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me from the fide-board, which I fnatched up with eagerness: but oh! how fhall I tell the fequel? Whether the butler by accident miftook, or purposely defigned to drive me mad, he gave me the ftrongeft brandy, with which I filled my mouth, already flea'd and blistered: totally unused to every kind of ardent fpirits, with my tongue, throat, and palate, as raw as beef, what could I do? I could not fwallow, and clapping my hands upon my mouth, the curfed liquor fquirted through my nose and fingers like a fountain over all the dishes, and I was crushed by bursts of laughter from all quarters. In vain did Sir THOMAS reprimand the fervants, and Lady FRIENDLY chide her daughters; for the measure of my fhame and their diverfion was not yet compleat. To relieve me from the intolerable ftate of perfpiration which this accident had caufed, without confidering what I did, I wiped my face with that ill-fated handkerchief, which was ftill wet from the confequences of the fall of Xenophon, and covered all my features with streaks of ink in every direction. The Baronet himself could not support this fhock, but joined his Lady in the general laugh; while I fprung from the table in defpair, rufhed out of the house, and ran home in an agony of confufion and difgrace, which the most poignant sense of guilt could not have excited.

Thus, without having deviated from the path of moral rectitude, I am fuffering torments like a "goblin damn'd." The lower half of me has been almost boiled, my tongue and mouth grilled, and I bear the mark of Cain upon my forehead; yet these are but trifling confiderations to the everlasting fhame which I must feel whenever this adventure fhall be mentioned.

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IONYSIUS, the tyrant of Sicily, fhewed how far

ed in riches, and all the pleasures which riches can procure. Damocles, one of his flatterers, was compliment ing him upon his power, his treasures, and the magnificence of his royal ftate, and affirming, that no monarch ever was greater or happier than he. "Have you a mind, Damocles," fays the king, "to tafte this happiness, and know, by experience, what my enjoy. ments are, of which you have fo high an idea?" Damocles gladly accepted the offer. Upon which the king ordered, that a royal banquet fhould be prepared, and a gilded couch placed for him, covered with rich embroidery, and fideboards loaded with gold and filver plate of immenfe value. Pages of extraordinary beauty were ordered to wait on him at table, and to obey his commands with the greatest readiness, and the most profound fubmiffion. Neither ornaments, chaplets of flowers, nor rich perfumes were wanting. The table

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was loaded with the most exquifite delicacies of every kind. Damocles fancied himfelf amongst the Gods. In the midst of all his happiness, he fees, let down from the roof exactly over his neck as he lay indulging himfelf in ftate, a glittering fword hung by a fingle hair. The fight of deftruction thus threatening him from on high, foon put a ftop to his joy and revelling. The pomp of his attendance, and the glitter of the carved plate, gave him no longer any pleasure. He dreads to ftretch forth his hand to the table. He throws off the chaplet of rofes. He haftens to remove from his dan gerous fituation, and at laft begs the king to restore him to his former humble condition, having no defire to enjoy any longer fuch a dreadful kind of happiness.

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The Vision of Theodore, the Hermit of Teneriffe, found in his Cell.

SON

ON of perfeverance, whoever thou art, whofe curiofity has led thee hither, read and be wife. He that now calls upon thee is Theodore, the hermit of Teneriffe, who, in the fifty-seventh year of his retreat, left this inftruction to mankind, left his folitary hours hould be spent in vain,

I was once what thou art now, a groveller on the earth, and a gazer at the fky; I trafficked and heaped wealth together, I loved and was favoured, I wore the robe of honour, and heard the mufic of adulation; I was ambitious, and rofe to greatnefs; I was unhappy, and retired. I fought for fome time what I at length found here, a place where all real wants might be eafily fupplied, and where I might not be under the neceffity of purchafing the affiftance of men by the toleration of their follies. Here I faw fruits and herbs and water, and here determined to wait the hand of death, which I hope, when at last it comes, will fall lightly on me.

Forty-eight years had I now paffed in forgetfulness of all mortal cares, and without any inclination to wander farther than the neceffity of procuring fuftenance required; but as I ftood one day beholding the rock that overhangs my cell, I found in myself a defire to climb it; and when I was on its top, was in the fame manner determined to fcale the next, till by degrees I conceived a wish to view the fummit of the mountain, at the foot of which I had fo long refided. This motion of my thoughts I endeavoured to fupprefs, not because it appeared criminal, but because it was new; and all change not evidently for the better alarms a mind taught by experience to diftrust itself. I was often afraid that my heart was deceiving me, that my impatience of confinement rose from fome earthly paffion, and that my ardour to furvey the works of nature

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was only a hidden longing to mingle once again in the fcenes of life. I therefore endeavoured to settle my thoughts into their former ftate, but found their dif traction every day greater. I was always reproaching myself with the want of happiness within my reach, and at laft began to question whether it was not laziness rather than caution that reftrained me from climbing to the fummit of Teneriffe.

I rose therefore before the day, and began my journey up the steep of the mountain; but I had not advanced far, old as I was and burthened with provifions, when the day began to fhine upon me; the declivities grew more precipitous, and the fand fliding beneath my feet; at laft, fainting with labour, I arrived at a small plain almost inclosed by rocks, and open only to the eaft. I fat down to reft a while, in full perfuafion that when I had recovered my ftrength, I fhould proceed on my defign; but when once I had tafted eafe, I found many reasons against disturbing it. The branches spread a fhade over my head, and the gales of fpring wafted odours to my bofom.

As I fat thus, forming alternately excufes for delay and refolutions to go forward, an irresistible heaviness fuddenly surprised me; I laid my head upon the bank, and refigned myself to fleep; when methought I heard the found as of the flight of eagles, and a being of more than human dignity ftood before me. While I was deliberating how to addrefs him, he took me by the hand with an air of kindness, and asked me folemnly, but without severity, "Theodore, whither art thou go"ing?" I am climbing, answered I, to the top of the mountain, to enjoy a more extenfive prospect of the works of nature. "Attend firft, faid he, to the prof"pect which this place affords, and what thou do "not understand I will explain. I am one of the be"nevolent beings who watch over the children of the "duft, to preferve them from thofe evils which will "not ultimately terminate in good, and which they do not, by their own faults, bring upon themselves.

"Look

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