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are deceived, cried the ftranger; it is not the munificence or liberality of the Great that does them harm; 'tis vice, 'tis diffipation, cards, dice, wo. men, racing horfes, and the gratifica tion of inordinate defires. It was the heir of this eftate who defpoiled it. The rapine of licentious vice presently lays low the nobleft edifice, makes defolate the most delightful fcenes of nature, corrupts the heart, and deftroys the understanding. After a long courfe of ruinous pleafures, which with difficulty deprived him of the eftablished good left him by his father, he found himself at laft involved in law with one of the mortgagees of his eftate: the confequence was, that this mansion became the object of a chancery fuit; and as no one would be at the expence to keep in repair a place in which they had a precarious intereft, it went to decay, and the house, which was once the feat of fo good and benevolent an owner, is now inhabited by a fet of strangers, felf-created tenants, whofe way of life is not known, but who are doubtlefs fmugglers, and indeed are strongly fufpected of committing thefts and depredations for miles round at night only are the doors open. Alas, what a change does vice bring about! The fashionable young heir purfued his propenfities until he was reduced from twentyfive thoufand a-year to beggary: he indeed fought an afylum in an elegant houfe that he had formerly given to one of his favourite ladies, who had ever been wont to receive him with fmiles but there is no confiftency, no true friendship, among the vicious; fhe turned him from her door; drunkennefs was now his conftant relief, and the child of parents of worth and wealth, the heir of immenfe landed property, ended his days in a publichoufe. Yet the precedent will not avail; the owner of a neighbouring manfion is following his fteps with all the unremitting diligence of depravity. Happy would it be for fome who are in the fame road to ruin to attend to the example of Adelius. Adelius was young, gay, and accomplished; he had indulged in a variety of diffipations, and had involved his eftate confiderably, when, at the age of thirty, he married Adelefia, who was as young, gay, and accomplished, as himself: their marriage was celebrated in the moft expenfive ftyle; already the gilded

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chariot and gay liveries were feen in the streets and at the theatres; already the fplendid ball-room was lighted up to receive its gay vifitors, and whole columns of the newspapers filled with the names of rank and fashion that attended them; rout fucceeded rout; and while Adelefia was lofing hundreds at her own tables, Adelius was facrificing thoufands to the profeffed gamblers of the fubfcription-houses: one eftate after another was mortgaged; and at last ruin approached fo near as to terrify, by its appearance, even the gay and thoughtless Adelius and Adelefia. But how to redeem the past, or stop themselves in this dangerous defcent, they knew not. Happily, among their vifitants they had received a young author, named Eugenius, who had talent, and the art of pleafing by his converfation and manner: to him they applied for advice, and he advifed retirement. This at firft fhocked the pride of Adelius; and Adelefia fhrunk back at the idea of parting with what the called her pleasures. They determined, however, to try the experiment for a little time, and went to a small cottage in the country: they retired, and were vifited only by Eugenius. The change of their fituation depreffed their fpirits. Eugenius found them disconfolate; they wanted company. will introduce you to fome,' faid Eugenius; and the next day he brought with him fome choice books and mufic. Fortunately, the minds of Adelius and Adelefia were capable of taste and refinement. They began to feel, for the first time in their lives, TRUE LIBERTY. Adelefia had now, too, a new fource of amusement and delight; he had children. Seven years only elapfed in the pleasures of retirement, when Adelius found himself cleared from his incumbrances: fo easily does a determined course of economy rettore the wafte of extravagance. Adelius and Adelefia were now free to return, and they might do it with fafety, for they were free also from their paflion for diffipation. They returned to the gay world, but it was to tafte rational pleafures with a few choice friends, who could bring in fomething to the common stock of entertainment. Yet did they not exclude the company of fome who were deemed to know nothing, if their hearts were good; they did not quarrel with

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the want of understanding. The gay world were astonished to fee Adelius and Adelefia returned, but could not follow their example. The fecret wanting was this, that Adelius and Adelefia had minds, and they had

none.

