Fortitude.

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cannot rife to any great degree, but by the concurrence of blandishment, or the fufferance of tamenefs. The wretch who would fhrink and crouch before one who fhould dart his eyes upon him with the fpirit of natural equality, becomes capricious and tyrannical when he fees himself approached with a downcaft look, and hears the foft addreffes of awe and fervility. To thofe who are willing to purchafe favor by cringes and compliance, is to be imputed the haughtiness that leaves nothing to be hoped by firmnefs and integrity.-Rambler.

FORTITUDE.

-IN ftruggling with misfortunes
Lies the true proof of virtue. On fmooth feas
How many bauble boats dare fet their fails,
And make an equal way with firmer vessels:
But let the tempeft once enrage the fea,
And then behold the strong-ribb'd argofie
Bounding between the ocean and the air,
Like Perfeus mounted on his Pegasus ;
Then where are those weak rivals of the main ?
Or, to avoid the tempeft, fled to port,
Or made a prey to Neptune. E'en thus
Do empty fhew and true-priz'd worth divide
In ftorms of fortune.--Shakespeare.

LET' fortune empty her whole quiver on me.
I have a foul, that, like an ample shield,
Can take in all, and verge enough for more.
Fate was not mine, nor am I Fate's:
Souls know no conquerors.--Dryden.

WITH fuch unfhaken temper of the foul
To bear the fwelling tide of profperous fortune,
Is to deferve that fortune. In adverfity
The mind grows rough by buffeting the tempeft;
But in fuccefs diffolving, finks to ease,
And lofes all her firmnefs.--Rowe.

THO' plung'd in ills, and exercis'd in care,
Yet never let the noble mind despair:
When prefs'd by dangers, and befet with foes,
The heav'ns their timely fuccour interpofe;
And when our virtue finks, o'erwhelm'd with grief,
By unforeseen expedients bring relief.—A. Phillips.

FORTUNE.

FORTUNE fometimes affumes a rugged brow,
But to endear her fimiles, and make the turn
More welcome to us, as 'tis unexpected-
How fweet is reft after a toilfome day!
How pleafant light after a length of darkness!
How relishing good fortune after ill!-Havard.

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FORTUNE! Made up of toys and impudence,
Thou common jade, that haft not common fenfe!
But, fond of bus'nefs, infolently dares
Pretend to rule, and spoil the world's affairs.
She flutt'ring up and down, her favours throws
On the next met, not minding what she does,
Nor why, nor whom she helps or injures, knows.
Sometimes fhe fmiles, then like a fury raves,
And feldom truly loves but fools or knaves.
Let her love whom the please, I fcorn to woo her;
While the stays with me, I'll be civil to her;
But if fhe offer once to move her wings,
I'll fling her back all her vain gewgaw things;
And arm'd with virtue, will more glorious ftand,
Than if the wanton bow'd at my command.-Buckingham.
AY me! what perils do environ
The man that meddles with cold iron ?
What plaguy mifchiefs and mif-haps
Do dog him ftill with after-claps!
For tho' Dame Fortune feem'd to fmile,
And leer upon him for a while;
She'll after fhew him, in the nick
Of all his honours a dog trick.
For Hudibras, who thought he'd won
The field ascertain as a gun;
And, having routed the whole troop,
With victory was cock-a-hoop:
Found in few minutes to his cost,
He did but count without his host;
And that a turn-ftile is more certain,
Than, in events of war, Dame Fortune.-Hudibras.

EXAMPLES need not be fought at any great distance, to prove that fuperiority of fortune has a natural tendency to kindle pride, and that pride feldom fails to exert itself in contempt and infult. This is often the effect of hereditary wealth, and of honors only enjoyed by the merit of others.-Johnson.

FACTION.

FROM faction and violence in the caufe of liberty, which difgrace the cause itself, and give advantage to the favorers of arbitrary power, I moft anxiously diffuade all who love mankind. and their country. Faction and violence are defpotic in the extreme. They bring all the evils of tyranny, without any confolation, but that they are ufually tranfient; whereas tyranny is durable. They deftroy themfelves, or are deftroyed by force in the hands of a fuperior power. In either cafe, much is loft to the caufe of liberty; because the perfons who have been betrayed by their paffions into exceffes, were probably fincere; and if they had been alfo difcreet and moderate, would have been effectual as well as zealous promoters of the public good. It is certain, that very honeft men are very apt to be betrayed into violence by their warmth of temper. They mean good, and do ill. They become the inftruments of difpaffionate knaves; and are often led into extravagances by the very party against whom they act, in order that they may be expofed, and become obnoxious to cenfure.

Wisdom is gentle, deliberate, cautious. Nothing violent is durable. I hope the lovers of liberty will thew the fincerity of their attachment by the wifdom of their conduct. Tumultuary proceedings always exhibit fome appearance of infanity. A blow ftruck with blind violence may inflict a wound or a bruife, but it may fall in the wrong place; it may even injure the hand that gives it, by its own ill-directed force.-Spirit of Defpotifm.

