His education was adapted to his humble situation, and extended no
-farther than writing and reading. As soon as he had reached the
-fifteenth years, the directors of the workhouse thought it time to
-ease the parish of their burden, and accordingly placed him as a
-servant to a neighbouring farmer, to watch his cattle, and attend to
-the duties of husbandry.
-
-Amarillis was of nearly the same age, the daughter of a farmer, and
-employed by her father in looking after his sheep. She would frequently
-bring her flock into the meadows to feed and wanton on the enamelled
-carpet of the sweetest herbage, where she frequently met with Dorcas.
-The youthful shepherd did her every little service in his power, and
-Amarillis was pleased to see him so solicitous to oblige her. Dorcas
-was never so happy as when in company with his shepherdess, and
-Amarillis always found pleasure in the presence of Dorcas.
-
-Some years glided away in this pleasing intercourse between Dorcas
-and Amarillis, when what had hitherto appeared only under the name of
-friendship began gradually to assume a softer title, which at last
-ripened into love. Their hearts were formed for each other, and they
-began to be uneasy when separated. Dorcas talked of the happiness of
-marriage, and obtained permission from Amarillis to ask her father's
-consent to their union.
-
-The maiden's delicacy would not suffer her to be present when Dorcas
-paid his visit to her father on that business; and, therefore,
-appointed a time when she was obliged to go to a neighbouring town,
-for him to take the opportunity of opening the matter to her parent,
-desiring he would meet her on her way home at night, and acquaint her
-with the success of his commission.
-
-At the appointed time the shepherd waited on her father, and disclosed
-to him the secrets of his heart, adding, how happy he should be to have
-her for a wife. "I suppose so," replied the old man. "What, you are in
-love with my daughter! Do you know what you are talking of? Have you
-any clothes to give her? have you any house of your own? Learn how to
-get your own living, before you think of encumbering yourself with a
-wife. A poor shepherd as you are, you cannot have a penny beforehand.
-My daughter is not rich enough to keep herself, and I am sure you
-cannot keep her."
-
-"If I am not rich," replied Dorcas, "I am vigorous and hearty, and
-those who are industrious never want for work. Out of the forty
-shillings I receive yearly for my wages, I have already saved five
-pounds, which will buy us goods in plenty. I will take a little farm,
-and I will work harder. The richest men in the village had no better
-beginning, and why may not I do as well as they have?"
-
-The old man, however, told him he was young enough, and must wait for
-better circumstances. "Get rich," said the old farmer, "and Amarillis
-shall be yours; but speak no more to me concerning her, till your money
-shall induce me to listen to you."
-
-It was in vain for Dorcas to argue any more; and as Amarillis was by
-this time on her return home, he went out to meet her. When they met,
-Dorcas was quite thoughtful, and the pretty shepherdess knew from
-thence he had not met with success. "I can see," said Amarillis, "that
-my father is averse to our marriage."--"What a misfortune it is,"
-replied Dorcas, "to be born poor! Yet, I will not be cast down; for I
-may, by industry, perhaps change my situation. Had your father given
-his consent to our marriage, I would have laboured to procure you every
-thing comfortable. But I know we shall still be married, if we do but
-wait with patience, and trust till it shall please Providence to be
-more favourable to our wishes."
-
-As the lovers were thus talking over the disappointment to their views,
-the night rapidly increased upon them; they therefore hastened their
-pace, that they might reach the cottage in good time. As they were
-pursuing their way home on the road, Dorcas stumbled over something,
-and fell down. As he felt about to discover what had occasioned his
-fall, he found a bag, which, on his lifting it, proved very heavy.
-Curiosity made them both anxious to know what it could be; but, on
-opening it, they were presently convinced, dark as it was, that it
-certainly was money.
-
-"This is the gift of Heaven," said Dorcas, "who has made me rich to
-make you happy. What say you, my pretty Amarillis, will you now have
-me? How gracious has Heaven been to my wishes in sending me this
-wealth, such as is more than sufficient to satisfy your father, and
-make me happy!"
-
-These ideas gave birth to inexpressible joy in their hearts; they
-anxiously surveyed the bag, they looked affectionately on each other,
-and then resumed the path that led to their village, eager to acquaint
-the old man with their unexpected good fortune.
-
-They had nearly reached their habitation, when a thought struck Dorcas,
-and made him suddenly stop short. "We imagine," said he to Amarillis,
-"that this money will complete our happiness; but we should recollect
-that it is not ours. Some traveller has undoubtedly lost it. Our fair
-is but just over, and some dealer, coming from thence, may probably
-have dropped this bag; and while we are thus rejoicing over our good
-fortune on finding it, we may be assured that somebody is truly
-wretched on having lost it."
-
-"My dear Dorcas," answered Amarillis, "your thoughts are very just. The
-poor man is undoubtedly much distressed by his loss. We have no right
-to this money, and were we to keep it, we should act a very dishonest
-part."
-
-"We are going with it to your father's," said Dorcas, "and he would
-undoubtedly be glad to see us so rich; but what joy or happiness can we
-expect in possessing the property of another, whose family is perhaps
-ruined by the loss of it? As our minister is a worthy man, and has
-always been good to me, let us leave it with him. He is the properest
-person to consult on this occasion, as I am sure he will advise me for
-the best."
-
-They accordingly went to the minister's, and found him at home. The
-honest Dorcas delivered the bag into his possession, and told him
-the whole tale; how happy they were at first on finding it, and what
-motives, from second thoughts, had induced them to bring it to him. He
-confessed his love for Amarillis, and acquainted him with the obstacles
-that poverty threw in the way of his felicity. "Yet," added Dorcas,
-"nothing shall tempt me to wander from the paths of honesty."
-
-The minister was much pleased with their mutual affection for each
-other, and assured them, that Heaven would not fail to bless them, so
-long as they persevered in that line of conduct. "I will endeavour,"
-said the minister, "to find out to whom this bag belongs, who will,
-no doubt, amply reward your honesty. Even out of the small matters I
-can save, I will add something to the present he shall make you, and
-I will then undertake to procure for you the consent of the father of
-Amarillis. Should the money not be claimed, it will be your property;
-and I shall then think myself bound to return it to you."
-
-Dorcas and his lovely shepherdess returned to their homes much better
-satisfied than they would have been, had they otherwise made use of
-the treasure they had found, and they were happy in the promises the
-good minister had made them. The money was cried all round the country,
-and printed bills were distributed in towns and villages even at some
-distance. Many were base enough to put in their pretensions to it; but
-as they could neither describe the bag, nor what was in it, all they
-got by it was to establish their names as scandalous impostors.
-
-In the mean time, the minister was not unmindful of the promise he
-had made the young lovers. A short time afterwards he put Dorcas into
-a little farm, provided him with money to purchase stock and farming
-implements, and at last procured him his beloved Amarillis.
-
-The young couple having acquired every object of their humble wishes,
-sent up to Heaven their unfeigned thanks, and called down for blessings
-on the head of their good minister. Dorcas was industrious about the
-farm, and Amarillis kept every thing right in the house; they were
-punctual in the payment of their rent, and lived within the bounds of
-their income.
-
-Two years had now passed, and no one had yet appeared to lay claim
-to the lost treasure. The minister, therefore, apprehended there was
-no necessity to wait any longer for a claimant, but took it to the
-virtuous couple, and gave it to them, saying, "My dear children, take
-what it has pleased Providence to throw in your way. This bag, which
-contains five hundred guineas, has not yet been claimed by its right
-owner, and therefore must at present be your property; but, should you
-ever discover the real person who lost it, you must then return it to
-him. At present, make such use of it as may turn it to advantage, and
-always be equal in value to the money, should it be justly demanded."
-
-Dorcas entirely agreed with the minister, in laying out the money
-in such a manner that it might be ready on the shortest notice, or
-at least in something full the value in kind. As the landlord was
-proposing to sell the farm which Dorcas occupied, and as he valued
-it at little more than five hundred guineas, he thought he could not
-lay out the money to greater advantage than in the purchase of this
-farm; for, should a claimant ever appear, he would have no reason to
-complain of the disposal of his money, since it would be easy to find
-a purchaser for it, after it had received improvements from his labour.
-
-The good pastor entirely agreed in opinion with Dorcas: the purchase
-was made, and, as the ground was now in his own hands, he turned it
-to much greater advantage. He was happy with his Amarillis, and two
-sweet children blessed their union. As he returned from his labour in
-the evening, his wife constantly welcomed his return, and met him on
-the way with her children, who fondled round him with inexpressible
-cheerfulness and delight.
-
-The worthy minister, some years after this happy union, paid the
-debt of nature, and was sincerely wept for by both Dorcas and
-Amarillis.--The death of this worthy pastor brought them to reflect on
-the uncertainty of human life. "My dear partner," said Dorcas, "the
-time will come when we must be separated, and when the farm will fall
-to our children. You know it is not ours, nor perhaps ever properly
-will be. Should the owner appear, he will have nothing to show for it,
-and we shall go to the grave without having secured his property."
