degree of difcredit and infamy upon all who converse with them. But as you may sometimes, by accident, fall into such a company, take great care that no com plaisance, no good-humour, no warmth of feftal mirth, ever make you seem even to acquiefce, much less approve or applaud, such infamous doctrines. On the other hand, do not debate, nor enter into serious argument, upon a subject so much below it; but content yourself with telling them, that you know they are not serious ; that you have a much better opinion of them, than they would have you have ; and that you are very sure they would not practise the doctrine they preach. But put your private mark upon them, and thun them for ever afterwards.

There is nothing so delicate as a man's moral character, and nothing which it is his intereft so much to preserve pure. Should he be suspected of injustice, malignity, perfidy, lying, &c. all the parts and knowledge in the world will never procure him esteem, friendship, or respect. I therefore recommend to you a most scrupulous tenderness for your moral character, and the utmost care not to fay or do the leaft thing that may, ever so slightly, taint it. Show yourself, upon all occasions, the friend, but not the bully of virtue. Even Colonel Charteris (who was the most notorious blafted rascal in the world, and who had, by all sorts of crimes, amaffed immense wealth) sensible of the disadvantage of a bad character, was once heard to say, that, « though he would not give one farthing for virtue, “ he would give ten thousand pounds for a character; “ because he should get an hundred thousand pounds « by it.”. Is it possible, then, that an honest man can neglect what a wise rogue would purchase so dear?

There is one of the vices above mentioned into which people of good education, and, in the main, of good principles, sometimes fall, from mistaken notions of skill, dexterity, and self-defence; I mean lying; though it is inseparably attended with more infamy and A a 2

Joss than any other. But I have before given you my sentiments very freely on this subject; I shall, therefore, conclude this head with intreating you to be scrupulously jealous of the purity of your moral character, keep it immaculate, unblemished, unsullied; and it will be unfaspected. Defamation and calumny never attack where there is no weak place; they magnify, but they do not create.

PO E T R Y.

Messiah.—A sacred Eclogue.
E nymphs of Solyma ! begin the song:

To heav'nly themes sublimer strains belong.
The mofly fountains, and the fylvan fhades,
The dreams of Pindus, and th' Aonian maids,
Delight no more-Oh Thou my voice inspire
Who touch'd Isaiah's hallow'd lips with fire !

Rapt into future times, the Bard begun : A Virgin shall conceive, a virgin bear a Son! From Jeffe's root behold a branch arise, Whose sacred flow'r with fragrance fills the skies ; Th' æthereal spirit o'er its leaves shall move, And on its top descend the mystic Dove. Ye heavn's ! from high the dewy nectar pour, And in soft silence shed the kindly show'r! The fick and weak the healing plant shall aid, From storms a shelter, and from heat a shade. All crimes shall cease, and ancient fraud fhall fail ; Returning Justice lift aloft her scale ; Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend, And white-rob’d Innocence from heay'n descend, Swift fly the years, and rise th' expected morn! Oh spring to light, auspicious Babe ! be born. See Nature, haftes her earliest wreaths to bring, With all the incense of the breathing Spring : See lofty Lebanon his head advance, See nodding forests on the mountains dance : See spicy clouds from lowly Sharon rise, And Carmel's flow'ry top perfume the skies ! Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert chears ; Prepare the way! a God, a God appears ! A God, a God! the vocal hills reply, The rocks proclaim the approaching Deity.

Lo, carth receives him from the bending skies !
Sink down, ye mountains ! and ye vallies, rise !
With heads declin'd, ye cedars, homage pay!
Be smooth, ye rocks ! ye rapid floods, give way!
The Saviour comes, by ancient bards foretold:
Hear him, ye deaf; and all ye blind, behold!
He from thíck films shall purge the visual ray,
And on the fightlefs eye-ball pour the day:
'Tis he th' obltructed paths of found shalí clear,
And bid new mufic charm th' unfolding ear:
The dumb fhall Ging, the lanie his crutch forego,
And leap exulting like the bounding roe.
No figh, no murmur, the wide world fhall hear,
From

ev'ry face he wipes off ev'ry tear.
In adamantine chains Thall Death' be bound,
And HAI's grim tyrant feel th' eternal wound.
As the good shepherd tends his fleecy care,
Seeks fresheft pasture, and the parest air,
Explores the lost, the wand'ring sheep directs,
By day o'erfees them, and by night protects,
The tender lambs he raifes in his arms,
Feeds from his hand, and in his bofom warms;
Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage,
The promis'd father of the future age.
No more shall nation against nation rife,
Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes,
Nor fields with gleaming steel be cover'd o'er,
The brazen trumpets kindle

Tage

no more ; But useless tances into scythes thall bend, And the broad faulchion in a plowfhare end. Then palaces shall rise, the joyful fon Shall Anish what his thort-liv'd fire begun; Their vines a fhadow to their race shall yield, And the same hand that fow'd fhall reap the field.. The swain in barren deferts with suprise Sees lilies spring, and sudden verdure rise ; And starts amidst the thirty wilds to hear New falls of water marm'ring in his ear. On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes,

The green reed trembles, and the bulrush nods.
Waste fandy valleys, once perplex'd with thom,
The spiry fir and shapely box adorn:
To leafless shrubs the flow'ry palms fucceed,
And od'rous myrtles to the noisome weed.
The lambs with wolves shall graze the verdant mead,
And boys in flow'ry bands the tiger lead;
The steer and lion at one crib shall meet,
And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet.
The smiling infant in his hand shall take
The crefted bafilifk and fpeckled snake,
Pleas'd the green luftre of their scales survey,
And with their forky tongues shall innocently play.
Rise, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rise !
Exalt thy tow'ry head, and lift thy eyes !
See a long race thy spacious courts adorn;
See future fons and daughters yet unborn,
In crowding ranks on every fide arise,
Demanding life, impatient for the skies!
See barb'rous nations at thy gates attend,
Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend;
See thy bright altars throng'd with proftrate kings,
And heap'd with products of Sabæan springs !
For thee Idumea's spicy forests blow,
And seeds of gold in Ophir's mountains glow.
See Heav'n its fparkling portals wide display,
And break upon thee in a flood of day!
No more the rising sun shall gild the morn,
Nor ev'ning Cynthia fill her tilver horn;
But lost, diffolv'd in thy fuperior rays,
One tide of glory, one 'unclouded blaze
O'erflow thy courts, the light himself fhall fhine
Reveal'd, and God's eternal day be thine !
The seas shall waste, the skies in smoke decay,
Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away;
But fix'd his word, his faving pow'r remains;
Thy realm for ever lasts, thy own Messiah reigns

Pope.