SELECT PIECES of LITERATURE, in 1 had perfuaded herself that he had

PROSE and VERSE.
By Jeveral Female Hands.
(Continued from Vol. XI. Page 302.)

NUMBER XI.

SENTIMENT and FEELING.

TH

HERE is nothing in which felfdeception is more notorious than in what regards fentiment and feeling. Let a vain young woman be told that tendernefs and foftnefs is the peculiar charm of the fex (that even their weakness is lovely, and their fears becoming), and you will prefently obferve her grow fo tender as to be ready to weep for a fly; fo fearful, that the ftarts at a feather; and fo weak hearted, that the smallest acNocident quite overpowers her. thing fo effectually defeats its own ends as this kind of affection; for though warm affections, and tender feelings are, beyond meafure, amiable and charming, when perfectly natural, and kept under the due controul of reafon and principle; yet nothing is fo truly difgufting as the affectation of them, or even the unbriddled indulgence of fuch as are real. Our feelings were not given us for our ornaments, but to fpur us on to right actions. Compaffion, for inftance, was not impreffed on the human heart, only to adorn the fair face with tears, and to give an agreeable languor to the eyes; it was defigned to excite our utmost endeavours to relieve the fufferers. Yet how often have I heard that felfish weakness, which flies from the fight of diftrefs, dignified with the My friend is, name of tenderness! " I hear, in the deepeft affliction and mifery; I have not feen her, (for indeed I cannot bear fuch scenes) they affect me too much! thofe who have lefs fenfibility are fitter for the world; but for my part, I own, I am not able to fupport fuch things; 1 fhall not attempt to vifit her, till I hear the This I has recovered her fpirits." have heard faid, with an air of comselfish creature placence, and the poor VOL, XII,

generous

finer feelings than those
friends who were fitting, patiently,
in the house of mourning, watching,
in filence, the proper moment to pour
in the balm of comfort, who fup-
preffed their own fenfations, and only
attended to thofe of the afflicted per-
fon, and whofe tears have flowed in
fecret, whilft their eyes and voice were
taught to enliven the finking heart
with the appearance of chearfulness.
That fort of tenderness which makes
us ufclefs, may indeed be pitied and
excufed, if owing to natural imbecil-
lity; but if it pretends to loveliness
and excellence, it becomes truly con-
temptible.
MRS. CHAPONE.

TRUE LOVE.

A SONG.

By Mrs. BARBAULD.

COME here, fond youth, whoc'er thou
be,

''That boasts to love as well as me;
And if thy breast have felt fo wide a wound,
Come hither and thy flame approve;

I'll teach thee what it is to love,
And by what marks true paffion may be

found.

It is to be all bathed in tears,

To live upon a smile for years;
To lie whole ages at a beauty's feet;

To kncel, to languifh, and implore,
And fill, though fhe difdain, adore;
It is to do all this, and think thy fufferings
fweet.

It is to gaze upon her eyes,

With eager joy, and fond furprize;
Yet temper'd with fuch chafte and awful

fear;

As wretches feel, who wait their doom, Not must one ruder thought prefume, Though but in whispers breath'd to meet

her ear.

It is to hope, though hope were loft; Though heaven and earth thy paffion croft; Though the were bright as fainted queens

above,

And there the least and meanest swain,
That folds the flock upon the plain,
Yet if thou dar'it not hope, thou doft not

love.

4 D

It is to quench thy joy in tears,

tual fyftem, laws as determinate, fx.

To nie strange doubts and groundlessed, and invariable, as any in Newton's

fears;

If rangs of jealoufy thou haft not prov'd,
Though the were fonder, and more true,
Than any nymph old peets drew,
Ch! never dream again that thou haft lov'd.

If when the darling maid is gone,
Thou duft not feek to be alone,
Wrapt in a pleading train of tender woe;
And mufe, and fold thy languid arms,
Feeding thy fancy on her charmis,
Thou doft not love, for love is nourished fo.

If any hopes thy bofom fhare,

But thofe which love has planted there,
Or any cares but his thy breaft enthral,
Thou never yet his power haft known,
Love fits on a despotic throne,
And reigns a tyrant, if he reigns at all.

Now if thou art so loft a thing,
Here all thy tender ferrows bring,
And prove whole patience longest can en-

dure,

We'll ftrive whofe fancy fhall be loft,
In dreams of fondet paffion moit;

Principia. The progrefs of vegetation is not more certain than the growth of habit; nor is the power of attraction more clearly proved, than the force of affection, or the influence of example. The men, therefore, who has well ftudied the operations of nature in mind as well as matter, will acquire a certain moderation and equity in his claims upon Providence. He never will be difappointed either in himself or others. He will ad with precision, and expect that effect, and that alone, from his efforts which they are naturally adapted to produce. For want of this, men of merit and integrity often cenfure the difpenfations of Providence, for fuffering charac ters they defpife to run away with advantages, which, they yet know, are

For if thou thus haft loy'd, oh! never hope a purchafed by fuch means as a high

cure.