-
-Dorcas, therefore, drew up a short history of the whole affair in
-writing, got the principal inhabitants to sign it, and then put it
-into the hands of the succeeding minister. Having thus taken all the
-precautions they could to secure the property to the right owner,
-should he ever appear, they were much more easy and contented than
-before.
-
-Upwards of ten years had elapsed since they had been in possession of
-the farm; when Dorcas coming home from the fields one day to dinner,
-saw a phaeton in the road, which he had hardly cast his eyes on, till
-he saw it overset. He hastened to the spot to give them his assistance,
-and offered them the use of his team to convey their baggage. In
-the mean time, he begged them to step to his house, and take such
-refreshment as it afforded, though they had fortunately received no
-hurt.
-
-"This place," said one of the gentlemen, "is always mischievous
-to me, and I suppose I must never expect to pass it without some
-accident.--About twelve years since, I somewhere hereabouts lost my
-bag, as I was returning from the fair, with five hundred guineas in it."
-
-"Five hundred guineas, sir!" said Dorcas, who was all attention. "Did
-you make no enquiry after so great a loss?"--"I had it not in my
-power," replied the stranger, "as I was then going to the Indies, and
-was on my road to Portsmouth, which place I reached before I missed my
-bag. The ship was getting under way when I arrived there, and would
-have gone without me had I been an hour later. Considering it was money
-I had lost, it appeared to me a doubtful matter whether I should hear
-any thing of it after making the strictest enquiry; and had I been
-fortunate enough to succeed, even in that case, by losing my passage, I
-should have sustained a much greater loss than that of my bag and its
-contents."
-
-After the part Dorcas has acted, this conversation was undoubtedly
-pleasing to him, and he consequently became more earnest in wishing the
-travellers to partake of the fare of his table. As there was no house
-nearer, they accepted the offer; he walked before to show them the way,
-and his wife came out to meet them, to see what accident had happened;
-but he desired her to return, and prepare dinner.
-
-While the good woman was dressing the dinner, Dorcas presented his
-guests with some refreshments, and endeavoured to turn the conversation
-on the traveller's loss. Being convinced of the truth of his
-assertions, he ran to the minister, told him who he had with him, and
-begged he would come and dine with him. They all sat down to dinner,
-and the strangers could not help admiring the order, decency, and
-neatness that were every where conspicuous. They could not but notice
-the generosity and frankness of Dorcas, and were highly delighted with
-his helpmate, and the manner in which she treated her children.
-
-As soon as dinner was over, Dorcas showed them his house, his garden,
-sheepfold, flocks, and granaries. "This house and premises," said he,
-addressing himself to the traveller who had formerly lost his money,
-"is your property. I was fortunate enough to find your bag and money,
-with which I purchased this farm, intending to restore it to the owner,
-should he ever come forward, and show himself. For fear I should die
-before an owner was found, I left a full detail in writing with the
-minister, not wishing my children to enjoy what was not their own."
-
-It is impossible to express the surprise and astonishment of the
-stranger, who read the paper, and then returned it. He first gazed
-on Dorcas, then on Amarillis, and then on their young ones. At last,
-"Where am I?" cried he; "and what is it I have heard? Is this world
-capable of producing so much probity and virtue! and in what an humble
-station do I find it! Is this the whole of your property, my friend?"
-
-"This house, my herd, and my cattle," replied Dorcas, "are all I
-possess. Even though you should keep the premises in your hand, still
-you will want a tenant, and I shall wish to be indulged with the
-preference."
-
-The stranger replied, after a moment's pause, "Integrity like yours
-merits a more ample reward. It is upwards of twelve years since I
-first lost the money, and Providence threw it in your way. Providence
-has been no less kind to me, in blessing my undertakings. I had long
-since forgotten my loss, and even were I to add it to my fortune this
-day, it would not increase my happiness. Since it has pleased God that
-you should be the fortunate finder of it, far be it from me to wish to
-deprive you of it. Keep then what you have so well merited, and may
-heaven bless and prosper you with it."
-
-He then tore the paper, on which Dorcas had made his acknowledgment of
-finding the purse, saying, "I will have a different writing drawn up,
-which shall contain my free gift of these premises, and shall serve to
-hand down to posterity the virtue and probity of this amiable pair." He
-fulfilled his word, by immediately sending for a lawyer, when he made
-over the premises to Dorcas and his heirs for ever.
-
-Dorcas and Amarillis were then going to fall at the feet of their
-generous benefactor, but he would by no means permit it. "I am
-infinitely happy," said the generous stranger, "in having it in my
-power this day to confirm your felicity. May your children long after
-you inherit your farm, and imitate all your virtues!"
-
-Remember, my youthful readers, that the pleasures and the comforts of
-human life are not in proportion to the extent of our possessions,
-but to the manner in which we enjoy them. The cottage of liberty,
-peace, and tranquility, is preferable to the gilded palaces of slavery,
-anxiety, and guilt.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-_The Conversation._
-
-
-It happened on one of those delightful summer afternoons, when the heat
-of the day was tempered with the gently-wafting zephyrs, that Madam
-Heathcote was entertaining a large company at tea in her arbour in
-the garden. No situation could be more delightful. The arbour looked
-full in front of a fine river, on which some were busily employed
-in fishing, or pursuing their different occupations, while others
-were skimming on its surface for amusement. All round the arbour the
-luxuriant grapes hung in clusters, and the woodbine and jessamine stole
-up between them. A situation like this will naturally incline the mind
-to be thoughtful, and the whole company, by imperceptible degrees,
-began to draw moral reflections. They remarked, how different were the
-objects of our pursuits, how unsteady and fickle are all human affairs,
-and what empty baubles frequently attract our most serious attention.
-After some time being spent in a kind of desultory conversation, the
-principal speakers began to arrange their ideas under distinct heads,
-and of this class the first who spoke was
-
-
-_Dr. Chamberlaine._
-
-I am very well acquainted with two brothers, whom I shall conceal under
-the borrowed names of Mercurius and Honestus.
-
-Mercurius was the elder son of a gentleman, who, with a moderate
-fortune, and by a nice management, so regulated his affairs, that
-he was generally thought to be exceedingly rich.--He gave a genteel
-education to his two sons, who finished their studies at Cambridge.
-
-Mercurius attached himself more to the gaiety and politeness of the
-college, than to the drudgery of books. He was a gay and lively
-companion, and a perfect master of those little arts which always
-recommend a young gentleman to the acquaintance of the giddy fools
-of fortune, who are sent to both our universities more out of
-complaisance to fashion, than to improve their morals, or enlarge their
-understandings.
-
-Mercurius had drawn this conclusion, (and it must be confessed, that
-experience tells us it is too true a conclusion), that powerful
-connections are more likely to raise a man's fortune in life than all
-the natural and acquired abilities which human nature is capable of
-possessing. He, therefore, took every opportunity to ingratiate himself
-with the noble young students, whose follies he flattered, and the fire
-of whose vanities he fanned.
-
-Amidst this pursuit after fortune and grandeur, his father died, and
-left but a small pittance for the support of him and his brother
-Honestus.--This was soon known in the college, where fortune is
-considered as the first of all things.--Mercurius was now forced, in
-order to keep up his noble connections, to stoop to many meannesses,
-such as the thirst of ambition only can persuade the true dignity of a
-man to submit to; but, when we once quit the path of virtue in pursuit
-of imaginary pleasure, we must give up every hope of a retreat.
-
-Among the patrons of Mercurius was a young nobleman of great fortune
-and connections, such as were more than sufficient to make a coxcomb
-of the happiest genius. The time arrived in which he was to quit
-college, and Mercurius accompanied him to London as his companion and
-friend. He was the constant partner of his nocturnal revels, and little
-more, in fact, than his footman out of livery. He was the dupe to his
-prejudices, the constant butt of his wit, and the contempt of every
-independent mind. But let us leave this mistaken man to the feelings
-of his own mind, and his fears for his future existence, that we may
-return to his brother.
-
-Honestus, less ambitious than his brother, had a mind above stooping
-too low in order to rise the higher. He applied himself closely to
-his studies, and employed the little his father had left him in the
-most frugal manner. He turned his whole attention to the study of the
-law, in which he became a very able proficient, and at last quitted
-the university with the reputation of a profound scholar, a cheerful
-companion, and a sincere friend.
-
-These, however, are seldom characters sufficient to raise a man in the
-world. He long remained unnoticed in his profession as a counsellor;
-but, however long the beams of the sun may be obscured, they at last
-pierce through the densest bodies, and shine in their native lustre. He
-now reaps the fruits of his honest labours, and often looks back with
-pity on the tottering state of his brother, and the parade of empty
-ambition.
-
-
-_Madam Lenox._
-
-When we consider the short duration of human life, when extended even
-to its longest period, and the many perplexities, cares, and anxities,
-which contribute to disturb the repose of even those whom we should
-be led to consider as happy mortals, what is there in our sublunary
-pursuits that ought to make any long and lasting impression on our
-minds?
-
-We have seen many of the wisest people, on the loss of a darling
-child, or on a sudden and unexpected wreck in their affairs, retire
-from the world, and endeavour to seek consolation, by indulging their
-melancholy in some gloomy retreat. Surely, however, nothing can be more
-inconsistent with the dignity of human nature than such a conduct.
