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On Hope.

Exiles, the proverb says, subsist on hope:
Delusive hope still points to distant good,
To good that mocks approach.

HERE is no temper fo generally indulged as hope; is other paffions operate by ftarts, on particular occafions, or in certain parts of life; but hope begins with the first power of comparing our actual with our poffible state, and attends us through every stage and period, always urging us forward to new acquifitions, and holding out fome diftant bleffing to our view, promifing us either relief from pain, or increase of happiness.

Hope is neceffary in every condition. The miferies of poverty, of fickness, of captivity, would, without this comfort, be infupportable; nor does it appear that the happiest lot of terrestrial existence can fet us above the want of this general bleffing; or that life, when the gifts of nature and of fortune are accumulated upon it, would not still be wretched, were it not elevated and delighted by the expectation of fome new poffeffion, of fome enjoyment yet behind, by which the wifh fhall be at last satisfied, and the heart filled up to its utmost

extent.

Hope is, indeed, very fallacious, and promifes what it feldom gives; but its promifes are more valuable than the gifts of fortune, and it feldom frustrates us without affuring us of recompenfing the delay by a greater bounty.

I was mufing on this ftrange inclination which every man feels to deceive himself, and confidering the advantages and dangers proceeding from this gay prospect of futurity, when, falling asleep, on a fudden I found myfelf placed in a garden, of which my fight could defcry no limits. Every fcene about me was gay and gladfome, light with funfhine, and fragrant with per

S 3

fumes;

fumes; the ground was painted with all the variety of fpring, and all the choir of nature was finging in the groves.

At length I faw an innumerable multitude of every age and fex, who feemed all to partake of fome general felicity; for every cheek was flushed with confidence, and every eye sparkled with eagernefs; yet each appeared to have fome particular and fecret pleasure, and very few were willing to communicate their intentions, or extend their concern beyond themselves.

On enquiring, I was informed that I was then in the garden of HOPE, the daughter of DESIRE, and that all thofe whom I faw thus tumultuoufly buftling round me, were inticed by the promises of HOPE, and haftening to feize the gifts which the held in her hand.

I turned my fight upward, and faw a goddess in the bloom of youth, fitting on a throne; around her lay all the gifts of fortune, and all the bleflings of life were fpread abroad to view; fhe had a perpetual gaiety of afpect, and every one imagined that her fmile, which was impartial and general, was directed to himself, and triumphed in his own fuperiority to others, who had conceived the fame confidence from the same mistake.

I then mounted an eminence, from which I had a more extensive view of the whole place, and could with lefs perplexity confider the different conduct of the crowds that filled it. From this station I obferved, that the entrance into the garden of HOPE was by two gates, one of which was kept by REASON, and the other by FANCY. REASON was furly and fcrupulous, and feldom turned the key without many interrogatories, and long hefitation; but FANCY was a kind and gentle portress; fhe held her gate wide open, and welcomed all equally to the district under her fuperintendency; fo that the paffage was crowded by all those who either feared the examination of REASON, or had been rejected by her.

From the gate of REASON there was a way to the throne of HOPE, by a craggy, flippery, and winding path, called the Strait of Difficulty, which thofe who entered

entered with the permiffion of the guard endeavoured to climb. But though they furveyed the way cheerfully before they began to rife, and marked out the feveral stages of their progrefs, they commonly found unexpected obftacles, and were obliged frequently to stop on the fudden, where they imagined the way plain and even. A thousand intricacies embarraffed them, a thoufand flips threw them back, and a thousand pitfals im peded their advance. So formidable were the dangers, and fo frequent the miscarriages, that many returned from the first attempt, and many fainted in the midst of the way, and only a very fmall number were led up to the fummit of HOPE by the hand of FORTITUDE. Of these few, the greater part, when they had obtained the gift which HOPE had promifed them, regretted the labour which it coft, and felt in their fuccefs the regret of disappointment; the reft retired with their prize, and were led by WISDOM to the bowers of CONTEnt.

Turning then towards the gate of FANCY, I could find no way to the feat of HOPE; but though fhe fat full in view, and held out her gifts with an air of invitation, which filled every heart with rapture, the mountain was on that fide inacceffibly fteep, but fo channelled and shaded, that none perceived the impoffibility of afcending it, but each imagined himself to have discovered a way to which the reft were ftrangers. Many expedients were indeed tried by this induftrious tribe, of whom some were making themselves wings, which others were contriving to actuate by the perpetual motion. But, with all their labour, and all their artifices, they never rofe above the ground, or quickly fell back, nor ever approached the throne of HOPE, but continued still to gaze at a distance, and laughed at the low progrefs of those whom they saw toiling in the Strait of Difficulty.

Part of the favourites of FANCY, when they had entered the garden, without making, like the reft, an attempt to climb the mountain, turned immediately to the vale of IDLENESS, a calm and undisturbed retire

ment,

ment, from whence they could always have HOPE in profpect, and to which they pleafed themselves with believing that the intended speedily to defcend. Thefe were indeed scorned by all the reft; but they feemed very little affected by contempt, advice, or reproof, but were refolved to expect at ease the favour of the goddess.

Among this gay race I was wandering, and found them ready to answer all my queftions, and willing to communicate their mirth; but, turning round, I faw two dreadful monfters entering the vale, one of whom I knew to be AGE, and the other WANT. Sport and révelling were now at an end, and an univerfal fhriek of affright and distress burst out and awaked me.

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An Address to a young Scholar, supposed to be in the Course of a liberal Education.

YOUR parents have watched over your helpless in

fancy, and conducted you, with many a pang, to an age at which your mind is capable of manly improvement. Their folicitude ftill continues, and no trouble nor expense is spared in giving you all the instructions and accomplishments which may enable you to act your part in life, as a man of polifhed fenfe and confirmed virtue. You have, then, already contracted a great debt of gratitude to them. You can pay it by no other method but by using the advantages which their goodnefs has afforded you.

If your endeavours are deficient, it is in vain that you have tutors, books, and all the external apparatus of literary pursuits. You must love learning, if you intend to poffefs it. In order to have it, you must feel its delights; in order to feel its delights, you must apply to it, however irksome at first, closely, conftantly, and for a confiderable time. If you have refolution enough to do this, you cannot but love learning; for the mind always loves that to which it has been long, fteadily, and voluntarily attached. Habits are formed, which render what was at firft difagreeable, not only pleasant, but neceffary.

Pleasant, indeed, are all the paths which lead to polite and elegant literature. Yours, then, is furely a lot particularly happy. Your education is of fuch a fort, that its principal fcope is to prepare you to receive a refined pleasure during your life. Elegance, or delicacy of taste, is one of the first objects of a claffical difcipline; and it is this fine quality which opens a new world to the scholar's view. Elegance of tafte has a connexion with many virtues, and all of them virtues of the most amiable kind. It tends to render you at once good and agreeable. You must therefore be an enemy to your

own

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