evil, either hurtful or beneficent. But, as far as felfifh ness, merely, is a motive to any action, it never had, nor can have, any relation to virtue. We must fearch fomewhat deeper for the root of that tree, which is productive of this divine fruit.

ALL who would please the great, must be flatterers but the true province of friendship is, to put us in mind of our own faults.

MEEKNESS makes any condition tolerable and eafy to be endured. He that meekly bears any fuffering, takes off the edge of it, that it cannot wound him ; whereas he that frets and rages at it, whets it, and makes it much sharper than it would otherwife be.

IT is faid of our bleffed Saviour, that he was led as a sheep to the flaughter; that when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he fuffered, threatened not." And if he, the Lord of glory, fuffered thus meekly and unjustly from his own creatures, with what face can we ever complain of any injury done to us?

BE very watchful over thine heart, and never fuffer it to feed on the fancy of thy own worth; but whenever any fuch thought arifes, beat it down immediately, with the remembrance of fome of thy follies or fins, and fo make this very motion of pride an occafion of humility.

NEVER compare thyself with those thou thinkest more foolish or more wicked, that fo thou mayeft, like the Pharifee, extol thyfelf for being better; but if thou wilt compare, do it with the wife and godly; and then thou wilt find thou comeft fo far fhort, as may help to pull down thy high efteem of thyself.

POVERTY is apt to betray a man into envy, riches into arrogance. Poverty is too often attended with fraud, vicious compliance, repining, murmur, and difcontent. Riches expofe a man to pride and luxury, a foolish elation of heart, and too great a fondness for the prefent world. In fhort, the middle condition is moft eligible. WINTER

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WINTER.

THE fields, difconfolate and fad,
No vegetation bring;

No verdure makes the peafant glad,
Nor fhews the welcome fpring.
No more the trees in lively green,
Their leafy honours fhew;

The boughs, where trembling leaves were feen,
Exhibit flakes of fnow.

The plumy race of various dies,

Have loft their wonted fire;

To thickets clofe, from low'ring skies,
The feather'd tribe retire.

The cryftal floods, in fetters bound,
No rushing torrents feel;
In vain, aufpicious gales are found,
To waft the gloffy keel.

In icy fetters they remain,
Depriv'd of liberty,

'Till gentle zephyrs loofe the chain,
And fet the captives free.

The TRULY GREAT.

1

THEY'RE only great, whom no bafe motive rules, Who owe no glory to the breath of fools; Friends to true merit, to their country dear, To others kind, but to themselves fevere; Quiet in fuff'ring, with their lot content, And careful to improve the talent lent; Good without pride, tho' humble, yet not mean, In danger fearless, and in death ferene.

IF every person would confider, that he is in this life nothing more than a paffenger, and that he is not to fet up his reft here, but to keep an attentive eye upon that ftate of being to which he approaches every moment, and

which will be for ever fixed and permanent: this fingle confideration would be fufficient to extinguish the bitternefs of hatred, the thirft of avarice, and the cruelty of ambition.

IT is a great prefumption, to afcribe our fucceffes to our own management; and not to esteem ourselves upon any bleffing, rather as it is the bounty of Heaven, than the acquisition of our own prudence.

Extracted from "A Midnight Thought."

WHILE active thought unfeals my eye,
And midnight darkness fhades the sky,
Be hufh'd, my foul, ye moments stay,
While I rejudge the guilty day.

See confcience glares, more dreadful made
By filence and the awful fhade!

She points her poignard to my breast,
And bids my juftice speak the rest.

Then think, my foul, while Heav'n gives breath,
And antedate the ftroke of death!
Reflect how fwift the moments fly,
Nor linger, unprepar'd to die!
Penfive revolve, 'ere yet too late,
The scenes of an eternal state,
A series of unnumber'd years,
Or crown'd with joys, or loft in tears.
What awful hints these thoughts infpire,
They chill the blood, they pall defire;
They teach the foul her Heav'nly birth,
And banish all the
pomps on earth.
Here, as in air, a bubble toft,

Her worth unknown, her genius loft;
At pleasure's fancy has the drove,
Forgetful of her feat above!
Oh! what such folly can atone?
Reafon dejected from her throne;
Let humble penitence restore,
And bid my foul to err no more.

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All

All clement thou, O God! all just,
The good man's rock, the finner's truft;
Accept the blood my Saviour shed,
To fave from woe this guilty head.
Oh! fend thy life reftoring grace,
Effuse the luftre of thy face;
From guilt and forrow fet me free,
And guide me, till I come to thee.

NOTHING will give a better luftre to all your virtues, than modesty.

HE that is his own appraifer, will be mistaken in the value.

A LITTLE efteem of one's felf, hinders a great deal from others; boafting may gain applause from fools, but it puts a wife man to the expence of a blush.

SELF efteem is commonly punished with univerfal contempt.

NO revenge is more heroic, than that which torments envy by doing good.

IT is in vain for him to pretend to love either God or man, who loves his money fo much better, that he will fee his poor brother (who is a man, and bears the image of God) fuffer all extremities, rather than part with any thing to relieve him.

"He that giveth to the poor, lendeth unto the Lord” -and that too on folemn promife of repayment. "That which he hath given, will he pay him again." It is, amongst men, thought a great difparagement, if we refufe to trust them: It fhews we either think them not fufficient, or not honeft. How great an affront is it then to God, thus to diftruft him?

Innumerable accidents there are, which may, in an inftant, bring a rich man to beggary: And therefore, what courfe fo prudent can we take for our wealth, as to put it out of the reach of thofe accidents, by lending it to God, where we may be fure to find it ready at our greatest need, and that too with improvement and increase?

The

The contented Country Maid..

WHAT happiness the rural maid attends,
In chearful labour while each day the spends:
She gratefully receives what Heav'n has fent,
And, rich in poverty, enjoys content.
She feldom feels the spleen's imagin'd pains,
Nor melancholy ftagnates in her veins;
She rarely lofes life in thoughtless ease,
Nor on the velvet couch invites disease.
Her homefpun drefs in fimple neatnefs lies,
And for no glaring equipage fhe fighs.
Her reputation, which is all her boast,
In a malicious vifit ne'er was loft.

No midnight masquerade her beauty wears,
And health, not paint, the fading bloom repairs.
If love and quiet in her bofom reign,

And like enjoyment in her happy fwain,
No home-bred jars her quiet ftate controul,.
Nor watchful jealoufy torments her foul.
With fecret joy fhe fees her little race
Reft on her knee, and her small cottage grace;
The fleecy ball their bufy fingers cull,

Or from the fpindle draw the length'ning wool;
Thus flow her hours with conftant peace of mind,
Till age the latest thread of life unwind.

OF all thofe forrows that attend mankind,
With patience bear the lot to thee affign'd,
Nor think it chance, nor murmur at the load,
For know what man calls Fortune, is from God..

AMONG the antient Romans, it was not the house which honoured the mafter, but the mafter the house. A cottage with them became as auguft as a temple, when juftice, generofity, probity, fincerity, and honour, were lodged in it; and how can a houfe be called fmal, which contains fo many and fuch great virtues?

AN extraordinary merit may lie hid under a mean habit, as a rich garment may cover enormous vices.

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THE