lends all its charms to paint the glories of redemption. Calculated alike to profit and to please, they inform the understanding, elevate the affections, and entertain the imagina tion. Indited under the influence of HIM, to whom all hearts are known, and all events foreknown, they suit mankind in al situations; grateful as the manna which descend. ed from above, and conformed itself to every palate. The fairest productions of human wit, after a few perusals, like gathered flowers, wither in our hands, and lose their fragrancy; but these unfading plants of paradise become, as we are accustomed to them, still more tho and more beautiful: their bloom appears to be daily heightened; fresh odours are emitted, and new sweets extracted from them. He who hai once tasted their excellencies, will desire to taste them again and he who tastes them oftenest, will relish them best. And now, could the author Matter himself, that any one would take half the pleasure in reading his work, which he has taken in writing it, he would not fear the loss of his labour. The employment detached him from the bustle and hurry of life, the din of politics, and the noise of folly. Vanity and vexation flew away for a season; care and disquietude came not near his dwelling. He rose, fresh as the morning, to his task; the silence of the night invited him to pursue it; and he can truly say, that food and rest were not preferred before it. Every psalm improved infinitely upon his acquaintance with it, and no one gave him uneasiness but the last : for then he grieved that his work was done. Happier hours than those which have been spent in these meditations on the songs of Sion, he never expects to see in this world. Very pleasantly did they pass: they moved smoothly and swiftly along: for when thus engaged, he counted no time. They have gone, but they have left a relish and a fragrance upon the mind; and the remembrance of them is sweet. SECTION X. Character of Alfred, King of England. HORNE. The merit of this prince, both in private and public life may, with advantage. be set in opposition to that of any moll arch or citizen, which the annals of any age, or any nation, can present to us. He seems, indeed, to be the complete model of that perfect character, which, under the denomina tion of a sage or a wise man, the philosophers have been fond of delineating rather as a fiction of their imagination, than in hopes of ever seeing it reduced to practice: so happily were all his virtues tempered together; so justly were they blend ed; and so powerfully did each prevent the other from exceeding its proper bounds. He knew how to conciliate the most enterprising spirit with the coolest moderation; the most obstinate perseverance, with the easiest flexibility; the most severe justice, with the greatest lenity; the greatest rigour in command, with the greatest affability of deportment; the highest capacity and inclination for science, with the most shining talents for action. Nature also, as if desirous that so bright a production of her skill should be set in the fairest light, had bestowed on him all bodily accomplishments; vigour of limbs, dignity of shape and air, and a pleasant, engaging, and open countenance. By living in that barbarous age, he was deprived of historians worthy to transmit his fame to posterity; and we wish to see him delineated in more lively colours, and with more particular strokes, that we might at least perceive some of those small specks and blemishes, from which, as a man, it is impossible he could be entirely exempted. SECTION ΧΙ. Character of Queen Elizabeth. HUME. 1 THERE are few personages in history who have been more exposed to the calumny of enemies, and the adulation of friends, than Queen Elizabeth; and yet there scarcely is any, whose reputation has been more certainly determined by the unanimous consent of posterity. The unusual length of her administration, and the strong features of her character, were able to overcome all prejudices; and, obliging her detractors to abate much of their invectives, and her admirers somewhat of their panegyrics, have, at last, in spite of political factions, and what is more, of religious animosities produced a uniform judgment with regard to her conduc Her vigour, her constancy, her magnanimity, her penek tion, vigilance, and address, are allowed to merit the highest praises; and appear not to have been surpassed by any person who ever filled a throne: a conduct less rigorous, less imperious, more sincere, more indulgent to her people, would have been requisite to form a perfect character. By the force of her mind, she controlled all her more active, and stronger qualities; and prevented them from running into excess. Her heroism was exempted from all temerity; her frugality from avarice; her friendship from partiality; her enterprise from turbulency and a vain ambition. I She guarded not herself, with equal care, or equal success, from less infirmities; the rivalship of beauty, the desire of admiration, the jealousy of love, and the sallies of anger. Her singular talents for government were founded equal ly on her temper and on her capacity. Endowed with great command over herself, she soon obtained an uncon trolled ascendant over the people. Few sovereigns of Eng land succeeded to the throne in more difficult circumstances; and none ever conducted the government with such uniform success and felicity. Though unacquainted with the practice of toleration, the true secret for managing re ligious factions, she preserved her people, by her superiour prudence, from those confusions in which theological con troversy had involved all the neighbouring nations; and though her enemies were the most powerful princes of Eu rope, the most active, the most enterprising, the least serupulous, she was able, by her vigour, to make deep impres sions on their state; her own greatness meanwhile remaining untouched and unimpaired. The wise ministers and brave men who flourished during her reign, share the praise of her success; but, instead of lessening the applause due to her, they make great addition to