IN the pride of wealth, in the dignity In print the blaze, of princely fplendor, Amurath, the mighty above all the nations of the Eaft, afcended the throne of his father. The magi proftrated in his prefence, and the people fell down before him.----Let, faid he, the acclamations of adoring multitudes falute me; let the concave of heaven ring. Death has fet his cold feal upon my father, and he fleeps, O King, live for ever. The nations temble at thy name, mighty conqueror, live for ever. The princes of the earth are fubject to thy fway, great Amurath, live for ever.

This great monarch was educated like kings of modern times, at a dangerous distance from himself, from the councils of Truth, and the attributes of true Wisdom. He had turned the hallowed page of Zoroafter, he had called upon the dead for wifdom, the midnight moon had witneffed to his watchings when the pale lamp of meditation glimmered over the volumes of the fages, His mind was penetrating as the fun beam, and bright as the morning star, but the heart of Amurath was unhappy:

He called for the juice of the grape, the found of the minstrel, and the dalliance of beauty; and his palace refounded with joy. The daughters of Circaffia, beauteous as the bloffoms of the fpring, enchanted the monarch with their graces, and the thrilling captivations of fong, while the sparkling bowl awakened an intemperate feftivity; but the funfhine was confined to his cheek, for the heart of Amurath was unhappy.

He trode the path of glory; he was hailed by the voice of the people; he conquered the conquerors of the East; his brows were over-fhadowed with laurels; his ftatue ftood exalted in the temple of Fame, and his judgments were recorded with honour, But ftill the Prince was dejected in folitude; he queftioned the fatisfaction of empty praises, the diftant clamour of applauding millions, he would fay, affect not my heart in its fecret receffes; though in public I am worshipped as a Prince, in retirement I feel myself a man. When reflection overtakes me in private, I ftart from myself as from a ftranger, and by night the dews of fleep fall not propitiously on my eyelids, for the heart of Amurath is unhappy.

Ye guides of my youth, ye venerable men, I fufpect your councils and your schools. Ye made my foul athirst for wisdom, and ye gratified its youthful ardour; but much I fear ye flattered the proud fpirit of a prefuming Prince, and taught me not how to fupport as I ought the miferable weakness of humanity.-But the fplendor of a court, and the prevalance of your wifdom, fhall fubdue my heart no more. I will affume the fimple weeds of a Dervife, and incorporate with the children of Nature; the incumbrances of royalty fhall be laid afide, and I will commence my pil, grimage with to-morrow's fun. Í have no demands to make upon the public treafure. A ftaff will fupport my feet, and a maple dish will hold provifion; the wild berries will furnish a frugal repaft; I can fatisfy my thirft in the brook, and fleep in fome humble cavern. Let my minifter rule with righteoufnefs in my abfence, and when I can acquire the government of myself, I will return and reign over my people.

When Amurath began his journey, fweet were the fmiles of Aurora, how fweet the melody of morn! the meadows were bright with verdure, enlivened with the drapery of flowers. The zephyrs fluttered, and the groves perfumed the air with their fpices.---Gently waved the bending pine; fmoothly lafped the filver waters. The fhepherd's pipe refounded through the hills, and the vallies were white with fleeces. All was new to Amurath. The confinement of a court had fecluded him from the charms of nature, and he now felt unusual tranfport in contemplating her expanded volume. He rejoiced at enjoying a freedom from royalty, and preffed forward with alacrity and eafe. As the heat of the noon-tide fun directed him to the fhelter of the fhade, he fat down at the foot of a tree, and feasted on his humble meal. His mind was bufy in reflecting upon the vanity of human greatnefs, when a neighbouring cave attracted his notice, fituated on the border of a small stream, that musically bubbled before it; he advanced with helitating ftep, and had reached the entrance of the hermitage, when he diftinguished an old man, by the venerable whiteness of his beard, fitting in a meditative posture. He started back with furprize, and was

