Youth cherishing its follies, and Age the dupe of dotage and opinion.

Reason would lead us to think, and some writers have supposed, that men are commonly vain in proportion to their ignorance. That silly characters are often conceited ones is undoubtedly true; but those who possess the most brilliant abilities, and whom the public have allowed incontestible superiority over the general mass of mankind are very often the slaves of this sweet infatuation: the refinements of genius, and the delicacy of feeling, together with the sensibility of their hearts, may perhaps contribute to this weakness; yet whatever is the cause, I have had the greatest reasons, in the course of my remarks on life, to pronounce the race of authors (generally speaking) the most addicted to the vice which it is a part of their character to endeavour to reclaim.

There is nothing at once so painful, and intolerable a mortification to a man of literary talents, as to shew a civil indifference to the darling of his pen; nor any pleasure so agreeably soothing, as to mark such sentiments with a warm encomium, which he himself has distinguished as (in his opinion) deserving particular celebrity. It has been sometimes my misfortune, to see an unhappy Bard almost blasted by silence, where he expected to receive the full thunder of public acclamation; and I have also seen his eyes glow with pleasure as the whispered compliments have passed through a company, who had been surprised with the entrance of a man, whom the greatest part knew only by his works, and whose vanity they therefore gratified, by communicating their intelligence from one to another," that, that is he."

It cannot but be allowed that this impatience of praise proceeds from an ambition of superiority, and that it is, in the strict sense, an evidence of vanity, yet it is certainly of the most warrantable kind, and less deserves our censure than any other; for we are easily inclined to admit the apologies of him whose weaknesses are not malicious to others, but hurtful to himself; and who errs rather from the natural love of dignity and consequence, than from any motives that can injure society, or disturb the harmony of the world. And surely to aim bonestly at distinction, is rather a virtue than a crime, even if our endeavours are without success; an emulation to arrive at eminence, in the more polished arts of life, is one of the most laudable pursuits of the mind; and it would be unreasonable not to esteem the learned, because their wisdom

is sometimes tinctured with human frailities; frailities, which we all participate, and weaknesses which are inseparable from mortality.

I cannot help thinking that every man of genius has in some sort a moral claim to our particular veneration: for if we consider the rarity of real ability, the arduous toil of composition, and the hopes and hazards of publication; if we reflect upon the pangs which an author must indispensible feel in every laborious undertaking of literature; how, night after night, and year after year, his faculties are upon the stretch; how often his apprehensions and hopes are agitated; and if we farther reflect, that by the pain and study of the writer, the circle of our moral entertainments are enlarged, out intellects enlightened, and our ideas taught to flow in a more extensive channel; we shall kindly pass over the imbecillities of the man, and willingly pay our plaudit to the scholar.

The most rediculous Vanity in that which is built on the dignity of Birth, which is commonly distinguished by the world under the title of Family Pride. It is frequently the source of matrimonial sorrow, and as often disunites the relation and the friend. A man disregarding the pomp of genealogy, supposes it of small consequence whe ther a man was born yesterday, or a thousand years ago; but estimating the principles of things, not according to their age, but according to their real value, looks back with horror on the massacres of Nero or the schemes of Catiline; and if he finds a man active for the welfare of the social world, is not solicitous to know whether his ancestors were dignified by blood or titles, whether they were conquerors or captives.

It would be a maxim equally amiable and wise, to scorn all praise but that which is the natural consequence of conscious desert, and neither to wish or aim at any eminence that will not bring along with it an infallible compensation. A very superficial observation will serve to convince us, that Vanity, however artfully concealed or openly displayed, always counteracts its own purposes : Virtue confers a bosom-greatness that renders unnecessary such secondary and servile assistances. He who is truly sensible, just, or ingenious, need not have recourse to arts below himself, to signify his equity or his parts: for Genius will inevitable incite the admiration of the Wise; Beauty recommends itself; and a benevolent heart will not solicit, but command our reverence and applause

INDIAN GENEROSITY.

