His death was occasioned by a severe attack of the bilious fever. He died on the 23d day of August, 1795, in the 40th year of his age, and was, according to his express desire, buried by the side of his parents in the burial ground belonging to the second Presbyterian church in Philadelphia.

A CHARGE, &c.

(Concluded from page 97.)

THE next branch of character which I shall recommend to you, is that of the Gentleman. Correctness of external deportment and urbanity of manners always conciliate respect, and command admiration. Though the acquisition of knowledge will render a man useful and valuable in society, yet it is the polish of politeness, and the captivating influence of good breeding, that charms the imagination and rules the heart.

"Knowledge," says one of the most erudite scholars and finished gentlemen of the present age, "knowledge gives weight, but accomplishments only give lustre; and there are many more people who see, than who weigh." And though the cultivation of the graces must, in no respect, supersede that of the sciences, yet are the former essentially necessary in the formation of a correct and well-informed character.

Nor are the qualifications requisite to justify the appellation of Gentleman confined to personal appearance and address: they apply with equal force to the faculties of the mind and the affections of the heart. Urbanity implies more than a polished exterior. A true gentleman, at the same time that he observes all the "small, sweet courtesies of life," and excites admiration by the ease and elegance of his manners, must charm by the liberality of his sentiments, the mildness of his expressions, and the benevolence of his wishes. His modesty of demeanour will be equally opposed to arrogance and presumption, as to impertinent rudeness and awkward bashfulness. At the same time that his ease and selfcommand will lead him to accommodate himself to the company he may be in, his affability and good humour will induce his associates to admire, and compel them to esteem him.

To produce this polish, and acquire this eclat, much observation, care, and exertion are to be used. He who aspires to the character of a real gentleman must expand his mind and enlarge his views, by con

templating the principles, habits, and manners of different nations; and must give dignity to his form, by acquiring all the fashionable ornaments of a polite education, and making himself acquainted with all the bodily exercises which invigorate the system, and gives ease and gracefulness to the carriage.

The first accomplishment which is considered as essentially necessa→ ry in the formation of a gentleman, and which is generally taught at an early period of life, is the art of Dancing. This elegant and exhilarating exercise, at the same time that it imparts health and vivacity, gives an unrestrained and graceful air in the motion of the limbs, an ease and dignity in the attitude of the body, and an impressive refinement of manner, which can be exhibited only by those who have learned

"In the smooth dance to move with graceful mien,

"Easy with care, and spritely though serene."-Jenyns.

Skill in the art of Fencing, or the adroit management of the small sword, is a branch of polite education, which every gentleman should wish to acquire, not only as a means of defence against insult or injury, but also on account of that general ease of movement and gracefulness of carriage, which its exercise is peculiarly calculated to communicate. Let the actual use, however, of his dangerous weapon be altogether confined to the repelling of personal assault; but never, under any provocation, deliberately exercised in the savage, the impious, the murderous practice of duelling.

Horsemanship, or as it is now more correctly and technically denominated, the science of Equitation, is another useful and polite accomplishment, equally conducive to health, and, by the exercise of the muscles and limbs, to an elegant and dignified deportment of the body.

As the gentleman should evince his good sense and good breeding, by performing every thing he undertakes, however trivial, in the best manner possible, so common, so universal an exercise as that of riding should certainly not be performed in a careless or unskilful way, but according to the strictest rules of art. The polish of instruction and the judgment acquired by assiduous, previous attention, will be as evident in the mounting and management of a horse, as in the entrance of a room, or the subsequent behaviour in a polite and wellbred company. The late establishment of a riding school in this city, under the direction of a skilful and experienced master of the art, offers to you the acquisition of this useful and elegant accomplishment, in a very superior style

Drawing, whether by copy or original design, is not only a useful, but highly ornamental qualification; a source not only of individual amusement, but often of pleasure and real benefit to others, and equally an accomplishment to the gentleman, and a means of emolument to the artist.

The ability to represent with accuracy upon paper a fine building, a lovely landscape, or even a.beautiful flower, is certainly no mean attainment, and well deserves your attention as a necessary item in a liberal education.

An acquaintaince with the theory of Musick, and the application of its principles to some instrument, which combines gracefulness of attitude in the performer, with agreeableness of sound, constitutes another qualification in the character of a gentleman; who should acquire and exercise the art only so far as to constitute him an amateur, possessed of sufficient taste and judgment to distinguish between a correct and expressive, and a false and feeble style of composition and of execution. The same degree of attention should be given to the principles of all of what are called the Polite Arts. To these acquirements the true gentleman will always add the most undeviating observance of pure and polished Diction in the communication of his sentiments, sedulously avoiding the introduction of quaint and proverbial sayings, o profane or indecent expressions, or of any other species of vulgarism; evincing, by the elegance of his language, the cultivation and refine

ment of his mind.