about

about to apologize for his intrusion, when a voice accofted him as follows: "Whatever chance, my fon, has brought thee to this folitary habitation, if thou art a child of Virtue, and a fervant of the Moft High, an old man welcomes thee with his bleffing. I have been banished the cabinet of my lord the King, for reverencing the attributes of Truth, yet dare to obey her dictates in the defert; and I wish thee to believe the fincerity of my foul, for falfhood can avail us nothing. Be free to partake of thefe fruits; be free to repofe on my couch; and when the labour of thy journey is repaired, we will converse with fincerity and freedom."The noble traveller declined the courtesy of his offer, and liftened to the hermit with joy.

"To him who fitteth above the waterfloods, and weighs creation in the balance, be glory for ever and ever. Amen. I have been diftinguished in the world as a luminary of fcience; I have wept for the vanity of wisdom; I have dictated to the rulers of the land, and have been flattered with the friendship of my fovereign. The funfhine of profperity, O my fon, awakened an infect into life, and the reptile prefumed upon his power. When I ftood up in the affembly of Wifdom, the aged counsellor laid his withered finger on his lips, and the young men were filent with expectation, I fpake, and it was recorded; I commanded, and it was done. I was stimulated by the breath of dying creatures, like myfelf, to accomplish the greatest atchievements ; and acknowledged no ftandard for rectitude and honour, but the clamour of popular applaufe. If I planned with policy, my fon, or pleaded with rhetoric, taught with truth, or judged with equity; ferved my God, or faved my country; I did all for the voice of the people. The voice of the people was my grandeur and my glory, my riches and my ftrength; it fupported me as a pillar of the ftate, and exalted my vanity to the ftars. Though, in folitude, I have often petitioned the Eternal for an asylum from myself; yet, in public, the voice of the people made me happy. Ah, my fon, great is the weaknefs of the wifeft; and many are the leffons of humility that time have yet to teach thee! Liften then to the voice of an experienced monitor; let my words; fink deep into thy heart, and let thy ear be open to inftruction. I had arrived to the fummit of my fortune and my

folly, when a vifion of the night reclaimed me. I beheld in my dream, and my heart melted with astonishment and terror; I beheld the diffolution of the world, and the judgment of the great day; I faw the heavens and the earth convulfed, and the pillars of creation tremble; the moon was turned into blood (horrid change!) and the fun grew dark as fackcloth, at the prefence of the Lord of Nature. I heard the blaft of the trump of the archangel founding through the regions of death; and I beheld miriads of everlasting fouls ftand trembling before the throne. I looked for my enfigns of dignity, and found myself naked and ashamed. I liftened for the fhouts of the throng, but all was filent as the grave. The lightenings flew faft about my head, and the thunders dif mayed me. I faw a mountain piled up to the clouds with the volumes of wifdom, and would have refted my feet upon it, but it perished in an inftant in the flames. Then I called upon the fpirits of the just for help, and no man liftened to my complainings. I laid my hand upon the once mighty Princes of the earth, and their fceptres vanished into air. Where (I cried) are the multitudes who once fupported me? let them now fave me, or I perish. I called with a despairing voice, but the multitude could fave no more. Then it was the darkness of everlasting horror feized me. I would have wept fore, but had no tears. I would have died, but the dominion of death was over. I would have joyfully compounded for ages of pain, but my fentence was irrevocable and eternal. Gracious Alla! can the agony of that night ever be forgotten! In my fancy I would have pleaded with the Moft High, but his reproof filenced me for ever. When I called thee from darkness and from duft, (faid a tremendous voice, piercing as the found of a trumpet) when I endowed thee with capacities for fociety, exalted thee above created natures, and bleffed thee with the light of reafon, I taught thee, by an agent in thy own breaft, the difference between good and evil, and informed thy fenfes, that my Providence is ever prefent with all the wonders of my creation. I inftructed thee to live for the benefit of others, to ferve fociety with thy heart and hand, but to worship. no mafter but him who gave thee being, to make my will the rule of thy life, and my prefence the predominating witness of thy actions But thou didst call Aa z

