Grew tremulous, and mov'd derifion more
Than rev'rence in perverse rebellious youth.
So colleges and halls neglected much
Their good old friend; and Discipline at length,
O'erlook'd and unemploy'd, fell fick and died.
Then study languish'd, emulation slept,
And virtue fled. The fchools became a scene
Of folemn farce, where Ignorance in ftilts,
cap well lin'd with logic not his own,
With parrot tongue perform'd the scholar's part,
Proceeding foon a graduated dunce.
Then compromise had place, and scrutiny
Became ftone-blind; precedence went in truck,
And he was competent whofe purfe was fo.
A diffolution of all bonds enfued;
The curbs, invented for the mulish mouth
Of head-ftrong youth, were broken; bars and bolts Grew rufty by difufe; and maffy gates
Forgot their office, op'ning with a touch;
›Till gowns at length are found mere masquerade,
The taffell'd-cap and the fpruce band a jeft,
A mock'ry of the world! What need of these
For gamefters, jockeys, brothellers impure,
Spendthrifts, and booted fportfinen, oft'ner seen
With belted waift and pointers at their heels.
Than in the bounds of duty? What was learn'd,
If aught was learn'd in childhood, is forgot;
And fuch expenfe as pinches parents blue,
And mortifies the lib'ral hand of love,
Is fquander'd in pursuit of idle fports
And vicious pleasures; buys the boy a name,
That fits a ftigma on his father's house,
And cleaves through life infeparably close
To him that wears it. What can after-games
Of riper joys, and commerce with the world,
The lewd vain world, that must receive him foon,
Add to fuch erudition, thus acquir'd,
Where science and where virtue are profefs'd?
They may confirm his habits, rivet faft
His folly, but to spoil him is a tafk
That bids defiance to th' united pow'rs
Of fashion, diffipation, taverns, ftews.
Now, blame we moft the nurflings or the nurse?
The children, crook'd, and twisted, and deform'd,
Through want of care; or her, whose winking eye
And flumb'ring ofcitancy mars the brood?
The nurfe no doubt. Regardless of her charge,
She needs herself correction; needs to learn,
That it is dangʼrous fporting with the world,
With things fo facred as a nation's trust,
The nurture of her youth, her dearest pledge.
All are not fuch. I had a brother once-
Peace to the mem'ry of a man of worth,
A man of letters, and of manners too!
Of manners sweet as virtue always wears,
When gay good-nature dresses her in smiles.
He grac'd a college *, in which order yet
Was facred; and was honour'd, lov'd, and wept,
By more than one, themselves confpicuous there.
Some minds are temper'd happily, and mixt
With fuch ingredients of good fense and taste
Of what is excellent in man, they thirst
With fuch a zeal to be what they approve,
That no restraints can circumfcribe them more
Than they themselves by choice, for wifdom's fake
Nor can example hurt them: what they see
Of vice in others but enhancing more
The charms of virtue in their just esteem.
If fuch escape contagion, and emerge
Pure, from fo foul a pool, to shine abroad,
And give the world their talents and themselves,
Small thanks to those whofe negligence or floth
Expos'd their inexperience to the fnare,
And left them to an undirected choice.
See, then, the quiver broken and decay'd, In which are kept our arrows! Rufting there
In wild disorder, and unfit for use,
What wonder if, difcharg'd into the world,
They shame their fhooters with a random flight,
Their points obtuse, and feathers drunk with wine!
Well may the church wage unsuccessful war,
With fuch artill'ry arm'd. Vice parries wide
Th' undreaded volley with a sword of straw,
And stands an impudent and fearless mark.
Have we not track'd the felon home, and found
His birth-place and his dam? The country mourns-
Mourns, because ev'ry plague that can infeft
Society, and that faps and worms the base
Of th' edifice that policy has rais'd,
Swarms in all quarters; meets the eye, the ear,
And fuffocates the breath at ev'ry turn.
Profufion breeds them; and the cause itself
Of that calamitous mischief has been found:
Found, too, where most offenfive, in the skirts
Of the rob'd pedagogue! Elfe, let th' arraign'd
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