-
-If to fly from the face of an enemy in the hour of battle, and seek
-a retreat in some sequestered forest, may be considered as cowardice
-in the soldier, is it no less so in the moral militant, who has not
-courage to face the storms of fortune, but precipitately flies from the
-field of adversity, the ground of which he ought to dispute inch by
-inch?
-
-It has been an old and long-received maxim, that Fortune favours the
-daring, and shuns the coward. Whatever may be the whims and caprice
-of Dame Fortune, who sometimes makes a peer of a beggar, and as often
-reduces the peer to a state of penury, yet experience tells us, that
-she is seldom able, for any considerable length of time, to withstand
-resolute and unremitted importunities; and, when she has hurled us to
-the bottom of her wheel, whatever motion that wheel afterwards makes,
-it must throw us upwards. As those, who have enjoyed a good state of
-health during the prime of their lives, feel the infirmities of age,
-or a sudden sickness, more keenly than those who have laboured under
-a weakly and sickly constitution; so those, who have basked in the
-perpetual sunshine of fortune, are more susceptible of the horrors of
-unexpected calamities, than those who have been rocked in the cradle of
-misfortune.
-
-To bear prosperity and adversity with equal prudence and fortitude is,
-perhaps, one of the greatest difficulties we have to conquer; and it
-is from hence we may venture to form our opinions of the generality of
-people. Those who are insolent in prosperity will be mean in adversity;
-but he who meets adversity with manly courage and fortitude, will, in
-the hour of prosperity, be humane, gentle, and generous.
-
-To fly from misfortunes, and endeavour to console ourselves by
-retiring from the world, is undoubtedly increasing the evil we wish
-to lessen. This has often been the case of disappointed lovers, when
-the object of their hearts has proved inconstant or ungrateful. They
-have vainly imagined that there must be something very soothing to the
-afflicted mind, in listening to the plaintive sound of some purling and
-meandering stream, or in uttering their plaints to the gentle breezes
-and the nodding groves. But, alas! these delusive consolations only
-contribute to feed the disorders of the mind, and increase the evil,
-till melancholy takes deep root in their souls, and renders their
-complaints incurable.
-
-The society of the polite and refined of both sexes is the only relief,
-at least the principal one, for any uneasiness of the mind. Here a
-variety of objects will insensibly draw our attention from that one
-which tyrannises in our bosom, and endeavours to exclude all others.
-
-In the commerce of this life there is hardly an evil which has not
-some good attending it; nor a blessing which does not, in some degree
-or other, carry with it some bitter ingredient. To be, therefore, too
-confident in prosperity, is a folly; and to despair in adversity, is
-madness.
-
-Those who enjoy the good while they have it in their power, and support
-the evil without sinking under its weight, are surely best fitted for
-this uncertain and transitory state. To have too nice and delicate
-feelings is, perhaps, a misfortune; and the wise man has very justly
-said, "as we increase in knowledge, so we increase in sorrow."
-
-We are apt to form too great an opinion of ourselves, and to examine
-so closely into the conduct of others, that we at last begin to shun
-and despise all the world, in whom we can find no belief; but were we
-to examine our own conduct as critically, we should find, that we have
-as much to ask from the candour of others, as we have cause to give.
-Self-love and pride are the sources from whence flow most of our real,
-as well as imaginary woes; and if we seek the retired and sequestered
-hut, it is not so much with a view to avoid misery itself, as to
-endeavour to conceal it in ourselves from the eyes of the world.
-
-
-_Sir John Chesterfield._
-
-Certain philosophers tell us, that "there is no such thing as happiness
-or misery in this life, and that they are terms merely confined to the
-ideas of different people, who differently define them." It must indeed
-be confessed, from constant and invariable experience, that what a man,
-at one time in his life, considered as a misery, he will at another
-consider as a happiness.
-
-Cleorus was, from his childhood, bred to business, and the pursuit
-of riches appeared to him as the principal blessing he had in view,
-since, from his worldly possessions, he hoped to derive every comfort
-of life. He viewed, with an eye of pity and contempt, the follies and
-extravagancies of young fellows of his own age, and considered their
-nocturnal revels and excursions as so many sad scenes of misery.
-
-He continued in this opinion till he was turned of the age of forty;
-at which period, losing his wife, and finding his circumstances easy,
-he joined in the company of those we call _free_ and _easy_. New
-company, by degrees, made him imbibe new sentiments, and what he had
-formerly considered as miseries, began insensibly to assume the name
-of pleasure, and his former happiness was soon construed to be misery.
-He began to reflect on the dull path he had trodden all the prime of
-his life, and therefore determined to atone for it in the evening of
-his days, by entering on such scenes as were disgraceful even to the
-youthful partners of his follies. Suffice it to say, that after having
-exchanged prudence for pleasure, he soon fell a martyr to his vices.
-
-It is a melancholy but a just observation, that the man who turns
-vicious in the evening of his life, is generally worse than the
-youthful libertine, and his conversation often more lewd and obscene.
-Hence we may conclude with Ovid, that no man can be truly said to
-be blessed, till death has put a seal on his virtuous actions, and
-rendered him incapable of committing bad ones.
-
-The destruction of happiness and misery is, perhaps, more on a level
-than we are in general apt to imagine. If the labouring man toils all
-the day, and hardly earns his bread by the sweat of his brow, yet every
-meal is to him a sumptuous feast, and he sleeps as soundly between
-coarse blankets as on a bed of down; nor does any part of his life
-betray a sense of that state of misery, such as it would be considered
-by the courtier.
-
-If the courtier basks in the sunshine of fortune; if he be loaded
-with honours, riches, and titles, keeps a brilliant equipage, and has
-numerous dependants at his command, the world in general will consider
-him as placed in a state of happiness; but, if we contemplate him at
-leisure, see the anxieties of his mind to be still more great and
-powerful, which interrupt his broken slumbers, and see how insipid to
-him are all the luxuries of his table, his perpetual succession of
-false pleasure, and the mean adoration he is compelled to pay to the
-idol of power, we shall hardly allow him the idea of happiness, but
-justly consider him as more miserable than the labouring peasant.
-
-The mind is undoubtedly the seat of happiness and misery, and it is
-within our power to determine which shall hold the empire there. To
-maintain a uniform conduct through all the varying stations of life--to
-content ourselves with what comes within our reach, without pining
-after what we cannot obtain, or envying others what they possess--to
-maintain a clear unsullied conscience--and to allow for the infirmities
-of others from a retrospect of our own, are perhaps some of the best
-rules we can lay down, in order to banish misery from this mortal
-frame, and to acquire such a degree of happiness, as may enable us to
-perform our terrestrial journey with some degree of satisfaction to
-ourselves and others.
-
-
-_Lady Heathcote._
-
-Though the depravity, luxury, and corruption of the times, form just
-subjects of complaint for the grave, the thoughtful, and the aged, yet
-I cannot help believing, that many of these complainants are themselves
-lending a helping hand to render the rising generation as effeminate
-and corrupt as the present.
-
-I am now appealing to parents on the education of their children, which
-appears to me a subject that ought to attract the serious attention
-of those who wish longevity, peace, and happiness to their children,
-and prosperity, repose, and a reformation of manners to the rising
-generation.
-
-"The first seasoning," says Plato, "sticks longest by the vessel. Thus
-those, who are permitted from their earliest periods to do wrong, will
-hardly ever be persuaded, when they arrive at maturity, to do right."
-It is a maxim with some people, a maxim surely founded only on pride,
-that their children shall not be checked in their early years, but be
-indulged in whatever their little hearts shall pant after; and for this
-reason, because they will grow wiser as they grow older. But, since the
-love of ease, finery, and pleasure, is natural to almost every youthful
-mind, how careful ought each parent to be to check those juvenile
-sallies, which, if encouraged, will in time be productive of the very
-evils they complain of in the present generation.
-
-It is not only in childhood, but also in their progress through school,
-and during their apprenticeship, that these indulgences are continued;
-and an excuse is always ready, that their children must not be more
-hardly treated than others. Hence it follows, that you often meet the
-apprentice of eighteen strutting through the streets in his boots on
-an errand of business, or screening himself from the dew of heaven
-under the shade of a large silken umbrella!--It would be worse than
-sacrilege, in their opinions, to appear abroad with an apron before
-them, or in their working dress.
-
-Their evenings are too often spent abroad at chair clubs, in
-alehouses, at the theatres, or in some gardens. "To know the world,"
-as they call it, is more their study than the attainment of their
-profession, by which they are hereafter to live. But of what does
-this knowledge of the world consist?--To despise virtue, to laugh
-at morality, and to give way to the most shocking scenes of folly
-and dissipation. Their Sundays, part of which, at least, ought to
-be spent in acts of piety, are passed in revelling and drunkenness;
-and the exploits and excesses of that day furnish plenty of boastful
-conversation for the rest of the week.
-
-What can be expected from a youth, when he shall arrive at manhood,
-who has thus passed the morning of his life? and with what reason can
-either parents or masters complain of the depravity of the times,
-since they themselves take so little care of the morals of the rising
-generation?
