RELIGION naturally tends to all that is great, worthy, friendly, generous, and noble; and the true fpirit of it, not only compofes, but cheers the foul. Though it banishes all levity of behaviour, all vicious and diffolute mirth, yet in exchange, it fills the mind with a perpetual ferenity, and uninterrupted pleasure. The contemplation of divine mercy and power, and the exercise of virtue, are in their own nature fo far from excluding all gladness of heart, that they are the principal and conftant fources of it.

TEACH me, what all believe, but few poffefs,
That life's beft fcience is ourselves to know;
The first of human bleflings is to bless,

And happiest he who feels another's woe.
Thus cheaply wife, and innocently great,
While time's fmooth fand shall regularly pafs,
Each deftin'd atom's quiet courfe I'll wait,
Nor rafhly break, nor wish to stop the glass.
And when in death my peaceful afhes lie,
If e'er fome tongue congenial speaks my name,
Friendship fhall never blush to breathe a figh,
And great ones envy such an honeft fame.

HE that canfay to himself, "I do as much good, and am as virtuous, as my moft earnest endeavours will allow me," whatever is his ftation in the world, is as to himself poffeffed of the highest honour. If ambition is not thus turned, it is no other than a continual fuccef-fion of anxiety and vexation. But when it has this caft, it invigorates the mind; and the confcioufness of its own worth is a reward, which it is not in the power of envy, detraction, or reproach, to take from it. Thus the feat of folid honour is in a man's own bofom; and no one can want fupport, who is in poffeffion of an honest confcience, but he who would fuffer the reproaches of it for other greatness.

THERE are fome men, in whom a deficiency of fenfe or wit gives no pain; there are fome, in whom abundance of both gives no pleasure.

The

The following lines are taken from a defcription of
Hawkftone, an elegant feat in Shropshire. The au-
thor of that defcription tells us, they were compofed
by the owner of the above-mentioned feat, when he
was contemplating the aftonishing fcenes around him
in his own park, where the verfes are to be seen in a
natural cavern of a vaft rock, from the top of which
you command a very diverfified and romantic prospect.
WHILST all thy glories, O my God!
Thro' the creation fhine,

Whilft rocks and hills, and fertile vales,
Proclaim the hand divine;
O! may I view, with humble heart,
The wonders of thy pow'r,
Display'd alike in wilder fcenes,
As in each blade and flow'r.
But whilst I taste thy bleffings, Lord!
And fip the streams below,
O may my foul be led to thee,

From whom all bleffings flow.
And, if fuch footsteps of thy love,
T'hro' this loft world we trace,
How far tranfcendent are thy works
Throughout the world of grace!
Juft as before yon noon-tide fun,
The brightest stars are small;
So earthly comforts are but fnares,

'Till grace has crown'd them all.

Epitaph on a Country Clergyman.

STILL, like his Saviour, known by breaking bread, The rich he entertain'd, the needy fed.

Of humour eafy, and of life unblam'd,

The friend delighted, while the priest reclaim'd.

The friend, the father, and the husband gone,
The priest still lives in the recording stone,
Where pious eyes may read his praifes o'er,
And learn each grace his pulpit taught before.

F 3

THE

THE bent and inclination of a virtuous man is towards filence, as much as poffible, becaufe the principal light and knowledge of this life, confifts in being thoroughly acquainted with the depth and greatness of his own ignorance. So that those who make great progrefs in human fciences, for the most part become peremptory and decifive. On the contrary, the proficients in the fcience of God become more referved, more inclined to filence, lefs addicted to their own sense, and lefs venturefome to judge of others; because they difcover more and more how uncertain and obfcure our knowledge is, how much we often deceive ourselves in the things we think we know beft, how many faults and errors we run into by hafte and precipitation in judging, and what diforders are often caused by rafh judgments and advices.

Infcription for an Hermitage.

FOND man, retire to this lone cell,
And bid the bufy world farewell;
Ah! quit the city's noify scene,
For pleasures tranquil and ferene;
Seek in this calm, this fweet recefs,
The rofe lip'd cherub, happiness,
That haunts the hermit's moffy floor,
And fimple peafant's rural door.
How pleafant is yon oak's brown fhade,
The fpreading beach, the adjacent glade ;
The crystal freams, that smoothly glide;
The warbling thrush, at even tide?
Fond man, here fweetly thou may'st spend
Thy fleeting days, nor fear thy end;
Stealing thro' life, as thro' the plain,
Yon rill flows filent to the main.
Here (when in ruffet veft the morn
Walks o'er the mountain or the lawn):
Thy early orifons begin,

And live fecure from woe and fin.

Here

Here too, at ev'ning's fober hour,
Adore the great Almighty pow'r ;
The Sovereign Ruler of the fkies,
For ever juft, and good, and wife.

PATIENCE will wipe away the ftreaming tear,
And hope will paint the pallid cheek of fear:
Content will always happiness fupply,

And virtue calls a bleffing from on high.

WHEN any body's misbehaviour disturbs you, difmifs the image of the injury, and bethink yourself whether you have not been guilty of the fame fault. Such reflection is the shortest and moft certain way of becoming truly wife and truly pious.

NO trees bear fruit in autumn, unless they bloffom in the fpring. To the end that our age may be profitable, and laden with ripe fruit, let all endeavour, that our youth may be studious, and flowered with the bloffoms of learning and obfervation.

WE may judge of men by their converfation towards God, but never by God's difpenfations towards them.

To learn to accommodate our tafte to that portion of happiness, which Providence has fet before us, is of all the leffons of philofophy, furely the moft neceffary. High and exquifite gratifications are not confiftent with the appointed measures of humanity; and perhaps if we would fully enjoy the relish of our being, we should rather confider the miferies we escape, than too nicely examine the intrinfic worth of the happiness we poffefs.

WHEN a man is in company with his betters, it is as much more adviseable to hear, than to fpeak, as it is better to reap, than to fow.

HE is the richest man, who defires no fuperfluity, and wants for no neceffary.

RESTLESS mortals toil for nought: Blifs in vain from earth is fought;

Blifs, a native of the sky,

Never wanders. Mortals try ;
There you cannot feek in vain,
For to feek her is to gain.

COME gentle age! to me thou doft appear
No cruel object of regret or fear;

Thy ftealing ftep I unreluctant fee,

Nor would avoid, or wish to fly from thee.

OTHERS good turns to thee be fure to tell, But nothing fay, when thou thyfelf dost well.

SOME have pleafed themselves with the thought, ་ That departed fpirits fupply the place of guardian angels to their friends; that they delight to follow them in their folitary walks, and watch their nightly flumbers, and make impreffions on their fleeping fancy, to warn them of approaching dangers." "Tis not unlikely, that the tempefts of human paffions are fometimes compofed by the foft infpiring whispers of those propitious beings, while the feats of joy have opened their glories in vifion ary scenes to their fleeping imagination.

YOU may enjoy what you have, if you do not wish for more. Like a clear ftream, which glides smoothly on, but by endeavouring to increase the waters, it be

comes a torrent.

OF greatnefs, and its pompous train,
What notions falfe we entertain!
The glitt'ring drefs, the fplendid feast,
Thofe feeking moft, who know them leaft;
Our time, anxiety, and coft,

In the vain acquifition's loft.
The man we envy oft as bleft,
In fecret pines with care opprefs'd.

MANY