"It is to be lamented," cried Moredius, "that man, acquainted as he is with good and evil, from the experience of hi tory, and the obfervations within his reach, does not choose purfuits and pleasures that lead to happinefs, in preference to fuch as produce care, uneafinets, and perhaps remorfe; that he does not confider prudence as the means to acquire or preferve the comforts and advantages of life; and that he does not fhun extravagance, as the fure forfeiture of independence. It is not enough to fay, that men's ideas of happiness are not the fame; there are certain confequences of act ing ill, or unwifely, that never fail to inflict the fame punishments in every condition, and are alike felt by all. Happy the man who, by the moderation of his views, prevents a creation of the cares and anxieties that conftantly attend the projects of avarice ambition, or luft; and who, by his contempt for mean, empty, or ufelefs pu fuits, fecures himself again temp tation. Such was the character of Cefario, who frequently to the notes of his harp used to repeat the following ftanzas:

In the proud gala's tinfel'd maze,
Where Folly's ideot idlers gaze,
Amidst the splendid slavery
My mind ftill ftruggles to be free.
Ner of Alvarus, doom'd to care,
The weight of wealth I wish to bear.
Tis true, he's richer far than me,
xcept in this, my mind is free.
The great man's table let me fhun,
The trifling wit by Fashion Tpun,
At home to tafle (weet liberty,
Where mind and actions both are free.
Nor feek among the Great a friend,
Where Realor must to Flattery hend:
Their manners have no charms for me,
My mind delights in being tree.

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With that I am content to be,
My mind is cheerful as 'tis free.
Whene'er I please, abroad I roam;
And when I like, I stay at home.
Great Princes want that liberty;
'Tis they are flaves, 'tis I am free.

Perhaps if I were called upon to give an opinion, what condition of life I confidered to be the most independent, I thould anfwer, that of a man of fenfe living in a garret upon a certain income of fifty pounds a-year, who can light his own fire, thave his own beard, and cook his own fteak. Such a fituation is the height of independence: he is placed fo high in the world as to be even out of the reach of envy, thieves will not moleft him, and a trap is over his head to escape from fire; he has no occafion to ring twice for a fervant ; his dinner is never fpoiled, unless he fpoils it himself; he has no attachments, unless it is for his cat; he comes in when he likes, goes out when he likes, goes to relt when he likes, rifes when he likes, reads when he likes, and walks when he likes: his is not a state of folitude; he can go into company when he pleases; and if he is at home he finds a companion in his mind or a book; and the world is to him a mere puppet-fhew, into which he only looks at times for his amufement.

But, however pleasing even this independence may be, yet as, in the great fcheme of Providence, this theatre of the world, every man has his part afcribed him dans le Role, no one thould refufe to perform. He who can fuit himself to every thing, and is ready to take any thing at a minute's notice, is not only the most useful actor, but is fo perfectly at home in all he does, that he never fuffers inconvenience. Such a man 'cares little for the hard rubs and jostlings that he meets with, and laughs through the scene like a troller before an audience of country bump kins in a barn.

Matthew Merrythought was one of thofe happy characters who had feen most of the varieties of fortune without murmuring; and though the had played him a hundred ugly tricks, he laughed at them all. Nature had been bountiful to him, and his well-tet limbs and lufty fhoulders bid defiance to fatigue he had been brought up roughly at a fchool in Yorkshire, and could wrestle,

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fwim, box, leap, and run, better than any of his fchool fellows. Matt, who had a clear head, prefently acquired fome Latin, and was just a tolerable mafter of his own language, when he was taken from school, and put into the office of Mr. Scrape, the attorney; but Matt, who had an utter deteltation for the desk, took the opportunity one morning to decamp without giving his inafter any legal notice, and joined a recruiting party which happened to be paffing through the town. From this hour, Matt used to fay, he began to rough it; but forced marches and nightly camps only gave a temper and confiftency to his conftitution that rendered it inflexible to the attacks of climate or fatigue: he never minded the perfecutions of wind or weather; and let the ftorm pelt away as hard as it would," cried Matt, "I was never afraid to poke out my chin." Happily, Matt's mind took the fame difpoition, and was prefently as inflexible to the effects of inconvenience or difappointment as his body to the injuries of climate. He was naturally fo cheerful and comical, that if we could for a moment perfonify Care, we should imagine him retiring astonished at the rifible phiz which Matt always prefented to him. Matt's boldness and intrepidity of character foon recommended him to his Officers; and he was pre, fently raised from a private to a pair of colours, which he defended fo nobly in one of the hottest engagements in the war with America, that he was promoted to a Lieutenancy with the rank of Captain. But thefe advantages were attended with new difficulties. Matt's pay was very infufficient to fupport him, for he had a generons and liberal mind, proof against every thing but diftrefs. Matt had now frequent occafions to exercife his fortitude, for he was befet with duns, who attacked him on all fides; but Matt was ftill found at his poft, and fcorned to run away; and when he received bis money, he always paid as far as it would go.

