Truth.-Toleratiou.-Tenderness to Animals.

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it altogether wife to have no other bounds to your impofitions, than the patience of thofe who are to bear them?-Burke.

TRUTH.

THERE is no crime more infamous than the violation of truth It is apparent, that men can be fociable beings no longer than they can believe each other. When fpeech is employed only as the vehicle of falfehood, every man müst difunite himself from others, inhabit his own cave, and feėk prey only for himself.-Idler.

TOLERATION.

WE all know, that toleration is odious to the intolerant; freedom to oppreffors; property to robbers; and all kinds and degrees of profperity to the envious-Burke.

TENDERNESS to ANIMALS.

THE heart is hard in nature, and unfit
For human fellowfhip, as being void
Offympathy, and therefore dead alike

To love and friendship both, that is not pleas'd
With fight of animals enjoying life,

Nor feels their happiness augment his own.
The bounding fawn, that darts acrofs the glade
When none pursues, through mere delight of heart,
And fpirits buoyant with excefs of glee;

The horfe as wanton, and almoft as fleet,

That skims the fpacious meadow at full speed,

Then ftops, and fnorts, and throwing high his heels,
Starts to the voluntary race again;

The very kine that gambol at high noon,

The total herd receiving first from one
That leads the dance a fummons to be gay,
Though wild their ftrange vagaries, and uncouth
Their efforts, yet refolv'd with one confent,
To give fuch act and utterance as they may
To ecltacy too big to be fupprefs'd—
Thefe, and a thoufand images of bliss,
With which kind nature graces ev'ry scene
Where cruel man defeats nor her defign,
Impart to the benevolent, who with
All that are capable of pleasure pleas'd,
A far fuperior happiness to theirs,
The comfort of a reasonable joy.-Cowper.

I WOULD not enter on my lift of friends (Though grac'd with polish'd manners and fine fenfe Yet wanting fenfibility) the man

Who needlefsly fets foot upon a worm.
An inadvertent flep may crufh the fnail
That crawls at ev'ning in the public path;
But he that has humanity, forewarn'd,
Will tread afide, and let the reptile live.
The creeping vermin, loathfome to the fight,
And charg'd perhaps with venom, that intrudes,
A vifitor unwelcome, into fcenes

Sacred to neatnefs and repofe-th' alcove,
The chamber, or refectory-may die:
A necefiary act incurs no blame.

Not fo, when, held within their proper bounds,
And guiltlefs of offence, they range the air,
Or take their pastime in the fpacious field:
There they are privileg'd; and he that hunts
Or harms them there is guilty of a wrong,
Difturbs the economy of nature's realm,
Who, when the form'd, defign'd them an abode.
The fum is this.-If man's convenience, health,
Or fafety, interfere, his rights and claims
Are paramount, and muft extinguish their's.
Elfe they are all-the meaneft things that are-
As free to live, and to enjoy that life,
As God was free to form them at the first,
Who, in his fov'reign wifdom, made them all.
Ye, therefore, who love mercy, teach your fons
To love it too. The fpring-time of our years
Is foon difhonor'd and defil'd in most

By budding ills, that afk a prudent hand
To check them. But, alas! none fooner fhoots,
If unreftrain'd, into luxuriant growth,
Than cruelty, moft dev'lish of them all.
Mercy to him that fhows it, is the rule
And righteous limitation of its act,

By which heav'n moves in pard'ning guilty man;
And he that fhows none, being ripe in years,
And confcious of the outrage he commits,
Shall feek it, and not find it in his turn.-Idem.

To-Day and To-Morrow.-Virtue.-Vanity.

TO DAY and TO MORROW.

TO-DAY man's dress'd in gold and filver bright,
Wrapt in a fhroud before to morrow night;
To-day he's feeding on delicious food,
To-morrow dead, unable to do good;

To-day he's nice, and fcorns to feed on crumbs,
To-morrow he's himself a difh for worms;
To-day he's honor'd and in vaít esteem,

To-morrow not a beggar values him

To-day he rifes from a velvet bed,

;

To-morrow lies in one that's made of lead;
To-day his houfe, tho' large, he thinks but fmall,
To-morrow no command, no house at all;
To-day has forty fervants at his gate,
To-morrow fcorn'd, not one of them will wait;
To-day perfum'd. as fweet as any rofe,
To-morrow ftinks in every body's nose;
To-day he's grand, majeític, all delight,
Ghaftful and pale before to-morrow night;
True, as the fcripture fays, " man's life's a fpan;"
The prefent moment is the life of man.

