A

ANECDOTE OF CHARLES II.

Perfon of very mean abilities and appear

ance, having an ambition to be knighted, his money prevailed upon fome of the courtiers to folicit that favour for him from the King.— Charles, who could fcarce ever refuse a man he liked any thing, particularly if it was mentioned over a bottle, promifed it; and next day, when he came to go through the ceremony, his confcioufnefs of not deferving fuch an honour made him kneel at too great a diftance; upon which the King, feeing his embarraffment, good-humouredly cried out, "Come, come, Sir, be recollected; 'tis I, not you, have the greateft reafon to be afhamed in this business."

VERSES ON MRS. SIDDONS.

IDDONS! bright fubject for a poet's page!

SIDE

Born to augment the glory of the stage!
Our foul of tragedy reftor'd I fee;

A Garrick's genius is renew'd in thee.
To give our nature all its glorious course;
With moral beauty, with refiftlefs force,

Το

To call forth all the paffions of the mind,
The good, the brave, the vengeful, the refin'd,
The figh, the thrill, the start, the angel's tear;
Thy Ifabella is our Garrick's Lear.

'Tis not the beauties of thy form alone, Thy graceful motion, thy impaffion'd tone; Thy charming attitudes, thy magic pause That speaks the eloquence of Nature's laws; Not these have giv'n thee high theatric fame, Nor fir'd the mufe to celebrate thy name.

When Thomson's epithets, to nature true,
Recal her brighteft glories to my view;
Whene'er his mind-illumin'd afpect brings
The look that speaks unutterable things;
In fancy, then, thy image I fhall fee;
Then, heavenly artift, I fhall think on thee!
Whatever paffion animates thine eye;
Thence, whether pity fteals, or terrors fly;
Or heav'n commands, to fix averse benign,
With pow'r miraculous thy face to fhine;
Whatever feeling 'tis thy aim to move,
Fear, veng'ance, hate, benevolence, or love;
Still do thy looks ufurp divine controul,
And on their objects rivet all the foul:
Thy light'ning far outftrips the poet's race;
E'en Otway's numbers yield to Siddons' face.

Long after thou haft clos'd the glowing scene; Withdrawn thy killing, or tranfporting mien; Humanely haft remov'd from mortal fight,

Those eyes
that fhed infufferable light;
Effects continue, rarely feen before;
The tumult of the paffions is not o'er;
Imagin'd miferies we ftill deplore:

E'en yet distress on meditation grows, E'en yet I feel all Ifabella's woes;

The dreadful thoughts, rais'd by the magic ring,
With all her agonies my bofom fting;

I feel, where Byron ascertains his life
All the fevere amazement of the wife:

When fhe, by force, from his remains is borne,
Myfelf, by ruffians, from myself am torn:
Where the keen dagger gives her foul relief,
Frees her from frenzy, and o'erwhelming grief;
At vain compaffion, with her latest breath,
I laugh, and triumph in fictitious death.

ON THE NECESSITY

OF

SELF-ACQUAINTANCE.

IT is a point agreed upon by the wife, the vir

tuous, and the religious, that felf-acquaint

ance

ance is of confiderable weight and confequence to every one of us.

Surely then it must be worth our while to examine into the caufes of our difguft to this impor tant branch of knowledge.

Among other caufes of that ufual indifference which mankind in general difcover to a thorough acquaintance and knowledge of themselves, may be mentioned an immoderate thirft after pleafure.

This truth will appear very evident, if we confider, in the first place, that pleasure is always fure to engross the heart of that man who addicts himself to it; and, in the fecond place, that it enervates and difqualifies the mind for all laborious pursuits. The love of pleasure is that commanding paffion which ufurps defpotic power, and fuffers no power to approach its throne, or difpute with it the empire of the human breaft. And whoever yields himself up to pleasure forfeits his liberty, and will find it a moft difficult talk to break loofe from his bonds. Miferable, then, are thofe captives, to whom enlargement and freedom are almost impoffible acquifitions! How cautious ought we to be of all fuch furrenders of ourselves, as preclude us the power of acting a wifer part for

the future! How careful to fhun fuch engagements as are incompatible with thought and reflection, and leave no room for the refpective offices and duties of life! engagements which render youth inglorious, and old age contemptible.

But fuch caution appears additionally neceffary, when we confider the pernicious influences and effe&s of pleasure on the mind of man; that it not only alienates our affections from God, feduces us from our duty, and arrogates the fole poffeffion of our hearts; but what is a more dangerous evil ftill, it likewife emafculates the human mind, enervates all the powers of the foul, and difables us from the purfuit of what is great and good.

To a man who prizes liberty and independence, captivity is one of the greateft calamities which. can befal him. But the lofs of freedom, accompanied with the lofs of ftrength-a ftate of fervitude, and at the fame time an impotence of reafon to extricate him out of his flavery-are furely the foreft misfortunes that can happen to humanity; and more particularly when we fubjoin, that pleafure not only robs us of our ftrength, but intoxicates the understanding, reconciles to us our fetters, and renders us averfe to a difcharge from our bondage. The knowledge of ourfelves is a laborious. ftudy,