plain was dufty and uneven, he refolved to purfue the new path, which he fuppofed only to make a few meanders, in compliance with the varieties of the ground, and to end at laft in the common road.

Having thus calmed his folicitude, he renewed his pace, though he fufpe&ted that he was not gaining ground. This uneafinefs of his mind inclined him to lay hold on every new object, and give way to every fenfation that might footh or divert him. He liftened to every echo, he mounted every hill for a fresh profpect, he turned afide to every cafcade, and pleafed himfelf with tracing the courfe of a gentle river that rolled among the trees, and watered a large region with innumerable circumvolutions. In thefe amusements the hours paffed away uncounted, his deviations had perplexed his memory, and he knew not towards what point to travel. He ftood penfive, and confufed, afraid to go forward left he fhould go wrong, yet conscious that the time of loitering was now paft. While he was thus tortured with uncertainty, the fky was overfpread with clouds, the day vanished from before him, and a fudden tempeft gathered round his head. He was now roused by his danger to a quick and painful remembrance of his folly; he now faw how happiness is loft when eafe is confulted; he lamented the unmanly impatience that prompted him to feek shelter in the grove, and defpifed the petty curiofity that led him on from trifle to trifle. While he was thus reflecting, the air grew blacker, and a clap of thunder broke his meditation.

He now refolved to do what remained yet in his power, to tread back the ground which he had paffed, and try to find fome iffue where the wood might open into the plain. He proftrated himfelf on the ground, and commended his life to the Lord of nature. He rofe with confidence and tranquillity, and preffed on with his fabre in his hand, for the beafts of the defert were in motion, and on every hand were heard the mingled howls of rage and fear, and ravage and expiration; all the horrors of darkness and folitude furrounded him; the winds roared in the woods, and the torrents tumbled from the hills

χείμαρροι ποταμοὶ κατ ̓ ὄρεσφι ῥέσλες Ες μισγάγκειαν συμβάλλετον ο βριμον ύδωρ, Τόνδε τε τηλέσε δε τον ἐν ὕρεσιν ἔκλυε ποιμήν,

Work'd into fudden rage by wint'ry show're, Down the fteep hill the roaring torrent pours; The mountain shepherd hears the diftant noise.

Thus forlorn and diftreffed, he wandered through the wild, without knowing whither he was going, or whether he was every moment drawing nearer to fafety or to deftru&tion. At length not fear but labour began to overcome him; his breath grew thort, and his knees trembled; and he was on the point of lying down in refignation to his fate, when he beheld through the brambles the glimmer of a taper. He advanced towards the light, and finding that it proceeded from the cottage of a hermit, he called humbly at the door, and obtained admiffion. The old man set before him fuch provifions as he had collected for himself, on which Obidah fed with eagerness and gratitude.

When the repaft was over- Tell me,' faid the hermit, by what chance 'thou hast been brought hither; I have been now twenty years an inhabitant ⚫ of the wilderness, in which I never faw a man before." Obidah then 872lated the occurrences of his journey, without any concealment or palliation.

Son,' faid the hermit, let the errors and follies, the dangers and efcape, of this day, fink deep into thy heart. Remember, my fon, that human life is the journey of a day. We rife in the morning of youth, full of vigour and full of expectation; we fet forward with fpirit and hope, with gaiety and with diligence, and travel on a while in the ftraight road of piety towards the mansions of reft. In a fhort time we remit our fervour, and • endeavour to find some mitigation of our duty, and fome more eafy means of obtaining the fame end. We then relax our vigour, and refolve no longer to be terrified with crimes at a dif tance, but rely upon our own conftancy, and venture to approach what we refolve never to touch. We thus enter the bowers of ease, and repofe in the fhades of fecurity. Here the heart foftens, and vigilance fubfides; we are then willing to enquire whether another advance cannot be made, and whether we may not, at least, turn our eyes upon the gardens of • pleasure. We approach them with fcruple and hesitation; we enter them, but enter timorous and trembling, and always hope to pass through them • without

6

without lofing the road of virtue, which we for a while keep in our fight, and But to which we propose to return. temptation fucceeds temptation, and one compliance prepares us for another; we in time lofe the happiness of innocence, and folace our difquiet with fenfual gratifications. By degrees we let fall the remembrance of our original intention, and quit the only adequate object of rational defire. We entangle ourselves in business, immerge our felves in luxury, and rove through the labyrinths of inconftancy, till the darknefs of old age begins to invade us, and difeafe and anxiety obftruct our way. We then look back upon our lives with horror, with forrow, with repentance; and with, but too often

vainly, with, that we had not forfaken the ways of virtue. Happy are they, my fon, who fhall learn from thy example not to defpair, but fhall remember, that though the day is paft, and their ftrength is wafted, there yet re'mains one effort to, be made; that reformation is never hopelefs, nor fin< cere endeavours ever unaffifted; that the wanderer may at length return afC ter all his errors; and that he who implores ftrength and courage from above, hall find danger and difficulty give way before him. Go now, my fon, to thy repofe; commit thyfelf to the care of Omnipotence; and, when the morning calls again to toil, begin anew thy journey and thy life.'