VIRTUE.

229

HE that would govern his actions by the laws of virtue, must regulate his thoughts by the laws of reafon; he must keep guilt from the receffes of his heart, and remember that the pleasures of fancy and the emotions of defire, are more dangerous as they are more hidden, fince they escape the awe of observation, and operate equally in every fituation, without the concurrence of external opportunities—Rambler.

TO dread no eye and to fufpect no tongue, is the great prerogative of innocence; an exemption granted only to invariable virtue. But guilt has always its horrors and folicitudes; and to make it yet more shameful and detestable, it is doomed often to ftand in awe of those, to whom nothing could give influence or weight, but their power of betraying. -Idem.

VANITY.

SO weak are human kind by nature made, Or to fuch weakness by their vice betray'd, Almighty vanity to thee they owe

Their zell of pleasure and their balm of woe.

Thou, like the fun, all colours doft contain,
Varying like rays of light on drops of rain ;
For ev'ry foul finds reafons to be proud,

Tho' hifs'd and hooted by the pointing crowd.-Young.

VICE.

VICE is a monfter of fo fiightful mien, As, to be hated, needs but to be feen; Yet, feen too oft, familiar with her face,

We first endure, then pity, then embrace.-Pope.

USURPER.

AS when the fea breaks o'er its bounds,

And overflows the level grounds;

Thofe banks and dams, that like a fkreen
Did keep it out, now keep it in

So when tyrannic ufurpation,
Invades the freedom of a nation,

:

Thofe laws o' th' land that were intended
To keep it out, are made defend it,—Hudibras.

WAR.

ONE to destroy is murder by the law; And gibbets keep the lifted hand in awe. To murder thousands, takes a specious name, War's glorious art, and gives immortal fame. When, after battle, I the field have seen Spread o'er with ghaftly fhapes, which once were men ; A nation crufh'd! a nation of the brave! A realm of death! and on this fide the grave! Are there, faid I, who from this fad furvey, This human chaos, carry fmiles away? How did my heart with indignation rife! How honeft nature fwell'd into my eyes! How was I fhock'd, to think the hero's trade Of fuch materials, fame and triumph made !-Young. FIRST Envy, eldest born of hell, embrued Her hands in blood, and taught the fons of men To make a death which nature never made, And God abhorr'd; with violence rude to break The thread of life ere half its length was run, And rob a wretched brother of his being. With joy Ambition faw, and foon improv'd

War.

The execrable deed. 'Twas not enough
By fubtle fraud to fnatch a single life;
Puny impiety! whole kingdoms fell

To face the luft of power: more horrid still,
The fouleft ftain and fcandal of our nature
Became its boaft. One murder makes a villain;
Millions a hero. Princes were privileged
To kill; and numbers fanctified the crime.
Ah! why will kings forget that they are men?
And men that they are brethren? Why delight
In human facrifice? Why burft the ties
Of nature, that fhould knit their fouls together
In one foft bond of amity and love?

Yet ftill they breathe deftruction, still go on,
Inhumanly ingenious, to find out

New pains for life, new terrors for the grave.
Artificers of death! ftill monarchs dream
Of univerfal empire growing up

From univerfal ruin. Blaft the defign,
Great God of hofts! nor let thy creatures fall
Unpitied victims at Ambition's fhrine !-Porteus.

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AS war is the extremity of evil, it is furely the duty of thofe whofe ftation entrufts them with the care of nations, to avert it from their charge. There are diseases of an animal nature which nothing but amputation can remove; fo there may, by the depravation of human paffions, be fometimes a gangrene in collected life, for which fire and the fword are the neceffary remedies; but in what can skill or caution be better fhewn, than in preventing fuch dreadful operations, while there is room for gentler methods?-Johnson. WAR never fails to exhauft the ftate, and endanger its deftruction, with whatever fuccefs it is carried on. Though it may be commenced with advantage, it can never be finished without danger of the most fatal reverse of fortune. With whatever fuperiority of ftrength an engagement is begun, the leaft mittake, the flighteft accident, may turn the fcale and give victory to the enemy. Nor can a nation that fhould be always victorious profper; it would deftroy itself by deftroying others the country would be depopulated, the foil untilled, and trade interrupted: and what is worse, the best laws would lofe their force, and a corruption of manners infenfibly take place. Literature will be neglected among the youth; the troops, confcious of their own importance, will indulge themfelves in the moft pernicious licentiousness with

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