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tion, and ferves in the place of equipage to a gentleman. This renders Polycarpus graceful in mirth, important in business, and regarded with love in every ordinary occurrence.Spectator.

AGREEABLE in COMPANY.

THE true art of being agreeable in company (but there can be no fuch thing as art in it) is to appear well pleased with thofe you are engaged with, and rather to feem well entertained, than to bring entertainment to others. A man thus difpofed, is not indeed what we ordinarily call a good companion, but effentially is fuch, and in all parts of his converfation has fomething friendly in his behaviour, which conciliates men's minds more than the highest fallies of wit or starts of humour can poffibly do. The feebleness of age, in a man of this turn, has fomething which fhould be treated with respect, even in a man no otherwife venerable. The forwardnefs of youth, when it proceeds from alacrity, and not infolence, has alfo its allowances. The companion who is formed for fuch by nature, gives to every character in life its due regard, and is ready to account for their imperfections, and receive their accomplishments, as if they were his own. It must appear that you receive law from, and not give it to, your company, to make you agreeable.-Spectator.

THE DEAD ASS.

AND this, faid he, putting the remains of a cruft into his wallet and this fhould have been thy portion, faid he, hadft thou been alive to have fhared it with me. I thought, by the accent, it had been an apoftrophe to his child; but 'twas to his afs, and to the very afs we had feen dead on the road, which had occafioned La Fleur's mifadventure. The man feemed to lament it much; and it inftantly brought into my mind Sancho's lamentation for. his; but he did it with more true touches of nature.

The mourner was fitting on a stone bench at the door, with the afs's pannel and its bridle on one fide, which he took up from time to time-then laid them down--look'd at them and fhook his head. He then took the cruft of bread out of his wallet again, as if to eat it; held it fome time in his hand-then laid it upon the bit of his afs's bridle-look'd wiftfully at the little arrangement he had made--and then gave a tigh.

The Dead Afs.-Apprehenfions.

49

The fimplicity of his grief drew numbers about him, and La Fleur among the reft, whilft the horses were getting ready; as I continued fitting in the post-chaife, I could fee and hear over their heads.

He faid he had come laft from Spain, where he had been from the furtheft borders of Franconia; and had got fo far on his return home, when his afs died. Every one feemed defirous to know what bufinefs could have taken fo old and poor a man fo far a journey from his own home.

It had pleafed heaven, he said to bless him with three fons; the finest lads in all Germany; but having in one week loft two of them by the fmall-pox, and the youngest falling ill of the fame diftemper, he was afraid of being bereft of them all; and made a vow, if Heaven would not take him from him alfo, he would go in gratitude to St. Fago, in Spain.

When the mourner got thus far on his ftory, he ftopp'd to pay nature her tribute-and wept bitterly.

He faid, Heaven had accepted the conditions, and that he had fet out from his cottage, with this poor creature, who had been a patient partner of his journey—that it had eat the fame bread with him all the way, and was unto him as a friend.

Every body who stood about, heard the poor fellow with concern-La Fleur offered him money-the mourner said he did not want it-it was not the value of the afs-but the lofs of him. The afs, he faid, he was affured, loved him,-and upon this, told them a long ftory of a mifchance upon their paffage over the Pyrenean mountains, which had feparated them from each other three days: during which time the afs had fought him as much as he had fought the afs, and they had scarce eat or drank till they met.

"Thou haft one comfort, friend," faid I, "at leaft in "the lofs of the poor beaft; I'm fure thou haft been a merciful "mafter to him." -" Alas!" faid the mourner, "I thought "fo when he was alive-but now he is dead, I think other"wife. I fear the weight of myfelf and my afflictions together "have been too much for him--they have fhortened the poor "creature's days, and I fear I have them to anfwer for.". Shame on the world! faid I to myfelf-Did we love each other but as this poor foul lov❜d his afs-'twould be fomething. -Sterne.

APPREHENSIONS, (Rules for Moderating.)

FIRST, What we fear may not come to pafs. No human scheme can be fo accurately projected, but fome little circum

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ftance intervening may spoil it. He who directs the heart of man at his pleasure, and understands the thoughts long before, may, by ten thoufand accidents, or an immediate change in the inclinations of men, difconcert the moft fubtle project, and turn it to the benefit of his own fervants.

In the next place, we fhould confider, though the evil we imagine, fhould come to pafs, it may be much more fupportable than it appeared to be. As there is no profperous tate of life without its calamities, fo there is no adversity without its benefits. Afk the great and powerful, if they do not feel the pangs of envy and ambition. Enquire of the poor and needy, if they have not tafted the fweets of quiet and contentment. Even under the pains of body, the infidelity of friends, or the mifconftructions put upon our laudable actions, our minds (when for fome time accustomed to these preffures) are fenfible of fecret flowings of comfort, the present reward of a pious refignation. The evils of this life appear like rocks and precipices, rugged and barren at a distance; but at our nearer approach we find little fruitful fpots and refreshing fprings, mixed with the harfhnefs and deformities.

of nature.