Juv.

aftanding

THE HE folly of human wifhes and purfuits has always been a ftanding fabject of mirth and declamation, and has been ridiculed and lamented from age to age; till perhaps the fruitlefs repetition of complaints and cenfures may be justly numbered among the fubjects of cenfure and complaint.

Some of thefe inftructors of mankind have not contented themfelves with checking the overflows of paffion, and lopping the exuberance of defire, but have attempted to deftroy the root as well as the branches; and not only to confine the mind within bounds, but to fmooth it for ever by a dead calm. They have employed their reafon and eloquence to perfuade us, that nothing is worth the with of a wife man; have reprefented all earthly good and evil as indifferent; and counted, among vulgar errors, the dread of pain, and the love of life.

It is almost always the unhappiness of a victorious difputant, to deftroy his own authority by claiming too many contequences, or diffufing his propofition to an indefenfible extent. When we have bated pur zeal in a caufe, and elated

to

DRYDEN.

our confidence with fuccefs, we are naturally inclined to pursue the fame train of reafoning, to eftablish fome collateral truth, to remove fome ad eut difficul ty, and to take in the whole comprehenfion of our fyftem. As a prince, in the ardour of acquifition, is willing to fecure his firit conqueft by the addition of another, add fortrefs to fortress, and city to city, till defpair and opportunity turn his enemies upon him, and he lofes in a moment the glory of a reign.

The philofophers having found an eafy victory over thofe defires which we produce in ourselves, and which termihate in fome imaginary fate of happiness unknown and unattainable, proceeded to make further inroads upon the heart, and attacked at laft our fenfes and our inftincts. They continued to war upon nature with arms, by which only folly could be conquered; they therefore loft the trophies of their former combats, and were confidered no longer with reverence or regard,

Yet it cannot be with juftice denied, that these men have been very useful monitors, and have left many proofs of

frong

frong reafon, deep penetration, and accurate attention to the affairs of life, which it is now our business to feparate from the foam of a boiling imagination, and to apply judicioufly to our own ufe. They have fhewn that most of the conditions of life, which raife the envy of the timorous, and roufe the ambition of the daring, are empty fhows of felicity, which, when they become familiar, lofe their power of delighting; and that the moft profperous and exalted have very few advantages over a meaner and more obfcure fortune, when their dangers and folicitudes are balanced against their equipage, their banquets, and their palaces.

It is natural for every man uninitiucted to murmur at his condition, becaufe in the general infelicity of life he feels his own miferics, without knowing that they are common to all the rest of the fpecies; and therefore, though he will not be lefs fenfible of pain by being told that others are equally tormented, he will at least be freed from the temptation of feeking, by perpetual changes, that eafe which is no where to be found; and, though his difcafe ftill continues, he efcapes the hazard of exafperating it by remedies.

The gratifications which affluence of wealth, extent of power, and eminence of reputation, confer, must be always by their own nature confined to a very fmail number; and the life of the greater part of mankind must be loft in empty wifhes and painful comparifons, were not the balm of philofophy fhed upon us, and our difcontent at the appearances of an unequal diftribution foothed and appeared.

It feemed, perhaps, below the dignity of the great masters of moral learning, to defcend to familiar life, and caution mankind against that petty ambition which is known among us by the name of Vanity; which yet had been an undertaking not unworthy of the longest beard, and most folemn aufterity. For though the paffions of little minds, acting in low ftations, do not fill the world with bloodthed and devaftations, or mark by great events the periods of time, yet they torture the breaft on which they feize, infeft thofe that are placed within the reach of their influence, deftroy private quiet and private virtue, and undermine infenfibly the happiness of the world.

The defire of excellence is laudable, but is very frequently ill directed. We fall,

by chance, into fome clafs of mankind; and, without confulting nature or wildom, refolve to gain their regard by thofe qualities which they happen to efteem. I once knew a man remarkably dim-fighted, who, by converfing much with country gentlemen, found himfif irrefiftibly determined to fylvan honours. His great ambition was to fhoot flying, and he therefore fpent whole days in the woods purfuing game; which, before he, was near enough to fee them, his approach frighted away.