-
-The youth who has been long accustomed to revel through the dangerous
-wilds of gaiety and pleasure, and has once given a loose to the
-excesses of the town, will hardly ever be prevailed on to quit them,
-for what he considers as the dull enjoyments of a calm, peaceable, and
-virtuous life. Deaf to all remonstrances, he pursues his pleasures, and
-perishes in the midst of his delusive enjoyments.
-
-To check these evils, and thereby prevent the fatal consequences, the
-infant mind must be carefully watched, and the unruly passions made
-to give way to the reason and authority of the parent. Nothing can be
-so pleasing and delightful, and, at the same time, more the duty of
-the parent, than to watch over the tender thought, and teach the young
-ideas to flow in a proper channel. To leave these cares to the vain
-hope, that reason and maturity will gradually fix the wandering mind,
-and bring it to a proper sense of its duty, is as absurd and ridiculous
-as to expect that the fiery steed, who has never felt the spur nor the
-curb, the saddle nor the bridle, will with age become the peaceful, the
-quiet, and the obedient animal.
-
-Nature seems, in some instances, to have given to the inferior class
-of beings that degree of instinct, which sometimes puts human reason
-to the blush. Shall inferior beings, merely by the power of instinct
-qualities, show more care and prudence in rearing their tender
-offspring, than proud man, with all his lordly and boasted superiority
-of human reason?
-
-
-_Dr. Sterne._
-
-When I was last summer on my travels through Yorkshire, I one day met
-with a person who gave me a very singular history of himself, of the
-veracity of which I was assured by some gentlemen I might rely upon. I
-shall repeat his history to you, as nearly as I can recollect, in his
-own words.
-
-Though I was born of poor parents, said he, I was fortunate enough to
-pick up a tolerable education in one of those public schools in the
-country, which are supported by voluntary and charitable contributions.
-
-Nature formed me of an active and lively disposition; and, as I grew
-up, my vanity began to flatter me, that I was not destitute of genius.
-I happened one day, accidentally, to take up the tragedy of the Orphan,
-when I was particularly struck with the following lines, which I seemed
-inclined never to forget:
-
-    "I would be busy in the world, and learn;
-    Not like a coarse and worthless dunghill weed,
-    Fix'd to one spot, to rot just where I grow."
-
-As soon as I had reached the age of fourteen, I was discharged from the
-school, when my parents put me to the farming business; but my ideas
-soared above that menial profession.
-
-I had frequently heard it mentioned in our village, that the only place
-for preferment was the great and rich city of London; where a young
-fellow had only to get himself hired as a porter in some respectable
-shop, and he would soon rise to be shopman, then clerk, then master,
-and at last a common-councilman, or an alderman, if not a lord mayor.
-
-I, therefore, soon determined to leave my native village, and hasten up
-to this centre of preferment and happiness. On my arrival in London, I
-was advised to apply to a register office, from whence I was sent to a
-capital grocer in the city, who was then in want of a porter, and where
-I was accordingly engaged. "How happy am I," said I to myself, "at once
-to jump into so capital a place? I shall here learn a fine business,
-and in time, like my master, keep a splendid coach, horses, and livery
-servants."
-
-However, I was here very sadly mistaken; for I was constantly every
-day so driven about, from one end of the town to the other, with
-loads, that I had no opportunity of getting the least insight into
-the business; and every Sunday morning I almost sunk under a load of
-various kinds of provisions I was forced to carry to our villa in
-Kentish-town, from whence I returned in the evening with a still more
-enormous burden of the produce of the garden, consisting of cabbages,
-turnips, and potatoes, or whatever happened to be in season, for the
-use of the townhouse, during the ensuing week. I, therefore, was not
-much displeased at being obliged to quit this service on my master's
-becoming a bankrupt.
-
-I next engaged myself with a wholesale linen-draper, to open and
-shut up shop, and go occasionally on errands; but here again I was
-disappointed, being obliged to employ all my leisure hours in blacking
-shoes, cleaning knives, or whatever the cook-maid was pleased to set
-me about. My stay here consequently was but short, any more than in my
-next place, where my master starved his servants in order to feed his
-horses.
-
-I shall not trouble you with an account of all the places I was in,
-during the space of seven years, without the least hopes of success,
-till, by accident, I got to be a kind of shopman at a tobacconist's.
-Here hope seemed to afford me some glimmerings of success, as I was
-well treated in the house, and taken particular notice of by my
-master, who was very rich, and had an only daughter, who was young and
-beautiful.
-
-I soon fell in love equally with her person and her fortune, and had
-great reason to believe, from her looks, that I was not indifferent to
-her. One evening, when all the family were out on a visit, and miss had
-thought proper to stay at home, being a little indisposed, I determined
-to improve the favourable opportunity, and, by one resolute action,
-complete the summit of my wishes. I accordingly entered the parlour,
-threw myself at her feet, and declared my passion for her, assuring her
-that I could not live without her.
-
-She seemed at first surprised; but, recollecting herself, with a most
-gracious smile, bid me rise and hope. I instantly retired, thinking I
-had done enough for the first attempt. But, alas! I was called up the
-next day after dinner, and was desired by miss, in the presence of a
-large company, who all joined in the laugh against me, not to trouble
-myself with paying her any further addresses. My master then kicked
-me down stairs, and out of the house. I am now returned to my native
-village, having given over all hopes of ever being either a lord mayor,
-an alderman, or even a common-councilman!
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Here Dr. Sterne finished; and, as the sun was sunk beneath the horizon,
-and night was speedily advancing, the conversation ended for the
-present. Madam Heathcote thanked the company for the favour of their
-visit, and did not doubt but that the young ladies and gentlemen
-who were present, would go away pleased and edified by the polite
-conversation they had heard.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-_Edwin and Matilda._
-
-
-Edwin and his sister were natives of a town in Glamorganshire, whose
-father had but little more to leave them at his death than the virtues
-he possessed in his lifetime. His character and assiduity procured
-him an employment of consequence, which, in a few years, enabled
-him to save a very decent fortune. Honour, virtue, and integrity,
-however amiable in themselves, will not always protect us against the
-calamities of human life, though they may contribute to soften them.
-
-In the midst of his career of business, he was attacked by a long and
-tedious disorder, which considerably impaired his constitution, and
-obliged him to relinquish all thoughts of business at a very early
-age. Not long after he had given up all mercantile pursuits, the
-failure of his banker deprived him of two-thirds of his fortune. The
-remainder of his possessions, which consisted only of the house he then
-lived in, and a few cottages in the village, afforded him but a scanty
-pittance for the support of his wife and two children, Edwin, then
-about ten years of age, and Matilda, about nine.
-
-Their mother was tenderly fond of them, and consequently was less able
-to endure the afflicting prospect of seeing them reduced so low, and
-her philosophy failed her in this instance. The narrow scale of living
-to which she was now forced to submit, and the parting with many little
-comforts and conveniences in which she had taken pleasure to indulge
-her children, and which they were no more to expect;--the affliction of
-seeing her dear Edwin and Matilda become her servants, and that dumb
-sorrow she fancied she beheld in their countenances whenever she looked
-on them;--all these, and many other thoughts, crowding on her mind, so
-weakened and impaired her constitution, that she was no longer the same
-woman. Every time she looked at her children, the tears stole down her
-cheeks; and her husband, who most tenderly loved her, would sometimes
-mingle his tears with hers, and at other times retire to conceal them.
-
-As Edwin was one day gathering apples in the orchard, he perceived his
-parents in close conversation with each other. A hedge of rosebushes
-only parted them, so that he heard every thing they said. His mother
-gave a sigh, and his father thus endeavoured to console her.
-
-"I was far from blaming," said he, "the excess of your affliction in
-the infancy of our misfortunes, and I did not attempt to interrupt you;
-but now you ought to be wiser from experience, and patiently bear those
-evils which cannot be removed, but may be increased by our impatience
-under them. I have concealed my sorrows, fearing they might add to
-yours; but you, in return, put no restraint on yourself; and you are
-shortening my days, without being sensible of what you are doing. I
-love my children no less than you, and feel for their misfortune in
-losing what I hoped they would live to enjoy after we were no more.
-Consider my infirmities, which will probably carry me to my long home
-before you. You must then act the part of father and mother; but how
-will you be able to do this, if you give way to such immoderate grief?
-You are sensible these misfortunes are not my own seeking; they are the
-works of the Almighty, and it is impiety not to submit to them. It has
-pleased him to deprive me of my property and health, while you deprive
-me of the satisfaction of seeing you submissive to his decrees. I see
-sorrow must pursue me to the grave, and you will not help to protract
-that awful hour of my dissolution."
-
-Edwin treasured up in his youthful bosom every word that dropped
-from the lips of his father, but his mother answered only in sighs
-and half-finished words. "Do not distress your mind," continued her
-husband, "on the hapless situation of our children, since they may
-still be happy though deprived of their fortune. Edwin has noble and
-generous sentiments; and Matilda has been brought up in the strictest
-principles of virtue. Let us, therefore, set our children an example,
-by teaching them to submit to the will of Providence, instead of
-teaching them to repine at his decrees."
