thou doft not comprehend. Upon looking up, what mean, faid I, thefe great flights of birds that are perpetually hovering about the bridge, and fettling upon it, from time to time? I fee vultures, harpies, ravens, cormorants, and, among many other feathered creatures, feveral little winged boys, that perch in great numbers upon the middle arches. Thefe, faid the genius, are envy, avarice, fuperftition, defpair, love, with the like cares and paffions that infeft human life. I here. fetched a deep figh; alas, faid I, Man was made in vain! How is he given away to mifery and mortality; tortured in life, and swallowed up in death! The genius being moved with compassion towards me, bid me quit fo uncomfortable a prospect.Look no more, faid he, on man in the first stage of his exiftence, in his fetting out for eternity: but caft thine eye to that thick mift into which the tide bears the feveral generations of mortals that fall into it. I directed my fight as I was ordered, and (whether or no the good genius ftrengthened it with any fupernatural force, or diffipated part of the mift that was before too thick for the eye to penetrate) faw the valley opening at the further end, and spreading forth into an immenfe ocean, that had a huge rock of adamant running through the midst of it, and dividing it into two equal parts. The clouds ftill rested on one half of it, infomuch

Ff

infomuch that I could discover nothing in it; but the other appeared to me a vaft ocean, planted with innumerable iflands, that were covered with fruits and flowers, and interwoven with a thoufand little fhining feas that ran among them.-I could fee perfons dreffed in glorious habits, with garlands upon their heads, paffing among the trees, lying down by the fides of fountains, or refting on beds of flowers; and could hear a confused harmony of finging birds, falling waters, human voices, and mufical inftruments. Gladnefs grew in me upon the difcovery of fo, delightful a scene. I wished for the wings of an eagle that I might fly away to thofe happy feas: But the genius told me there was no paffage to them, except through the gates of death, that I faw opening every moment upon the bridge.-The iflands, faid he, that lie fo fresh and green before thee, and with which the whole face of the occan appears fpotted as far as thou canft fee, are more in number than the fands on the fea fhore. There are myriads of islands beyond those which thou here difcovereft, reaching farther than thine eye, or even thine imagination can extend itfelf. These are the manfions of good men after death, who, according to the degrees and kinds of virtue in which they éxcelled, are diftributed among thofe feveral iflands, which abound with pleasures of different kinds and

degrees,

degrees, fuitable to the relishes and perfections of those who are fettled in them: Every ifland is a paradife accommodated to its respective inhabitants. Are not thefe, O Mirza, habitations worth contending for? Does life appear miferable, that gives thee opportunities of earning fuch a reward? Is death to be feared, that will convey thee to fo happy an existence? Think not man was made in vain, who has fuch an eternity reserved for him. I gazed with inexpreffible pleasure on these happy iflands. At length, faid I, fhew me now I befeech thee, the fecrets that lie hid under these dark clouds, which cover the ocean on the other fide of the rock of adamant.

The genius making me no answer, I turned about to address my felf to him a fecond time, but I found that he had left me; I then turned again to the vifion which I had been fo long contemplating, but instead of the rolling tide, the arched bridge, and the happy iflands, I faw nothing but the long hollow Valley of Bagdad, with oxen, fheep, and camels grazing upon the fides of it,

REPARTEE

OF A

YOUNG PRINCE.

HUNTING one day with his governor, he

he, " 66

my

complained he was cold.-"Give me,” says cloak." My prince,' replied the governor, 'perfons of your rank must not express themselves in the first perfon, like the inferior clafs of people, but in the plural, when it is relative to themselves; for this reafon you should have faid, Give us our cloak. Some time after, the prince was feized with a violent tooth-ache, of which he complained; but remembering well his leffon, cried out, "Ah! our teeth-our teeth!" To which the governor obferved, his did not in the leaft fuffer. "So I perceive," replied the prince, who was much out of humour," that the cloak is for us both, but the pain for me alone.”

MERC r.

HE merciful man will extend his hand of re

THE

lief and comfort, as far as he may, to his fellow creatures, whether they labour under temporal or spiritual diftrefs, whether they call for his pity from their fins or from their forrows; while,

in every relation of life, he will exercife this heavenly temper; as a magiftrate, gentle and humane, however compelled, in certain cafes, to be feverely juft; as a creditor, mild and forbearing, not flying haftily and rigorously to the utmoft extremity, much less condemning the unhappy debtor to imprisonment, which may utterly incapacitate from all power and hope of payment; and in fhort, in every cafe exercifing that lenity, mildnefs, forgiveness, and mercy, whereof the eternal God hath fet us fo bright an example; and all our expectation of which from him, he hath made to depend on our fhewing the fame to others: "Blef fed are the merciful, for they fhall obtain mercy."

Is

DEVOTION

S the lively exercise of those affections which we owe to the fupreme Being. It comprehends feveral emotions of the heart; which terminate in the fame object: The chief of them are veneration, gratitude, defire, and refignation.

It implies firft, profound veneration for God; that is, an affection compounded of awe and love: fecondly, fincere gratitude for all his benefits; this is a warmer emotion than veneration; veneration looks