In the last place, we may comfort ourselves with this confideration, that, as the thing feared may not reach us, fo we may not reach what we fear. Our lives may not extend to that dreadful point which we have in view. He who knows all our failings, and will not fuffer us to be tempted beyond our frength, is often pleafed, in his tender severity, to feparate the foul from its body and miseries together.

If we look forward to him for help, we fhall never be in danger of falling down thofe precipices, which our imagination is apt to create. Like thofe who walk upon a line, if we keep our eye fixed upon one point, we may ftep forward fecurely; whereas an imprudent or cowardly glance on either fide will infallibly destroy us.-Spečator.

BEGGAR.

ART thou a man, and sham'st thou not to beg?
To practice fuch a fervile kind of life?

Why, were thy education ne'er fo mean,
Having thy limbs, a thousand fairer courfes
Offer themfelves to thy election.

Either the wars might ftill fupply thy wants;
Or fervice of fome virtuous gentleman,
Or honeft labour: nay, what can I name,

Birds.-Benevolence.-Beneficence.-Bees and Butterflies. 51

But would become thee better than to beg?
But men of thy condition feed on floth,
As doth the beetle on the dung fhe breeds in;
Not caring how the metal of your minds
Is eaten with the ruft of idleness.

Now, after me; whate'er he be, that should
Relieve a perfon of thy quality,

While thou infift in this foofe defp'rate course,

I would efteem the fin, not thine, but his.-Ben. Johnson.

BIRDS.

THUS when the big impending clouds appear,
And struggling winds proclaim fome tempeft near,
The trembling birds the coming danger fly,
And feek for fhelter from the low'ring fky,
In wild confufion and affright divide,

The mournful mate is fever'd from his bride;
But when the gloom is clear'd, the form o'er pat,
Each feeks his confort, with impatient hafte;

Grieves till the's found; when found, the joyful pair,
With warbling tranfports, charm the lift'ning air.-Beckingham.Y

BENEVOLENCE.

THERE cannot be a more glorious object in creation, than a human being, replete with benevolence, meditating in what manner he might render himfelf moft acceptable to his Creator, by doing moft good to his creatures.-Fielding.

BENEFICENCE.

IT feems rather extraordinary, that pride, which is conftantly ftruggling, and often impofing on itself, to gain fome little pre-eminence, fhould fo feldom hint to us the only certain, as well as laudable way, of fetting ourfelves above another man, and that is, by becoming his benefactor.-Fielding.

A tender hearted and compaffionate difpofition, which inclines men to pity and feel the misfortunes of others, and which is, even for its own fake, incapable of involving any man in ruin and mifery, is of all tempers of mind the most amiable; and though it feldom receives much honor, is worthy of the higheft.-Ibid.

BEES and BUTTERFLIES.

THE bees are a nation of chymifts! to whom nature has communicated the rare and valuable fecret of enriching them

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felves without impoverishing others; who extract the most delicious fyrup from every fragrant herb, without wounding its fubftance, or diminishing its odours.—I take the more notice of thefe ingenious operators, because I would willingly make them my pattern. While the gay butterfly flutters her painted wings, and fips a little fantastic delight, only for the prefent moment; while the gloomy fpider, worfe than idly bufied, is preparing his infidious nets for deftruction, or sucking venom, even from the most wholefome plant; this frugal community are wifely employed in providing for foturity, and collecting a copious flock of the moft balmy tr cafures.-Hervey.

BEES.

WHAT various wonders may obfervers fee
In a fmall infect, the fagacious bee!

Mark how the little untaught builders fquare
Their rooms, and in the dark their lodgings rear;
Nature's mechanics, they unwearied ftrive,
And fill, with curious labyrinths, the hive.
See what bright ftrokes of architecture shine
Thro' the whole frame! what beauty, what defign!
Each odoriferous cell, and waxen tow'r,
The yellow pillage of the rifled flow'r,
Has twice three fides, the only figure fit
To which the lab'rers may their ftores commit,
Without the lofs of matter, or of room,
In all the wond'rous ftructure of the comb.
Next view, fpectator, with admiring eyes,
In what juft order all th' apartments rise!
So regular their equal fides cohere,
Th' adapted angles fo each other bear,
That by mechanic rules, refin'd and bold,
They are at once upheld, at once uphold.
Does not this skill e'en vie with reason's reach ?
Can Euclid more, can more Palladio teach?
Each verdant hill th' industrious chymifts climb,
Extract the riches of the blooming thyme;
And, provident of winter, long before

They stock their caves, and hoard their flow'ry store.
In peace they rule their state with prudent care,
Wifely defend, or wage offenfive war.
Maro, thefe wonders offer'd to his thought,
Felt his known ardor, and the rapture caught;

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