-
-As soon as the conversation was ended, Edwin got away as softly as he
-could, and, going into the house, met his sister Matilda, who, as she
-saw him look very serious, asked him what was the matter with him. They
-went together into the parlour, when Edwin thus addressed his sister.
-
-"Ah! my dear sister, had you, like me, heard what has just passed
-between my father and mother, on our account, I am sure you would have
-been equally afflicted. I was very near the arbour in which they were
-conversing; but though I could hear every thing they said, they could
-not see me. My mother talks of nothing but about our being ruined;
-and my father says every thing he can to pacify and comfort her. You
-well know, that my father has never had a good state of health, and my
-mother's is going very fast; so that I fear we shall soon lose them
-both. What, my dear sister, will become of us, and what shall we do
-without them? I could wish to die with them."
-
-"Let us hope," replied Matilda, "that things will not go so hard
-with us. Do not let such melancholy thoughts enter your head, and
-be particularly careful not to cry in their presence, as that would
-affect them more than any thing else. Let us endeavour to be cheerful,
-and when they see us so, it will possibly lessen their affliction.
-They love us tenderly, and we ought, in return, to do every thing in
-our power to make them cheerful and contented, if we cannot make them
-happy."
-
-Their father, coming to the door just as they began their conversation,
-stopped short, and heard every word that passed between the two young
-folks. His heart could not fail of being tenderly affected by their
-conversation, he rushed into the room, and caught them in his arms. "My
-dear children," said he, "how amiable is your conduct, and how worthy
-are you of a better fortune!"
-
-He then took them by the hand, and led them to their mother, who was
-reading in another room. "Lay down your book," said he, "and kiss
-your children; for neither of us need be any more afflicted on their
-account. They stand not in need of our pity, for they have resources
-of happiness within their own youthful bosoms. We have been deceiving
-each other, in thus afflicting ourselves on their account, when nothing
-has disturbed them. Nothing can be wanting to the possessors of so much
-virtue."
-
-He then related to their mother the conversation he had just overheard,
-and appealed to her tenderest feelings, whether she ought not to exert
-herself to the utmost to make herself happy, and endeavour to promote
-the felicity of two such children.
-
-Their mother again shed tears, but they were tears of joy. "I will from
-henceforth," said she, "endeavour to quiet the storm within my breast,
-that I may be the better able to take care of my dear children. It
-would be disgraceful in me, to let the world see that I have children
-from whom I have to learn lessons of philosophy."
-
-Edwin and Matilda were so lost in the delightful sensations they
-received from the words and caresses of their parents, that they
-thought themselves the happiest of all little mortals. From this moment
-all their griefs and anxities seemed to subside, and the six following
-months glided away without even a desponding look from either of the
-parties.
-
-Edwin frequently walked abroad with his father, who constantly taught
-him to draw some moral reflection, or some useful knowledge in the
-commerce of life, from every thing they saw. It is too often the case
-with parents, when they take their children abroad, to amuse themselves
-with their gossiping tales, instead of teaching them to reflect upon
-the different interesting subjects that fall within their view.
-Children are much sooner capable of reflecting than the generality of
-parents are aware of; and they would soon be convinced of the truth of
-this assertion, would they but make the trial, wait patiently for their
-answers, and endeavour to correct their youthful ideas when wrong.
-
-Six months had now slid away in peace and serenity; but the apparent
-tranquility of their mother was only in outward appearance. Despair had
-taken deep root in her heart, and was secretly making great havoc with
-her constitution. A fever at last seized her, which soon put a period
-to her life.
-
-The death of their mother was the source of inexpressible sorrow to her
-husband, who never recovered the shock it gave him. She expired in his
-arms, while poor Edwin and Matilda were drowned in tears by her side.
-
-The house, for some time, afforded one continued scene of lamentation.
-Her character was truly amiable; her children obeyed her through love,
-for fear had no share in their duty. She possessed the happy skill of
-penetrating into the infant heart, and making it sensible, by its own
-feelings, of the propriety of what she commanded to be done. Thus she
-at once improved the heart and understanding, without ruffling the
-infant mind.
-
-Edwin and Matilda severely felt the loss of their mother; but it was a
-still greater shock to their father, whose health, which was bad enough
-before, evidently grew worse from this fatal stroke. Grief brought on
-a complication of disorders, which soon confined him to his bed; and
-in this sad situation he lived near a twelvemonth, when, his strength
-being totally exhausted, he expired in the arms of his son.
-
-The situation of Edwin and Matilda was much to be pitied. They had
-no relation left to fly to, and friends are rarely to be found when
-distress seeks them. Edwin was almost driven to despair; but Matilda
-had more fortitude, and recalled her brother back to reason. It is
-certain, that the female mind, in scenes of distress, often shows more
-fortitude than we meet with in men.
-
-The young orphans agreed to live together, and cultivate the little
-spot that was left them. The remembrance of the virtues of their
-parents animated their labour, and their moderation regulated their
-wants. They enjoyed the sweets of friendship, and lived happily,
-because they had learned how to be contented with little.
-
-Remember, my youthful readers, how fleeting and uncertain is the
-possession of riches. Of these Fortune may deprive you, but it cannot
-rob you of your virtue. Virtue is an invaluable treasure, which even
-the revolutions of states and empires cannot take from you. Like Edwin
-and Matilda, love and reverence your parents, cherish them in the
-evening of their days, and be a comfort to them in the time of trial,
-in the hour of sickness, and in the expiring moments of their lives.
-Let every wise mother imitate the mother of Edwin and Matilda, who
-never suffered passion to get the upper hand of her reason, when she
-argued with her children on those little imperfections, which young
-people are apt to run into, and which are necessary to be corrected.
-It is better to be beloved than feared; but to indulge children in
-excesses, will neither create fear nor esteem. Happy are those parents
-who have such children as Edwin and Matilda; and happy those children
-who know how properly to love, honour, and obey their parents.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-_The pious Hermit._
-
-
-At the bottom of the Cordillieres, whose towering summits overlook
-Peru and Chili in the New World, as it is called, is situated an
-uninhabited spot of land, on which nature has exhausted all her art,
-being decorated with innumerable beauties. Woods of stately poplars
-rear their heads to the clouds, and odoriferous groves shed their
-fragrance over every part of it; while the roaring river Oroonoko rolls
-its majestic floods through an immense bed which, at length exhausting
-itself, contracts into peaceful rills and meandering streams. These
-beauties are terminated by a thick, gloomy forest, which serves as a
-foil to these enchanting beauties.
-
-In this charming solitude lived Nestor, an old and venerable hermit,
-who, for a long time, had withdrawn himself from the tumultuous bustle
-of the world, and had seen forty revolving suns pass over his head
-in this peaceful retreat. A stranger to the passions, without wishes
-or desires, he passed his life in tranquility, without the fear of
-experiencing either cares or disappointments. He was grown old in the
-practice of virtue, for this spot afforded not even the shadow of
-temptations. He felt not the infirmities which are natural to old age;
-nor had he any of those complaints, to which the luxurious inhabitants
-of cities and large towns are subject before they reach the meridian of
-their lives.
-
-He had made himself a hut at the foot of a verdant hill, that screened
-it from the cold blasts of winter. Thick leaves and sod composed its
-walls, which time had covered and cemented with a mossy crust. A
-plantation of various trees, peculiar to the soil, reared their lofty
-heads around his mansion, and a narrow path led through them to his
-rustic habitation. A clear and transparent spring arose near his hut;
-which, after forming a little bason for domestic services, overflowed
-and fled away in meandering streams through the wood.
-
-His time was employed in cultivating a little garden he had made
-contiguous to his house. Here he studied the works of Nature, and
-explored her wonderful operations in the production of fruits and
-vegetables. Here Nature furnished him with a volume that was never to
-be read through, but discovered something new every time it was opened.
-
-The sun was one evening sinking beneath the horizon, when Nestor was
-seated on the stump of a tree, near the door of his hut, shaded with
-woodbines and jessamines. His venerable front, which was now whitened
-by time, was lifted up towards heaven; calmness and serenity were
-seated on his countenance, and every thing about him accorded with
-wisdom and philosophy.
-
-"How I delight," said he, "to view the beautiful azure of that glorious
-firmament! What a variety of beautiful colours show themselves in those
-clouds! O rich and magnificent dome! when shall I leave this sublunary
-world, and ascend to those regions of bliss, where my mind will be lost
-in raptures that will know no end! However, let me not be impatient,
-since the measure of my life is nearly exhausted. I ought not to repine
-at the length of my continuance here, since I enjoy, in this solitary
-retreat, what is denied to almost every one who is engaged in the busy
-pursuits of life. Every thing I possess is my own, and I live in the
-enjoyment of what is purely natural, without the troublesome alloy
-of ambition and parade. In whatever direction I turn my view, I see
-nothing but smiling landscapes. The sun affords to me the same cheering
-warmth, and its light in as great a degree, as to the first monarch of
-the earth! Should I not live to see his rising beams, yet he will rise
-to cheer the hearts of others, when I shall no longer want them.