upen

upon me as thy caprice directed, and haft not walked uniformly before me. If I answered thy petition in diftrefs, why in profperity didft thou remember my mercies no more? Thou hast confidered me a Being of like fluctuating paffions with thyfelf, though my attri butes are as ftedfast and immoveable as the everlafting foundation of my throne. Thou hast fought to hide thee from my face in time, and therefore throughout the endless ages of eternity thou shalt witnefs to its fimiles no more.-----Trembling I awoke, and ftarted from my fofa, and laid my forehead in the duft, and was wrapt in filent adoration from the rifing to the fetting fun. As the light of celeftial truth dawned upon my heart, the fhadows of ignorance retired. The world was divefted of its flattery at once, and I penetrated with the eye of an eagle into the fuperior duties of the than. I fought the fociety of myself, and renounced a paltry felicity that depended on the opinion of others. would have inftructed the fon of my fovereign, the mighty Amurath, to have departed from the errors of his education, but was forbidden by my lord the King. He was difgufted with a humiliating doctrine, that degraded the dignity of title, and banished me to this distance from the capital of my country. Here, my fon, I have learned great truths, that neither courts or schools have ever taught me. That the approbation of confcience is to be preferred to the opi

I

nion of the multitude; that the wisdom of the heart is fuperior to the vifions of the brain; that our virtues must proceed from a fettled principle of action, from a reverence for the witnefs in our own breafts, and the eye that is over all. I have long attended strictly to this important leffon, and if my fovereign fhould once again fummons my grey head to council, I would endeavour to convince him, that the man who studies his duty to his God, and to himself, is beft qualified to ferve his country and his King.'

Behold then cried Amurath, in art extafy of pleafure, great counfellor! behold your King difguifed in the humble habits of a pilgrim, fee Amurath the ruler of the nations. I have deferted my people in fearch of truth, and will now return to convince them I have found it. I shall henceforth never want a fupreme incentive to good, and an awful reftraint from evil. I will be juft from the fuperior principles of intrinfie virtue, and be happy in confulting the approbation of that invifible witnefs, whofe bleffing can afford a never-failing fupport, when the found of adulation fhall ceafe, and the people can applaud

no more.

The monarch took the hermit affectionately by the hand, he led him back in triumph to his court, and reaffumed his throne with content, for the heart of Amurath was happy.

[St. James's Mag.]

HERE is an abfurdity which reigns and prevails much amongst us, and of which very few, or even any, have taken any notice: it is, the idea and character we annex to every man, according to his occupation. I believe, few will attempt to deny this affertion; and though it fails in perfonal application, yet in general it is received and adopted.

But by this fcale of function we often do injury to one man, while we allow too great a fhare of merit to another. We are ever apt to cenfure the Butcher with the epithet cruel while we allow meeknefs to a Taylor, who is very often a turbulent tyrant, made up of fhreds and patches, I have known Butchers as

gentle as the lambs they killed, and Tayors as harp as the needles they ufed.

To the Farmer we always give the qualified adjective boneft; but according to the obfervations which I have made, in general, perhaps there is not fo cozening, thrifty, fharping a people in the Community. There are no men who fell bargains fo dear, nor who haggle fa close, nor who will take advantage in making a purchafe, or felling a commodity, like to the boneft Farmer. But then, again, I have heard a keen Gentleman fay, who aniaffed amongt Graziers a fortune of feventy thousand pounds, that he never made a bad debt with a Farmer, not loft

a fhilling in trade 'till he came to deal with Gentlem en Merchants.

To the Merchants we always annex affluence, dignity, and liberality; and often compliment a Spendthrift with faying, "He is as generous as a Prince." I have known, amongst this clafs of men, many who have got high credit with the world for the cut of their cloaths, and the form of their wig; by which they have obtained with the people the characters of richlooking old fellows. They have chuckled at the joke, have fupported it to the last, and then died not worth a groat.

