14. I could see no more. My heart swelled into my throat; my eyes filled with tears; I felt as if I were acting a barbarous part, in standing by and gazing idly on this scene of maternal anguish. I wandered to another part of the church-yard, where I remained until the funeral train had dispersed.

15. When I saw the mother slowly and painfully quitting the grave, leaving behind her the remains of all that was dear to her on earth, and returning to silence and destitution, my heart ached for her. What, thought I, are the distresses of the rich! They have friends to soothe; pleasures to beguile; a world to divert and dissipate their griefs. What are the sorrows of the young! Their growing minds soon close above the wound-their green and ductile affections soon twine around new objects. But the sorrows of the poor, who have no outward appearance to soothe-the sorrows of the aged with whom life at best is but a wintry day, and who can look for no after growth of joy-the sorrrows of a widow, aged, solitary, destitute, mourning over an only son, the last solace of her years; these are the sorrows which make us feel the impotency of consolation.

From a Preceptor to his Pupils.

1. I AM truly sensible of the important trust reposed in me, and cannot but feel a solicitude to discharge it with propriety. I will not say that the pecuniary emolument arising from it is by any means indifferent to me. No man would sacrifice his ease, and enter into an anxious employment, without a desire of those rewards which are allotted to industry. And it is equitable that he, who is willing to step forward, and render himself extensively useful to others, should derive such advantages from his exertions, as may render his old age easy and respected, or provide for the wants of a rising family. But I must declare on the other hand, that the satisfaction arising from a consciousness of performing the duty incumbent on me, and rendering a service equivalent to the recompense, sweetens every labour, and gives additional value to the pecuniary compensation.

2. You are placed here for two purposes; the improvement of the understanding, and the formation of virtuous principles for the guidance of your moral conduct. Improvement of the understanding is apparently the first object in your entrance at school; but it cannot be doubted but that improvement of the heart is really esteemed by those to whom you are most dear, at a higher price than the finest accomplishment of the most cul

tivated intellect. It is your business to unite these estimable objects, and to suffer your hearts and understandings to vie with each other in the pursuit of excellence.

3. The principal purpose of my frequent addresses, is to promote the knowledge and the practice of the Christian religion; and in the performance of this purpose, I shall of necessity be led to recommend the purest system of morality. Ethics, improved and exalted by the Christian religion, become the guides to real wisdom and solid happiness, to which they could never attain when taught only in the schools of heathen philosophy. In the religious part of your education, it is not expected that you should be engaged in the profound disquisitions of theology. The plain doctrines of the religion which you have been taught to profess, must be explained to you; but the principal business is, to open your hearts for the reception of those sentiments and precepts, which conduce to the direction of your actions in the employment and engagements of your subsequent life. In the first place, I must then remind you of the necessity of reading the Scriptures; that is, of drinking the sacred waters at the fountain.

4. But to read the Scriptures to advantage, judgment is necessary; and as judgment at your age is not mature, you must seek and follow the directions of your instructers. At your age, the plainest, and most perspicuous passages will best deserve and reward your attention. The historical parts of the Old Testament will entertain you, if you consider them only in a classical view, as valuable passages of ancient history; but I chiefly refer you to the books which more immediately conduce to moral instruction.

5. If you read the Old Testament with a taste for its beauties, you will accomplish two important purposes at the same time. You will acquire a knowledge of the Holy Bible, which is your duty; and you will improve your taste and judgment, which is your business as students in the course of a polite education. The New Testament requires the peculiar attention of every one who professes himself a Christian. But here, also, judgment is necessary to direct the student in the mode of his study. To one who has not the requisite share of introductory knowledge, the gospel will appear to contain many difficulties. As you cannot yet engage in theological studies, I must recommend it to you to take up the Testament with that humility which becomes all human creatures, but more particularly persons so young as you are, and so destitute of all that knowledge which can enable you to form a decisive opinion in divinity.

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6. You will do right to pay particular attention to the sermon on the mount, and to that admirable epitome of all moral philosophy, the rule of doing to others as we wish them to do to If you pay due obedience to this precept, you will never hesitate in determining what part you shall act whenever difficulties occur. It will, however, be proper that you should, at an early age, familiarize to your mind, the language of the Scriptures, in all their parts, though you should not be able fully to comprehend them. You will thus treasure up many useful passages in your memory, which, on many occasions, in the course of your lives, may be useful. A very early acquaintance with the words of the Old and New Testament, even before any adequate ideas of their meaning have been obtained, has been found useful in subsequent life to the professed divine..

7. And here I cannot but animadvert on the prevalent neglect of the Holy Scriptures; a neglect which too plainly indicates a faint belief in the doctrines which they contain, and which ought to animate every parent and instructer in the business of infusing religious sentiments, and a reverence for the Scriptures, while the mind is most susceptible of deep impressions. You, who constitute a part of the rising generation, will exert yurselves in removing an evil which menaces the ruin of the national morals and prosperity.