-
-"Yonder lie the ruins of that ancient habitation in which once lived
-the venerable shepherd and his daughter, who taught me how to live,
-when I retired from the empty bustle of the world, and first took up my
-abode in these mansions of peace. If their hut be fallen into ruins, it
-is but an emblem of what will, in a few years, be the fate of the most
-stately palaces. Both he and his daughter now lie at rest under the
-shade of those neighbouring and lofty poplars.
-
-"The scythe of Time mows down every thing that comes within the reach
-of its keen edge; it has destroyed not only towns and cities, but even
-whole empires, which were once mistresses of the world, and reduced
-them to a state of pity. The most lofty and luxuriant trees, by Time,
-are reduced to dry trunks, without being able to give nourishment to a
-single leaf. I have seen huge and tremendous rocks, to all appearance
-invulnerable, crumbled into powder by the roaring thunders and the
-vivid lightnings. Once the rose was blushing in my blooming cheeks; but
-grey hairs have now covered my head, and wrinkles hide my forehead. But
-the time is now coming, in which my mortal race will be finished."
-
-A young man had, for some years, taken a part in his solitude, and
-as the virtuous Nestor found himself weak and exhausted, he exerted
-himself in calling upon the youth. Misfortunes more severe than those
-that generally happen to mortal beings, first brought him into this
-charming solitude. The pleasing gloom of that retreat, which was not
-without its beauties to change the scenes, soon calmed the storm within
-his bosom, and made him happy in retirement; to which the conversation
-of the venerable old man contributed not a little.
-
-"Come hither, my son," said the virtuous Nestor in faltering accents,
-"and embrace your friend for the last time in this world. My eyes will
-soon be closed for ever, and I must return to the earth from whence I
-came. Complain not that I go before you to the regions of bliss, for I
-have enjoyed a long succession of happy years. My career is finished,
-and I die without a murmur. It is our ignorance only of what may be
-our state hereafter, that makes men afraid of death; but everlasting
-happiness is promised to us, and death puts us in possession of it.
-Though you will in me lose a mortal friend, yet I leave you One in
-heaven who is eternal, and who never will forsake you, so long as you
-pursue the paths of virtue. As soon as I shall be no more, dig my
-grave close by the poplar which grows on the borders of the river,
-where it waters my last plantation. That spot afforded me infinite
-delight while I was living, and there I wish my body to repose. This is
-the last favour I have to ask of you. Farewell for ever, my virtuous
-companion.--The earth seems to fly from me--my time is come--once more,
-farewell.--Grieve not for the loss of me, but respect my memory.--Keep
-constantly in your view the example which it has pleased heaven to
-permit me to set you, and you will be happy, because you will be
-virtuous."
-
-Having finished these words, the good Nestor closed his eyes, and
-expired without a struggle; he passed away like a cloud floating in
-the ambient air, which insensibly disperses and dissipates itself in
-a sky of azure. How peaceful and tranquil are the last moments of the
-virtuous man! The youth looked stedfastly on that venerable front,
-which appeared graceful even in death. He embraced him, and could not
-help sighing. "O my dear father," said he, "you are no more! You leave
-me in this solitude, without any one to partake of it with me. Who
-will, in future, be the comfort of my existence? and to whom am I to
-tell my tales of past woe?"
-
-His heart was sensibly affected, and the tears flowed down his cheeks;
-but he recollected the last words of his friend Nestor, and endeavoured
-to moderate his grief. He took the body on his shoulders, and carried
-it to the place where Nestor had desired it might be buried. Being
-come to the borders of the river, he gently laid down the body of his
-deceased friend, and then dug the grave.
-
-While he was thus sadly employed in his last work for Nestor, he
-thought all nature, and whatever breathed throughout the region round
-him, united their tears for his virtuous benefactor. After he had
-deposited the body in the grave, it was some time before he could
-prevail on himself to cover it with the earth. He felt his heart very
-powerfully affected; he stood almost motionless, and the tears stole
-insensibly down his cheeks.
-
-"Happy Nestor," said he, "you can neither see nor condemn my weakness.
-If you could, you would forgive me, and pity me. You were my father,
-philosopher, and friend; you taught me to love you, and now I have lost
-you. Let me indulge my tears in this melancholy moment, as the only
-tribute I can pay to your virtues."
-
-He then proceeded to fill up the grave; but every shovelful of earth
-was accompanied with a sigh. When he had covered part of his face, he
-stopped suddenly. "Farewell, my dear friend," said the generous and
-pious youth, "a little more earth, and then you will be lost from my
-sight for ever! It is the decree of Heaven, it must be so, and it is
-my duty to submit. But though you will soon be for ever lost from my
-sight, your memory will never be erased from my mind, till my mortal
-clay, like yours, shall be incapable of knowing what passes in this
-world. May my end be like yours, peaceful, composed, and tranquil."
-
-After a few minutes pause, he proceeded in his business, filled up the
-grave, and covered it with the most verdant turf he could find. He then
-planted round it the woodbine and jessamine, and inclosed the whole
-with a fence of blushing roses.
-
-His business being now completed, he turned to the transparent stream,
-and thus uttered his devotions, to which no mortal could be witness,
-and his plaintive accents were heard only by the wafting gentle zephyrs.
-
-"Thou great and omnipotent Being, who, in your gracious bounty to me,
-unworthy wretch as I am, have been pleased to take me from the regions
-of Folly, and place me here in those of Innocence and Virtue, where
-I have learned to forget the former dreadful misfortunes of my life,
-grant me, O gracious Heaven! thy protection, and endow me with the same
-virtues that reverend sage possessed, to whose memory I have just paid
-the last duties. Left as I am without either guide or companion, his
-sacred ashes shall supply the place of them. Sooner shall this stream
-cease to flow, and the sun withdraw its benign influence from these
-happy regions, than I to wander from the paths into which my departed
-friend has conducted me."
-
-Though Nestor's death left the virtuous youth without friend or
-companion, yet he in some measure consoled himself for that loss by
-daily visiting his grave, and cautiously watching the growth of that
-funeral plantation. He suffered not a weed to grow near it, and kept
-every thing about it in the highest state of perfection. Every morning
-and evening the birds assembled in the surrounding bushes, and warbled
-forth their notes over the departed sage.
-
-Though it is neither to be expected nor wished, that my youthful
-readers should turn hermits, yet it would be proper for them to
-remember, that happiness is not always to be found among the bustling
-crowd, where every thing appears under borrowed shapes. In whatever
-condition Fortune may place them, let them remember this one certain
-truth, that there can be no real happiness where virtue is wanting.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-_The Caprice of Fortune._
-
-
-Painters represent Fortune with a bandage over her eyes, by which they
-mean to tell us, that she distributes her gifts indiscriminately, and
-as chance happens to throw a happy object in her way, without paying
-regard to either virtue or merit. The following short history will
-evince the truth of the old adage, that there is a something necessary,
-besides merit and industry, to make a person's fortune in this
-capricious world.
-
-A brave old soldier, whom I shall conceal under the borrowed name of
-Ulysses, had acquired immortal honours in the service of his country
-on the field of battle. Having passed the prime of his life in actual
-service, he retired to pass the evening of his days in the circle of
-his family, and the care of his children.
-
-He tenderly loved his offspring, and he had the inexpressible pleasure
-and delight to find himself beloved by them.
-
-As his eldest son had entered into a marriage contract by the consent
-of all parties, a house was taken for the young couple, and the
-necessary repairs and embellishments were not forgotten. One of the
-apartments being designed for pictures, the generous youth, without
-acquainting his father with his design, employed a painter to describe
-all the heroic actions of his sire.
-
-This business was completed with great expedition and secrecy, and as
-soon as the house was properly ornamented and furnished, the young
-gentleman invited all his relations and particular acquaintances to
-partake of an elegant dinner, on his commencing housekeeping. When
-the veteran entered the room, where all his glorious actions were
-represented in the most lively colours, he could not avoid being
-singularly struck with the generous piety of his son. The company were
-at a loss which they should most admire, the heroic exploits of the
-father, or the exemplary conduct of the son.
-
-The old general surveyed every picture with an air of carelessness,
-at which the company were not a little surprised, and could not help
-wondering at his composed indifference. "You acted very properly, son,"
-said the old gentleman, "to conceal your intentions of this matter from
-me till you had completed it, as I otherwise should most certainly have
-stifled it in its birth. What you have thus done is a convincing proof
-of your love and affection for me; but, however sensible it may make me
-of your attachments to me, yet it does not much flatter my vanity.
-
-"Few pieces of biography are correct on their first appearance in the
-world, where the parties meant to be handed down to posterity have not
-been previously consulted. The most particular event, from the want of
-proper information, is frequently omitted. Such is the case, my son, in
-the present instance. There is one circumstance in my life which ought
-to have been recorded, since to that action alone I owe all my fortune,
-and my promotion in the army." However, as dinner was then serving up,
-the conversation was dropped, and the company very soon began to have
-something else to think of.
-
-The next day, however, being at dinner with his children and a small
-party of friends, his son requested him to inform him what was that
-heroic act he had forgotten in his penciled history. The general
-replied, he had no objections to do so, but observed, that it would be
-necessary to go into the room where the pictures were hanging.