There is not a character that deferves our esteem and affiftance more than the man of good principle, who paffes whole days of anxious moments and eager defires to keep his word: fuch a man carries about him a ceafelefs atrophy, and pays a fevere intereft for the debts he owes.

Matt was not of this description he

did all he could, and, to use his own expreffions, was no fooner in a scrape than he got out of it. A creditor of Matt's, who was a profeffed moneylender, and who had supplied him much to his difadvantage, threatened one day, if he did not immediately make good his payment, to have him fent to prifon. Matt fhrugged up his fhoulders, and, looking vaftly cunning, asked his creditor. What o'clock it was? The money-lender, aftonished at his com pofure, defired to know what he meant by the enquiry. "Becaufe," anfwered Matt, "juft let me put up a few things in a bundle, and I'll go to prifon directly."

Matt had a variety of odd fayings and remarks, which he made ufe of on any occafion that fuited; fuch as, when he got into a difficulty, he always exclaimed, “I am a lucky fellow! I'm a lucky fellow !" and when he got out of it, "I told ye fo; if you was to throw me into the fea stark naked, I should come up with a bag wig on my head and a sword by my fide." Matt was fometimes fond of punning, when he had an opportu nity to be fatirical; as when he ob ferved, "that there was but one place in the world where he was always fure to find a cordial reception, and that was at the brandy vaults ;” “that there was only one person whom he could depend upon to do any thing for him, and that was himself." If Matt got into company that he did not like, he would exclaim very piteoufly, in the language of Scripture, "Why am I constrained to dwell with Mefech, and have my habitation among the tents of Kedar." And one day being out on a water-party, where he was obliged to liften very patiently, for a long time, to the pretenfions of a Gentleman who affumed to be accomplished in every thing, he took the opportunity of a fudden fquall coming on to afk him if he could fwim; which question difconcerted the beau fo much, that he trembled all over, and did not fay another fyllable till they got to fhore. Matt had a great contempt for the tender, delicate, and nervous fprigs of fashion, raised in the nursery beds of voluptuoufnefs and ease, and used to paint their fituation in a very ludicrous manner. "It is admirable," said he, "to fee a fine lady caught in a heavy fhower, almost finking with vexation that her hair is put in diforder, her

muflin

muffin spoiled, and her complexion in danger; while the village girl next her fmiles at the tempeft, which can neither affect her pride nor beauty, grateful only that the rain will fill the ears of wheat, and make a good harvest." Another of his pictures was that of an old debauchee hobbling out of a broken down coach in a cross country road, while fome hale frefn-coloured farmer, full of strength and vigour, walks by, and both pities and ridicules the diftreifes of quality. But the most fanciful of Matt's whims was, his Table of Life, as he humourously called it, which he kept while in London on half-pay. This curiofity confifted of a fheet of paper divided into different columns, in the following order: Cath debtor, Cafh creditor, Creditor by probabili ties, poffibilities, and non-expectancies, and Dehtor by disappointments, temp. tations, and extravagancies; befides another column for actions at law. "This," Matt used to cry, "is my fcale of agreeables and difagreeables, conveniences and inconveniences; by this I can tell, in one moment, the state of my finances and of my mind; and may be made fenfible of all my mistakes and foolishneffes at a glance. If I have fpent too much, I have only to buy a pig with a shorter tail till matters come round again; and if I have a furplus, it is very easy to give fomething away to restore the equilibrium between my pocket and my real wants." In thort, Matt's mind was a kingdom to him in every respect, and his athletic body made him almost an absolute monarch over mifchance and difficulty. Matt ne ver cared how he was accommodated; and if he found in his travels that there was not a bed to be had, he would lay himself down very fnugly in fome