8. They, indeed, who are capable of a sentiment so enlarged > as this, exhibit a manliness of mind, which is the more honourable to them as it is uncommon at their age. In the religious part of your education, it would be a disgraceful omission to neglect the catechism. I recommend it to you as a useful, though humble guide, and I wish to warn you against that pride of heart which induces some persons to slight it, and from that spirit of censoriousness, which causes in others a dislike of all that contradicts their own particular persuasion.

9. You will in vain expect success in your studies, unless you implore a blessing on them from heaven; or if you should be permitted by Providence to make a proficiency in knowledge for the sake of others, you will not derive from your acquisition that degree of happiness which you would otherwise enjoy. You must ask the Giver of every good gift for that most valuable gift of literary improvement. You are apt, at your age, to be thoughtless. You enjoy health and spirits. You are strangers to the cares of the world. Cheerfulness, indeed, becomes you; but let me prevail with you, when I entreat you to consider the value of time, and the importance of making a good use of it.

10. Consider your parents. Form an idea of the anxiety which they feel on your account. You must have observed how eagerly they wish for your improvement. They feel a laudable ambition, which prompts them to desire that you may arrive at eminence in whatever profession or employment you may hereafter be engaged in by Providence. To them it would be a painful sight to see you contemptible and unsuccessful. But nothing can vindicate you from contempt, or insure your success so effectually as personal merit, or the qualities of a good disposition, adorned with a competent share of human learning and accomplishments.

11. Your parents do all in their power to promote your improvement; but, after all, they cannot but know that it remains with yourselves to give efficacy and final good success to their endeavours. The mind is not like a vessel, into which may be poured any quantity of whatever the possessor chooses to infuse. It is rather like a plant, which, by the operation of its own internal powers, imbibes the nutriment afforded by the earth. But, not to dwell on similes, it is certain that your instructers can serve you only in conjunction with your own efforts. Let me then entreat you to exert yourselves, if you have any regard for your parents, whose happiness so essentially depends on your conduct; if you have any regard, for your own honour, success, and comfort; if you hope to be useful and respected in society, and happy in a future state.

Brydone's description of Mount Etna.

1. THERE is no place on the surface of this globe, which unites so many awful and sublime objects, as the summit of Mount Etna. The immense elevation from the surface of the earth, is drawn as it were, to a single point, without any neighbouring mountain for the senses and imagination to rest upon, and recover from their astonishment in their way down to the world. This point or pinnacle is raised on the brink of an almost bottomless gulph, as old as the world, often discharging rivers of fire, and throwing out burning rocks, with a noise which shakes the whole island; add to this, the unbounded extent of the prospect, comprehending the greatest diversity, and most beautiful scenery in nature; with the rising sun, advancing in the east, to illuminate the wondrous scene. The whole atmosphere by degrees kindled up, and showed dimly and faintly the boundless prospect around. Both sea and land looked dark and confused. as if only emerging from their original chaos; and

light and darkness seemed still undivided; till the morning, by degrees advancing, completed the separation.

2. The stars are extinguished, and the shades disappear. The forests, which but now seemed black and bottomless gulphs, whence no ray was reflected to show their form or colours, appear a new creation rising to the sight, catching life and beauty from every increasing beam. The scene still enlarges, and the horizon seems to widen and expand itself on all sides; till the sun, like the great Creator, appears in the east, and with his plastic ray completes the mighty scene. All appears enchantment; and it is with difficulty we can believe we are still on earth. The senses, unaccustomed to the sublimity of such a scene, are bewildered and confounded; and it is not till after some time, that they are capable of separating and judging of the objects which compose it. The body of the sun is seen rising from the ocean, immense tracts both of sea and land, intervening; the islands of Lipari, Panairi, Alicudi, Strombolo, and Volcano, with their smoking summits, appear under your feet; and you look down on the whole of Sicily as on a map; and can trace every river through all its windings, from its source to its mouth.

3. The view is absolutely boundless on every side; nor is there any one object, within the circle of vision, to interrupt it; so that the sight is every where lost in the immensity, The circumference of the visible horizon on the top of Etna, cannot be less than 2000 miles. At Malta, which is nearly 200 miles distant, they perceive all the irruptions from the second region; and that island is often discovered from about one half of the elevation of the mountain; so that at the whole elevation, the horizon must extend to nearly double that distance. But this is by much too vast for our senses, not intended to grasp so boundless a scene. I find by some of the Sicilian authors, that the African coast, as well as that of Naples, with many of its islands, has been discovered from the top of Etna. Of this, however, we cannot boast, though we can very well believe it.

4. But the most beautiful part of the scene is certainly the mountain itself, the island of Sicily, and the numerous islands fying round it. All these, by a kind of magic in vision, seem as if they were brought close round the skirts of Etna: the distances appearing reduced to nothing. The present crater of the volcano is a circle of about three miles and a half in circumference. It goes shelving down on each side, and forms a regular hollow, like a vast amphitheatre:

5. From many places of this space, issue volumes of smoke,