-
-As soon as they had entered the room, the general began his
-observations on the paintings. "I suppose son," said he, "you have
-terminated the first line with that in which his majesty is supposed
-to have made me a lieutenant-general. In this, indeed, you have made
-a very capital error, as you have here brought together events that
-happened at different periods. But I would wish to know, whether the
-military honours I have received, were in consequence of the actions
-represented in this picture, or on account of what is represented in
-the whole."
-
-The young gentleman replied, without the least hesitation, that the
-honours he had received were in consequence of all his services, and
-not of any single one.
-
-"You are very much mistaken," said the general, "for it was in
-consequence only of one action in my life, that I enjoy my present
-honours; and this action you have not recorded."
-
-The young gentleman was very much surprised to think that he should
-forget the principal occurrence of his father's life, and that too from
-which alone he was raised in the army. He censured his own want of
-memory, and was the more angry with himself, as he could not even then
-recollect it.
-
-"Do not make yourself uneasy," said the general to his son, "for it is
-not possible that you could paint an action you never knew any thing
-of. It is a transaction which I have never yet related to any one; but
-I shall now give you the particulars.
-
-"During the very early part of my life as a soldier, I lost my left
-leg, and received so dangerous a wound in my head, that my life was for
-some time despaired of, nor did I perfectly recover of it till after
-sixteen months had elapsed. I lost my three youngest sons on the field
-of battle, where they bled in the service of their king and country.
-
-"Notwithstanding all these services, I enjoyed no higher rank than that
-of a major for nearly thirty years, while in that battle, in which I
-lost my limb, my general fled, in order to preserve his precious life
-from danger, and was rewarded with a title and a pension. But he was
-the nephew of a favourite at court, who took care to represent him to
-his sovereign and the nation, as having on the day of battle exposed
-himself to the most imminent dangers. It may easily be supposed,
-that my affections for my family, and my wishes to do well for them,
-induced me to hope for preferment. Numbers were, like me, seeking for
-promotion; but I could not, like the generality of them, stoop to their
-means to obtain it; and if they had not more merit than myself, at
-least they had better fortune. Tired out with expectations that met
-with nothing but disappointments, I took the resolution to hang about
-the court no longer in expectancy, but to retire into the country, and
-there spend the remainder of my days in private. However, Fortune at
-length smiled on me, and, when I least expected it, led me into the
-path of fame and preferment. Of this circumstance not the least notice
-is taken in your paintings!"
-
-The young gentleman appeared very much astonished, and could not guess
-what this circumstance could be, which he had omitted in his pictures,
-since he apprehended that he was well acquainted with all the material
-occurrences in the life of his father. "I know not, sir," said his
-son, "what this circumstance can be that I have omitted. Perhaps it
-may be something which the pencil of the artist cannot express. I must
-confess, that I long much to know what this occurrence can be."
-
-"Nothing can be more easy," replied the general, "than to represent
-this scene on canvass: A beautiful river, ladies weeping on the borders
-of it, and I on horseback in the liquid stream, holding a little
-lap-dog in a half-drowned condition. Surely this could not be a very
-difficult scene for an able pencil to represent, and could give but
-little trouble to the painter!"
-
-The young gentleman could hardly think his father serious, and could
-not comprehend how such a scene as this could be considered as one of
-the general's most glorious military exploits, by which he had gained
-his promotion as a soldier. He, therefore, begged he would be pleased
-to explain himself more fully.
-
-"Trifling as you may think this exploit," replied the veteran, "I owe
-to it my present promotion, which the loss of a limb in the field
-of battle could not procure me. I will give you the history of this
-strange affair in as few words as possible.
-
-"As I was one morning riding on horseback, for the benefit of the air,
-as well as for the advantage of exercise, on the beautiful banks of the
-Thames, near Richmond, a coach passed me.--Curiosity induced me to look
-into it, when I discovered the mistress of the minister; who appeared
-to me as a pretty doll, agreeable to behold, but from whom you must
-expect neither sense nor reason, and but a very small share of modesty,
-that first accomplishment of the fair sex. Though she knew me perfectly
-well, she condescended only to give me a nod, and having driven to
-some distance before me, she got out of her carriage to walk with her
-companions on the banks of the river.
-
-"In order to avoid giving her the trouble of taking notice of me again,
-I turned into a lane; but hardly had I entered it, when I heard a cry
-of distress from the same women. I doubted not but some misfortune
-had happened to them, and I, therefore, galloped towards them. As soon
-as I got to them, the pretty doll cried out, 'Help, help, dear major!
-my dear sweet Chloe has fallen into the water, and is unable to get
-out!--The poor dear will be drowned, and I shall die with grief. Save
-him, major, save him, I beg of you.'
-
-"Though I cared as little for the mistress as for the animal, yet
-compassion urged me to put spurs to my horse, and get into the river.
-I happened to get hold of the ugly cur, and brought him in safety to
-his mistress. I know not whether the scene which followed excited most
-pity or contempt, since the most affectionate mother could not have
-shown more joy on the recovery of her child. The idle and ridiculous
-congratulations from the company, and their eager endeavours who should
-be first to caress the ugly animal, exceeds all description. Every
-mouth was open, and every tongue was in motion, each endeavouring to be
-most noticed by the doll of fashion.
-
-"As I apprehended my company was no longer wanted, I was about taking
-my leave, when the little dog's mistress pressed me so warmly to
-stay, that I alighted from my horse, and she took me by the arm. As
-we sauntered along, at a little distance behind the company, and
-out of their reach of hearing, she told me, she had been informed,
-some time before, what rank I had been soliciting for. 'If I forget
-this service,' said she, 'and if the minister is not from this day
-your warmest advocate,--then major--O my poor dear Chloe!--you shall
-see--yes, that you shall.'
-
-"I made her a bow without saying any thing; for I was too proud
-to wish to owe my preferment to such a woman, and to such paltry
-services.--However, the very next day, I was sent for to the
-minister's levee, when he drew me aside, and told me, that the king
-had recollected both my name and my services, and that he himself had
-represented the justice there would be in my promotion. In short,
-in less than a month from that day, I was promoted to the rank of a
-lieutenant-general. Thus, by saving the life of a little ugly animal,
-did I obtain more than all my services in the field could procure me."
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-_The melancholy Effects of Pride._
-
-
-A few miles distant from the metropolis lived an industrious farmer,
-who had a son named Bounce. He had so strong a propensity to the
-military life, that he was observed to be continually shouldering his
-hoe, and treating it in other respects as a gun. He was fond of the
-company of soldiers, and took great delight in hearing them repeat
-their accounts of sieges and battles.
-
-When he had reached the eighteenth year of his age, he enlisted in one
-of the marching regiments; and as he had previously learned at school
-to read, write, and cast up common accounts, he became so useful in his
-present station, that he was first made a corporal, and soon after was
-advanced to the higher state of a serjeant.
-
-Much about this time, war was declared between England and France,
-and, by a succession of the most fortunate circumstances, at the
-commencement of the campaign, he had a lieutenantcy given him. He
-behaved with great conduct on all occasions, and whenever any bold and
-daring enterprise was to be undertaken, he was always appointed to
-command it, and constantly came off with honour. The examples he set
-others of his bravery, made every soldier under him as brave as himself.
-
-So strongly had his conduct recommended him to the favour of his
-general, that he soon after presented him with a company, in order that
-his fortune might raise in the common soldiers an emulation to imitate
-his conduct. He had not long enjoyed this new promotion, when a most
-desperate battle was fought, which proved fatal to several superior
-officers. On this occasion, Bounce, who had performed wonders during
-the battle, was instantly appointed a major.
-
-His exploits had often been recorded in the public papers, which being
-read in his native village, all the inhabitants ran to congratulate his
-parents on the occasion. His parents and brothers, undoubtedly, were
-not a little flattered with the bravery and good fortune of Bounce.
-The tear of joy would frequently steal down their cheeks when these
-matters were mentioned. They longed for the happy day in which he was
-to return, that they might have the inexpressible pleasure of embracing
-a son and brother in their arms, whose bravery had done so much honour
-to his family, and raised himself to such an elevated situation.
-
-We have hitherto only surveyed the brilliant colourings of the picture;
-but we must now proceed to examine its shades. All his good qualities
-were tarnished by one predominant and odious vice, which was pride. In
-relating the history of his own achievements, he would consider himself
-as little less than an Alexander or a Cæsar. He paid himself all the
-compliments for his heroic actions, which the most fulsome flatterer
-would give a victorious prince in his presence.--He assumed to himself
-all the honours of every battle he had been engaged in, without
-allowing the least merit to any other officer.
-
-All parties being at last tired of the war, many thousands of their
-subjects having perished in the contest, many widows left to bemoan
-their husbands, and a great number of children to lament the loss
-of their fathers, a general peace put an end to this horrid carnage
-of human beings. It so happened, that the regiment to which Bounce
-belonged was directed to pass along the road on which his father's
-house was situated, in order to proceed to Windsor, where it was to be
-disbanded.
-
-By this time, his father and mother had paid their last debt to nature;
-but his brothers, who were still living, hearing of his approach, ran
-to meet him, accompanied by many others in the village. They soon found
-him at the head of his battalion, exercising his men, in quality of
-captain and major.
