the first man also who haftes to greet him- O Shimei! would to heaven when thou waft flain, that all thy family had been flain with thee; and not one of thy resemblance left! but ye have multiplied exceedingly and replenished the earth; and if I prophefy rightly——Ye will in the end fubdue it. There is not a character in the world which has fo bad an influence upon the affairs of it, as this of Shimei: whilft power meets with honelt checks, and the evils of life with honest refuge, the world will never be undone; but thou, Shimei, haft fapp'd it at both extremes; for thou corruptest profperity and it is thou who haft broken the heart of poverty: and fo long as worthlefs fpirits can be ambitious ones, it is a character we fhall never want. O! it infefts the court- -the camp--the cabinet— it infefts the church go where you willin every quarter, in every profeffion, you fee a Shimei following the wheels of the fortunate through thick mire and clay.- Hafte, Shimei!-hafte; or thou wilt bet undone for ever- -Shimei girded up his loins and speeded after him-behold the hand which governs every thing,—takes the wheels from off his chariot, fo that he who driveth, driveth on heavily-Shimei doubles his speed—but it is the contrary way; he flies like the wind over a fandy defart, and the place thereof fhall know it no more- stay, Shimei! it is your patron your friend-your benefactor;-it is the man who has raised you from the dunghil—it is all one to Shimei: Shimei is the barometer of every man's fortune; marks the rife and fall of it, and with all the variations from scorching hot to freezing cold upon his countenance, that the fmile will admit of.- -Is a cloud upon thy affairs?—see-it hangs over Shimei's brow haft thou been spoken for to the king or the captain of the hoft without fuccefs? —look not into the court-kalendar-the vacancy is filled up in Shimei's face-art thou in debt?— though not to Shimei no matter the worst officer of the law fhall not be more infolent. What then, Shimei, is the guilt of poverty fo black-is it of fo general a concern, that VOL. II. B thou and all thy family muft rife up as one man to reproach it?—when it loft every thingdid it lose the right to pity too? or did he who maketh poor as well as maketh rich, ftrip it of its natural powers to mollify the hearts and fupple the temper of your race?-Trust me, ye have much to answer for; it is this treatment which it has ever met with from fpirits like yours, which has gradually taught the world to look upon it as the greateft of evils and fhun it as the worst difgrace—and what is it, I be feech you--what is it that man will not do, to keep clear of fo fore an imputation and pu nifhment is it not, to flie from this, that he rifes early-late takes reft; and eats the bread of carefulness?that he plots, contrives-fwears-lies-fhuffles - puts on all shapes—tries all garments, -wears them, with this, or that fide outward-just as it favours his escape. They, who have confidered our nature, af. firm, that shame and difgrace are two of the moft infupportable evils of human life: the courage and fpirits of many have mastered other misfortunes and borne themselves up against them; but the wifest and best of fouls have not been a match for thefe; and we have many a tragical inftance on record, what greater evils ⚫ have been run into, merely to avoid this one. Without this tax of infamy, poverty, with all the burdens it lays upon our flesh-so long as it is virtuous, could never break the fpirits of a man; all its hunger and pain and nakednefs are nothing to it: they have fome counterpoife of good; and befides they are directed by providence, and must be submitted to: but thofe are afflictions not from the hand of GoD or nature" for they do come forth of the DUST, and most properly may be faid to spring out of the GROUND, and this is the reason they lay fuch ftrefs upon our patience,-and in the end, create such a distrust of the world, as makes us look up-and pray, Let me fall into thy hands, O God! but let me not fall into the hands of men." Agreeable to this was the advice of Eliphas to Job in the day of his distress ; acquaint thyfelf, faid he, Now with God:"—indeed his poverty feemed to have left him no other: the fwords of the Sabeans had frightened them away-all but a few friends; and of what kind they were, the very proverb, of Job's comforters-fays enough. It is an inftance which gives one great concern for human nature, "That a man, who always wept for him who was in trouble; who never faw any perish for want of cloathing; who never fuffered the ftranger to lodge in the fireet, but opened his door to the traveller;-that a man of fo good a character,- -"that he never caufed the eyes of the widow to fail,-or had eaten bis morfel by himself alone, and the fatherless had not eaten thereof; that fuch a man, the moment he fell into poverty, fhould have occafion to cry out for quarter,-Have mercy upon me, O my friends! for the hand of God has touched me.-- Gentleness and humanity (one would think) would melt the hardeft heart and charm the fierceft fpirit; bind up the most violent hand, and still the most abusive tongue: - but the experiment failed in a stronger inftance of him, whofe meat and drink it was to do us good; and in pursuit of which, whofe whole life was a continued fcene of kindness and of infults, for which we must go back to |