A similar degree of propriety will always prevail, with respect to Dress; a correct and polished character being as clearly marked thereby, as in the acquisition of accomplishments, or the communication of thought. In the habiliments of a gentleman, the extravagance of fashion, the frippery of ornament, and the vulgarity of negligence are equally avoided. A plain yet elegant attire, composed of the best materials, not only displays true taste, but sound understanding; as, on the contrary, a studious attention to personal decoration is infallibly indicative of a weak and a frivolous mind, while the opposite extreme of slovenliness as forcibly portrays a debased and corrupted one. These are the leading and essential characteristics of the real Gentleman. The minor, though not less necessary accomplishments, which tend to form that character, and enable a man

must be acquired by an habitual intercourse with polite, wellbred, and well-informed characters, particularly with virtuous, amiable, and ac

complished Females, those sweetners of human existence, those inspirers of gentleness, modesty, and elegant politeness, who constitute the most polished portion' of the great Creator's works, being endowed with faculties peculiarly calculated to exalt, to refine, and embellish society, the mildness of whose manners soothes and softens the natural asperity of our sex; the purity of whose sentiments gives stability to virtue, and the delicacy of whose sensibility heightens, at the same time that it improves, the innocent pleasures which exhilarate, prolong, and tranquilize human life:

-"For beauty is their own,

"The feeling heart, simplicity of life,

"And elegance and taste."-Thomson's Summer.

But though the knowledge of a Johnson, the acuteness and eloquence of a Burke, and the polish and precision of a Chesterfield, were united in harmonious and brilliant assemblage to charm, to astonish, and to meliorate mankind, they would in the "balance of the Sanctuary," that infallible and inevitable criterion of true merit, appear as "trifles light as air," in relation to that final and awful scrutiny, which every individual of the human race must experience, and on which his happiness or misery in the world of spirits will depend; the former qualifications, meritorious as they are with respect to our intercourse in this world, will be held in no estimation by our Almighty Judge, unless accompanied and sanctified by the power of true religion: for, to adopt the expressive language of St. Paul," though we could speak with the tongues of men and of angels," and have not been purified by religion, by penitence, and prayer, we are "as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal." And though we have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and have all faith" and power, "so that we could remove mountains," and have not vital active piety, ruling in the heart, elevating the affections, and directing the passions, we are nothing" in the sight of a holy and omniscient God; but " shall certainly come into condemnation," for having confined our time and talents to the pursuit of worldly principles and objects, and thereby forgotten and neglected our great spiritual interests.

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Be assured, therefore, my young friends, that though the Scholar may dignify the human character by his literary acquisitions, and the Gentleman adorn it by his various accomplishments, yet, that

"A Christian is the bighest style of man."-Young.

The union of these, constituting the highest possible perfection to which humanity is capable of arriving. By Religion, I mean the union of piety and morality; that Christianity which is inspired by the Holy Spirit,

and brings forth the fruits of the Spirit in an amiable, useful, and devout life; leading us to discharge not only the duties to our neighbour and ourselves, the personal, relative, and social duties, but the sublime and infinitely important duties which we owe to God also. Let then the solemn and unquestionable truth be ever active in your minds, that there can be no profession, however useful and dignified; no station, however elevated and advantageous, or depressed and obscure, from the sceptered monarch, who sits upon a throne, to the forlorn and miserable mendicant, who sighs upon a dunghill, to whom a préparation for eternity, awful, boundless, inevitable eternity! is not "the one thing needful."

You are rational and consequently accountable beings, placed in the vast scale of creation "but a little lower than the angels," and endowed with faculties and information capable of elevating you to their blissful state: your time of trial is mercifully limited to a few swiftly fleeting years. To forego, therefore, by negligence, or forfeit, by profligacy, so bright, so glorious, so inestimable an inheritance, would not only indicate a total obscuration of reason, an extinction of self-love, but unquestionably merit, for the rejection of so invaluable a privilege the severest and most exemplary punishment. And such, we have the assurance of an infinitely just, though merciful Creator, will be inflicted, when the period of probation shall be closed.

On the sacred page of the last divine revelation of the will of God to man, it is emphatically inscribed, "He who knoweth his Lord's will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes"-" Not every one who saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven." To that divine revelation contained in the New Testament I refer you, for an ample delineation of the duties, the virtues, the temporal advantages, and the eternal rewards attached to the Christian character. "Search the Scriptures, for they are the words of eternal life." You will find them an inexhaustible source of spiritual consolation; you will, moreover, be taught by them, that the duties incumbent upon a disciple of Jesus Christ, though of indispensable obligation, are mild in their requisitions, and salutary in their operation; that “his yoke is easy, and his burden light." These duties may be resolved into two general heads, viz. the moral obligations which relate to our intercourse with our fellow men; and those which we owe to God in the cultivation and exercise of devout affections. By the discharge of the former, your happiness and comfort and that of others in this world will be promoted; by the latter your sentiments will be expanded, your passions restrained, your hearts purified, and your desires elevated above the transitory ob