Oh, my Philario! with what horror do I recall those hours of vanity we have wasted together! Return, ye lost neglected moments! how should` I prize you above the eastern treasures! Let me dwell with hermits; let me rest on the cold earth; let me converse in cottages; may I but once more stand a candidate for an immortal crown, and have my probation for celestial happiness.

Ye vain Grandeurs of a court! ye sounding Titles, and perishing Riches! what do ye now signify? what consolation, what relief, can ye give me?

I have had a splendid passage to the grave; I die in state, and languish under a gilded canopy; I am expiring on soft and downy pillows, and am respectfully attended by my servants and physicians my dependents sigh, my sisters weep, my father bends beneath a load of years and grief; my lovely wife, pale and silent, conceals her inward anguish; my friend, the generous Pylades, who was as my own soul, suppresses his sighs, and leaves me to hide his secret grief.

But, oh which of these will answer my summons at the high tribunal? which of them will bail me from the arrest of Death? who will descend into the dark prison of the grave for me?

Here they all leave me, after having paid a few idle ceremonies to the breathless clay; which perhaps may ly reposed in state, while my soul, my

my Judge. My afflicted friends, it is very pro-
bable, with great solemnity, will lay the senseless
corpse in a stately monument, inscribed with,
Here lyes the Great-

But could the pale carcass speak, it would soon

reply;

-false marble, where?

Nothing but poor and sordid dust lyes here.

Corvely.

While some flattering panegyric is pronounced at my interment, I may perhaps be hearing my just condemnation at a superior tribunal; where an unerring verdict may sentence me to everlasting infamy. But I cast myself on his absolute mercy, through the infinite merits of the Redeemer of lost mankind. Adieu, my dear Philario, till we meet in the world of spirits.

!

From CELADON to AMASIA, who had seduced him into a criminal love for her.

Too lovely Amasia! whither have you led my heedless steps? into what paths of destruction have you seduced me? I have done an action which will never bear the reflection of reason; an action that will stamp an endless stain on my character, and with which my conscience loudly reproaches me.

I have sinned against all the ties of honour and

1

gratitude. The generous man I have wronged was the guardian of my childhood, and the guide of my yet unexperienced youth. I am entering into the world under his conduct and protection; he has been more than a father to me. Never wasa trust discharged with greater tenderness and fidelity; may Heaven return it in a thousand blessings on his head-Should he ever leave an orphan like me exposed, may it meet the same justice and humanity I have found from him; but, oh! may it never make such a return! Let such villany never stain his noble race, nor leave a blemish on his name!

These thoughts bring back to my memory all his gentle treatment, awake my young affections, and melt me into childish tears.-Oh, could they wash away my guilt, and restore me back to virtue ! -Yet I'll look up,

My fault is past: but, oh, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn!

Shakespeare.

Curse on the maxims of the world, and that impropriety of language that would disguise the basest of crimes with the names of amusement and gallantry? Let me be singular, let me be unpolite, let me be unfashionably good, if I can but keep my peace, and justify myself to my own conscience! Let me inviolably observe the rules of Truth and Justice, be fearless and open to the in

rest on all the modish appellations and refinements that would soften the horror of a base and treacherous action!

These were the principles in which the injured Altamont instructed me, and confirmed by his own great example. My mind had been elevated by the rehearsal of heroic actions, and a love to the public interest; by a philosophic fortitude, and the command of my passions. Such were the motives that governed me, till the fatal day came that made you a bride to the deluded Altamont; from which unhappy period I may date my apostasy from virtue. You taught me softer maxims, and perverted the noble ardour of my soul into loose and infamous designs; while you caressed me with an open freedom, which my early years, and your husband's affection for me, too easily excused.

Till then I had been a stranger to love; and, thoughtless of danger, left myself unguarded to all your charms; ignorant whither the growing passion led, nor thought the pleasure criminal which I took in your conversation: but I was soon softened into sin, and unwarily took in the deadly poison, while you indulged the guilty inclination, and soothed me into ruin.

What infernal delusion perverted your judgment, when you preferred me to the man to whom you had given your vows? The vainest of all your sex might have limited her ambition with such a con

quest. If the most agreeable person, the best temper, joined with unblemished equity to man, and piety to God, ever claimed esteem, he might justly challenge it from all that knew him.

But he had a right to your affection by a thousand tender engagements, and by his entire confidence in your fidelity; not from any credulity of temper, but from his own innate honour, and a soul incapable of treachery or distrust. With an artifice which only Hell could teach, you have secured the esteem of a man who, in all things else, acts with the greatest judgement and penetration.

It was the disguise I saw you practise that recalled me back to truth and honour: in your crime I perceived my own guilt, and abhorred the monstrous part I had been acting. While he, my guardian, my protector, had been fatiguing himself with cares and journies to secure me from wrongs and injustice, 1, in his own house, proved a traitor to his honour, and invaded the most sacred rights of his affection.-Oh that he would appear to my view an enemy, a villain, any thing but a friend and benefactor! These titles confound and pierce my soul with the most exquisite torments..

The fever from which I am just recovered was not half so threatning to my life as the expresssions of his kindness; when, with the tenderness of a father, and the benignity of a friend, he watched.