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deliverance. Hafte you, and go up to my father, and fay unto him, Thus faith thy fon Joseph, God hath made me Lord over all Egypt; come down unto me, tarry not. And thou fhalt dwell in the land of Goshen; and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children's children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou haft: And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; left thou, and thy household, and all that thou haft, come to poverty. And behold your eyes fee, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth which speaketh unto you. And you fhall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and all that you have feen; and ye fhall hafte, and bring down my father hither.

And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck. Moreover, he kiffed all his brethren, and wept upon them; and after that, his brethren talked with them. And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh's house; and it pleafed Pharaoh well, and his fervants. And Pharaoh faid unto Jofeph, Invite hither thy father and his houfhold; and I will give them the good of the land of Egypt; and they fhall eat the fat of the land. And the fpirit of Jacob was revived, when he heard these tidings; and he said, My fon is yet alive, I will go and fee him before I die. And he took his journey with all that he had. And Jofeph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Ifrael, his father, to Goshen; and, prefenting himself unto him, he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck for fome time. And Jofeph placed his father, and his brethren; and gave them a poffeffion in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, as Pharaoh had commanded.

This interesting story contains a variety of affecting incidents; is related with the most beautiful fimplicity; and furnishes many important leffons of inftruction.It displays the mischiefs of parental partiality; the fatal effects of envy, jealousy, and discord amongst brethren;

the

the bleffings and honours with which virtue is rewarded; the amiable efs of forgiving injuries; and the tender joys which flow from fraternal love and filial piety. Different, in other refpects, as your lot may be from that of Jofeph, you have a father, my dear ALEXIS, who feels for you all the affection which Ifrael felt, and who hopes he has a claim to the fame generous return of gratitude. You have brothers and fifters, who are strangers to hatred, who will cherish and return your love, and whofe happiness is infeparable from yours: And you are under the protection and authority of that eternal Being, the God of Abraham, of Ifaac, and of Jacob, who fees, approves, and will exalt the virtuous.

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On Extravagance.

HERE is fcarcely among the evils of human life, any fo generally dreaded as poverty. Every other fpecies of mifery, thofe, who are not much accustomed to disturb the present moment with reflection, can eafily forget, because it is not always forced upon their regard; but it is impoffible to pass a day or an hour in the confluxes of men, without seeing how much indigence is expofed to contumely, neglect, and infult: And, in its lowest state, to hunger and nakednefs; to injuries against which every paffion is in arms, and to wants which nature cannot sustain.

Against other evils the heart is often hardened by true or by falfe notions of dignity and reputation : Thus we fee dangers of every kind faced with willingnefs, because bravery, in a good or bad caufe, is never without its encomiafts and admirers. But in the profpect of poverty, there is nothing but gloom and melancholy; the mind and body suffer together; its miseries bring no alleviations; it is a state in which every virtue is obfcured, and in which no conduct can avoid reproach; a state in which cheerfulness is infenfibility, and dejection, fullennefs; of which the hardships are without honour, and the labours without reward.

Of these calamities there feems not to be wanting a general conviction; we hear on every fide the noise of trade, and see the streets thronged with numberless multitudes, whofe faces are clouded with anxiety, and whose steps are hurried by precipitation, from no other motive than the hope of gain; and the whole world is put in motion by the defire of that wealth, which is chiefly to be valued as it fecures us from poverty; for it is more useful for defence than acquifition, and is not fo much able to procure good as to exclude evil.

Yet there are always fome whofe paffions or follies lead them to a conduct oppofite to the general maxims and practice of mankind; fome who seem to rush upon

poverty

poverty with the fame eagerness with which others avoid it; who see their revenues hourly leffened, and the eftates which they inherit from their ancestors mouldering away, without refolution to change their course of life; who perfevere against all remonstrances, and go forward with full career, though they fee before them the precipice of destruction.

It is the fate of almost every paffion, when it has paffed the bounds which nature prescribes, to counteract its own purpose. Too much rage hinders the warrior from circumfpection, too much eagerness of profit hurts the credit of the trader, too much ardour takes away from the lover that eafinefs of address with which ladies are delighted. Thus extravagance, though dic tated by vanity, and incited by voluptuousness, seldom procures ultimately either applause or pleasure.

If praise be justly estimated by the character of those from whom it is received, little fatisfaction will be given to the spendthrift by the encomiums which he purchases. For who are they that animate him in his purfuits, but young men, thoughtless and abandoned like himself, unacquainted with all on which the wif dom of nations has impreffed the stamp of excellence, and devoid alike of knowledge and of virtue? By whom is his profufion praised, but by wretches who confider him as fubfervient to their purposes; Sirens that entice him to shipwreck, and Cyclops that are gaping to devour him?

Every man, whofe knowledge or whofe virtue can give value to his opinion, looks with fcorn or pity, neither of which can afford much gratification to pride, on him whom the panders of luxury have drawn into the circle of their influence, and whom he fees parcelled out among the different minifters of folly, and about to be torn to pieces by taylors and jockies, vintners and attornies, who at once rob and ridicule him, and who are fecretly triumphing over his weakness, when they prefent new incitements to his appetites, and heighten his defires by counterfeit applaufe.

Such

Such is the praife that is purchafed by prodigality. Even when it is not yet difcovered to be falfe, it is the praise only of those whom it is reproachful to please, and whofe fincerity is corrupted by their intereft; men who live by the riots which they encourage, and who know that whenever their pupil grows wife, they fhall lose their power. Yet with fuch flatteries, if they could laft, might the cravings of vanity, which is feldom very delicate, be fatisfied; but the time is always häftening forward when this triumph, poor as it is, fhall vanifh, and when those who now surround them with obfequiousness and compliments, fawn among his equipage, and animate his riots, fhall turn upon him with infolence, and reproach him with the vices promoted by themselves.

And as little pretenfions has the man, who fquanders his estate by vain or vicious expenses, to greater degrees of pleasure than are obtained by others. To make any happiness fincere, it is neceffary that we believe it to be lafting; fince, whatever we fuppofe ourselves in danger of lofing, must be enjoyed with folicitude and uneafinefs; and the more value we fet upon it, the more muft the present poffeffion be embittered. How can he then be envied for his felicity, who knows that its continuance cannot be expected, and who is conscious that a very short time will give him up to the gripe of poverty, which will be harder to be borne, as he has given way to more exceffes, wantoned in greater abundance, and indulged his appetites with more profufeness?

It appears evident that frugality is neceffary even to complete the pleasure of expense; for it may be generally remarked of those who fquander what they know their fortune not fufficient to allow, that, in their most jovial expense, there always breaks out fome proof of difcontent and impatience; they either fcatter with a kind of wild defperation and affected laviflinefs, as criminals brave the gallows when they cannot escape it, er pay their money with a peevish anxiety, and endeavour at once to spend idly and to fave meanly: Having

neither

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