W On the Prevalence of VIRTUE. HILE Socrates was in the midft of a public lecture on morality, Theodota, a common prostitute, passed by; and, to fhew her power and triumph over the fage, the beckoned Alcibiades, his molt attentive hearer. The young Athenian, as gay and inconfiderate as the wildest nobleman of his age in Britain, left the unfinished fentence, and ran to her. The miftrefs brought him back; and, gloryirg in her victory, addreffed herself to the philofopher: "Behold, Socrates, I claim a juft precedence over thee; and call to witnefs Athens, that I am the greater and more powerful of the two." Why, madam?" faid the fage. "Because," replied the courtezan, "thy wifdom never yet could alienate one of my lovers; but, fee here, my charms have drawn away thy favourite and moft honourable pupil." Socrates undisturbed replied, "It is no wonder, Theodota! the way to thee is the foft flope of Pleafure; and every eye can fee the tranfient glare of beauty: But the path with me, is up the rugged hill of glory; and the objects, too bright for vulgar eyes, are Fame and Virtue." The noble youth burst from his mistress's arms, and fell upon his knees to worship him: The harlot walked away in trouble and confufion. It would not be difficult to find examples in England of all that happered in Grecce on this occafion; excepting the repentance. Sometimes an eld ftory wakes the attention, where prefent objects pafs together unregarded. If this should roufe the minds of youth to fee the dignity of Virtue, and its prevalence, even with the diffolute, when it has a fair hearing, we do not want an object of regard as much above that Socrates in rank, as the dif folute nobility of this day are below his pupil. Virtue has the fame preeminence from the degree of lite wherein it is flewn; as Shakespeare gives to mercy. "'Tis greatest in the greatest, and be 66 comes "The purpled monarch better than "his crown." We have examples nothing can exceed in this refpect in Britain. We have a king who never omitted, during his reign, one opportunity of virtue in himself; nor one occafion of rewarding it in others: And, for the future time, when Heaven shall please to change the fcene upon us, (for there is no earthly fcene but muft at fome time change,) we may not only firmly hope, but may be fure, to fee the fame steps followed; and to view again upon the throne, an example, as well as a patron, of virtue. It is to this period, long as we wish that it may be delayed: Yet it is to this period we are to look for fuch a reformation in our young nobility as will afford a story, better than this of Alcibiades, by as much as it is better not to err, than to be convinced of an error. It is from courts examples are beft taken; and coming from the greateft, they fpread fartheft. The taper may illuminate the private family, but it is the fovereign fun alone which fpreads its influence through the universe. If the nobility of an advanced time of life were oppreffive, inconfiderate, rafh, or cruel, we might refer them to the great example where mildness, prudence, temperance and mercy, beam from the throne, to light them into better paths: But, as the young cannot take example except from the young, and the leffons, even of a king, his reverence for goodnels, and rewards to thofe who excel in virtue, have the fuil effect, even on those who can plead in their own excufe the heat of youth, and natural levity of that gay period. It has been feen that courts have followed the examples ftrictly of their kings, when they have been abandon ed: View of the Univerfe. ed: The greater praise of imitating virtue in their prince, will lead, beyond a doubt, more strongly. Even imperfections of body, in a king, have been copied by a train of civil courtiers. There will not certainly be lefs complaifance fhewn by our young nobility, where the graces of the mind command their refpect as well as imitation. In the palace of Alexander, no courtier looked trait forward: When Cafar reigned in Rome, no man of fashion would let a fingle hair grow near his forehead. In Henry Beauclerc's time, even monks were fcholars; and, under our Charles II. bishops were libidinous. In the prefent court, we fee dignity in all the advanced nobility; and only fome of the inconfiderate young, who cannot take example from a time of life fo different, are wild, thoughtlefs, and of Alcibiades's turn. We fee virtues can be imitated as warmly as vices have been copied in more abandoned times; and we shall continue to fee it when the reformation will be general. If there can want another argument, bafide the native dignity of the object, and the high rank in which the ex 59 ample is placed; it might be found in the refource of Pride; and the very foibles of the great mi ht thus be made the foil whereon to plant their virtues. Every one who is placed by birth, or by the favour of his fovereign, in this exalted rank, fees his own right to a high importance; and places it in a light of vast consideration. But let us look round the great world, and fee what it is which really establishes this pre-eminence, and we hall find it is Virtue. The libertine degrades nobility; and, without one exception, we now fee it; that fuch