pleasure warbled in the valley, he mingled in her train.~ When pride beckoned towards the precipice, he ventured to the tottering edge. He delighted in devious, and untried paths; and made so many excursions from the road, that his feebler companions often outstripped him. I observed that the muses beheld him with partiality; but truth often frowned and turned aside her face. While Genius was us wasting his strength in eccentric flights, I saw a person of a very different appearance, named Application. He erept along with a slow and unremitting pace, his eyes fixed On the top of the mountain, patiently removing every stone hat obstructed his way, till he saw most of those below him who had at first derided his slow and toilsome progress.Indeed there are few who ascended the hill with equal and uninterrupted steadiness; for, beside the difficulties of the way, they were continually solicited to turn aside, by a nu merous crowd of appetites, passions, and pleasures, whose importunity, when once complied with, they became less and less able to resist and though they often returned to the path, the asperites of the road were more severely felt ; the hill appeared more steep and rugged; the fruits which were wholesome and refreshing seemed harsh and ill tasted; their sight grew dim; and their feet tripped at every little ●bstruction. -- I saw, with some surprise, that the muses, whose busines was to cheer and encourage those who were toiling up the ascent, would often sing in the bowers of pleasure, and accompany those who were enticed away at the call of the passions. They accompanied them however, but a little way; and always forsook them when they lost sight of the hill. The tyrants then doubled their chains upon the un happy captives; and led them away, without resistance, to the cells of ignorance, or the mansions of misery. Amongst the incumerable seducers, who were endeavoring to draw the votaries of truth from the path of science, there was one so little formidable in her appearance, and so gentle and languid in her attempts, that i should scarcely have taken notice of her, but for the numbers she had so imperceptibly loaded with her chains, Indolence, (for so she was called.) far from proceeding to open hostilities, did not attempt to turn their feet out of the path, but contented herself with retarding their progress; and the purpose she could not force them t abandon, she persuaded them to delay. Her touch had a power like that of the torpedo, which withered the strength of those who came within its influence. Her unhappy captives still turned their faces towards the temple, and always hoped to arrive there; but the ground seemed to slide from beneath their feet, and they found themselves at the bottom, before they suspected they had changed their place. The placid serenity which at first appeared in their countenance, changed by degrees into a melancholy languor, which was inged with deeper and deeper gloom, as they glided down the stream of insignificance; a dark and sluggish water, which is curled by no breeze, and enlivened by no murmur, ill it falls into a dead sea, where startled passengers are awakened by the shock, and the next moment buried in the sulph of oblivion. Of all the unhappy deserters from the paths of science, none seemed less able to return than the followers of indolence. The captives of appetite and passion could often seize the moment when their tyrants were languid or asleep, to escape from their enchantment; but the dominion of indolence was constant and unremitted; and seldom resisted, till resistance was in vain. After contemplating these things, I turned my eyes towards the top of the mountain, where the air was always pure and exhilarating, the path shaded with laurels and other evergreens, and the effulgence which beamed from the face of science, seemed to shed a glory round her votaries. Happy, said I, are they who are permitted to ascend the mountain! But while I was pronouncing this exclamation, with uncommon ardor, I saw, standing beside me, a form of diviner features, and a more benign radiance." "Happier," said she," are they whom virtue conducts to the mansions of content." * What." said 1, " does virtue then reside in the vale?" "I am found," said she," in the vale, and I illuminate the nountain. 1 cheer the cottager at his toil, and inspire the sage at his meditation. I mingle in the crowd of cities, and bless the hermit in his cell. I have a temple in every heart that owns my influence; and to him that wishes for me. I am already present. Science may raise thee to eminence; but I alone can guide thee to felicity!" While virtue was thus speaking, I stretched out my arnus towards her, with a vehemence which broke my slumber. The chill dews were 'falling around me, and the shades of evening stretched over the landscape. I hastened homeward; and resigned the night to silence and to meditation. SECTION VII. AIKIN. THE JOURNEY OF A DAY; A PICTURE OF HUMAN LIFE OBADIAH, the son of Abensina, left the caravansers early in the morning, and pursued his journey, through the plains of Indostan. tie was fresh and vigorous with rest; he was animated with hope; he was incited by desire; he walked swiftly forward over the vallies, and saw the hills gradually rising before him. As he passed along, his ears were delighted with the morning song of the bird of paradise; he was fanned by the last flutters of the sinking breeze, and sprinkled with dew by the groves of spices. He sometimes contemplated the towering height of the oak, monarch of the hills; and sometimes caught the gentle fragrance of the prim rose, eldest daughter of the spring: all his senses were gratified, and all care was banished from his heart. Thus he went on, till the sun approached his meridian, and the increasing heat preyed upon his