corner of the room, make up his great coat for a pillow, and fleep as found as a dormouse. But his hardiness was not only of fervice to himself. If a man was drowning, Matt initantly jumped into the water to fave him; if the driver of cattle beat them barbaroufly, he corrected the abufe; if the strong oppressed the weak, his ftrength was used to counteract op preflion; he cared not how far he travelled to ferve a friend, and night or day, heat or cold, checked not his progrefs to affift; he was always ready, always willing, and gloried in the fupe rior powers that he had to protect or fave. Matt had often expressed a hope that he should never linger on a fick bed; and this with was granted him; for he died in the field of battle by a ball from the enemy. Matt in his laft moments fent for the Chaplain of the regiment, and very gravely defired that he would take the firft opportunity to fend Mrs. Strafburg, at the fnuff-fhop in Little Britain, half-a-crown which he had forgot to pay her when he left England-" She is a poor woman," cried Matt; "and it is the only appeal to the court of confcience that I have to make; and now (faid he) you may add up the fum of my adventures, and put death for the total, as foon as you please."

Such was the end of Matt Merrythought, who never gave a wound but in battle, who was as brave and good a man and foldier as ever breathed, and who left behind him, for the fervice of mankind, this evident truth: that, let a man's profeftion or calling be what it may, his mind will be a kingdom to him, while he acts with honour, justice, and humanity. G.B.

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LOOSE THOUGHTS ON RURAL POETRY.

IT is really aftonishing, that the only defcription of poetry which profelles to have nature for its model fhould be the most unnatural and uninteresting. As in painting, fo in pattoral poetry, the country affords the most entertaining fcenes and delightful profpects. Phillips july observes, that "Theocritus, Virgil, and Spencer, are almoft the only writers that have hit upon the true nature of paftoral poetry," and yet Phillips himfelf, in following

the fame track, has frequently tre paffed against character, talte, and probability. He indeed purfued the fame plan, with all the flavishness of a profelfed imitator, but forgot the manners and cuftoms of the people, and even the very scenery of the country in which he wrote.

The adoption of the Heathen mythology in English rural defcription is an abfurdity unworthy of a moment's reflection, and has been justly expofed

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In woods bright Venus with Adonis stray'd,
And chafte Diana," &c.

Taking in all the circumstances, can any thing exceed the confufion and abfurdity of these lines?

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But fetting afide such confiderations, might not paftoral or rural poetry be applied to better and more valuable purposes? That it might we have fufficient proof in the Seasons of Thomson, in the Talk of Cowper, and in the Deferted Village of Goldsmith. Among living Authors, many may be named whole works tend to improve the morals and ameliorate the condition of mankind.

is fometimes an apparent want of connexion in this poem, the episodes introduced are fuch as naturally arife out of the fubject, and are well calculated to make a fenfib e impression upon the mind. The invocation to the Mufe of his native valley," and to Remembrance, is happy and appro priate; but the lines,

Mr. Pratt, in his "Poor," has exemplified the truth of this remark. The feeling and energy with which he has pleaded the caule of the unfortu snate, does him infinite credit, both as a poet and a man. His invocation to the Spirits of Pity has peculiar beauties, and is particularly adapted to prepare the mind of fenfibility for the reception of a series of the most delicate and affecting images. The "Peafant's Fate," by Holloway, is of a fimilar conftruction, and the fentiments all tend to the fame point ; though there

In

"While I fing the changes that ap.

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tear!"

reminds us of the painter who concealed the face he knew not how to delineate There is, indeed, les fimilarity than could naturally be expected between the laft mentioned works; but they hoth poffefs refpective merits, of which the principal part of pastoral poems are deftitute.

"Laft, not least," in the annals of rural poetry, the "Farmer's Boy" comes under our notice; to point out all the beauties of which would får exceed the limits of the prefent defign: the introduction to fpring, and the concluding invocation, are fufficient fpecimens of the ability of the admirable Author.

"O come, bleft Spirit! whofoe'er thou

art,

Thou rushing warmth that hover'it round my heart

Sweet inmate hail! Thou fource of fter-
ling joy,

Which Poverty itself cannot destroy,
Be thou my mule !"
And again-

"Eternal Pow'r ! from whom these blefling's flow,

Still teach me more to wonder, more to know;

Let the first flow'r, corn-waving field, plain, tree,

Here, round my home, ftill lift my soul to Thee!

And let me ever midt thy bounties raise An humble note of thankfulness and praise !"

How far fuperior is this language to that of either Phillips or Pope? In a word, the train of content, piety, and humanity, which runs through the whole of this British Georgic, will no doubt materially tend to rescue rural and defcriptive poely from the neglect to which it has too long been subject. A CONSTANT READER, Aug. 12, 1892.

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