of our men of fashion, be their age, their title, or their fortune, what it will, as degrade themfelves by a debauched life, are let down by it to the level, or below the level, of the common clafs. Every one's recollection will point him out inftances of men, whofe natural importance would fet them above, even the generality of thofe who have the honour to hold the fame rank in title and precedence; but who, on the contrary, because they are debauched, have no respect from any; 'whom every confiderate man looks on with contempt, and every good man with compaffion. A View of the UNIVERSE, its STRUCTURE and CONDITION. HE aftonishing ftructure, and the and order of creation, demand, not the notice only, but, the veneration of every reasonable being. No less than infinite wildom could conceive the plan; nor lefs than almighty power erect the fabric! which is, at the fame time, the no Our fight is truck with amazement, when we look but upon a flately building, the mere effect of human invention; and, yet, (to the fhame of our ftupidity be it spoken) we can confider the earth, we live on, with indifference; we can walk under the lamps of Heaven, without being enlightened by the fmalleft glimmering of divine reflection! nor (to many) do they argue any thing greater than chance; which, in other words, is nothing. Yet, certainly, no knowledge can be fo delightful, to the foul, as this, ploy us, in our fhort pilgrimage thro' the body. Nay, the excellent Mr. Ray, has very pleasingly imagined, that it may be part of our business and employment, to all eternity, to dif cover till, deeper, into the unfathomable works of God; and contemplate the glory of his wifdom, power, and goodness. What a vast field for contemplation is opened in thofe regions of matter, about us, in which there is not the leaft particle, but carries with it an argument of God's existence; not the fmalleft being but fhews it; nr the flightest motion produced, the fofteft whisper of the air, but tells it. The frame and conftituti n of the world, the aftonishing magnificence of it, the various kinds of creatures, and the Ha Coultancy View of the Universe. 60 conftancy obferved in the productions of things, and the ufes for which they are produced, all thew, that there is fome almighty defigner at the top of all these things: Such marks they bear of his power, and wisdom. If we would fhew to any doubter, the grandeur of this fabric, we need only bid him confider the fun, with that infupportable glory that furrounds it: The vaft diftance, magnitude, and heat of it! the planets periodically moving in their feveral orbits, about it, with all their regular variety of afpects, guarded, fome of them, by Tecondary planets, and, as it were, emulating the ftate of the fun: And, probably, all thefe, poffeffed by ditinct and proper inhabitants! let him think of thofe furprising vifits the comets make us; the large trains of uncommon fplendor, which attend them; the far country they come from, and the curiofity and horror they excite, not only among us, but in the inhabitants of the worlds about us; who alfo may be roufed, as we are, to fee the entry, and progress, of these new minifters of the almighty. Let him direct his eye and contemplation, through thole azure regions above him, up to the fixed ftars, that radiant, and numberless hoft of Heaven; and reflect but how unlikely it is, that they thould be placed there, only to adorn, and befpangle, our canopy! he will, then, inftruct himSelf, that they are fo many other funs, with their feveral regions, and dependant planets, about them! he will further difcern, by the help of glaffes, ftill more and more of thefe fixed lights; and exalt himself to an apprehenfion of their unaccountable numbers, and of the immenfity of those fpaces, that lie retired beyond, not only, our view but even our imagina. tion. Here, on light fancy's faily wings, I rife, Aw'd, and confounded, thro' deep wilds of air? Millions of op'ning wonders strike eyes; my And reaton's finite view is dazzled there! Globes, behind globes, unnumber'd, hence appear. The twinkling ftars, that from dint earth, remote, Seem Heav'n-fet gems, and scatter'd feeds of day; Here, (buoyant worlds!) 'midft feas of Æther float, And, o'er blue kingdoms, hold a fiery fway. In diftant orbits, round each reigning ftar, Huge carths, and moons, their circ ly homage pay: Millions of countless miles are lo between, And fick'ning thought grows tir'd, to ftretch fo far i How brightly vaft each concave fphere is feen! ftreaming light; And form, in folemn filence, day and night. We need only confider these things, which are now known almoft to every body; and, by them, we shall be taught, that a ftructure, fo infinite, must be the work of an infinite archi tect. But, if we could take a parti cular view of all that aftonishing compa's, which we have thus haftily run over. How would wonders multiply upon us every part of every world, is, as it were, made up of other worlds. If we examine this our earth, What variety of mountains, hills, valWhat fcope is here for admiration? leys, plains, rivers, feas, trees, plants! what numberlefs tribes of different animals is it ftock'd with. How unwearied are the