strength; he then looked round about him for some more commodious path. He saw, on his right hand, a grove that seemed to wave its shades as a sign of invitation; he entered it, and found the coolness and verdure irresistibly pleasant. He did not, however, forget whither he was travelling: but found a narrow way bordered with flowers, which appeared to have the same direction with the main road; and was pleased, that, by this happy experiment he had found means to unite pleasure with business, and to gain the reward of diligence without suffering its fatigues. He therefore, still continued to walk for a time, without the least remission of his ardor, except that he was sometimes tempted to stop by the music of the birds, which the heat had assembled in the shade; and sometimes amused himself with plucking the flowers that covered the banks on either side, or the fruits that hung the branches. upon At last, the green path began to decline from its first tendency, and to wind among hills and thickets, and cooled with fountains, and murmuring with waterfalls. Here Obadiah paused for a time, and began to conside whether it were longer safe to forsake the known and common track; but remembering that the heat was now in its greatest violence, and that the plain was dusty and uneven, he resolved to pursue the new path, which he supposed only to make a few meanders, in compliance with the varieties of the ground, and to end at last in the common road. Having thus calmed his solicitude, he renewed his pace, though he suspected that he was not gaining ground. This uneasiness of his mind inclined him to lay hold on every new object, and give way to every sensation that might sooth or divert him. He listened to every echo; he mounted every bill for a fresh prospect; he turned aside to every cascade; and pleased himself with tracing the course of a gentle river that roiled among the trees, and watered a large region with innumerable circumvolutions. In these amusements the hours passed away unaccounted; his deviations had perplexed his memory, and he knew not towards what point to travel. He stood pensive and confused, afraid to go forward lest he should go wrong, yet conscious that the time of loitering was now passed. While he was thus tortured with uncertainty, the sky was overspread with clouds; the day Vanished from before him and a sudden tempest gathered round his head. He was now roused by his danger to a quick and painful remembrance of his folly; he now saw how happiness is lost when ease is consulted; he lamented the unmanly impatience that prompted him to seek shelter in the grove; and despised that petty curiosity that led him on from true to trifle. While he was thus reli ting, the air grew blacker, and a clap of thunder broke his meditation. He now resolved to do what yet remained in his power, to tread back the ground which he had passed, and try to find some issue where the wood might open into the plain. He prostrated himself on the ground and commended his life to the Lord of Nature. He rose with confidence and tranquillity, and pressed on with resolution. The beasts of the desert were in motion, and on every hand were heard the mingled howls of rage and fear, and ravage and expiration. All the horrors of darkness and solitude surrounded him : the winds roared in the woods; and the torrents tumbled from the hills. us forlorn and distressed, he wandered through the wild, without knowing whither he was going, or whether F he was every moment drawing nearer to safety, or to de struction. At length, not fear but labor began to overcome him; his breath grew short, and his knees trembled; and he was on the point of lying down in resignation to his fate, when he beheld through the brambles, the glimmer of a taper. He advanced towards the light; and finding that it proceeded from the cottage of a hermit, he called humbly at the door, aud obtained admission. The old man set before him such provisious as he had collected for himself, on which Obadiah fed with eagerness and gratitude. When the repast was over, "Tell me," said the hermit, "by what chance thou hast been brought hither? I have been now twenty years an inhabitant of the wilderness, in which I never saw a man before." Obadiah then related the occurrences of his journey, without any concealment or palliation. "Son," said the hermit, "let the errors and follies, the dangers and escape of this day, sink deep into thy heart.Remember, my son, that human life is the journey of a day. We rise in the morning of youth, full of vigor and full of expectation; we set forward with spirit and hope, with gaiety and with diligence, and travel on a while in the direct road of piety towards our mansions of rest. In a short time we remit our fervor, and endeavor to find some mitigation of our duty, and some more easy means of obtaining the same end. We then relax our vigor, and resolve no longer to be terrified with crimes at a distance; but rely upon our own constancy, and venture to approach what we resolve never to touch. We thus enter the bowers of ease, and repose in the shades of security. Here the heart softens, and vigilance subsides; we are then willing to enquire whether another advance cannot be made, and whether we may not, at least, turn our eyes upon the gardens of pleasure. We approach them with scruple and hesitation; we enter them, but enter timorous and tremble; and always hope to pass through them without losing the road of virtue, which, for a while, we keep in our sight, and to which we purpose to return But temptation succeeds temptation, and one compliance prepares us for another; we in time lose the happiness of innocence and solace our disquiet with sensual gratifi. &bons By degrees, we let fall the remembrance of our original intention, and quit the only adequate object of ra |