"Go on, sweet Nymph, and when thy Muse
"Visits the dark and dreary tomb,
"Bright-rob'd Religion shall diffuse
"Her radiance, and dispel the gloom.

"And when the necessary day

"Shall call thee to thy saving God,

"Secure thou'lt chuse that better way,

"Which Conscience points and Saints have trode.

"So shall thy soul at length forsake

"The fairest form e'er soul receiv'd,

"Of those rich blessings to partake,
"Which eye ne'er saw, nor heart conceiv'd.

"There, 'midst the full angelic throng,

"Praise Him, who those rich blessings gave,
"There shall resume the grateful song,

"A joyful victor o'er the grave."' :

This excursion to York was indeed a relaxation, but not altogether of a sort, that either suited my case, or accorded with my taste. Certain it is I had for a time impaired my health by too much application and the overabstemious habits I imposed upon myself during my last year at college, but tranquillity not dissipation, or what is called amusement, was the restorative I most needed. The allure

ments of public assemblies and the society of those, who resort to them, form so great a contrast to the occupations of a student, that instead of being enlivened by the change, I felt a lassitude of mind, that put me out of humour with myself, and damped that ardent spirit of acquirement, which in my nature seemed to have been its ruling passion. Extremes of any sort are dangerous to youthful minds, and should be studiously avoided. The termination of our visit to York, and the prospect of returning to college were welcomed by me most cordially. I had brought no books with me to York, and of course had nothing to call off my mind from the listless idle style, in which I dangled away my time, amusing myself only now and then with my pen, because my fancy would not be totally unemployed; sometimes, as I have before related, imitating Spenser's style, and at other times composing short elegies after the manner of Hammond; for this, when I was reprimanded by the same judicious monitress, who rallied me out of my imitations of the stanzas of The Fairy Queen, I promised her I would write no more love

elegies, and took leave of Hammond with the following lines, written almost extempore

"When wise men love they love to folly,
"When blockheads love they're melancholy,
"When coxcombs love, they love for fashion,
"And quaintly call it the belle passion.

"Old bachelors, who wear the willow,
May dream of love and hug the pillow,
Whilst love, in poet's fancy rhyming,
"Sets all the bells of folly chiming.

"But women, charming women, prove

The sweet varieties of love,

They can love all, but none too dearly,
Their husbands too, but not sincerely.

“They'll love a thing, whose outward shape
"Marks him twin brother to an apc;
"They'll take a miser for his riches,

And wed a beggar without breeches.

"Marry, as if in love with ruin,
"A gamester to their sure undoing,"

A drunkard raving, swearing, storming,
"For the dear pleasure of reforming.

"They'll wed a lord, whose breath shall falter
"Whilst he is crawling from the altar :

"What is there women will not do,

"When they love man and money too?"

I

These and numerous trifles of the like sort, not worth recording, amused my vacant hours at York, but when I returned home, I made a very short stay and hastened to college, where I was soon invited to the master's lodge by Doctor Smith, who was pleased to honour me with his approbation of my past exertions, and imparted to me a new arrangement, that he and the seniors had determined upon for annulling so much of the existing statutes as restricted all Bachelors of Arts, except those of the third year's standing, from offering themselves candidates for fellowships: when he had signified this to me, he kindly added, that as I should be in the second: year of my degree at the next election, he recommended it to me by all means to present myself for examination, and to take my chance. This was a communication so flattering, that I knew not how to shape the answer, which he seem ed to expect from me; I clearly saw that his meaning was to bring me into the society a year before any one had been elected since the statutes were in existence; I knew that by my election there must be an exclusion of some candidate of the year above me, who had

only a single chance, whereas I had a double one; in the mean time my circumstances were such as not to want the emoluments of a fellowship, and my age such as might well admit of a postponement. These were my reflections at the time, and I felt the force of them, but the regulation was gone forth, and there were others of my own year, who had announced their resolution of coming forward as candidates at the time of the election. There was no part therefore for me to take but to prepare myself for the examination, and expect the result. To this I looked forward with much more terror and alarm, than to all I had experienced in the schools and theatre, for I not only stood in awe of the master of Trinity, as being the deepest mathematician of his time, but as I had reason to believe he had been led to lay open the election in some degree on my account, I apprehended he would never suffer his partiality to single me out to the exclusion of any other without strict scrutiny into my pretensions, and as I had obtained a high honour when I took my degree, I greatly feared he might expect too much, and meet with disappointment.