Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

"blime impreffion. It turns indig nant from the triffles that torture and disappoint it, conciliates the "friendship of its maker, and affi"milates itself into his likeness. I "never knew one in my life remarka"ble for misfortune, not remarkable "at the fame time for goodness. "Grudge not wealth, it locks up "the heart; and who would exchange a feeling heart for all the wealth in "the world? I like poverty, becaufe it vindicates honefty, and I "like the wretched, because the "world is not yet fo good, as that "knaves fhould be found in that fi "tuation.Youit feems have had

66

[ocr errors]

on his arms almoft clofs to his eyes.
The devout compofure in which he
appeared, the heavenly ferenity and
cheerfulness which brightened his
emaciated countenance, interested ov-
er-awed and delighted me. Time
had made dreadful havock on his
fhattered tabernacle. Crazed with
innumerable shocks of fortune, and
tottering with years and infirmities, I
thought I could fee it crumbling to
pieces. His features however, his
whole face were livelyand expreffive,"
his eyes in particular were ftill full
of fire, not of that deadly kind,
which waftes and devours, but of
that which animates and warms. I
felt the facred fervour thrilling thro'
my bofom, and drawn by an irrefifti-
ble impulfe, approached him with pi-
ty, and reverence, and love! He no
fooner faw me, than pulling his spec-
tacles from his nofe and putting them
iu his bofom, he haftily contracted
himself,and feeming to gather ftrength,
ftarted to his feet and embraced me
with great cordiality. The feelings
which feized me on the difappoint
ment I met with in my conceptions
of this extraordinary man, gave my
behaviour fuch an air of apathy and
aukwardness as he could not but ob-
ferve. He imputed it probably to
bafhfulness, or rufticity or as Amelia
had told him what paffed, perhaps to
the real caufe: and looking on me
with the benevolence of an Angel,

't

Be not difcouraged Mr Heartily (faid he, for he knew my name,") "Be not difcouraged, life's but a die. Every body hath a throw, "but every body cannot be alike fortunate. Difappointments are una"voidable but neceffary, fome to "check our follies, fome to deftroy "them. These are foils in which "all human virtues come to maturi"ty. Profperity like a fteam of "impure air blafts them in the bud. "The heart broken with oppreffion "is always foft and ferious and fuf

ceptible of every worthy and fu

66

your misfortunes fo have I. I have "been long beating about for a "friend but alas, the human breaft "is fo much divided between intereft, envy, ambition, and pride, that "friendship is fupplanted by every "luft, and even facrificed fometimes "to whim. Amelia was the first who "told me of your fufferings, and that your wanting a friend added to the cruelty of your prefent circumftances. The poor girl, whofe eyes are "feldom dry, wept aloud as the spoke; "and my heart long accuftomed to "filence, as it is, was then alfo reliev→ "by a flood of tears.

6.6

[ocr errors]

His compaffionate behaviour perfectly overcame me. I made shift to affure him, however, that his good opinion, and that of the generous Amelia, had laid me under new obligations to be good, and that, though every other idea of virtue, had been obliterated from my mind gratitude to them, and to them alone, muft have roused me to a fenfe of my duty. This fentiment was not feigned but felt, my heart glowed as I fpoke, and, it was with difficulty, I could forbear faying aloud. The world for once hath

mistaken its man. This, it feems, " is one of its fowr unfociable ani

mals. A plague on its dirty, adul "terated tafte, its harsh, uncharitable cenfures.Well, I thought it was

always

[blocks in formation]

mixture of horror and wo. I nevèr heard him rail at his fellow-creatures, but every word he uttered to their difadvantage, coft him a groan. Notwithstanding the fettled acrimony of his temper, his love for the fpecies always triumphed at laft. His philanthropy was too ftrong not to feel the deepest mortification on the least difcovery that detracted from them.

