with rural amufements in his little garden, he informs him that he had feen his fon on his travels, but now despairs of beholding him again. Upon this the forrow of Laertes is inexpreffible: Ulyfes can counterfeit no longer, but exclaims ardently-

I, I am he! O father rife! behold
Thy En.

And the diCovery of himfelf to Telemachus, in the fixteenth book, in a speech of thor and broken exclamations, is equally tender and pathetic.

The duties of univerfal benevolence, of charity, and of hofpitality, that unknown and nepracted virtue, are perpetually inculcated with more emphafis and elegance than in spy, ancient philofopher, and I wish I could not add than in any modern. Ulyffes meets with a friendly reception in all the various nations to which he is driven; who declare their inviolable obligations to protect and cherish the ftranger and the wanderer. Above all, how amiable is the behaviour of Eumeus to his unknown master, who

afks for his charity. It is not lawful for me,' fays the As "rpogos, I dare not defpife any ftranger or indigent man, even if he were much meaner 'than thou appeareft to be; for the poor and ftrangers are fent to us by Jupi'ter!'-'Keep,' fays Epictetus, 'continually in thy memory, what Eumeus fpeaks in Homer to the difguifed Ulyf'fes.' I am sensible, that many superficial French critics have endeavoured to ridicule all that paffes at the lodge of

Eumeus, as coarfe and indelicate, and below the dignity of Epic poetry: but let them attend to the following obfervation of the greatest genius of their nation: Since it is delightful,' fays Fenelon, 6 to fee in one of Titian's land. fcapes the goats climbing up a hanging rock, or to behold in one of Tenier's prices a country feast and ruftic dance; it is no wonder, that we are pleafed with such natural defcriptions as we find in the Odyffey. This fimplicity of manners feems to recall the golden age. I am more pleated with honeft Eumeus, than with the polite heroes of Clelia or Cleopatra.'

The moral precepts with which every page of the Odyffey is pregnant, are equally noble. Plato's with is here accomplished; for we behold Virtue perfonally appearing to the fons of men, in her moft awful and muft alluring charms.

The remaining reafons, why the Ody fey is equal if not fuperior to the Iliad, and why it is a poem moft peculiarly proper for the perufal of youth, are, becaufe the great variety of events and fcenes it contains, intereft and engage the attention more than the Iliad, becaufe characters and images drawn from familiar life are more ufeful to the generality of readers, and are alfo more difficult to be drawn; and because the conduct of this poem, confidered as the molt perfect of Epopees, is more artful and judicious than that of the other. The difcuffion of these beauties will make the fubject of fame enfuing paper. Ꮓ

SENECA EX CLEANTHE.

Biz dveh recurly for many years

OZALDAB, Caliph of Egypt,

in the filken pavilions of pleasure, and had every morning anointed his head with the oil of gladness, when his only

HARRIS.

fon Aboram, for whom he had crowded his treasuries with gold, extended his dominions with conquefts, and fecured them with impregnable fortreffes, was fuddenly wounded, as he was hunting, Bb 2

with

with an arrow from an unknown hand, and expired in the field.

Bozaldab, in the distraction of grief and defpair, refused to return to his palace, and retired to the gloomieft grotto in the neighbouring mountain: he there rolled himself on the duft, tore away the hairs of his hoary beard, and dafhed the cup of confolation that Patience of fered him to the ground. He fuffered not his minstrels to approach his prefence; but listened to the fcreams of the melancholy birds of midnight, that flirt through the folitary vaults and echoing chambers of the Pyramids. Can that GOD be benevolent,' he cried, who thus wounds the foul, as from an ambuth, with unexpected forrows, and crushes his creatures in a moment with ⚫ irremediable calamity? Ye lying imans, prate to us no more of the juftice and the kindnefs of an all-directing and all-loving Providence! He, whom ye pretend reigns in Heaven, is fo far from protecting the miferable fons of men, that he perpetually delights to blaft the fweeteft flowerets in the garden of Hope; and, like a malignant giant, to beat down the <ftrongest towers of Happiness with the iron mace of his anger. If this Being poffeffed the goodness and the power with which flattering priefts have in⚫ vested him, he would doubtless be inclined, and enabled to banith those evils which render the world a dungeon of distress, a vale of vanity and woe. I will continue in it no longer!' At that moment he furiously raised his hand, which Defpair had armed with a dagger, to ftrike deep into his bofom; when fuddenly thick flashes of lightning fhot through the cavern, and a being of more than human beauty and magnitude, arrayed in azure robes, crowned with amaranth, and waving a branch of palm in his right-hand, arrested the arm of the trembling and astonished CaJiph, and faid with a majestic fmile

