6 Early cultivate Virtue's rich seeds;

These will fruits in life's winter display : Ne'er defer till to-morrow good deeds,

That as well might be finish'd to-day. For Age and Experience can tell,

And you'll find, when you grow an old man, Tho’its never too late to do well,

You will wish you had sooner began.

XII.

THE OLD MAN'S WISH.

ALTERED FROM DR. WALTER POPE.

If I live to grow old, for I find I go down, May I live in some village or small country town, May I have a warm house, and may ever my

door Be open

alike to the rich and the poor : May I govern my passions with absolute

sway, Grow wiser and better as strength wears

away, And die, if ?t please Heav'n, by a gentle

decay.

2 Near a thick shady grove, and a murmuring

brook, With the ocean at distance whereon I may look; With a spacious green plain, without hedge,

ditch, or stile, And an easy pad-nag to ride out for awhile. May I govern, &c.

3 With my Bible, in which may I ev'ry day read, Some author who's sound in his practice and

creed, With Cowper, Young, Milton, and two or

three more Of the best wits who liv'd in the ages before ; May I govern, &c.

4 With mutton prefer'd e'en to ven’son or teal, And clean tho coarse linen at every meal, With a glass, if my health shall require it, of

wine,

To drink Church and King whensoever I dine: May I govern, &c.

5 With courage, tho' humble, to meet my last

day,– And when in the grave may the rich and poor

say,

“ In the morn of his life to his evening's last

close His God he still fear'd, and, we trust, meets

repose : For he govern'd his passions with absolute

sway, Grew wiser and better as strength wore away, And died trusting to live in a yet brighter day".

J. P.

XIII. THE OLD MAN’S COMFORTS,

AND HOW HE GAINED THEM.

BY ROBERT SOUTHEY.

1 “ You are old father William," the young

man cried, 66 The few locks that are left you are gray: You are hale, father William, a hearty old man: Now tell me the reason, I pray.”

2 “ In the days of my youth,” father William

replied, " I remember'd that youth would fly fast, And abus'd not my health and my vigour at first,

That I never might need them at last.”

3 “ You are old, father William,” the young

man cried, « And pleasures with youth pass away, And yet you lament not the days that are gone : Now tell me the reaso

ason, I pray.”

4 “In the days of my youth,” father William

replied, “ I remember'd that youth could not last ; I thought of the future whatever I did, That I never might grieve for the past.”

5 “ You are old, father William," the young

man cried, « And life must be hast'ning away ; You are cheerful, and love to converse upon

death : Now tell me the reason, I pray.”

6 “I am cheerful, young man,” father William

replied, “ Let the cause thy attention engage : In the days of my youth I remember'd my

God,
And he hath not forgotten my age”.

XIV.

THE AFFECTIONATE HEART.

BY JOSEPH COTTLE.

1
Tho’the great man, his treasures possessing,

Pomp and splendour for ever attend,
I prize not the shadowy blessing,

I ask the affectionate friend.

2
Tho' foibles may sometimes o’ertake him,

His footstep from wisdom depart;
Yet my spirit shall never forsake him,

If he own the affectionate heart.

3
Affection ! thou soother of care,

Without thee, unfriended we rove;
Thou canst make e'en the desert look fair,

And thy voice is the voice of the dove.

4
'Mid the anguish that preys on the breast,

And the storms of mortality's state;
What shall lull the afflicted to rest,

But the joys that on sympathy wait ?