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many years before; and having been struck at that time with the delightful situation of the monastery of St. Justus, belonging to the order of St. Jerome, not many miles distant from that place, he had then observed to some of his atten dants, that this was a spot to which Dioclesian might have retired with pleasure. The impression had remained so strong on his mind, that he pitched upon it as the place of his retreat. 5 It was seated in a vale of no great extent, watered by a small brook, and surrounded by rising grounds, covered with lofty trees. From the nature of the soil, as well as the temperature of the climate, it was esteemed the most healthful and delicious situation in Spain.

6 Some months before his resignation, he had sent an architect thither, to add a new apartment to the monastery, for his accommodation; but he gave strict orders that the style of the building should be such as suited his present station, rather than his former dignity. It consisted only of six rooms, four of them in the form of friar's cells, with naked walls; the other two, each twenty feet square, were hung with brown cloth, and furnished in the most simple manner. They were all on a level with the ground; with a door on one side into a garden, of which Charles himself had given the plan, and had filled it with various plants, which he proposed to cultivate with his own hands. On the other side, they communicated with the chapel of the monastery, in which he was to perform his devotions.

7 Into this humble retreat, hardly sufficient for the comfortable accommodation of a private gentleman, did Charles enter, with twelve domestics only. He buried there, in solitude and silence, his grandeur, his ambition, together with all those vast projects, which, during half a century, had alarmed and agitated Europe; filling every kingdom in it, by turns, with the terrour of his arms, and the dread of being subjected to his power.

8 In this retirement, Charles formed such a plan of life for himself, as would have suited the condition of a private person of a moderate fortune. His table was neat but plain; his domestics few; his intercourse with them familiar; all the cumbersome and ceremonious forms of attendance on his person were entirely abolished, as destructive of that social ease and tranquillity, which he courted, in order to sooth the remainder of his days. As the mildness of the climate, together with his deliverance from the burdens and cares of government, procured him, at first a considerable remission from the acute pain with which he had been long tormented, he enjoyed, perhaps, more complete satisfaction in this

humble solitude, than all his grandeur had ever yielded him. 9 The ambitious thoughts and projects which had so long engrossed and disquieted him, were quite effaced from his mind. Far from taking any part in the political transactions of the princes of Europe, he restrained his curiosity even from any inquiry concerning them; and he seemed to view the busy scene which he had abandoned, with all the contempt and indifference arising from his thorough experience of its vanity, as well as from the pleasing reflection of having disentangled himself from its cares.

PART II.

PIECES IN POETRY.

CHAPTER I.

DR. ROBERTSON.

SELECT SENTENCES AND PARAGRAPHS.

SECTION I.

SHORT AND EASY SENTENCES.

Education.

'TIS education forms the common mind:
Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclin'd.
Candour.

With pleasure let us own our errours past
And make each day a critic on the last.
Reflection.
A soul without reflection, like a pile
Without inhabitant, to ruin runs.

Secret virtue.

The private path, the secret acts of men,
If noble, far the noblest of their lives.

Necessary knowledge easily attained.
Our needful knowledge, like our needful food,
Unhedgd, lies open in life's common field;
And bids all welcome to the vital feast.

Disappointment.
Disappointment lurks in many a prize,

As bees in flow'rs, and stings us with success.
Virtuous elevation.

The mind that would be happy, must be great;
Great in its wishes; great in its surveys.

Extended views a narrow mind extend.

NOTE. In the first chapter, the Compiler has exhibited a considerable variety of poetical construction, for the young reader's preparatory exercises.

Natural and fanciful life.

Who lives to nature, rarely can be poor;
Who lives to fancy, never can be rich.

Charity.

In faith and hope the world will disagree;
But all mankind's concern is charity.

The prize of Virtue.

What nothing earthly gives, or can destroy,
The soul's calm sunshine, and the heart-felt joy,
Is virtue's prize.

Sense and modesty connected.

Distrustful sense with modest caution speaks;
It still looks home, and short excursions makes,
But rattling nonsense in full volleys breaks.
Moral discipline salutary.

Heav'n gives us friends to bless the present scene,
Resumes them to prepare us for the next.
All evils natural are moral goods;
All discipline, indulgence, on the whole.