His tenderness seemed to feize him, as it were, by ftarts. I have furprifed him in many of thefe, and found him forever on fuch occafions, either commiferating the wretchednefs of human nature, or deeply bemoaning its depravity. It was when ruminating in this manner, that Cocky, his wife's lap-dog, jumped on his knee, fawned in his face, and by a thousand different gambols expreffed the strongeft fentiments of pleasure and complacence. The good man beheld it, with fympathy and attention," Go, faid he, the tear glif "tening in his eye, go and teach man *to be grateful. Thou wanteft no"thing of that faucy animal, but his "fhape, his pride, perfidioufnefs, a"varice, and malignity." This fevere farcasm, I could eafily difcern accompanied with the utmoft repugnance of foul.

Being frequently in company with Friendly, I endeavoured to form fome confiftent idea of his character; and was particularly ftruck with the likenefs between him and old Bramble, in Humphry Clinker. Their tempers, talents, feelings, attachments and an tipathies were perfectly fimilar. The fame fympathy with the foibles, the fame uneafinefs at the vices of mankind, the fame exquifite fenfibility of heart, and the fame ideas of men, manners and things were common to both. - Till common life attract the attention of mankind, they neither know themselves, nor one another: Such is the fituation of the vulgar in every, the most polished ftate of fociety. It was under this infuperable difadvantage, that Friendly made his firft appearance in the world; and he hath wifhed a thoufand and a thousand times fince, that he had never ventured beyond the line to which nature seem'd to have deftin'd him by his birth: in that cafe, he had not been a prey to thofe vultures in human fhape, who form friendship and cultivate acquaintance, but to fuck the blood of their fellow-creatures, to calumniate and over-reach them. He neither would have seen the perfidy of men fo ftrongly, nor felt fo intenfely on their account. The truth is," he had too much fenfibility, a heart too open, and a temper too foft to be happy, according to the common notions of happiness in any fituation whatever. He regarded mankind, with fentiments of the moft undifguif-ing virtues, the harmony of kindred ed tenderness and concern; their "fouls, the endearing ties which reweakneffes fhared his pity and for- «fult from mutual good offices, but givnefs, their ignorance and mifery," for a fpirit of envy, emulation, illwrung his heart with the most pungent fenfations; their perverfenefs and crimes, filled his generous foul with a

Thus, leaning back in his chair, adjufting his perriwig, and locking his arms in his bofom, he would fre quently harrangue: "I really know

not, whether moft to be angry with the baseness of this bafe world, or to pity the multitude of wretches "that inhabit it, and furnish fuel to "the paffions, the vices and lufts of "one another. Simplicity and inno

cence are every where exchanged, not for the focial and fympathize

"nature, for impofition and fraud, " for the most execrable cunning and "hypocrify, for whatever can plague ❝ mankind,

[ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]
[ocr errors]

petration of a very villainous deed, "advance with horrid ftrides to the "utmoft verge of iniquity. While "the meek and lowly, the ferious, "fober, and felf-denied, teazed and "toffed, and tumbled in this whirlpool of jarring, and tempeftuous "paffions, of faibles, follies and f.crimes, are not unfrequently "juftled into that very gulph, where "they fee with so much anxiety and "regret, the reiterated ruin of their "fellow-creatures. I never see an "honeft man, but the fituation he is "in, the perils to which he is obnox"ious, and the trials he must under"go, ftartle and alarm me. Mark "his innocence, you will always find "it the occafion, at least, if not the "caufe of his ruin: I figure him to "myself, as wrecked on fome diftant, inhofpitable fhore, where, if "he escape the favages of the wood, "the wild beafts of the defart muft "devour him.

