Because forfooth thy courage has been tried
And flood the teft, perhaps on the wrong fide;
Though thou hadft never grace enough to prove
That any thing but vice could win thy love;→→
Or haft thou a polite, card-playing wife,
Chain'd to the routs that fhe frequents for life;
Who, juft when industry begins to fnore,

Not

Flies, wing'd with joy, to fome coach-crowded door;
And thrice in ev'ry winter throngs thine own
With half the chariots and fedans in town,
Thyfelf meanwhile e'en fhifting as thou may'st;
very
fober though, nor very chaste ;—
Or is thine houfe, though lefs fuberb thy rank,
If not a fcene of pleasure, a mere blank,
And thou at beft, and in thy fob'rest mood,
A trifler vain, and empty of all good ;-
Though mercy for thyself thou canst have none,
Hear nature plead, fhow mercy to thy fon.

Sav'd from his home, where ev'ry day brings forth
Some mischief fatal to his future worth,
Find him a better in a diftant fpot,
Within fome pious paftor's humble cot,
Where vile example (yours I chiefly mean,
The moft feducing and the oft'neft feen)
May never more be ftamp'd upon his breaft,
Not yet perhaps incurably imprefs'd:-.

Where early reft makes early rifing fure,
Disease or comes not, or finds eafy cure,
Prevented much by diet neat and plain ;
Or, if it enter, foon starv'd out again :-
Where all th' attention of his faithful hoft,
Discreetly limited to two at most,

May raise fuch fruits as fhall reward his care,
And not at last evaporate in air :-
Where, ftilinefs aiding study, and his mind
Serene, and to his duties much inclin'd,
Not occupied in day-dreams, as at home,
Of pleafures paft, or follies yet to come,
His virtuous toil may terminate at last
In fettled habit and decided taste.-
But whom do I advise? the fashion-led,
Th' incorrigibly wrong, the deaf, the dead!
Whom care and cool diliberation fuit.

Not better much than spectacles a brute;
Who, if their fons fome flight tuition share,
Deem it of no great moment, whofe, or where;
Too proud t' adopt the thoughts of one unknown,
And much too gay t' have any of their own.
But, courage, man! methought the mufe replied,
Mankind are various, and the world is wide:.
The oftrich, fillieft of the feather'd kind,
And form'd of God without a parent's mind,

Commits her eggs, incautious, to the duft,
Forgetful that the foot may crush the trust;
And, while on public nurs'ries they rely,
Not knowing, and too oft not caring, why,
Irrational in what they thus prefer,

No few, that would seem wife, resemble her.
But all are not alike. Thy warning voice
May here and there prevent erroneous choice;
And fome perhaps, who, bufy as they are,
Yet make their progeny their dearest care,
(Whose hearts will ache, once told what ills may reach
Their offspring, left upon fo wild a beach)
Will need no stress of argument t' enforce
Th' expedience of a lefs advent'rous course :
The reft will flight thy counsel, or condemn;
But they have human feelings-turn to them.

To you, then, tenants of life's middle state,
Securely plac'd between the small and great,
Whose character, yet undebauch'd, retains
Two-thirds of all the virtue that remains,
Who, wife yourselves, defire your fons should learn
Your wisdom and your ways-to you I turn.
Look round you on a world perversely blind;
See what contempt is fall'n on human kind;

See wealth abus'd, and dignities misplac'd,
Great titles, offices, and trufts difgrac'd,
Long lines of ancestry, renown'd of old,
Their noble qualities all quench'd and cold;
See Bedlam's closetted and hand-cuff'd charge
Surpafs'd in frenzy by the mad at large;
See great commanders making war a trade,
Great lawyers, lawyers without study made;
Churchmen, in whose esteem their bleft employ
Is odious, and their wages all their joy,
Who, far enough from furnishing their shelves
With gofpel lore, turn infidels themselves;
See womanhood despis'd, and manhood fham'd
With infamy too naufeous to be nam'd,
Fops at all corners, lady-like in mien,
Civeted fellows, fmelt ere they are seen,

Elfe coarfe and rude in manners, and their tongue
On fire with curfes, and with nonfense hung,
Now flush'd with drunk'ness, now with whoredom pale,
Their breath a fample of last night's regale;
See volunteers in all the vileft arts,

Men well endow'd, of honourable parts,

Defign'd by nature wife, but self-made fools;-
All thefe, and more like these, were bred at schools!
And, if it chance, as fometimes chance it will,
That, though fchool-bred, the boy be virtuous ftill

Such rare exceptions, fhining in the dark,
Prove, rather than impeach, the just remark :
As here and there a twinkling ftar defcried
Serves but to fhow how black is all befide.
Now look on him, whose very voice in tone
Juft echoes thine, whose features are thine own,
And ftroke his polifh'd cheek of pureft red,
And lay thine hand upon his flaxen head,
And fay-My boy, th' unwelcome hour is come,
When thou, tranfplanted from thy genial home,
Muft find a colder foil and bleaker air,
And truft for fafety to a stranger's care;

What character, what turn thou wilt affume
From conftant converfe with I knew not whom ;
Who there will court thy friendship, with what views,
And, artless as thou art, whom thou wilt choofe;
Though much depends on what thy choice fhall be,
Is all chance-medly, and unknown to me.-
Canft thou, the tear juft trembling on thy lids,
And while the dreadful risk forefeen forbids;
Free, too, and under no conftraining force,
Unless the fway of cuftom warp thy course;
Lay such a stake upon the lofing fide,
Merely to gratify fo blind a guide?

Thou canst not! Nature, pulling at thine heart,
Condemns th' unfatherly, th' imprudent part,