Present blessings undervalued.
Like birds, whose beauties languish, half conceal'd
Till, mounted on the wing, their glossy plumes
Expanded, shine with azure, green, and gold,
How blessings brighten as they take their flight'
Hope.

Hope, of all passions, most befriends us here;
Passions of prouder name befriend us less.
Joy has her tears, and transport has her death;
Hope, like a cordial, innocent, though strong,
Man's heart, at once, inspirits and serenes.
Happiness modest and tranquil.
-Never man was truely blest,
But it compos'd and gave him such a cast,
As folly might mistake for want of joy:
A cast unlike the triumph of the proud;
A modest aspect, and a smile at heart.
True greatness.

Who noble ends by noble means obtains,
Or failing, smiles in exile or in chains,
Like good Aurelius, let him reign, or bleed
Like Socrates, that man is great indeed.
The tear of sympathy.

No radiant pearl, which crested fortune wears,
No gem, that twinkling hangs from beauty's ears,

Nor the bright stars, which night's blue arch adorn,
Nor rising suns that gild the vernal morn,
Shine with such lustre, as the tear that breaks,
For others' wo, down Virtue's manly cheeks.
SECTION II.

VERSES IN WHICH THE LINES ARE OF DIFFERENT LENGTH

Bliss of celestial Origin.

RESTLESS mortals toil for nought;

Bliss in vain from earth is sought;

Bliss, a native of the sky,

Never wanders. Mortals, try;
There you cannot seek in vain;
For to seek her, is to gain.

The Passions.
The passions are a num'rous crowd,
Imperious, positive, and loud.
Curb these licentious sons of strife;
Hence chiefly rise the storms of life:
If they grow mutinous, and rave,
They are thy masters, thou their slave.

Trust in Providence recommended.

'Tis Providence alone secures,
In every change, both mine and yours.
Safety consists not in escape
From dangers of a frightful shape:
An earthquake may be bid to spare
The man that's strangled by a hair.
Fate steals along with silent tread,
Found oft'nest in what least we dread;
Frowns in the storm with angry brow,
But in the sunshine, strikes the blow.

Epitaph.

How lov'd, how valu'd once, avails thee not;
To whom related, or by whom begot:
A heap of dust alone remains of thee;
'Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be.

Fame.

All fame is foreign, but of true desert;
Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart.
One self-approving hour, whole years outweighs
Of stupid starers, and of loud huzzas;

And more true joy Marcellus exil'd feels,
Than Cesar with a senate at bis heels.

Virtue the guardian of youth.

Down the smooth stream of life the strippling darts,
Gay as the morn; bright glows the vernal sky,
Hope swells his sails, and Passion steers his course
Safe glides his little bark along the shore,
Where Virtue takes her stand: but if too far
He launches forth beyond discretion's mark,
Sudden the tempest scowls, the surges roar,
Blot his fair day, and plunge him in the deep.
Sunrise.

But yonder comes the pow'rful king of day,
Rejoicing in the east. The less'ning cloud,
The kindling azure, and the mountain's brow,
Illum'd with fluid gold, his near approach
Betoken glad. Lo, now, apparent all
Aslant the dew-bright earth, and colour'd air,
He looks in boundless majesty abroad,

And sheds the shining day, that burnish'd plays
On rocks, and hills, and tow'rs, and wand'ring streams
High gleaming from afar.

Self-government.

May I govern my passions with absolute sway;
And grow wiser and better as life wears away.
Shepherd.

On a mountain, stretch'd beneath a hoary willow,
Lay a shepherd swain, and view'd the rolling billow
SECTION III.

VERSES CONTAINING EXCLAMATIONS, INTERROGATIONS,
AND PARENTHESES.

Competence.

A COMPETENCE is all we can enjoy :
Oh! be content, where Heav'n can give no more!
Reflection essential to happiness
Much joy not only speaks small happiness,
But happiness that shortly must expire.
Can joy, unbottom'd in reflection, stand?
And, in a tempest, can reflection live?
Friendship.

Can gold gain friendship? Impudence of hope!
As well mere man an angel might beget.
Love, and love only, is the loan for love.
Lorenzo! pride repress; nor hope to find
A friend, but what has found a friend in thee.
All like the purchase; few the price will pay:
And this makes friends such miracles below

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