When it happens that the defire tends to objects which produce no competition, it may be overlooked with fome indulgence; becavit, however fruitless or abfurd, it cannot have ill effects upon the morals. But most of our enjoyments owe their value to the peculiarity of poffeffion, and when they are rated at too high a value, give occasion to ftratagems of malignity, and incite oppofition, hatred, and defamation. The contest of two rural beauties for preference and diftinction is often fufficiently keen and rancorous to fill their breafts with all those pallions which are generally thought the curfe only of fenates, of armies, and of courts; and the rival dancers of an obfcure affembly have their partisans and abettors, often not lefs exafperated against each other than thofe who are promoting the interefts of rival monarchs.

It is common to confider those whom we find infected with an unreasonable regard for trifling accomplishments, as chargeable with all the confequences of their folly, and as the authors of their own unhappinefs; but, perhaps, those whom we thus fcorn or deteft, have more claim to tenderness than has been yet allowed them. Before we permit our feverity to break loofe upon any fault or error, we ought furely to confider how much we have countenanced or promoted it. We fee multitudes buly in the pursuit of riches, at the expence of wifdom and of virtue; but we fee the reft of mankind approving their conduct, and inciting their eagerness, by paying that regard and deference to wealth, which wifdom and virtue only can deserve. We fee women univerfally jealous of the reputation of their beauty, and frequently look with contempt on the care with which they ftudy their complexions, endeavour to preferve or to fupply the bloom of youth, regulate every ornament, twift their hair into curls, and

thade

fhade their faces from the weather. We recommend the care of their nobler part, and tell them how little addition is made by all their arts to the graces of the mind. But when was it known that female goodness or knowledge was able to attract that officioufnefs, or infpire that ardour, which beauty produces whenever it appears? And with what hope can we endeavour to perfuade the ladies, that the time spent at the toilet is loft in vanity, when they have every moment fome new conviction, that their intereft is more effectually promoted by a ribband well difpof

ed, than by the brightest act of heroick virtue?

In every inftance of vanity it will be found, that the blame ought to be fhared among more than it generally reaches; all who exalt trifles by immoderate praife, or inftigate needless emulation by invidious incitements, are to be confidered as perverters of reafon, and corrupters of the world: and fince every man is obliged to promote happinefs and virtue, he should be careful not to mislead unwary minds, by appearing to fet too high a value upon things by which no real excellence is conferred.

HERE fo

operate by starts on particular occafions, or in certain parts of life; but hope begins with the first power of comparing our actual with our poffible ftate, and attends us through every ftage and period, always urging us forward to new acquifitions, and holding out fome diftant bleffing to our view, promifing us either relief from pain, or incrcate of happiness.

Hope is neceffary in every condition. The miferies of poverty, of fick nefs, of captivity, would, without this comfort, be infupportable; nor does it appear that the happieft lot of terrestrial existence can fet us above the want of this general blefling; or that life, when the gifts of nature and of fortune are accumulated upon it, would not ftill be wretched, were it not elevated and delighted by the expectation of fome new poffeffion, of fome enjoyment yet behind, by which the wish fhall be at laft fatisfied, and the heart filled up to it's utmost extent.

Hope is, indeed, very fallacious, and promifes what it feldom gives; but it's promifes are more valuable than the gifts of fortune, and it feldom fruftrates us without affuring us of recompenfing the dalay by a greater bounty.

himself, and confidering the advantages and dangers proceeding from this gay profpect of futurity, when, falling asleep, on a fudden I found myfelf placed in a garden, of which my fight could defery no limits. Every fcene about me was gay and gladfome, light with funfhine, and fragrant with perfumes; the ground was painted with all the variety of spring, and all the choir of nature was finging in the groves. When I had recovered from the first raptures with which the confufion of pleasure had for a time entranced me, I began to take a particular and deliberate view of this delightful region. I then perceived that I had yet higher gratifications to expect, and that, at a finall diftance from me, there were brighter flowers, clearer fountains, and more lofty groves, where the birds, which I yet heard but faintly, were exerting all the power of melody. The trees about me were beautiful with verdure, and-fragrant with blooms; but I was tempted to leave them by the fight of ripe fruits, which feemed to hang only to be plucked. I therefore walked hafti ly forwards, but found, as I proceeded, that the colours of the field faded at my approach, the fruit fell before I reached

its