Of Academus, is this falfe or true?

Is Chrift the abler teacher, or the schools?

If Chrift, then why refort at ev'ry turn

To Athens or to Rome, for wisdom short
Of man's occafions, when in him refide

Grace, knowledge, comfort, an unfathom'd ftore?
How oft, when Paul has ferv'd us with a text,
Has Epictetus, Plato, Tully preach'd!

Men that, if now alive, would fit content

And humble learners of a Saviour's worth,

Preach it who might. Such was their love of truth, Their thirst of knowledge, and their candour too.

And thus it is. The paftor, either vain
By nature, or by flatt'ry made fo, taught
To gaze at his own fplendor, and t'exalt
Abfurdly, not his office, but himself;

Or unenlighten'd, and too proud to learn,
Or vicious, and not therefore apt to teach,
Perverting often by the ftrefs of lewd

And

And loofe example, whom he fhould inftruct,
Exposes and holds up to broad difgrace

The noblest function, and difcredits much

The brightest truths that man has ever feen.
For ghoftly counfel, if it either fall

Below the exigence, or be not back'd

With fhow of love, at least with hopeful proof
Of fome fincerity on the giver's part;

Or be dishonor'd in th' exterior form

And mode of its conveyance, by fuch tricks
As move derifion, or by foppish airs
And hiftrionic mumm'ry, that let down

The pulpit to the level of the ftage,
Drops from the lips a difregarded thing.

The weak perhaps are moved, but are not taught,
While prejudice in men of stronger minds

Takes deeper root, confirm'd by what they fee.

A relaxation of religion's hold

Upon the roving and untutor'd heart

Soon follows, and the curb of conscience snapt,

The

The laity run wild.-But do they now?
Note their extravagance, and be convinc'd.

As nations, ignorant of God, contrive
A wooden one, fo we, no longer taught
By monitors that mother church fupplies,
Now make our own. Pofterity will afk
(If e'er posterity fee verfe of mine)

Some fifty or an hundred luftrums herce,
What was a monitor in George's days?
My very gentle reader, yet unborn,

Of whom I needs muft augur better things,
Since heav'n would fure grow weary of a world
Productive only of a race like ours,

A monitor is wood. Plank fhaven thin.

We wear it at our backs. There closely brac'd

And neatly fitted, it compreffes hard

The prominent and most unfightly bones,

And binds the shoulders flat. We prove its use
Sov'reign and moft effectual to fecure

A form

A form not now gymnastic as of yore,

From rickets and distortion, elfe, our lot.
But thus admonish'd we can walk erect,
One proof at least of manhood; while the friend
Sticks close, a Mentor worthy of his charge.
Our habits costlier than Lucullus wore,

And by caprice as multiplied as his,

Juft please us while the fashion is at full,

But change with ev'ry moon. The fycophant

Who waits to dress us, arbitrates their date,
Surveys his fair reversion with keen eye;
Finds one ill made, another obsolete,

This fits not nicely, that is ill conceiv'd,
And making prize of all that he condemns,
With our expenditure defrays his own.

Variety's the very fpice of life,

That gives it all its flavor. We have run
Through ev'ry change that fancy at the loom
Exhaufted, has had genius to fupply,

And studious of mutation still, discard

A real

A real elegance, a little used,

For monftrous novelty and strange difguife.

We facrifice to dress, till houfhold joys

And comforts cease. Drefs drains our cellar dry,
And keeps our larder lean; puts out our fires,

And introduces hunger, froft, and woe,

Where peace and hospitality might reign.

What man that lives, and that knows how to live,
Would fail t'exhibit at the public shows

A form as fplendid as the proudeft there,
Though appetite raise outcries at the cost?

A man o' th' town dines late, but foon enough,
With reasonable forecaft and difpatch,

T' infure a fide-box ftation at half price.
You think, perhaps, so delicate his dress,
His daily fare as delicate. Alas!

He picks clean teeth, and, bufy as he feems
With an old tavern quill, is hungry yet.
The rout is folly's circle, which fhe draws,
With magic wand. So potent is the spell,

That