THOUGHTS ON INCONSISTENCY in our EXPECTATIONS.

By the Same,

and noble fpirit will never fubmit to. If you refufe to pay the price, why expect the purchase? We should confider this world as a great mart of commerce, where fortune expoíes to our view various commodities, riches, eafe, tranquility, fame, integrity, knowfettled price. Our time, our labour, ledge. Every thing is marked at a our ingenuity, is fo much ready mo

that

VERSES addriffèd to the FAIR SEX.

AS most of the unhappiness in the world arifes rather from difappointed defires than from pofitive evil, it is of the utmost confequence to attainey, which we are to lay cut to the bet just notions of the laws and order of advantage. Examine, compare, chufe, the univerfe, that we may not vex reje&; but fand to your own judgourfelves with fruitlefs wifes, or givement, and do not, like children, when way to groundiefs and unreasonable you have purchafed one thing, repine difcontent. The laws of natural phiyou do not poffefs another which lofophy, indeed, are tolerably under you did not purchase. stood and attended to; and though we may fuffer inconveniencies, we are feldom difappointed in confequence of them. No man expects to preferve oranges through an English winter; or, when he has planted au acorn, to fee it become a large oak in a few months. The mind of man naturally yields to neceflity; and our withes foon fubfide, when we fee the impoffi bility of their being gratified. Now, upon an accurate infpe&tion, we shall find in the moral government of the world, and the order of the intellec

Sheds its mild fragrance on the lonely fhade;
AS fome fair violet, lovelieft of the glade,
Withdraws its modeft head from public fight,
Nor courts the fun, nor feeks the glare of
light;

Should fome rude hand profanely dare ip

trude,

And bear its beauties from its native wood,
Expos'd abroad, its languid colours fly,
Its form decays, and all its odours die.
So woman born to dignify retreat,
Unknown to flourish, and unften be great,
with foftacfs polish, and with virtue warm
To give domeftic life its fweeteft charm,

Fearty

Atrong resemblance of both her parents; but the fullen and unamiable features of her mother were fo mixed and blended with the sweetness of her father, that her countenance, though mournful, was highly pleafing. The maid. and fhepherds of the neighbouring plains gathered round, and called her Pity. A red-breaft was observed: build in the cabin where fhe was born; and while fhe was yet an infant, a dove, purfued by a hawk, flew into her bofom. This nymph had a dejected appearance; but fo foft and gentle a mien, that he was beloved to a degree of enthusiasm. Her voice was low and plaintive, but inexpreffibly fweet; and fhe loved to lie hours together on the banks of fome wild and melancholy ftream, finging to her lute. She taught men to weep, for he took a ftrange delight in tears; and often when the virgins. of the hamlets were affembled at their evening fports, fhe would steal in among them, and captivate their hearts by her tales full of a charming fadnefs. She wore on her head a garland compofed of her father's myr

IN the happy period of the golden age, when all the celeftial inhabitants defcended on earth, and converfed familiarly with mortals, among the moft cherified of the heavenly powers, were twins, the offspring of Jupiter, Love and Joy. Wherever they appeared, the flowers fprung up beneath their feet, the fun fhone with a brighter radiance, and all nature seemed embellifhed by their prefence. They were infeparable companions, and their growing attachment was favoured by Jupiter, who had decreed that a laft-tles, twifted with her mother's cyprefs. ing union fhould be folemnized between them fo foon (as foon) as they were arrived at maturer years. But in the mean time, the fons of men deviated from their native innocence; vice and ruin over-run the earth with giant ftrides; and Allrea, with her train of celestial vifitants, forfook their polluted abode. Love alone re mained, having been ftolen away by Hope, who was his nurfe, and conveyed by her to the forests of Arcadia, where he was brought up among the fhepherds. But Jupiter affigned him a different partner, and commanded him to spouse Sorrow, the daughter of Até, He complied with reluctance; for her features were harth and difagreeable, her eyes funk, her forehead contracted into perpetual wrinkles, and her temples were covered with a wreath of cyprefs and wormwood. From this union fprung a virgin, in whom might be traced a

One day, as the fat muling by the waters of Helicon, her tears by chance fell into the fountain, and ever fince, the Mufes' spring has retained a strong tafte of the infufion. Pity was commanded by Jupiter to follow the fteps of her mother through the world, dropping balm into the wounds fhe made, and binding up the hearts fhe had broken. She follows, with her hair loofe, her bofom bare and throbbing, her garments torn by the briars, and her feet bleeding with the roughnefs of the path. The nymph is mortal, for her mother is fo; and when he has fulfilled her destined courfe upon the earth, they fhall both expire together, and Love be again united to Joy, his immortal, and long betrothed bride.

Mrs. BARBAULD.

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ADDRESS