Follow me to the top of this moun⚫tain.'

Look from hence,' faid the awful conductor; I am Caloc, the angel Look from hence into the

of Peace. • valley.'

Bozaldab opened his eyes and beheld a barren, a fustry, and solitary island, in the midft of which fat a pale, meagre, and ghastly figure; it was a merchant just

perifhing with famine, and lamenting that he could find neither wild. berries nor a fingie fpring in this forlorn unin habited defert; and begging the protection of heaven against the tigers that would now certainly destroy him, fince he had confumed the laft fuel he had collected to make nightly fires to affright them. He then caft a cafket of jewels on the fand, as trifles of no use; and crept, feeble and trembling, to an eminence, where he was accustomed to fit every evening to watch the fetting fun, and to give a fignal to any ship that might haply approach the island.

Inhabitant of heaven,' cried Bozaldab, fuffer not this wretch to perish "by the fury of wild beasts.'-' Peace, faid the Angel, and obferve.'

He looked again, and behold a veffel arrived at the defolate ifle. What words can paint the rapture of the ftarving merchant, when the captain offered to transport him to his native country, if he would reward him with half the jewels of his cafket? No fooner had this pitilefs cominander received the ftipulated fum, than he held, a confultation with his crew, and they agreed to feize the remaining jewels, and leave the unhappy exile in the fame helpless and lamentable condition in which they difcovered him. He wept and trembled, intreated and implored in vain.

Will Heaven permit fuch injuftice to be practifed?' exclaimed Bozaldab. 'Look again, faid the Angel, and

behold the very ship in which, fhort'fighted as thou art, thou wishedst the merchant might embark, dashed in

pieces on a rock: doft thou not hear the cries of the finking failors? Pre'fume not to direct the Governor of the Universe in his difpofal of events. The man whom thou haft pitied fhall be taken from this dreary folitude, but not by the method thou wouldst prefcribe. His vice was avarice, by which he became not only abominable, but wretched; he fancied fome mighty charm in wealth, which, like the wand of Abdiel, would gratify every wish and obviate every fear. This wealth he has now been taught not only to defpife but abhor: he caft his jewels upon the sand, and confeffed ⚫ them to be useless; he offered part of them to the mariners, and perceived them to be pernicious: he has now

leamt,

learnt, that they are rendered useful or vain, good or evil, only by the fituation and temper of the poffeffor. Happy is he whom diftrefs has taught wildom! But turn thine eyes to an⚫ other and more interefting fcene.'

The Caliph inftantly beheld a magnificent palace, adorned with the statues of his ancestors wrought in jafper; the ivory doors of which, turning on hinges of the gold of Golconda, difcovered a throne of diamonds, furrounded with the Rajas of fifty nations, and with ambaffadors in various habits, and of different complexions; on which fat Aboram, the much-lamented fon of Bozaldab, and by his fide a princess fairer than a Houri.

Gracious ALLA! It is my fon,' cried the Caliph- O let me hold him to my heart!'-Thou can't not grasp an unsubstantial vifion,' replied the Angel: I am now fhewing thee what ⚫ would have been the deftiny of thy

fon, had he continued longer on the ' earth.'—' And why,' returned Bozaldab, was he not permitted to con'tinue? Why was I not fuffered to be

a witnefs of fo much felicity and power?'-' -Confider the fequel,' replied he that dwells in the fifth heaven. Bozaldab looked earneftly, and faw the countenance of his fon, on which he had been used to behold the placid smile of fimplicity and the vivid blushes of health, now diftorted with rage, and now fixed in the infenfibility of drunkenness: it was again animated with difdain, it became pale with apprehenfion, and appeared to be withered by intemperance; his hands were ftained with blood, and he trembled by turns with fury and terror: the palace fo late' fhining with oriental pomp, changed fuddenly into the cell of a dungeon, where his fon lay ftretched out on the cold pavement, gagged and bound, with his eyes put

It is enough,' cried Bozaldab;' I 'adore the infcrutable schemes of Omnifcience! From what dreadful evil has my fon been refcued by a death, ".which I rafhly bewailed as unfortunate and premature; a death of innocence and peace, which has bleffed his memory upon earth, and tranfmitted his fpirit to the fkies!'

Caft away the dagger,' replied the heavenly messenger, which thou waft preparing to plunge into thine own heart. Exchange complaint for si'lence, and doubt for adoration. Can a mortal look down, without giddinefs and ftupefaction, into the vaft abyfs of Eternal Wifdom? Can a mind that fees not infinitely, perfectly ⚫ comprehend any thing among an infinity of objects mutually relative? Can the channels, which thou com

mandeft to be cut to receive the annual 'inundations of the Nile, contain the 'waters of the Ocean? Remember, that 'perfect happiness cannot be conferred on a creature; for perfect happiness is

TO THE ADVENTURER.

Shall make no apology for the trouble I am about to give you, fince I am fure the motives that induce me to give it, will have as much weight with you as "they have with me: I fhall therefore, without further preface, relate to you the events of a life, which, however infignificant and unentertaining, affords a Jeffon of the higheft importance; a leffon, the value of which I have experienced, and may therefore recommend.

I am the daughter of a gentleman of good family, who, as he was a younger brother, purchafed with the portion that was allotted him a genteel poft under the government. My mother died when I was but twelve years old; and my father, who was exceffively fond of me, determined to be himself my preceptor, and to take care that my natural genius, which his partiality made him think above the common rank, fhould not want the improvements of a liberal education.

He was a man of ferfe, with a tolerable share of learning. In his youth he had been a free liver, and perhaps for that reason took some pains to become what is called a free-thinker. But whatever fashionable frailties he might formerly have allowed in himfelf, he was now in advanced life, and had at least worldly wisdom enough to know, that it was neceffary his daughter fhould be reftrained from thofe liberties which he had looked upon as trifling errors in his own conduct. He, therefore, laboured with great application to inculcate in me the love of order, the beauty of moral rectitude, and the happiness and felf-reward of virtue; but at the fame time profeffed it his design to free my mind from vulgar prejudices and fuperftition, for fo he called Revealed Religion. As I was urged to chufe virtue, and reject vice, from motives which had no neceffary connection with im

mortality, I was not led to confider a future state either with hope or fear: my father, indeed, when I urged him upon that subject, always intimated that the doctrine of immortality, whether true or falfe, ought not at all to influence my conduct or interrupt my peace; becaufe the virtue which fecured happiness in the prefent fate, would alfo fecure it in a future: a future ftate, therefore, I wholly difregarded, and, to confeis a truth, difbelieved; for I thought I could plainly difcover that it was disbelieved by my father, though he had not thought fit explicitly to declare his fentiments. As I had no very turbulent paffions, a ductile and good difpofition, and the highest reverence for his understanding, as well as the tendereft affection for him, he found it an eafy talk to make me adopt every fentiment and opinion which he propofed to me as his own; efpecially as he took care to fupport his principles by the authority and arguments of the best writers against Chriftianity. At the age of twenty I was called upon to make use of all the philofophy I had been taught, by his death; which not only deprived me of a parent I most ardently loved, but with him of all the eafe and affluence to which I had been accustomed. His income was only for life, and he had rather liv, beyond than within it; confequently, there was nothing left for me but the pride and helplefinefs of genteel life, a tafte for every thing elegant, and a delicacy and fenfibility that has doubled all my fufferings. In this diftrefs a brother of my mother's, who was grown rich in trade, received me into his houfe, and declared he would take the fame care of me as if I had been his own child. When the first tranfports of my grief were abated, I found myself in an easy fituation, and from the natural cheerfulness of my temper, I was beginning once more to taste of happiness. My uncle, who was a man of a narrow understanding and illiberal education, was a little difgufted

with me for employing fo much of my time in reading; but still more fo, when happening to examine my books, he found by the titles that fome of them were what he called blafphemy, and tended, as he imagined, to make me an Atheist. I endeavoured to explain my principles, which I thought it beneath the dignity of virtue to difguife or difarow; but as I never could make him conceive any difference between a deift and an atheift, my arguments only served to confirm him in the opinion that I was a wicked wretch, who, in his own phrafe, believed neither God nor devil. As he was really a good man, and heartily zealous for the established faith, though more from habit and prejudice than reafon, my errors gave hnn great affliction: I perceived it with the utmoft concern; I perceived too, that he looked upon me with a degree of abhorrence mixed with pity, and that I was wholly indebted to his good-nature for that protection which I had flattered myself I should owe to his love. I comforted myself, however, with my own integrity, and even felt a confcious pride in fuffering this perfecution from ignorance and folly, only because I was superior to vulgar errors and popular fuperftition; and that Christianity deserved thefe appellations, I was not more convinced by my father's arguments than my uncle's conduct, who, as his zeal was not according to knowledge, was by no means qualified to adorn the doctrine which he profeffed to believe.'

I had lived a few months under the painful fenfibility of receiving continual benefits from a perfon whofe efteem and affection I had loft, when my uncle one day came into my chamber, and after preparing me for fome unexpected good fortune, told me he had just had a propofal of marriage for me from a man to whom I could not possibly have any objection. He then named a merchant, with whom I had often been in company at his table. As the man was neither old nor ugly, had a large fortune and a fair character, my uncle thoaght himself fufficiently authorifed to pronounce as he did, that I could not poffibly have any objection to him. An objection, however, I had, which I told my uncle was to me infuperable; it was, that the perfon whom he propofed to me as the companion, the guide and director of

my whole life, to whom I was to vow not only obedience but love, had nothing in him that could ever engage my affection: his understanding was low, his fentiments mean and indelicate, and his manner unpolite and unpleafing. What ftuff is all this,' interrupted my uncle; fentiments indelicate! unpo⚫ lite! his understanding, forsooth, not equal to your own! Ah, child, if you had lefs romance, conceit and arro" gance, and more true difcretion and prudence, it would do you more good than all the fine books you have confounded your poor head with, and what is worfe, perhaps, ruined your poor foul. I own, it went a little against my confcience to accept my honest friend's kind offer, and give him fuch a pagan for his wife. But how know I whether the believing husband may not convert the unbelieving wife? As to your flighty objections, they are fuch nonfenfe, that I wonder you can fuppofe me fool enough to be de✦ceived by them. No, child; wise as you are, you cannot impofe upon a man who has lived as many years in the world as I have. I fee your motive; you have fome infidel libertine rake in your eye, with whom you would go headlong to perdition. But I fhall take tare not to have your foul 6 to answer for as well as your perfon. Either I fhalt dispose of you to an ironeft man that may convert you, or you fhall difpofe yourfelf how you please for me; for I difclaim all further care or trouble about you: fo I leave you to confider, whether or no the kindness I have fhewn you, entitles me to fome little influence over you, and whether you chufe to seek protection where you can find it, or accept of the happy lot Providence has cut out for you.'

He left me at the clofe of this fine harangue, and I seriously set myself to confider as he bade me, which of the two ftates he had fet before me I ought to chufe; to fubmit to a legal fort of proftitution, with the additional weight of perjury on my confcience, or to expose myself to all the diftreffes of friendless poverty and unprotected youth, After fome hours of deliberation, I determined on the latter, and that more from principle than inclination; for though my delicacy would have fuffered extranely in accepting a hulband, at least

indifferent