[ocr errors]

breathings of a heart run wild with diftrefs. Is that man deftitute or forlorn, who hath the Almighty for his friend. For if there be fuch a thing as omnipotence, it must, it cannot but be on the fide of righte oufnefs: and moft affuredly, omnipotence is able in every circumstance to fave. What is there then in nature, what is there out of it; what in hea ven or in hell can difconcert the heart upheld and protected by eternal pro vidence? can a creature in the moft dark and desolate, the most friendless and deplorable fituation, with for ftronger confolation? "None, none," cried the old man, ftarting from his I chair in an extafy. "My heart, though "almoft as cold and lifelefs as a "ftone, yet beats time to that tune. "Had it not been for this, my enor, mous fufferings had certainly undone me. My lungs, alas! are " too weak, my limbs too feeble, for "bearing me up against the fucceffive blafts that have beaten fo fully, furiously, and frequently in my face. But a fenfe of unfeen aid, "the hopes, the completeft affurance of being fhortly happy, where the wicked ceafe from troubling, " and the weary are at reft, fortify " and ftrengthen my refolutions,

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

-fill me with fuch tranquility "and eafe, as no accident can deftroy; and enable me, in spite of all "the ftratagems that are laid for my. ruin, to look forward with joy to "the triumphant completion of all my defires.

[ocr errors]

"When we confider the wants, the woes, the wretchedness of man, how comfortable is the thought, that there is yet fuch a thing on earth "as mutual fympathy! Whatever "may be faid, with refpect to the

When melancholy fettles in the foul, what in the wide creation can enliven or relieve her: all her percep tions are tarnished with the gloom that furrounds them. Whatever is beautiful or chearing, or gay, is fwept from the face of nature, and nothing appears throughout the vaft scale of exiftence, but, ideas of blackness and darknefs, but fenfations of forrow and pain. My paffions at that time were too much in the fame tone with Friendly's, to divert the fubject or in- connection between this principle fpire him with fentiments, lefs un- "and true morality; I am fure it is lovely or auftere. Alas fir! however, "the beft foundation of all found diI would fometimes fay, this is nei- "vinity. I confider it indeed, as that ther the language of philofophy nor "great univerfal foul, which a merreligion, but the mifanthroplicalciful, Creator originally intended,

[ocr errors]

"should

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

66

"fhould unite, infpire, and actuate "all his works. It is, at least, a cu"rious and pleafing fpeculation, to "think the different and diverfified parts of nature constructed on this plan, animated by this principle. "Hence, apart from a few jarring. "notes, which like baffes well placed "but augment the harmony; the "whole found of providence is perfectly musical and concordant. All things, according to their fpecies, "are equally refponfive to the genial voice of nature. This is that lan<c guage in which fhe is univerfally understood, the found which "reaches her utmost boundaries, the "general key which penetrates "her inmoft receffes, which thrills "and reverberates through all her "movements, and to the dulleft "touches of which, no being, no"thing in being can remain long in"fenfible. Thus her contexture ap❝pears on the whole, to be fo much one, fo finely fashioned, fo clofely interwoven, that the leaft fhock in "the extremities communicates it"felf to the centre. The apoftle in"finuates the fame idea, where speak❝ing of the new creation, which he. "confiders as a tranfcript, or fecond "edition of the old: the phrafe he "ufes on that occafion is exceeding❝ly emphatical and expreffive.-If "one member fuffers, fays he, all "the members fuffer with it.

66

[ocr errors]

"Figure a being poffeffed of all poffible perfection, at the head of "this fublime arrangement, and "trace the feelings of nature from "the fmalleft minutia of the fyftem

[ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors]

"rance, or infirmities, or misfortunes, "have made wretched. Can the "diftreffes into which an open, up"right, inoffenfive heart is involved "by the partiality and pride, the

66

perfidy and bafenefs of reprobates, "be indifferent to him, without "whofe particular permiffion the "moft infignificant bird, a single hair "of your head, cannot fall to the "ground. To be continued. ADVICE to a young LADY on her MARRIAGE.