inventions, and works of one of View of the Univerje. of thefe; which is Man! And yet, when they are all furvey'd, as nicely as they can be, whether by our unaffifted fenfes, or the help of telescopical glaffes, the affiftance of microfcropes, in the fmalleft parts of matter, will go on to difcover as many new wonders, as thofe which have already been made known to us. New kingdoms of animals; new architecture, and curiofity of workmanship, and economy. So that as before our conception fainted, in thofe boundless journeys we were obliged to take thro' the expanfive vaftnefs of the univerfe; here, on the other hand, we tire ourfelves with fruit!efs researches into the principles and conftituent parts of it. Both the beginnings and the end of things, the leaft and the greatest, all conspire to perplex us. And which ever way we profecute our enquiries, we still fall in with fresh fubjects of amazement, and fresh reasons to believe, that there are more and more behind, that will for ever efcape our eagereft and moft fuccefsful penetration. We have philofophy, indeed, but, the misfortune is, it dwells but in the furface of nature. It appears, then, plainly enough, in the parts and model of the world, that there is a contrivance, and a refpect to certain reafons, and ends. Why elfe is the fun placed near the middle of our fytem; but for the more convenient difpenfing of his influence to the planets, moving about him? Why elfe does the plane of the earth's equator, interfect that of her orbit, and make a proper angle with it, but in order to diverfify the year, and create a useful variety of feafons? Many other things of this kind, tho' a thousand times repeated, will be always delightful obfervations to good men and true fcholars: None of whom can obferve thofe vapours which afcend fron the fea, to meet in clouds above, and fall back again, after condenfation, without understanding the purpose of this providentia! diftillation to be a division of the water from its groffer falts, that, by rains, and dews, it may return upon, and fupply the fountains and refreshing rivers, nourihing the vegetables by fhowers, which 61 therefore defcend not in cataracts, Who can view the structure of a Who, then, that judges of this God, by his works and his mercy, will be afraid of that death, which must bring us one stage nearer him? Nay, who knows, but that what we call Death, may be our real, and proper, life, and this, which we think our life, a kind of dark, and dreaming, interval, from which death only comes to awaken, and 62 On the Respect due to the Dead. I must not yet, in Heaven's wide fearch rejoice: O be the will of God, not mine, obey'd! Wait, my impatient foul, his wifer choice: Truft the ftrong hand, by which thofe worlds were made; And to his pleasure tune thy willing voice. If I not yet shake off this earthly load, Sure there is bufinefs, worth my life's best aim, And he who tires, tho' on a length'ning road, Is faintly foul'd, nor inn's, at last, in fame. A On the Respect due N artift, whofe name will probably be one day famous, brought me a sketch this morning of a hiftory piece, upon a subject, that I do not remember to have yet feen treated: It was the ftory of ARTIMESIA. Around the embers, left from a vast funeral pile, yet glowing in their athes, food the orators of Greece, fpeaking the praifes of the dead MAUSOLUS; near them, in groupes, the Carians of highest rank, attending the recital of his actions, with countenances which expreffed equally the diftrefs they felt for their loft fovereign! the heartfelt fatisfaction, with which they heard, and join'd the funeral applaufe, and the aftonishment wherewith they owned the power of Grecian eloquence, For me, fuffice it, to have taught the mufe, The tuneful triflings of her tribe to fhun; And rais'd her warmth, fuch heavenly themes to chufe, As, in pait ages, her beft garlands, won. He, who beyond the power of man could write, Wou'd still fall fhort of him, who acted well: To flow in found, or turn a period right, Is but in fairytowers of praise to dwell. But wrongs to pardon, or good deeds require Is, (in fubftantial meaning) to excel. What, tho' my wishes strain beyond my power, That thou'd but urge my fpeed, to reach its goal: Whence, on the wretched I may comfort fhower, And, with dear pity, feaft my hun gry foul. Be action, then, henceforth, my life's wide fphere; Oh! there are things, my heart even burns to do: All has been faid, that's worth a wife man's ear; But much may be perform'd, that's greatly new! to the DEAD. Behind, was the first out-line of the valt Mausoleum, worthily number'd among the world's wonders: In the fore-ground herfelf; grasping in her hand a cup, wherein was wine mixed with her husband's afhes. Her lips were opening to receive the draught, and, in her eye, fat grief unutterable. Her eloquent countenance exprefs'd the folemn joy, with which the heard his praifes; the fenfe of horror at the precious potion; and fuperior to all the pride of facred love, which was about to make herfelf his monument; and to receive into her living veins her husband.. I have no praife for the defign; I am not worthy to speak in commen lation of it. There is a kind of merit, of which |