-
-They ran to him with open arms, saying, "O dear Bounce! were but our
-parents now living, what joy would this give to their aged hearts! My
-brother and I have been long sighing for this moment of seeing and
-embracing you. Thanks to that God who has preserved you through so many
-dangers, and at last has afforded us this inexpressible pleasure!"
-Having thus said, the two brothers attempted to embrace him.
-
-The major, however, was very much displeased, that men, who had no
-cockades in their hats, should presume to take these freedoms with him,
-and call him brother. He pushed them from him, and treated their marks
-of affection with insolence and contempt. "What do you mean," said he,
-"by taking these freedoms with me?"--"Is it possible," replied the
-younger brother, "that you have forgotten us? Look at me, I am George,
-whom you formerly loved, whom you taught to dig and sow this ground,
-when I was but a little one, and not higher than the length of the
-sword which now dangles by your side."
-
-This put the major into a violent rage, and he threatened he would have
-them apprehended as impostors, if they did not immediately depart.
-
-This scene of pride and vanity passed at the head of his battalion,
-to which every soldier was witness. They dared not to speak their
-minds openly, but in their hearts execrated his conduct. They vented
-their indignation in whispers to each other. "Is it possible," said
-they, "that our major can be ashamed of having once been what we are
-at present? on the contrary, he ought to think himself happy, and be
-thankful, that Fortune has raised him from nothing to what he now is.
-It is more to the honour and reputation of a man, to acquire a fortune
-by merit, than it is to be born to one."
-
-These were sentiments, however, of which Bounce had no idea; the
-fortune he met with seemed to increase the depravity of his heart
-rather than correct it. He even wished his fellow-soldiers to forget
-that he had originally been, like them, one of the rank and file, and
-consequently treated them with the most haughty and insolent contempt;
-while they, on the other hand, viewed him in the just light in which
-men ought to be considered, who, having soared above their original
-obscurity, suffer themselves to be led away by the empty parade of
-pride and ambition.
-
-As he was one day reviewing the regiment in the presence of the
-colonel, the latter having found some fault in his method of giving the
-word of command, he gave him a very insolent and haughty answer, such
-as the military laws will not admit an inferior to give to a superior
-officer. He had frequently before given shameful instances of his
-pride and arrogance to those of higher rank; his colonel, therefore,
-determined to try him by a court-martial, and at once punish him for
-all his audacious infractions of the military law. He was accordingly
-tried, found guilty, and solemnly declared incapable of serving any
-longer in the army. He was disgraced and ruined.
-
-It can hardly be expected, that such a man as we have here described,
-could have any great share of prudence or economy in the management
-of his private affairs. He was not worth any thing at the time of his
-disgrace, and, therefore, found himself obliged either to labour for
-his living, or starve. What a situation for a man to be reduced to,
-who, but a little while since, ingloriously despised that condition,
-which he was now forced to apply to for his subsistence!
-
-Necessity, at last, obliged him to pay a visit to the place of his
-nativity, and beg the assistance of those whom he had so lately
-despised. The villagers, when they saw him thus reduced, in their turn,
-treated him with contempt, and made him experience how dangerous it is,
-whatever may be our present fortune, to despise any one merely because
-he may not be so great as ourselves.--During the whole course of his
-prosperity he had formed no friendly connections, and therefore now,
-in the hour of adversity, he had no creature to apply to, either to
-advise or assist him. Thus had his pride and folly deprived him of one
-of the greatest blessings of this life. The mind receives some little
-consolation in being _pitied_; but deplorable indeed is his situation,
-who cannot command that most trifling relief.
-
-Finding himself neglected and despised by every one he had hitherto
-applied to, he was at last forced to seek relief from his brothers,
-whom he had lately insulted so cruelly. It was now, indeed, their turn
-to retaliate on him; but they had souls far greater than his. They
-despised every idea of mean revenge, and did him all the service they
-could under his present difficulties.
-
-The little matters their father had left them had long been divided
-among them, and Bounce had made away with his share, as well as with
-all his pay. In this situation, the brothers gave him a little spot of
-ground to cultivate, on which he was obliged to employ all his time,
-in order to procure a scanty subsistence. He had now time enough to
-reflect on the elevated station from which his pride and folly had
-thrown him.
-
-He would frequently exclaim to himself, "O diabolical pride, to what
-a melancholy situation hast thou brought me! Why, O Fortune! did you
-raise me so far above my original character, as to make me forget
-my former situation, and thereby make my fall more inglorious and
-irreparable? had you not raised me above the state of a subaltern, I
-might have still been happy; but, by making me great, you have ruined
-and undone me!"
-
-Ideas and reflections such as these perpetually haunted him, and
-interrupted his repose; until Death, more kind to him than Fortune, put
-an end to his feelings and sufferings by an untimely end, leaving an
-example of the fatal consequences which pride brings in its train.
-
-Be cautious, my youthful readers, how you suffer this vice to get
-possession of your hearts, since it renders deformed the most perfect
-beauty, and eclipses the most brilliant accomplishments.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-_The Nettle and the Rose._
-
-
-We may consider human life as a garden, in which roses and nettles are
-promiscuously scattered, and in which we often feel the sting of the
-wounding nettle, while we enjoy the fragrance of the blooming rose.
-Those bowers of delight, entwined with the woodbine and jessamine,
-under whose friendly umbrage we seek shelter from the noon-day sun,
-frequently are the abode of snakes, adders, and venomous creatures,
-which wound us in those unguarded scenes of delight.
-
-As the year has its seasons, and winter and summer are constantly in
-pursuit of each other; so changeable likewise is the condition of
-mortals; and, as the elements are frequently disturbed by storms,
-hurricanes, and tempests, so is the human mind frequently ruffled
-and indisposed, till the sun-shine of reason and philosophy bursts
-forth and dispels the gloom. Murmuring brooks, purling streams, and
-sequestered groves, whatever the fictions of a poetical imagination may
-have advanced, are not always the seat of unmingled pleasure, nor the
-abode of uninterrupted happiness.
-
-The hapless Florio pined away some months on the delightful banks
-of the Severn: he complained of the cruelty of the lovely Anabella,
-and told his fond tale to the waters of that impetuous stream, which
-hurried along regardless of his plaints. He gathered the lilies of
-the field; but the lilies were not so fair as his Anabella, nor the
-fragrance of the blushing rose so sweet as her breath; the lambs were
-not so innocent, nor the sound of the tabor on the green half so
-melodious as her voice. Time, however, has joined Florio and Anabella
-in the fetters of wedlock, and the plaints of the swain are changed.
-The delusion of the enchantment is vanished, and what he but lately
-considered as the only object worthy of his sublunary pursuit, he now
-contemplates with coolness, indifference, and disgust: enjoyment has
-metamorphosed the rose into a nettle.
-
-Ernestus, contrary to his inclinations, was compelled by his parents
-to marry the amiable Clara, whose sense, tenderness, and virtues, soon
-fixed the heart of the roving Ernestus; and what at first gave him pain
-and disgust, by degrees became familiar, pleasing, and delightful. Here
-the nettle was changed to the rose.
-
-The wandering libertine, who pursues the rose through the unlawful
-paths of love, who tramples on every tender plant that comes within his
-reach, and who roves from flower to flower, like the bee, only to rob
-it of its sweets, will at last lose his way; and, when benighted, be
-compelled to repose on the restless bed of wounding nettles.
-
-The blooming rose is an utter stranger to the regions of Ambition,
-where gloomy clouds perpetually obscure the beams of the joyful sun;
-where the gentle zephyrs never waft through the groves, but discordant
-blasts are perpetually howling, and where the climate produces only
-thorns and nettles.
-
-The rose reaches its highest perfection in the garden of Industry,
-where the soil is neither too luxuriant, nor too much impoverished.
-Temperance fans it with the gentlest breezes, and Health and
-Contentment sport around it. Here the nettle no sooner makes its
-appearance, than the watchful eye of Prudence espies it; and, though it
-may not be possible totally to eradicate it, it is never suffered to
-reach to any height of perfection.
-
-Since then human life is but a garden, in which weeds and flowers
-promiscuously shoot up and thrive, let us do what we can to encourage
-the culture of the rose, and guard against the spreading nettle.
-However barren may be the soil that falls to our lot, a careful and
-assiduous culture will contribute not a little to make the garden, at
-least, pleasing and cheerful.
-
-[Illustration: FINIS]
-
-
-Printed by J. Swan, 76, Fleet Street.
-
-
-
-
-Transcriber's Notes:
-
-
-Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant
-preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.
-
-Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced
-quotation marks retained.
-
-Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.
-
-Occasional occurrences of the archaic long "s" (printed as "f") have
-been replaced with the modern "s".
-
-Occasional missing periods and opening or closing quotation marks
-remedied.
-
-Page 95: "Though her visitors did not look" was printed as "visiters",
-but was changed here for consistency with other occurrences of
-"visitor" or "visitors" in this text.
-
-Page 97: "spised" probably should be "despised".
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-End of Project Gutenberg's The Blossoms of Morality, by Richard Johnson
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