The Man of Letters, who leads a fedentary life, and prefers the food of books to the viands of a Court; whether an author of effays in profe, or a builder of the fublime and beautiful rhime; is always treated ludicrously by the unthinking, unbended world, who have confirmed a proverb on such a character; "Zounds! he is as poor as a Poet." And though a man of profound study, with a fertile genius, is the first ornament of human nature, nevertheless we carp, at the character when it appears abroad, and hardly pay it common decent refpect 'till it is dead. Doth this arife from charity or envy? I fear from the latter; being always fenfible enough to know our own ignorance, and weak enough to cenfure that dignified character we cannot attain to. With raptures a rich block head will read the compofitions of a dead Poet, and in extafy with him alive to give him a due refpect; and yet the world have fuffered Homer to starve, and Lloyd to die in prison.

"Forgetting that Maecenas was a Knight, "They mention him as if to use his name "Was in fome measure to partake his fame: "Tho' Virgil, was he living, in the street "Might rot for them, or perish in the Fleet. "See how they redden, and the change dif

claim!

"Virgil, and in the Fleet-forbid it shame! "Hence, ye vain boafters, to the Fleet repair, "And afk, with blushes ask if LLOYD is there!"

It is endless to enumerate the many inftances of want amongst Men of Genius even in our own illand; and it is again an high reproach to thofe who lived with them, to have fuffered fuch parts to wither and decay neglected in obfcurity. No perfon ever heard of Charles the Second's neglect of Butler without indignation, whofe compofitions were fo pleafing to his mind, that he was never without his works in his pocket; and though these very works afforded

fuch excellent entertainment to him, yet he fuffered the Author even to want bread; which Mr. Samuel Welley hath lively painted in the fubfequent epitaph: The Poet's fate is here in emblem shown: He afk'd for Bread, and he receiv'd a Stone.

But why Men of Genius may be more needy than the less wife Members of the Community, is owing to their ardent purfuit of their ftudies, and a total neg lect of the pecuniary advantages in life: while heavy blockheads, with the knowledge that two and two make four, shall amafs riches, and fet up to be the patrons of Wit and Genius.

When we fpeak of a Soldier, we never think of his wealth; it is not afked : It is more furprising to us to hear of his being rich, than of his being poor. To the military character we annex gallantry and courage. A foldier in all countries is a character of reputation, admired and ef teemed. In England we fay, He is a foldier---a gallant fellow, and a gallant fellow. The French have thefe epithets ftronger---They fay, He is un galant lant, a flirting fellow; and in general we bomme, a brave fellow, or, un homme gaonly expect from a foldier, when we speak of him, manners, vivacity, and courage.

The Sailor, again, though a foldier too, is quite different. On the Sailor we alfo bestow the epithets brave, honest, generous, and inconftant. The maid, when the fpeaks of her fweetheart, always calls him an honest Jack Tar; and from their good-nature and chearful giddinefs on fhore, they draw the attention of every body even to a degree of envy; for the variety of a failor's life always keeps him in high fpirits.

You never speak of a Barber, but you annex the idea of a chattering, empty, trifling fellow, a fellow of feathers and powder;---and by the fame rule, whenever you speak of a Jockey, you feel yourself immediately on your guard to avoid a cheat.

Many profeffions (be the young men ever fo different in difpofition when bound apprentice thereto) foften the manners to a degree of effeminacy; fuch as Haberdafbers, Mercers, Male-Milleners, Perfumers, Glovers, Toymen, Retail-Drapers, &c. &c. Thefe occupations are of a trivial, niggling, trifling nature, and reduce the vigour of manhood to the filken thread of the bufinefs. feen a powdered coxcomb of this gawzy make value himself upon his fuccefs of fpeech in perfuading a woman to buy what he did not like; flatter himself

I have