Can'ft thou, the tear juft trembling on thy lids,
And while the dreadful rifque foreseen forbids;
Free too, and under no constraining force,
Unless the sway of cuftom warp thy course;
Lay fuch a ftake upon the lofing fide,
Merely to gratify so blind a guide ?
Thou can'ft not! Nature, pulling at thine heart,
Condemns the unfatherly, the imprudent part.
Thou wouldeft not, deaf to Nature's tendereft plea,
Turn him adrift upon a rolling sea,
Nor fay, Go thither, conscious that there lay
A brood of afps, or quickfands in his way;
Then, only governed by the self-fame rule
Of natural pity, fend him not to school.
No-guard him better. Is he not thine own,
Thyself in miniature, thy flesh, thy bone?
And hopeft thou not ('tis every father's hope)
That, fince thy ftrength muft with thy years elope,
And thou wilt need fome comfort to affuage
Health's laft farewell, a staff of thine old age,
That then, in recompenfe of all thy cares,
Thy child fhall fhow refpect to thy gray hairs,
Befriend thee, of all other friends bereft,
And give thy life its only cordial left?
Aware then how much danger intervenes,
To compafs that good end, forecast the means.
His heart, now paffive, yields to thy command;
Secure it thine, its key is in thine hand.
If thou defert thy charge, and throw it wide,
Nor heed what guests there enter and abide,
Complain not if attachments lewd and bafe
Supplant thee in it, and ufurp thy place.
But, if thou guard its facred chambers fure
From vicious inmates and delights impure,
Either his gratitude shall hold him fast,
And keep him warm and filial to the laft;
Or, if he prove unkind (as who can fay
But, being man, and therefore frail, he may ?)
One comfort yet shall cheer thine aged heart,
Howe'er he flight thee, thou haft done thy part.
Oh barbarous! wouldeft thou with a Gothic hand Pull down the fchools-what-all the schools i' th' land;
Or throw them up to livery-nags and grooms;
Or turn them into thops and auction rooms?
A captious queftion, fir, (and your's is one)
Deferves an anfwer fimilar, or none.
Wouldeft thou, poffeffor of a flock, employ (Apprized that he is fuch) a careless boy,
And feed him well, and give him handsome pay,
Merely to fleep, and let them run aftray?
Survey our schools and colleges, and fee
A fight not much unlike my fimile.
From education, as the leading caufe,
The public character its colour draws;
Thence the prevailing manners take their caft,
Extravagant or fober, loofe or chafte.
And, though I would not advertise them yet,
Nor write on each-This Building to be Let,
Unless the world were all prepared to embrace
A plan well worthy to fupply their place;
Yet, backward as they are, and long have been,
To cultivate and keep the MORALS clean,
(Forgive the crime) I wifh them, I confefs,
Or better managed, or encouraged lefs.
AN INVITATION INTO THE COUNTRY.
THE fwallows in their torpid state
Compose their useless wing,
And bees in hives as idly wait
The call of early spring.
II.
The keeneft froft that binds the ftream
The wildeft wind that blows,
Are neither felt nor feared by them
Secure of their repose.
But man, all feeling and awake,
The gloomy fcene furveys;
With prefent ills his heart must ake,
And pant for brighter days.
IV.
Old winter, halting o'er the mead,
Bids me and Mary mourn;
But lovely spring peeps o'er his head,
And whispers your return,
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