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mind to a contemplation of higher agents, of administering to the heart the most elevated consolations. For in the hour of despair no scenes like those can alleviate our melancholy: rising from the couch of disease, nothing reanimates our frame like the sunshine of a vernal morning: corroded by disappointed affection, or at those times, when the world presumes too much upon our misfortunes, and anticipates too little from our courage, where shall we look for consolation, but in the cultivation of our better feelings; in the conscious integrity of our hearts; and in those awful and sublime scenes of Nature, which in so powerful a manner, charm, delight, and elevate the fancy? While nothing points by stronger, or more undeceptive associations, to ETERNAL GLORY, than the tranquil splendour of an evening sun,-blushing in purple.

If, at any time, my friend, the distress of the moment makes days of past affliction appear days of comparative happiness, and the sorrow of the present is too much for human infirmity to bear with resolution and with constancy, range among the rocks of St. Catherine, the groves of Dynevaur, or the towers of Careg-cennon; while the one echo with the dashing of the waves; the other sigh with responsive whisperings; and the last ring with portentous sounds. Climb to the summit of the mountain; rove on the banks of rapid rivers; or among the solitudes of a sequestered glen; and let their melancholy consonance whisper peace to your heart. One hour, so past, is worth an age of common existence: and every step, so taken,

is one step towards heaven. Ah! my friend, how much are the feelings of sorrow subdued, and those of admiration excited in scenes, so grand and so impressive! Scenes in which while indulging, we lose in meditative silence all sense of the past; while the most serious causes of sorrow melt into insignificance! The mind, elevated above those little cares, which agitate the ambitious, the malignant, and the proud, looks up with awe; while the breast heaves with conscious gratitude, as we reflect, that the Gon, we contemplate in those magnificent monuments of eternity, is a father to the fatherless, and a friend to the unfortunate.

V.

Shall a yeoman esteem himself better, than his neighbour of another village, because the sun shines upon his fields to-day and not upon his neighbour's? Neither ought the fortunate to triumph over the unfortunate, because they bask in that fortune to-day, which may equally illumine the forehead of the miserable on the morrow. What honour accrues to the player of piquet, by gaining a repique? a success, having all the advantages of victory, without one particle of the honour. That labour ensures profit;-that the difficulty, attending the first acquirements in science and language, should produce delight;-that the greatest of benefits shall be attended with evil;—and the greatest of evil by some secret good ;-are all exemplified in the Phenician fable of the goddess of beauty marrying the demi-god of deformity. Would you form

a ship's ropes of spider's webs? Would you weave to canvass the gossamer of a frosty morning? Why, then, attempt to erect the structure of happiness solely on the smiles of a wanton? The character of fortune is, for the most part, the character of an harlot. Build then upon the perfection of virtue! The most violent of all hurricanes has no power to disturb the serenity, which prevails in the bed of the Pacific; nor shall the calamities of life melt the foundation on which a good man builds. Honest hope shall never die like a vapour;-and when misfortunes would turn his sanctuary into a theatre of tumult and confusion, he shall repose on the bosom of his virtue, as a chaste wife shall repose on the bosom of her husband.

How sweet to hear the tempest howl in vain,

And clasp a fearful misstres to our breast;

And lull'd to slumber by the beating rain,

Secure and happy sink, at last, to rest.

Hammond.

VI.

In the hour of affliction, moderated by time, the imagination is frequently the best friend, we possess. But from the beauties of Nature, he will be found to derive the most perfect consolation, whose soul,

1 From Tibullus. Sophocles has a similar sentiment; quoted by Cicero Attic. ii. 6.

How sweet,

Under the covert of a sheltered home,

With mind serene, and cyes disposed to slumber,

To hear the pelting of the pitiless storm!

not poisoned by meretricious refinements, is untainted by promiscuous intercourse with society. For in the same manner as planets revolve with a velocity, proportionate to their proximity to the sun; and as a poet is more estimated by those, who can boast a kindred spirit, and whose minds are capable of rising or falling in unison with his'; so does he derive the most enjoyment from natural beauty, who possesses an elevated fancy, and corrected judgment.

In youth the love of Nature, which ever attends a cultivated imagination, is attended by lasting and most beneficial results. It contributes to inspire delicacy; and to encourage a taste for whatever is beautiful in Nature, amiable in morals, or captivating in art. In manhood, when realities too much occupy the mind, were it not for the enjoyments, which the palate of a polite taste is enabled to relish, the journey of life would appear a weary pilgrimage. When the ignorant and unfeeling, the avaricious and the envious, possess so many opportunities to display their passions, and so much inclination to palsy the exertions of industry; tortured by anxiety, we should be ready to exclaim with the highly qualified Cicero, that were the gods to offer to repose us, once more in the cradle of infancy, we would renounce the boon. But, captivated by the sweet allurements of the imagination, the misfortunes of the world are counterbalanced by the enjoyments of taste. When active life is super

1 Quorum omnium interpretes, ut grammatici poetarum, proxime ad eorum, quos interpretantur, divinationem videntur accedere.

CICERO DE DIVIN.

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seded by the imbecilities of age; and the old are no longer flattered by the credulities of hope;-if they no longer derive health and comfort from exercise, nor perceive the brilliancies of colour; if they extract no satisfaction from novelty, nor melt with the tenderness of love; conscious that the storms of ill fortune have subsided; and being unreproved by conscience; they enjoy a rich consolation in the approving whispers of an honest heart. Feeling no aching void ;— remembering no unworthy deed;-the fairy visions of hope are succeeded by agreeable recollections; sympathy diffuses its spells; and anticipations of a better station modulate their feelings to profound repose.

INSCRIPTION.

(SCENE THE Vale of FfestINIOG.)

Dost thou, oh Stranger! from the world's turmoil,

Seek in these awful scenes a safe retreat

From all the ills of life?-Ere thou dost build

Thine humble cottage on the rocky banks

Of this wild torrent, read these simple lines,

Carved on this bark by one, who knew the world too well!

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"Hast thou fulfill'd the duties of thy station?

"If not-return thee to the world again;

"And, in its busy scenes, reclaim those hours
"Which Vice wrung from thee; for, in Solitude,

"No happiness awaits that wretched man,

"Who leaves the world, because the world leaves him.
"No!-He, who'd find enjoyment when alone,

"Must first be wise, be innocent, and good.
"But if, oh stranger! thou art hither driven
"" By wrongs of fortune, or the wrongs of man

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