with fome European merchants, who fought the favor of trading on his coaft, he enquired of them fome of the common appearances of fummer and winter in their country; and when they told him of water growing fo hard in their rivers that men and horfes, and laden carriages paffed over it; and that rain fometimes fell down as white and light as feathers, and fometimes almost as hard as ftones, he could not believe a syllable they faid; for ice, fnow, and hail, were names and things utterly unknown to him, and to his fubjects in that hot climate he therefore renounced all traffic with fuch thameful liars, and would not fuffer them to trade with his people. See here the natural ef.cts of grofs ignorance. Converfation with foreigners on various occafions has a happy influence to enlarge our minds, and fet them free from many errors and grofs prejudices we are ready to imbibe concerning them.-Watts. IMPRECATION. IF, ye powers divine! Ye mark the movements of this nether world, To guard their rights, fhall, for a grafp of air, IMPRISONMENT. WHY fhould we murmur to be circumfcrib'd, INGRATITUDE. HE has profan'd the facred name of friend, And worn it into vilenefs: With how fecure a brow, and fpecious form, Injustice. — Innocence, To make its work more easy. See how he fets his countenance for deceit, INJUSTICE. THE man who wears injuftice by his fide, WE upbraid the fon whofe father was hanged, whereas many a man who deferves to be hanged, was never upbraided in his whole life.-Fielding. } INNOCENCE. WHAT fronger breast-plate than a heart untainted? Thrice is he arm'd, that has his quarrel juft; And he but naked, tho' lock'd up in steel, Whofe confcience with injustice is corrupted.-Shakespeare. WE only who with innocence unshaken, Have food the affaults of fortune, now are happy : For tho' the worst of men, by high permillion, A while may flourish, and the best endure The sharpest trials of exploring mifery, Yet let mankind from these examples learn, That powerful villainy at laft fhail mourn, And injur'd virtue triumph in its turn Trap. VIRTUE, dear friend, needs no defence; Thro' Lybian fands and Scythian fnows, Or where Hydalpe's wealthy fide Pays tribute to the Perfiam pride-Rofcommon. THERE are fome reafoners who frequently confound innocence with the mere incapacity of guilt; but he that never faw, or heard, or thought of firong liquors, cannot be propofed as a pattern of fobriety.-Johnjon. INDEPENDENCE. COULD men but know The bleffings which from Independence flow, They would no more in bondage bend their knee, Hail, independence!-tho' thy name's fcarce known, Tho' thou, alas! art out of fashion grown, Tho' all defpife thee, I will not defpife, Nor live one moment longer than I prize Thy prefence, and enjoy. By angry fate Bow'd down, and almost crush'd, thou cam'ft, tho' late, Thou cam'ft upon me, like a fecond birth, And made me know what life was truly worth. Hail, independence !-never may my cot, Till I forget thee, be by thee forgot.-Churchil. WHAT is life? 'Tis not to talk about, and draw fresh air, * * A day, an hour of virtuous liberty, Is worth a whole eternity of bondage.-Addifon. HAIL! independence, hail! heav'ns next best gift, To that of life and an immortal foul! The life of life! that to the banquet high And fober meal gives tafte; to the bow'd roof Independence.-Inftruction of the People. That nature craves. Its happy mafter there, My friends! be firm! nor let corruption fly 145 INSTRUCTION of the PEOPLE. THE people fhould be tinctured with philofophy and religion; and learn, under their divine inftruction, not to confider titular diftinction and enormous riches as the chief good, and indifpenfably requisite to the happinefs of life. A noble fpirit of perfonal virtue fhould be encouraged in the rifing race. They fhould be taught to feek and find refources in themfelves, in an honeft independence, in the poffeffion of knowledge, in confcious integrity, in manlinefs of fentiment, in contemplation and study, in every thing which adds viger to the nerves of the mind, aad teaches it to deem all honors N difgraceful, and all profits vile, which accrue, as the reward of bafe compliance, and of a daftardly defertion from the upright ftandard of truth, the unfpotted banner of juttice.Spirit of Defpotifm. INFORMERS. A MERCENARY informer knows no diftinction. Under fuch a fyftem, the obnoxious people are flaves, not only to the government, but they live at the mercy of every individual, they are at once the flaves of the whole community, and of every part of it; and the wort and moft unmerciful men are thofe on whofe goodness they most depend. In this fituation, men not only fhrink from the frowns of the ftern magiftrate, but they are obliged to fly from their very places. The feeds of deftruction are fown in civil intercourfe, in focial habitudes. The blood of wholesome kindred is infected; their tables and beds are furrounded with fnares; all the means given by providence to make life fafe and comfortable, are perverted into inftruments of terror and torment. This fpecies of univerfal fubferviency, that makes the very fervant who waits behind your chair the arbiter of your life and fortune, has fuch a tendency to degrade and debafe mankind, and to deprive him of that affured and liberal ftate of mind, which alone can make us what we ought to be, that I vow to God, I would fooner bring myfelf to put a man to immediate death for opinions I difliked, and fo to get rid of the man and his opinions at once, than to fret him with a feverish being, tainted with the jail diftemper of a contagious fervitude, to keep him above ground, an animated mafs of putrefaction, corrupted himself, and corrupting all about him.-Burke. INSULT. THERE are innumerable modes of infult, and tokens of contempt, for which it is not eafy to find a name, which vanih to nothing in an attempt to defcribe them, and yet may, by continual repetition, make day pafs after day in forrow and in terror.-Rambler. INVETERATE ABUSES. THERE is a time, when men will not fuffer bad things because their ancestors have fuffered worfe. There is a time when the hoary head of inveterate abufe will neither draw reverence nor obtain protection- -Burke. |