Of Academus, is this falfe or true?

Is Christ 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 pastor, either vain
By nature, or by flatt'ry made so, 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 should inftruct,
Expofes and holds up to broad difgrace

The nobleft function, and difcredits much

The brightest truths that man has ever seen.
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 foppih airs
And hiftrionic mumm'ry, that let down

The pulpit to the level of the stage,
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 confcience fnapt,

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 supplies,
Now make our own. Pofterity will afk
(If e'er pofterity fee verfe of mine)

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

Of whom I needs must 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 fhoulders flat. We prove its use
Sov'reign and most effectual to secure

A form

yore,

A form not now gymnaftic as of

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 clofe, a Mentor worthy of his charge.

Our habits coftlier than Lucullus wore,

And by caprice as multiplied as his,

Juft please us while the fafhion is at full,
But change with ev'ry moon. The fycophant
Who waits to drefs us, arbitrates their date,
Surveys his fair reverfion with keen eye;

Finds one ill made, another obfolete,

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 spice 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

1

A real elegance, a little used,

For monstrous novelty and strange difguife.

We facrifice to drefs, till houfhold joys

And comforts ceafe. Dress drains our cellar dry,
And keeps our larder lean; puts out our fires,

And introduces hunger, froft, and woe,

Where peace and hofpitality 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 coft?

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

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

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

That