FRIEND.

AS fire and water are of common ufes, And in their kinds effential for fupport: So is a friend, juft fuch a friend as you; The joys of life are heighten'd by a friend; The woes of life are leffen'd by a friend; In all the cares of life, we by a friend Affiftance find--Who'd be without a friend?-Wandesford. THOU think'ft me, fure, that abject flave thou art, Aftranger to the facred laws of friendship, Whom generous fentiments could never warm. Shall I, because the waves begin to fwell, And gathering clouds portend the rifing florm, Defert my friend, and poorly fly to shore? Let them come on, and rattle o'er my head:

K

To the full tempeft's rage expos'd together,
Safe in the bark of innocence we'll ride,

Outbrave the billows, and deride their tumult.-Frow de.

FRIENDSHIP.

FRIENDSHIP's dear ties for gen'rous fouls were made,
When they relax, black woes our peace invade :
Friendship from every ill can life defend';

Our guardian angel's but a faithful friend.-Savage.
FRIENDSHIP, thou greateft happinefs below!
The world would be a defart, but for thee;
And man himself, a nobler fort of brute;
Wherefore did Heav'n our god-like reafon give?
To make the charms of converfation fweet;
Το
open
and unbofom all our woes;

For life's fure medicine is a faithful friend.—Tracy.
THE two firm rocks on which all friendships ftand,
Are love of freedom, and our country's glory;
Piety, valour, and paternal love

Form the arifing pile: the other virtues
Candour, beneficence, and moral trust,
Are fuperftructures, and adorn the dome.-Havard.

A TREACHEROUS friend is the most dangerous enemy; and both religion and virtue have received more real difcredit from hypocrites, than the wittieft profligates or infidels could ever caft upon them. Nay, farther, as these two in their purity, are rightly called the bands of civil fociety, and are indeed the greatest of bleffings; fo, when poifoned and corrupted with fraud, pretence, and affectation, they have become the worst of civil curfes, and have enabled men to perpetrate the most cruel mischiefs to their own fpecies.— Fielding.

THE firmness and conftancy of a true friend is a circumftance fo extremely delightful to perfons in any kind of diftrefs, that the distress itself, fif it be only temporary, and admit of relief) is more than compenfated, by bringing this comfort with it.-Idem.

SO many qualities are neceffary to the poffibility of friendship, and fo many accidents muft concur to its rife and its continuance, that the greatest part of mankind content themfelves without it, and fupply its place as they can with interest and dependence.-Rambler.

MANY have talked in very exalted language of the perpetuity of friendship; of invincible conftancy and unalienable

Friendship.

kindness and fome examples have been feen of men who have continued faithful to their earliest choice, and whofe affections have predominated over changes of fortune and contrariety of opinion. But thefe inftances are memorable, because they are rare. The friendship which is to be practised or expected by common mortals, muft take its rife from mutual pleafure, and mut end when the power ceafes of delighting each other.Idler.

III

THE moft fatal difeafe of friendship is gradual decay, or diflike, hourly increafed by caufes too flender for complaint, and too numerous for removal. Thofe who are angry may be reconciled: thofe who have been injured may receive a recompenfe; but when the defire of pleafing, and willingness to be pleased, is filently diminished, the renovation of friendfhip is hopeless; as when the vital powers fink into languor, there is no longer any ufe of the physician.- Idem.

THERE are few fubjects which have been more written upon, and less understood, than hat of friendship. To follow the dictates of fome, this virtue, inftead of being the affuager of pain, becomes the fource of every inconvenience. Such fpeculatifts, by expecting too much from friendship, diffolve the connexion, and, by drawing the bands too closely, at length break them. Almost all our romance and novel-writers are of this kind; they perfuade us to friendships, which we find impoffible to fuftain to the laft: fo that this sweetner of life, under proper regulations, is by their means, rendered inacceffible or uneafy. It is certain, the best method to cultivate this virtue is by letting it, in fome measure, make itself: a fimilitude of minds or ftudies, and even fometimes a diverfity of purfuits, will produce all the pleasures that arife from it. The current of tenderness widens,, as it proceeds; and two men imperceptibly find their hearts warm with goodnature for each other, when they were at firft only in pursuit of mirth or relaxation.

Friendship is like a debt of honour; the moment it is talked of, it lofes its real name, and affumes the more ungrateful form of obligation. From hence we find, that those who regularly undertake to cultivate friendship, find ingratitude generally repays their endeavours. That circle of beings, which dependence gathers round us, is almoft ever unfriendly; they fecretly wifh the terms of their connexions more nearly equal; and, where they even have the most virtue, are prepared to referve all their affections for their patron, only in the hour of his