Elfe fure notorious fact and proof fo plain
Would turn our steps into a wifer train.

I blame not thofe, who with what care they can
O'erwatch the numerous and unruly clan;
Or, if I blame, 'tis only that they dare
Promise a work, of which they must despair.
Have ye, ye fage intendants of the whole,
An ubiquarian prefence and controul,
Elifha's eye, that when Gehazi strayed,
Went with him, and faw all the game he played?
Yes-ye are confcious; and on all the shelves
Your pupils ftrike upon, have ftruck yourselves.
Or if by nature fober, ye had then,

Boys as ye were, the gravity of men ;

Ye knew at leaft, by conftant proofs addreffed
To ears and eyes, the vices of the reft.
But ye connive at what ye cannot cure,
And evils, not to be endured, endure,
Left power exerted, but without fuccefs,
Should make the little ye retain still less.
Ye once were justly famed for bringing forth
Undoubted scholarship and genuine worth;
And in the firmament of fame ftill fhines
A glory, bright as that of all the figns,

Of poets raised by you, and statesmen, and divines.

}

Peace to them all! thofe brilliant times are fled,
And no fuch lights are kindling in their ftead.
Our ftriplings shine indeed, but with fuch rays,
As fet the midnight riot in a blaze;

And feem, if judged by their expreffive looks,
Deeper in none than in their furgeons' books.

Say mufe, (for education made the song,
No mufe can hesitate or linger long)
What caufes move us, knowing as we muft,
That these Menageries all fail their truft,
To fend our fons to scout and scamper there,
While colts and puppies coft us so much care?

Be it a weakness, it deferves fome praise,
We love the play-place of our early days;
The scene is touching, and the heart is ftone,
That feels not at that fight, and feels at none.
The wall on which we tried our graving skill,
The very name we carved fubfifting still;

The bench on which we fat while deep employed,
Though mangled, hacked,and hewed,not yet deftroyed:
The little ones, unbuttoned, glowing hot,
Playing our games, and on the very fpot;
As happy as we once, to kneel and draw

The chalky ring, and knuckle down at taw;

To pitch the ball into the grounded hat,
Or drive it devious with a dexterous pat;
The pleafing fpectacle at once excites
Such recollection of our own delights,
That viewing it, we feem almoft to obtain
Our innocent fweet fimple years again.
This fond attachment to the well-known place,
Whence firft we started into life's long race,
Maintains its hold with fuch unfailing fway,
We feel it ev'n in age, and at our latest day.
Hark! how the fire of chits, whofe future share
Of claffic food begins to be his care,

With his own likeness placed on either knee,
Indulges all a father's heart-felt glee;

And tells them, as he ftrokes their filver locks,
That they muft foon learn Latin, and to box;
Then turning he regales his liftening wife
With all the adventures of his early life;
His skill in coachmanship, or in driving chaise,
In bilking tavern bills, and spouting plays;
What fhifts he used, detected in a scrape,
How he was flogged, or had the luck to escape;
What fums he loft at play, and how he fold
Watch, feals, and all-till all his pranks are told.
Retracing thus his frolics, ('tis a name
That palliates deeds of folly and of shame)

He gives the local bias all its fway;

Refolves that were he played his fons fhall play,
And deftines their bright genius to be shown
Juft in the scene, where he difplayed his own.
The meek and bafhful boy will foon be taught
To be as bold and forward as he ought;
The rude will fcuffle through with eafe enough,
Great schools fuit beft the sturdy and the rough.
Ah happy designation, prudent choice,

The event is fure; expect it; and rejoice!
Soon fee your with fulfilled in either child,
The pert made perter, and the tame made wild.

The great indeed, by titles, riches, birth,
Excufed the incumbrance of more folid worth,
Are beft difpofed of where with most fuccefs
They may acquire that confident addrefs,
Those habits of profuse and lewd expenfe,
That fcorn of all delights but thofe of fenfe,
Which, though in plain plebeians we condemn,
With fo much reafon all expect from them.
But families of lefs illuftrious fame,

Whofe chief diftinction is their fpotlefs name,

Whofe heirs, their honours none, their income fmall,

Muft fhine by true defert, or not at all,

What dream they of, that with fo little care
They risk their hopes, their dearest treasure, there?
They dream of little Charles or William graced
With wig prolix, down flowing to his waift;
They fee the attentive crowds his talents draw,
They hear him fpeak-the oracle of law.
The father, who defigns his babe a priest,
Dreams him epifcopally fuch at leaft;

And, while the playful jockey fcours the room
Brifkly, aftride upon the parlour broom,

In fancy fees him more fuperbly ride

In coach with purple lined and mitres on its fide.
Events improbable and strange as thefe,

Which only a parental eye forefees,

A public school shall bring to pass with ease.
But how? refides fuch virtue in that air,
As muft create an appetite for prayer?
And will it breathe into him all the zeal,
That candidates for fuch a prize should feel,
To take the lead and be the foremoft ftill
In all true worth and literary skill?

"Ah blind to bright futurity, untaught

"The knowledge of the world, and dull of thought! "Church-ladders are not always mounted best "By learned clerks and Latinifts profeffed.