bloom of youth, and triumph of beauty, practifes the rules of purity and virtue; and that in the exercise of thofe qualities the finest breeding confifts.

IN all things preferve integrity; the consciousness of thy own uprightnefs will alleviate the toil of business, and foften the harfhnefs of ill fuccefs and disappointments, and give thee an humble confidence before God, when the ingratitude of man, or the iniquity of the times, may rob thee of other due reward.

THE time of fickness or affliction is like the cool of the day was to Adam, a feafon of peculiar propriety for the voice of God to be heard; and may be improved into a very advantageous opportunity of begetting or increafing fpiritual life in the foul.

MAN's life, like any weaver's fhuttle flies,
Or like a tender flow'ret fades and dies ;
Or like a race it ends without delay,

Or like a vapour vanishes away;

Or like a candle which each moment waftes,
Or like a veffel under fail it haftes;

Or like a poft it gallops very faft,

Or like the fhadow of a cloud 'tis paft.

Our castle is but weak, and strong the foe,

Our breath is fhort, our death is certain too;

But as his coming is a fecret ftill,

Let us be ready, come death when he will.

Concluding Stanzas of a Piece written on Recovery from Sickness.

FATHER of life! whofe arm with equal power,
And equal goodnefs, can deprefs or raife,
Complete the blefings thou haft deign'd to fhow'r,
And grant increafing worth to length of days.

Oh!

Oh! grant me ftill to trust thy tender care,
In humble praise to use this added breath,
In health, the innocence of fickness wear,

And keep, thro' life, the fober thoughts of death.

A WISE Heathen, with great juftice, compares profperity to the indulgence of a fond mother to her child, which often proves his ruin; but the affection of the Divine Being to that of a wife father, who would have his fons exercised with labour, difappointment, and pains, that they may gather ftrength, and improve their fortitude. Sometimes too, a misfortune may happen to a good man, to preserve him from a much greater one. Thus fickness may be a very great mercy to him, if it keeps him from embarking in a veffel which will be loft in its paffage. Thus poverty may fcreen him from a great many evils which would be brought upon him by riches, and the like. We are fo fhort-fighted, that we know not how to distinguish, and often take the greatest bleflings for misfortunes, and the heaviest curfes for bleffings. We are like mariners, who by fair winds might run into the way of pirates: but by thofe contrary to their wishes, reach their port in safety.

Extempore Exclamation on the Profpect of Winter. OH! may our follies, like the falling trees, Be ftript of ev'ry leaf by autumn's wind! May ev'ry branch of vice embrace the breeze,

And nothing leave but virtue's fruit behind! Then when old age, life's winter, fhall appear,

In confcious hope, all future ills we'll brave, With fortitude our diffolution bear,

And fink, forgotten, in the filent grave.

THE man, within the golden mean
Who can his holdeft with contain,
Securely views the ruin'd cell,
Where fordid want and forrow dwell,
And in himself, ferenely great,
Declines an envied room of ftate.

IT

IT is a melancholy confideration, that our comforts often produce our greateft anxieties; and that an increase of our poffeffions is but an inlet to new difquietudes.

and

WEAK and feeble minds are most prone to anger, by their exceeding fierceness, generally disappoint their own purpose. But the greatest and bravest of men are always calm and fedate; they are above being disturbed with little injuries, and can generously pardon the greateft; taking more delight in mercy and forgiveness, than in profecuting revenge when it is in their power.

OTHER vices are confined within certain bounds, and have a particular object, but affectation diffuses itself over the whole man, and affects the good qualities both of body and mind.

SHUN the leaft appearance of evil, that you may not be fufpected; and if you cannot avoid both, choofe rather to be fufpected, when you do not deferve it, than to do evil, without being fufpected.

BE very cautious of fpeaking or believing any ill of your neighbours; but be much more cautious of making hafty reports of them to their difadvantage.

LET virtue and innocence accompany your recreations; for unlawful pleafures, though agreeable for a moment, are too often attended with bad confequences; and instead of relaxing the mind, plunge us into an abyfs of trouble and affliction.

FILIAL, fubmiffive to the fov'reign will,
Glad of the good, and patient of the ill,
I'll work, in narrow fphere, what Heav'n approves,
Abating hatreds, and increasing loves;

My friendships, ftudies, pleafures all my own,
Alike to envy and to fame unknown.
Such in fome bleft afylum let me lie,

Take off my fill of life, and wait, not wish to die.

WHEN

WHEN beauty's charms decay, as foon they muft,
And all its glories humbled in the dust,
The virtuous mind, beyond the rage of time,
Shall ever bloffòm in a happier clime,

Whofe never-fading joys no tongue can tell,
Where everlafting youth and beauty dwell;
Where pain and forrow never more shall move,
But all is pleasure, harmony, and love.

SEARCHING AFTER HAPPINESS.

OH! happiness, thou pleafing dream,
Where is thy fubftance found?
Sought through the varying fcenes in vain,
Of earth's capacious round.
The charms of grandeur, pomp, and fhew,
Are nought but gilded fnares;
Ambition's painful fteep afcent,
Thick fet with thorny cares.
The bufy town, the crowded street,
Where noife and difcord reign,
We gladly leave, and tir'd, retreat,
To breathe and think again.
Yet, if retirement's pleasing charms
Detain the captive mind,

The foft enchantment foon diffolves,
'Tis empty all as wind.

Religion's facred lamp alone,
Unerring points the way,
Where happiness forever fhines,
With unpolluted ray;

To regions of eternal peace,

Beyond the starry skies,

Where pure, fublime, and perfect joys,

In endless profpect rise.

OH would't thou, man! but now and then descend

Into the dark receffes of thy breast,

Before the feeds of baleful vice have fprung,

And

And tak'n poffeffion of thy eafy heart;

Then might'ft thou think on other worlds to come,
And live in folitude without a fear.

HAPPY the man! whofe tranquil mind,
Sees nature in her changes kind,

And pleas'd, the whole furveys.
For him the morn benignly smiles,
And evening fhades reward the toils,
That measure out his days.

The varying year may shift the fcene,
The founding tempefts lafh the main,
And Heaven's own thunders roll;
Calmly he fees the bursting ftorm,
Tempefts nor thunder can deform
The morning of his foul.

THE induftrious ant, by nature taught,
With more than common prudence fraught,
Lays up, fecure, an annual store,
(It's little date, perhaps no more :)
Would man (who Lord of all prefides,
Alone whom reafon's influence guides,
Whom Heav'n, in mercy unconfin'd,
For nobler purposes defign'd)

Thus hoard against that common state
We all muft prove, or foon or late;
How calm might he refign his breath,
And fmiling, meet the arm of death!
With joy his foul to Heav'n commend,
And fearless, wait his latter end.

NOT all the gifts of wealth, the pomp of ftate, The gilded palace, or the envied throne,

Deferve the real tribute of applaufe.
Praise rather thofe who fteadily pursue

The precepts of humility, who hear
The voice of cooler reason, nor defire

More than their flocks, and herds, the tufted cell,

Or