A flat and fatal negative obtains,
That inftant, upon all his future pains;
His leffons tire, his mild rebukes offend,
And all th' inftructions of thy son's best friend
Are a ftream choak'd, or trickling to no end.
Doom him not then to folitary meals ;
But recollect that he has sense, and feels.
And that, poffeffor of a foul refin'd,
An upright heart, and cultivated mind,
His poft not mean, his talents not unknown,
He deems it hard to vegetate alone.
And, if admitted at thy board he fit,
Account him no juft mark for idle wit;
Offend not him, whom modefty restrains
From repartee, with jokes that he difdains;
Much lefs transfix his feelings with an oath;
Nor frown, unless he vanish with the cloth.-
And, trust me, his utility may reach
To more than he is hir'd or bound to teach;
Much trash unutter'd, and fome ills undone,
Through rev'rence of the cenfor of thy fon.
But, if thy table be indeed unclean,
Foul with excefs, and with difcourfe obfcene,
And thou a wretch, whom, following her old plan,
The world accounts an honourable man,
Because forfooth thy courage has been tried
And stood the teft, perhaps on the wrong fide;
Though thou hadít never grace enough to prove
That any thing but vice could win thy love;-
Or haft thou a polite, card-playing wife,
Chain'd to the routs that she frequents for life;
Who, just when industry begins to fnore,
Flies, wing'd with joy, to some coach-crowded door;
And thrice in ev'ry winter throngs thine own
With half the chariots and fedans in town,
Thyself meanwhile e'en shifting as thou may'st;
Not very fober though, not very chafte ;-
Or is thine house, though less fuperb thy rank,
If not a scene of pleasure, a mere blank,
And thou at beft, and in thy fob'reft mood,
A trifler vain, and empty of all good ;-
Though mercy for thyself thou canst have none,
Hear nature plead, fhow mercy to thy fon.
Sav'd from his home, where ev'ry day brings forth
Some mischief fatal to his future worth,
Find him a better in a distant spot,
Within fome pious paftor's humble cot,
Where vile example (your's I chiefly mean,
The most feducing and the oft'neft seen)
May never more be stamp'd upon his breast,
Nor yet perhaps incurably impress'd:-
Where early reft makes early rifing sure,
Disease or comes not, or finds eafy cure,
Prevented much by diet neat and plain;
Or, if it enter, foon ftarv'd out again:-
Where all th' attention of his faithful host,
Difcreetly limited to two at most,
May raise fuch fruits as shall reward his care,
And not at last evaporate in air :-
Where, ftillness aiding ftudy, and his mind
Serene, and to his duties much inclin'd,
Not occupied in day-dreams, as at home,
Of pleasures paft, or follies yet to come,
His virtuous toil may terminate at last
In fettled habit and decided taste.-
But whom do I advife? the fashion-led,
Th' incorrigibly wrong, the deaf, the dead!
Whom care and cool deliberation fuit
Not better much than fpectacles a brute;
Who, if their fons fome flight tuition fhare,
Deem it of no great moment whose, or where;
Too proud t' adopt the thoughts of one unknown,
And much too gay t' have any of their own.
But, courage, man! methought the mufe replied,
Mankind are various, and the world is wide:
The oftrich, fillieft of the feather'd kind,
And form'd of God without a parent's mind,
Commits her eggs, incautious, to the duft,
Forgetful that the foot may crush the trust;
And, while on public nurs'ries they rely,
Not knowing, and too oft not caring, why,
Irrational in what they thus prefer,
No few, that would feem wife, refemble her.
But all are not alike. Thy warning voice
May here and there prevent erroneous choice;
And fome perhaps, who, bufy as they are,
Yet make their progeny their dearest care,
(Whofe hearts will ache, once told what ills may reach
Their offspring, left upon fo wild a beach)
Will need no stress of argument t' enforce
Th' expedience of a less advent'rous course :
The reft will flight thy counsel, or condemn;
But they have human feelings-turn to them.
To you, then, tenants of life's middle ftate,
Securely plac'd between the small and great,
Whose character, yet undebauch'd, retains
Two thirds of all the virtue that remains,
Who, wife yourselves, defire your fons fhould learn
Your wisdom and your ways-to you I turn.
Look round you on a world perversely blind;
See what contempt is fall'n on human kind §
N
See wealth abus'd, and dignities misplac'd,
Great titles, offices, and trufts difgrac'd,
Long lines of ancestry, renown'd of old,
Their noble qualities all quench'd and cold;
See Bedlam's cloíetted and hand-cuff'd charge
Surpafs'd in frenzy by the mad at large;
See great commanders making war a trade,
Great lawyers, lawyers without study made;
Churchmen, in whose esteem their blest employ
Is odious, and their wages all their joy,
Who, far enough from furnishing their shelves
With gospel lore, turn infidels themselves;
See womanhood defpis'd, and manhood sham'd
With infamy too nauseous to be nam'd,
Fops at all corners, lady-like in mien,
Civetted fellows, fmelt ere they are seen,
Elfe coarfe and rude in manners, and their tongue
On fire with curfes, and with nonsense hung,
Now flush'd with drunk'ness, now with whoredom pale,
Their breath a fample of last night's regale;
See volunteers in all the vileft arts,
Men well endow'd, of honourable parts,
Design'd by nature wife, but self-made fools;—
All thefe, and more like thefe, were bred at schools!
And, if it chance, as fometimes chance it will,
That, though school-bred, the boy be virtuous ftill;
|