By her BROTHER.
TUDY the taste of your husband,

ST

[ocr errors]

and endeavour to acquire a relifh for thofe pleasures which appear moft to affect him. Let him find amufement at home, but never be peevish at his going abroad: he will return to you with a higher guft for your converfation. Be always elegant, but not too expenfive in your drefs, receive his friends with good breeding and complacency: contrive fuch little parties of pleasure as you know are agreeable to him, and with the moft agreeable people you can felect. Be lively, even to playfulness in your general turn of converfation with him; but at the fame time, fpare no pains to improve your understanding, fo as to be no lefs capable of being the companion of his graver hours: be ignorant of nothing which it is becoming your fex to know; but avoid all affectation of knowledge: let your œconomy be exact, yet without appearing otherwife than by the effect. Do not imitate thofe of your fex, who by ill temper make a hufband pay dear for their fidelity: let virtue in you be drefs'd in fimiles, and be affured that chearfulness is the native garb of innocence. In a word, do not lofe the miftrefs in the wife; but let your behaviour to him as a husband be fuch as you would have thought moft proper to attract him as a lover: have always the idea of pleafing before you, and you cannot fail to please.

HISTORY

[ocr errors]

HISTORY of SILK-WORMS.

3

"Nature pours her bounties forth, That fets to work millions of fpin

ning worms,

That in their green fhops weave the

fmooth-hair'd filk, To deck her beauteous daughters." MILTON.

HOUGH the culture of filk

heat of the fun has not power to bring them to any perfection cannot be looked upon as one of the most ufe ful occupations, yet as many ladies rear these infects by way of amufe ment, or as an inftance of providence in ordaining fo fmall an animal to be the foundation of the moft extensive commerce in the world, a sketch of their natural and commercial hiftory may not prove unentertaining..

About May, the eggs from which thefe infects are produced, and which are not larger than a mustard-feed, begin to expand by the fun's warmth, and in a few days the worm appears. It is at firft of a pale afh-colour, and feeds upon mulberry leaves; but after four fickneffes, each of which lafts about three days, (when it changes its colour, and feeds not at all) it grows thicker, fhorter, and clearer. In three weeks afterwards it begins to wind itself into a filken cafe or bag near the fize of a pigeon's egg, in which state it remains fifteen or twenty days, feemingly without life or motion; at the end of this time it eats a paffage out of its filken covering, and becomes a moth, which is its laft ftate, when it lays its eggs, and dies. These eggs are carefully. kept till the feafon returns, when they hatch, as above defcribed. The flies of filk-worms generally lay about a hundred eggs; though on account of the difficulty of rearing them, the difeases to which they are fubject, and being fo tender that the leaft matter prevents them from making their filk

bags, not one half of them live the feafon. In countries where these infects are reared for profit, they are. never fuffered to eat their way out of their filken habitation, or their work end of their continuance in that state, would be fpoiled; but towards the the filk is wound from off them, and they become moths as well as if they had continued in their covering the full time. Each ball contains a quan

of filk about g 30 yards in

but fo extremely fine that the weight of it is not above two grains and a half..

The Chinese were the first people who found out the value of these infects, and how to manage them fo as to have their productions turn to any account. Twelve monks of the order of St. Bafil, who were fent miffionaries into China, brought the eggs from thence into Greece, and inftructed that country in the art of rearing them, feeding them with the leaves of mulberries when they became worms, to take the filk properly off the bags, and to put it in a condition for twifting and weaving. They found fuch an advantage, in this ma nufacture, that they planted mulberries in all their grounds, and in a few years all Greece and Afia Minor were covered with trees of that fort, espe cially the white, the leaves of which are reckoned beft for these animals. Notwithstanding the precautions of the emperors, who receive fo confiderable a revenue from their filk,that the transportation of the eggs was forbid on pain of death, feveral Italian merchants procured great quantities; but not having the right method of ma naging them, they could never be brought to outlive one feafon, fo that through the negligence or ignorance of other nations, Greece was in poffeffion of this treafure, and engroffed the commerce of the whole world.

But in the year 1150, Roger, king of Sicily, having taken up arms against the emperor Manuel Comnenus, and

making

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »