Regarding neither fortune, pow'r, nor state,
Nor ever wishing to be vainly great;
Without malevolence and spleen can live,

And what his neighbour wants, with joy would give.
A foe to pride, no paffion's guilty friend,
Obeying nature, faithful to her end;
Severe in manners, as in truth fevere,
Juft to himself, and to his friends fincere;
His temper even, and his fteady mind
Refin❜d by friendship, and by books refin'd.
Some low-roof'd cottage holds the happy fwain,
Unknown to lux'ry, or her fervile train;
He, ftudying nature, grows ferenely wife,
Like Socrates he lives, or like him dies.
He asks no glory, gain'd by hoftile arms,
Nor fighs for grandeur with her painted charms;
With calm indiff'rence views the fhifting fcene,
Thro' all magnanimous, refign'd, ferene:
On hope fuftain'd, he treads life's devious road,
And knows no fear, except the fear of God;
Would Heav'n, indulgent, grant my fond defire,
Thus would I live, and thus fhould life expire.

THE middle ftate of life is best,
Exalted ftations find no rest.

Storms shake th' afpiring pine and tow'r,
And mountains feel the thunder's pow'r.
The mind, prepar'd for each event,
In every ftate maintains content;
She hopes the best when storms prevail,
Nor trufts too far the profp'rous gale:
Should time returning winters bring,
Returning winter yields to fpring;
Should darkness fhroud the prefent fkies,
Hereafter brighter funs fhall rife.

A WISE Heathen was of opinion, that if mankind, in general, had the power given them to change their ftation in life, and at the fame time were made acquaint

ed

ed with the inconveniences attending every other state, as well as their own, they would unanimoufly choose to continue in the fituation they were at firft placed in by Providence.

THE firft ingredient in converfation is truth; the next good fenfe; the third good humour; the last wit.

DISCREET people generally have a referve of neceffaries before-hand, that when the time comes for ufing them, there may be no hurry and confufion.

CIVILITY over-acted, is always fufpicious. A blaft of thorns begins in a blaze, and foon ends in a fmoke; but a fire, made of proper materials, designed to be useful and lafting, at its first kindling breaks out from a cloud of smoke, and grows clearer and brighter as it burns.

PLUTARCH (in his book of Friendship) directs us, to "make a trial of our friends, as of our money, " and to be equally cautious of choofing both." Tacitus tells us, that the longer a friendship is contracted, fo "much the furer and more firm it is." From this we may collect, that an old friend is always to be most valued, the best to be loved, and the first to be trusted.

THE duties that are owing to friends, are integrity, love, counsel, and affiftance. It is not intimacy, and frequency of converfation, that makes a friend, but a difinterested obfervance of thefe duties.

"NEVER admit," fays the philofopher Seneca, "vain glory in your heart; for human glory is at best 66 no more than human folly."

THE pleafing gales that gentle fummer yields,
Amid the gay profufion of his ftore;

The fmiles of nature, and of verdant fields,
Are all, alas! but bleffings of an hour.

How

How vaft the beauties they around display,
Till dreary winter re-affumes his reign,
And fternly bids them vanish and decay,

And leave no traces on the pensive plain!
The golden cowflip, on th' enamell'd mead,
Difplays his youthful glories to the view;
But foon he droops his folitary head,

And yields his virtue to the evening's dew.
Alas! how tranfient is the dream of life,
And every heart-felt comfort we enjoy ;
And, fraught with care, folicitude, and ftrife,
Each hour attempts our bleffings to destroy.
All human fcenes are fubject to decay,

And time afferts an all-prevailing pow'r;
Expanding beauties to the morning's ray,
We bloom to wither, as the tender flow'r.
Not fo the foul-its views fublime and pure,
Where faith, and hope, and charity unite,
Shall rife, and dwell eternally fecure,

In Heaven's unfading manfions of delight.

MERE bafhfulness, without merit, is aukward; and merit, without modefty, infolent: but modeft merit has a double claim to acceptance, and generally meets with as many patrons as beholders.

XENOPHON, in his Cyrus, which he defigned for the perfect idea of a good prince, reprefents him, in the last minutes of his life, addreffing himself to God to this purpose: "Thou knoweft that I have been a lover "of mankind; and now that I am leaving this world, "I hope to find that mercy from thee, which I have "fhewn to others."

THE man who keeps the golden mean,
Where raging storms are feldom feen,
Avoids the dang'rous rocks and pools,
That fright the wife, and fwallow fools.

THE

THE limits of our life, how like a fhade-
A paffing cloud-our vain existence flies!
Yet, all our boundless hopes, our future views,
For endless ages, on this narrow span,
This little rivulet of time, depend.

And, oh! how faft the gliding current flows!
Nothing retards its everlafting course.
Ev'n now our hafty moments pafs away,
For ever, O, for ever are they gone!

We die with every breath; no calling back
The niceft point of all our vain duration;
'Tis paft beyond retrieve!but oh! there rest
Eternal things on this important point:
This fpan of life, this fhort allotted span,
Is all we have to manage for the stake
Of an immortal foul; the glorious weight
Of heav'nly crowns and kingdoms are fufpended,
And, oh!-if loft, can never be recall'd!

WHAT impreffion can treasure and great poffeffions make upon the mind that is contemplating, feriously, on the kingdom of Heaven, and a crown of glory that never fades away? What are the pomp and majesty of an earthly court; the magnificence of palaces and crouded theatres, to one who has in view the glories of heaven; the triumphs of the faints; and the ineffable splendour of the angelic order? What are feasts, sports, plays, and all the varieties of fenfual pleafures and delights, to him who ftedfaftly fixes his eye on celeftial bliss, and everlafting transports of joy?

HE that would pafs the latter part of life with honour and decency, muft, when he is young, confider that he fhall one day be old, and lay up knowledge for his fupport, when his powers of acting fhall forfake him; and remember when he is old, that he has once been young, and forbear to animadvert, with unneceflary rigour, on faults which experience only can correct.

Written

Written in the Holy Bible.

YE facred tomes, be my unerring guide,
Dove-hearted faints, and prophets eagle-ey'd!
I fcorn the moral fop and ethic fage,

But drink in truth from your illumin'd page:
Like Mofes' bufh, each leaf's divinely bright,
Where God invests himself in milder light.
Taught by your doctrines, we devoutly rife;
Faith points the way, and hope unbars the skies.
You tune our paffions, teach them how to roll,
And fink the body, but to raise the foul;
To raise it, bear it, to myfterious day,
Nor want an angel to direct the way

ΤΟ THE

y!

MOTHER.

SAY, while you prefs, with growing love,

The darling to your breast,

And all a mother's pleafures prove,

Are you entirely bleft?

Ah! no; a thousand tender cares,

By turns your thoughts employ;
Now rifing hopes, now anxious fears,
And grief, fucceeds to joy.

Dear innocent, her lovely fmiles
With what delight you view!
But ev'ry pain the infant feels,
The mother feels it too.
Then whispers bufy, cruel fear,
"The child, alas! may die !"
And nature prompts the ready tear,
And heaves the rifing figh.
Say, does not Heav'n our comforts mix
With more than equal pain,

To teach us, if our hearts we fix
On earth, we fix in vain ?
Then be our earthly joys refign'd,
Since here we cannot reft;
For earthly joys were ne'er defign'd
To make us fully bleft.

PATIENCE