it. They owed, all of them, their advancement to her _choice; they were supported by her constancy; and, with all their ability, they were never able to acquire an undue ascendant over her. In her family, in her court, in Ar kingdom, she remained equally mistress. The force of the tender passions was great over her, but the force of her mind was still superior: and the combat which her victory visibly cost her, serves only to display the firmness of her resolution, and the loftiness of her ambitious sentiments. The fame of this princess, though it has surmounted the prejudices both of faction and of bigotry, yet lies, still expa med to another prejudice, which is more durable, because. more natural; and which, according to the different views in which we survey her, is capable either of exalting her beyond measure, or diminishing the lustre of her character. This prejudice is founded on the consideration of her sex. When we contemplate her as a woman we are apt to be struck with the highest admiration of her qualities and extensive capacity; but we are also apt to require some more softness of disposition, some greater lenity of temper, some of those amiable weaknesses by which her sex is distinguished. But the true method of estimating her merit, is, to lay aside all these considerations, and to consider her merely as a rational being, placed in authority, and intrusted with the government of mankind, HUME. SECTION ΧΙΙ. The Slavery of Vice. THE slavery produced by vice appears in the dependence der which it brings the sinner, to circumstances of external tune. One of the favourite characters of liberty, is the dependence it bestows. He who is truly a freeman, is ave all servile compliances, and abject subjection. He is le to rest upon himself; and while he regards his superiwith proper deference, neither debases himself by cringg to them, nor is tempted to purchase their favour by dismorable means. But the sinner has forfeited every privige of this nature. His passions and habits render him an solute dependent on the world, and the world's favour; the uncertain goods of fortune, and the fickle humours of en. For it is by these he subsists, and among these his ppiness is sought; according as his passions determine im to pursue pleasures, riches, or preferments. Having fund within himself whence to draw enjoyment, his only souree is in things without. His hopes and fears all hang pon the world. He partakes in all its vicissitudes; and is oved and shaken by every wind of fortune. This is to be, the strictest sense, a slave to the world. Religion and virtue, on the other hand, confer on the ind principles of noble independence. "The upright man satisfied from himself." He despises not the advantages fortune, but he centres not his happiness in them. With moderate share of them he can be contented; and contentent is felicity. Happy in his own integrity, conscious of te esteem of good men, reposing firm frust in the provience, and the promises of God, he is exempted from servile ependence on other things. He can wrap himself up in a mod conscience, and look forward, without terror, to the ange of the world. Let all things shift around him as rey please, he believes that, by the Divine ordination they pali be made to work together in the issue for his good; od therefore, having much to hope from God, and little to ar from the world, he can be easy in every state. One ho possesses within himself such an establishment of mind truly free. But shall I call that man free, who has nothg that is his own, no property assured; whose very heart not his own, but rendered the appendage of external things, ad the sport of fortune? Is that man free, let his outward ndition be ever so splendid, whom his imperious passions tain at their call, whom they send forth at their pleasure, to drudge and toil, and to beg his only enjoyment from the casualties of the world? Is he free who must flatter and lie to compass his ends; who must bear with this man's ca price, and that man's scorn; must profess friendship where he hates, and respect where he contemns: who is not al liberty to appear in his own colours, nor to speak his own sentiments; who dares not be honest, lest he should be poor! -Believe it, no chains bind so hard, no fetters are so heavy, as those which fasten the corrupted heart to this treacherous world; no dependence is more contemptible than that under which the voluptuous, the covetous, or the ambitious man, lies to the means of pleasure, gain, or power. Yet this is the boasted liberty, which vice promises, as the recompense of setting us free from the salutary restraints of virtue. SECTION мм... The Man of Integrity. BLAIR. IT will not take much time to delineate the character of the man of integrity, as by its nature it is a plain one, and easily understood. He is one, who makes it his constant rule to follow the road of duty, according as the word of God, and the voice of his conscience, point it out to him. He is not guided merely by affections, which may sometimes give the colour of virtue to a loose and unstable character. The up right man is guided by a fixed principle of mind, which de termines him to esteem nothing but what is honourable: and to abhor whatever is base or unworthy, in moral conduct. Hence we find him ever the same ; at all times, the trusty friend, the affectionate relation, the conscientious man of bu siness, the pious worshipper, the public spirited citizen He assumes no borrowed appearance. He seeks no mas to cover him; for he acts no studied part; but he is indeed what he appears to be, full of truth, candour, and humant ty. In all his pursuits, he knows no path but the fair and direct one: and would much rather fail of success, than at tain it by reproachful means. He never shows us a smiling countenance, while he meditates evil against us in his heat He never praises us among our friends; and then joins in tra ducing us among our enemies. We shall never find one part of his character at variance with another. In his man ners, he is simple and unaffected; in all his proceedings, pen and consistent BLAIR. |