enjoyments of life. None but the morose would debar youth from pleasure, provided it be neither vicious nor degrading; but to retire from the scenes of festivity and joy, and anticipate the benefit of experience from the admonitions of the aged, is not only the way to enlarge the understanding and fortify the heart, but the best means of rendering the return of other pleasures innocent and delightful.

By thus furnishing the mind with various powers of enjoyment, it is prevented also from being lost in sensuality, or enslaved to the idle gratifications of vanity and pride. Taught to watch for ourselves, from the strange vicissitudes that have befallen others, we first submit to the duty, and then enjoy the benefit of thought and meditation. When the pleasures of the world are interrupted, or withdrawn, which must often be the case, we can retire without regret from what delighted the eye, or charmed the ear, and derive comforts from a purer source; comforts that are independent of others, and that accompany us in solitude and silence, in the season of calamity, and at the hour of death. To acquire discipline over the mind, with which so many blessings are connected, nothing can be more effectual than frequent intercourse with the aged.

Many young persons, I know, are ready to allege their gravity and moroseness, their indiffer

ence to amusements, or their condemnation of pleasure, as bars to this desirable society. But consider; it is not an accession of spirits and vivacity that you want; your foolish confidence and blind credulity need not be increased; and surely the ardour of your passions and desires is already sufficiently dangerous. These require not to be inflamed, but controlled; and we wish you to frequent the company of the aged for what you chiefly want, and they are particularly qualified to bestow-habits of thought and reflection, sobriety of sentiment, the warnings of experience, and the great duty of guarding against the temptation of the world.

But you must not expect at once the beauties of the spring and the fruits of autumn; you must not be disappointed, if you do not find the wisdom of age enlivened by the gay hopes and boundless confidence of youth; nor must you regret that the exercise of the more amiable virtues is unattended with the raptures of passion, or the endearments of sensibility. That would be as preposterous as to look for roses in December, or to expect that the setting sun should shine with the fervid splendour of noon.

Besides the gradual abatement of appetite and passion, the apathy which satiety or frequent repetition produces, and not to mention the many infirmities of the aged, there are other causes to

render them, what we might call, morose, suspicious, and severe. They have seen and are assured of the folly and the danger which attend the pleasures of the world; they have often grieved, and, perhaps, suffered for the baseness and depravity of men; they have often chased the phantoms of hope, till they have vanished into air, and when other illusions supplied their place, they have grasped at happiness, perhaps, but embraced misery. Can you wonder then that prudence should sometimes teach them to apprehend evil, where you see nothing but good? And that their expectations should be moderate, their wishes sober, and their passions subdued?

THE MANCHINEAL.

THE manchineal is found in the West Indies, and always grows on the beach. It bears a small, green apple, like a golden pippin, and of exquisite odour; but it contains an extremely caustic milk, with which it is said arrows have often been poisoned. Sailors are not unfrequently deceived by its appearance, and eat it; and to do so would issue fatally, were not an antidote provided in the juice of the sugar-cane. When it is to be cut down, as the wood makes beautiful furniture, it is necessary to have a fire made round it, to cause the juice to run out safely. A friend of mine mentioned, a few days ago, that he had often seen negroes who had gone incautiously near it, whose faces were dreadfully swollen, and who were laid up in consequence for some days.

ANGER.

CONSIDER, and forget not thine own weakness; so shalt thou pardon the failings of others.

Indulge not thyself in the passion of anger; it is whetting a sword to wound thine own breast, or murder thy friend.

If thou bearest slight provocations with patience, it shall be imputed unto thee for wisdom: and if thou wipest them from thy remembrance, thy heart shall not reproach thee.

Seest thou not that the angry man loseth his understanding? Whilst thou art yet in thy senses, let the wrath of another be a lesson to thyself.

Do nothing in a passion. Why wilt thou put to sea in the violence of a storm?

If it be difficult to rule thine anger, it is wise to prevent it: avoid therefore all occasions of falling into wrath; or guard thyself against them whenever they occur.

A fool is provoked with insolent speeches, but a wise man laugheth them to scorn.

HOPE AND FEAR.

THE promises of hope are sweeter than roses in the bud, and far more flattering to expectation; but the threatenings of fear are a terror to the heart.

Nevertheless, let not hope allure, nor fear deter thee from doing that which is right; so shalt thou be prepared to meet all events with an equal mind.

The terrors even of death are not terrors to the good; he that committeth no evil hath nothing to fear.

In all thy undertakings let a reasonable assurance animate thy endeavours; if thou despair of success, thou shalt not succeed.