A SCOTCH Highlander was taken prisoner by a tribe of Indians, and his life was about to be sacrificed when the Chief adopted him as his son. They carried him into the interior; he acquired their language, assumed their habits, and became skilful in their use of arms. After a season, the same tribe began their rout to join the French army, then opposed to the English. It was requisite to pass near to the English lines, during the night. Early in the morning, (it was in the spring,) the old Chief roused the young Highlander from his repose, and taking him to an eminence, he pointed out to him the tents of his contrymen. The old man appeared dreadfully agitated, and his eye evinced a keen kind of restlessness. After a pause, he said, "I lost my only son in the battle with your nation; are you the only son of your father? And do you think that your father is yet alive?" He was answered in the affirmative. They stood close to a beautiful mangolia in full blossom. The prospect was grand and enchanting, and all its charms were crowned by the sun, which had fully emerged from the horizon. The old Chief, looking stedfastly at his companion, exclaimed, "Let thy heart rejoice at the beauty of the scene! To me it is as the desert; YOU ARE FREE; return to your countrymen, revisit your father, that he may again rejoice, when he sees the sun rise in the morning, and the trees blossom in the spring. They bloom not for me; testify to your father the paternal feelings of an Indian, by your own restoration.”

SONNET.

OH! tell me fair oue, tell me who
Still lingers round yon lake of blue?
Oft have I seen at twilight grey,
The self-same form flit past away;
And sometimes would his dark blue eye,
Its homage pay to misery:
And ever and anon-a sigh,

Long drawn and deep-would echo by,
And mingle with the winds; but soon
His face grew calm, and to the moon
He'd smile an agony or two; and try
To cheer him with a melody.-
"He is a man of woe," she said,
Then wip'd away a tear and fled!

Ye banks thick-gemmed with flowers, Ye blissful meads,

And cool-refreshing bowers,

Ask of the lovely maid

Who dances o'er your glade,

Whether in moments of such glee

She thinks of me.

Fair drops of dew

That tip the freshened green, And deck each leaf,

With pearls of spangling sheen,

Ask, while the lovely maid

Trips o'er each quivering blade,
Whether in moments of such glee
She thinks of me.
Ye sparkling walks,

Begirt with nodding groves,

Along whose path

My sprightly fair one roves;

Should she but chance to stay,

But listen, ask, I pray,

Whether in moments of such glee

She thinks of me.

Ye chirping birds

Who watch the morning grey,

And with shrill voice

Greet the first break of day, Ask if the lovely fair,

The boast of all that habit there, Whether in moments of such glee She thinks of me.

OLD ENGLISH MANNERS.

THE following curious particulars respecting the customs and manners of our ancestors, are extracted from a manuscript of Aubrey, the Antiquary, preserved at the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford.

"There were very few free-schools in England before the Reformation. Youth were taught Latin in the monasteries, and young women had their education in the nunneries, where they learnt needle-work, confectionary, surgery, physic, (apothecaries and surgeons being then rare,) writing, drawing, &c. Old Jaques, now living, has often seen from his house the nuns of St. Mary, Kingston, in Wilts, coming forth into the Nymph Hay, with their rocks and wheels, to spin, sometimes to the number of seventy; all of whom were not nuns, but young girls sent there for education.

"In the halls and parlors of great houses were wrote texts of scripture on the painted cloths.

"The lawyers say, that, before the time of Henry VIII. one shall hardly find an action on the case, as for slander, &c. once a year.

"Before the last civil wars, in gentleman's houses at Christmas the first dish that was brought to table was a boar's head, with a lemon in his mouth. At Queen's College, Oxford, they still retain this custom, the bearer bringing it into the hall, singing to an old tune, an old Latin rhyme, Apricaput defero,' &c. The first dish that was brought up to a table on Easter-day, was a red-herring, riding away on horseback, i. e. a herring ordered by the cook, something after the likeness of a man on horseback, set in a corn sallad.

"The use of 'your humble servant,' came first into England on the marriage of Queen Mary, daughter of Henry IV. of France, which in derived from votre tres humble serviteur. The usual salutation before that time was 'God keep you.' 'God be with you!' and among the vulgar, How dost do?' with a thump on the shoulder.

"Till this time, the court itself was unpolished and unmannered. King James's Court was so far from being civil to women that the ladies, nay the Queen herself, could hardly pass by the King's apartments without receiving some affront.'

"In the days of yore, ladies and gentlemen lived in the country, like petty kings, had jura regalia belonging to