Grew tremulous, and mov'd derifion more
Than rev'rence, in perverse rebellious youth.
So colleges and halls neglected much
Their good old friend, and Discipline at length
O'erlook'd and unemploy'd, fell fick and died.
Then study languish'd, emulation slept,
And virtue fled. The fchools became a scene
Of folemn farce, where ignorance in ftilts,
His cap well lin❜d with logic not his own,
With parrot tongue perform'd the scholar's part,
Proceeding foon a graduated dunce.
Then compromife had place, and fcrutiny.
Became ftone-blind, precedence went in truck,
And he was competent whofe purse was fo.
A diffolution of all bonds enfu'd,
The curbs invented for the mulish mouth
Of head-ftrong youth were broken; bars and bolts
Grew rufty by difufe, and maffy gates
Forgot their office, op'ning with a touch;
'Till gowns at length are found mere masquerade; G 2
The taffell'd cap and the fpruce band a jeft,
A mock'ry of the world. What need of these
For gamesters, jockies, brothellers impure,
Spendthrifts and booted sportsmen, oft'ner seen
With belted waist and pointers at their heels,
Than in the bounds of duty? What was learn'd,
If aught was learn'd in childhood, is forgot,
And fuch expence as pinches parents blue,
And mortifies the lib'ral hand of love,
Is fquander'd in pursuit of idle sports
And vicious pleasures: buys the boy a name,
That fits a ftigma on his father's house,
And cleaves through life infeparably close
To him that wears it. What can after-games
Of riper joys, and commerce with the world,
The lewd vain world that must receive him foon,
Add to fuch erudition thus acquir'd,
Where fcience and where virtue are profess'd?
They may confirm his habits, rivet fast
His folly, but to fpoil him is a task
That bids defiance to th' united pow'rs
Of fashion, diffipation, taverns, ftews.
Now, blame we moft the nurflings or the nurfe?
The children crook'd, and twisted, and deform'd
Through want of care, or her whofe winking eye-
And flumb'ring ofcitancy mars the brood?
The nurse no doubt. Regardless of her charge,
She needs herself correction: needs to learn
That it is dang'rous fporting with the world,
With things fo facred as a nation's trust,
The nurture of her youth, her dearest pledge,
All are not fuch. I had a brother once-
Peace to the mem'ry of a man of worth,
A man of letters, and of manners too.
Of manners sweet as virtue always wears,
When gay good-nature dreffes her in smiles,
He grac'd a college *, in which order yet
* Ben'et Coll. Cambridge.
G 3
Was facred; and was honor'd, lov'd and wept
By more than one, themselves confpicuous there.
Some minds are temper'd happily, and mixt
With fuch ingredients of good fenfe and taste
Of what is excellent in man, they thirst
With fuch a zeal to be what they approve,
That no restraints can circumfcribe them more,
Than they themfelves by choice, for wifdom's fake,
Nor can example hurt them. What they fee
Of vice in others but enhancing more
The charms of virtue in their just esteem.
If fuch escape contagion, and emerge
Pure, from fo foul a pool, to shine abroad,
And give the world their talents and themselves,
Small thanks to those whofe negligence or floth
Expos'd their inexperience to the fnare,
And left them to an undirected choice.
See then! the quiver broken and decay'd, In which are kept our arrows. Rufting there
In wild diforder, and unfit for ufe,
What wonder, if difcharg'd into the world,
They shame their shooters with a random flight,
Their points obtufe, and feathers drunk with wine.
Well
may the church wage unfuccefsful war,
With fuch artill❜ry arm'd. Vice parries wide
Th' undreaded volley with a fword of straw,
And stands an impudent and fearless mark.
Have we not track'd the felon home, and found His birth-place and his dam? The country mourns, Mourns, because ev'ry plague that can infest Society, and that faps and worms the bafe Of th' edifice that policy has rais'd, Swarms in all quarters; meets the eye, the ear, And fuffocates the breath at ev'ry turn. Profufion breeds them; and the cause itself Of that calamitous mifchief has been found: Found too where most offenfive, in the skirts
Of the rob'd pedagogue.
Elfe, let th' arraign'd
G 4
|