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No. CXIV.

Οἷον δὲ τρέφει ἔρυος ἀνες ἐριθηλὲς ἐλαίης
Χώρῳ ἐν διοπόλω, ὅθ ̓ ἅλις ἀναβέβρυχεν ὕδωρ,
Καλὸν, τηλεθάον, τὸ δὲ τε πνοιαὶ δονέωσι
Παντοίων ἀνέμων, καὶ τε βρύει ἄνθει λευκῷ·
Ελθὼν δ' εξαπίνης ἄνεμος, σὺν λαίλαπι πολλῇ,
Βούρα τ' εξεστρεψε, και ἐξετάνυσσ ̓ ἐπὶ γαίμ.

HOM, IL.

As the young olive in some sylvan scene,
Crown'd by fresh fountains with eternal green,
Lifts the gay head, in snowy flow'rets fair.
And plays and dances to the gentle air;
When lo! a whirlwind from high heav'n invades
The tender plant, and withers all its shades ;
It lies uprooted in its genial bed,

A lovely ruin, now defac'd and dead.

POPE.

Ir is an observation founded on a general survey of mankind, and which I am afraid a closer inspection would not controvert, that one half of the world knows not how the other exists. This, however, might in part be attributed to the insufficiency of human nature, were it not a melancholy truth, that their negligence, in this point, is equal to their ignorance. Nursed in the lap of luxury, the son of fortune, whose budding hopes have never been nipped by the blast of adversity, turns his eyes with contemptuous disgust from the cheerless scenes of penury

and distress, to the dazzling glare, which, under pretence of lulling sorrow, stares reflection out of countenance, and convicts reason of Cynicism by the specious appearance of indulging harmless gaiety. The listless apathist, becalmed in his own insensibility, looks with a vacant eye on the terrors of conflicting passion; or, as the utmost exertion of his pity, endeavours to allay the storm of a weak but generous mind, with the dictatorial precepts of a closeted philosopher.

Those of the above description I warn to proceed no farther in this paper. To the feeling, and, in this community, I should hope, the major part of my readers, the authenticity of the following story will carry with it a sufficient apology.

The father of Frederic having, from an early pique, secluded himself from mankind, devoted an ample fortune to his family, his stables, and his cellar, in the extremity of Somersetshire. He was naturally of a morose, saturnine tem per, which a considerable quantity of port, regularly discussed after dinner for a continuance of thirty years, had not a little contributed to heighten. The usual companion of his leisure hours was the parish attorney, a supple knave, who, as occasion served, could rail at the times, praise the wine, take snuff, or ring for

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t'other bottle. Argument, it is natural to suppose, would not have beguiled many hours with such a duumvirate; but the squire was too distrustful of any thing human to be circumvented in the common way; and his Achates too much a master of arts to attempt it.

By a feint, therefore, at the first, of opposition, and, at every convenient opportunity, of conviction, he frequently flattered this petty tyrant more agreeably, and sometimes allured him to his own opinion. The subject of his eldest son's education was long on the tapis; the squire being too much of a misanthrope to relish the idea of a public school, and the lawyer too jealous of the boy's growing influence, not to wish so powerful an obstacle removed. At length, however, by a more than usual exertion of artifice, he wheedled the old gentleman out of his prejudices, and, at ten years of age, Frederic was sent to Eton. Even at this early period the natural warmth of his disposition had began to display itself. Open, candid, and generous, his heart was the constant companion of his hand, and his tongue the artless index of his mind. As his ideas expanded, his virtues seemed to acquire a larger scope; and the unsuspecting generosity which had before induced

him heedlessly to deposit his joys and griefs with every stranger, to have been matured into a warm philanthropic benevolence for human nature, and a romantic attachment to the few who were the more immediate objects of his affection. Exposed alike to the attacks of all the generous passions, the impetuous sallies of his temper were as easily suppressed as excited. Jealous, in the extreme, of obligations, and keenly sensitive in any point which appealed to his honour or compassion, he was always a stranger to the calm serenity of a virtuous mind, and ultimately overwhelmed by those feelings which are so often the pleasing cause of a luxuriant imagination.

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To these qualifications of the heart, Frederie added the endowments of an elegant fancy; often indeed too impatient of the necessary restrictions of art, but naturally corrected by so pure a taste, as to enable him to discern, with admirable perspicuity, the limits of true and false beauty; and those of his classical compositions which peculiarly struck his ideas, united that vivid, energetic glow of thought which true genius alone can conceive, to_a simple chastity of expression which only correct judgment can define. As an agreeable polish

to so much intrinsic merit, his countenance was lively and animated, his figure genteel, and his manners engaging.

In human as in inanimate nature, similar qualities will have a mutual attraction. By directing our thoughts to the same objects; by viewing each other's ideas with a sympathetic benevolence; nay even by those friendly contests, which, in the most perfect unanimity of opinion, the digressive sallies of enthusiasm sometimes give rise to, but which tend only to diversify the calm of universal concurrence, we insensibly glide into that intimate harmony, without which society is but a state of armed neutrality, little superior to the open warfare of savage nature. By each of these ties was a romantic friendship cemented between Frederic and Edmond; their sentiments and inclinations mutually led them to a tender regard for each other's virtues. And as they were equally blessed with all external contingencies towards happiness in future, they looked forward with satisfaction to the scene of active life, which seemed to invite them to the honourable exertion of their abilities.

But, alas! so fair a morning was overcast in its dawn. Frederic's virtues, which, though they could not have prolonged his existence, might

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