that they were, centaur-like,-both of a piece. At other times, and in other moods, when his fpirits were above the temptation of falfe wit, he would fay, he found himself going off faft-in a confumption; and, with great gravity, would pretend, he could not bear the fight of a fat horse, without dejection of heart, and a fenfible alteration in his pulse; and that he had made choice of the lean one he rode upon, not only to keep himself in countenance, but in fpirits. At different times he would give fifty humorous and appofite reafons for riding a meek-fpirited jade of a broken-winded horfe, preferably to one of mettle ;for on fuch a one he could fit mechanically, and meditate as delightfully de vanitate mundi et fugâ fæculi, as with the advantage of a death's head before him ;→ that, in all other exercitations, he could fpend his time, as he rode flowly along,-to as much account as in his study;-that he could draw up an argument in his fermon, or a hole in his breeches, as fteadily on the one as in the other;-that brisk trotting and flow argumentation, like wit and judgment, were two incompatible movements.-But that upon his steed he could unite and reconcile every thing, he could compose his fermon he could compofe his cough, and, in cafe nature gave a call that way, he could likewise compofe himself to fleep.-In fhort, the parfon, upon fuch encounters, would affign any caufe but the true caufe.and he with-held the true one, only out of a nicety of temper, because he thought it did honour to him. DEA 8 SENSIBILITY. EAR Senfibility! fource inexhaufted of all that's precious in our joys, or costly in our forrows! thou chaineft thy martyr down upon the bed of ftraw-and 'tis thou who lifteft him up to HEAVEN eternal fountain of our feelings!-'tis here I trace thee-and this is thy" divinity which firs "within me❞—not, that in fome fad and fickening momy foul brinks back upon berfelf, and ftartles at 66 ments, fall upon the ground, in the remoteft defert of thy creation. Touched with thee, Eugenius draws my curtain when I languish-hears my tale of symptoms, and blames the weather for the diforder of his nerves. Thou giv'ft a portion of it fometimes to the roughest peafant who traverses the bleakeft mountains-he finds the lacerated lamb of another's flock-this moment I beheld him leaning with his head against his crook, with piteous inclination looking down upon it !-Oh! had I come one moment sooner!—it bleeds to deathhis gentle heart bleeds with it Peace to thee, generous fwain! I fee thou walkeft off with anguish-but thy joys fhall balance it-for happy is thy cottage-and happy is the sharer of itand happy are the lambs which sport about you. SENT. JOUR, P. 226. WHE THE GRACE. the old man gave a HEN fupper was over, knock upon the table with the haft of his knife, to bid them prepare for the dance: the moment the fignal was given, the women and girls ran all together into the back apartment to tie up their hair-and the young men to the door to wash their faces, and change their fabots and in three minutes every foul was ready upon a little efplanade before the houfe to begin-The old man and his wife came out laft, and placing me betwixt them, fat down upon a fopha of turf by the door. The old man had fome fifty years ago been no mean performer upon the vielle-and, at the age he was then of, touched it well enough for the purpose. His wife fung now and then a little to the tune-then intermitted-and joined her old man again, as their children and grand-children danced before them. It was not till the middle of the second dance, when, for fome paufes in the movement wherein they all feem'd to look up, I fancied I could diftinguish an elevation of spirit different from that which is the cause or the effect of fimple jollity. In a word, I thought I beheld Religion mixing in the dance-but as I had never seen her fo engage, I should have look'd upon it. now as one of the illufions of an imagination which is eternally misleading me, had not the old man, as foon as the dance ended, faid, that this was their conftant way: and that all his life long, he made it a rule, after fupper was over, to call out his family to dance and rejoice! believing, he faid, that a cheerful and contented mind was the beft fort of thanks to Heaven that an illiterate peasant could pay. -Or a learned prelate either, faid I. SENT. JOURNEY, P. 227. ILLUSION. WEET pliability of man's fpirit, that can at Sw once furrender itself to illufions, which cheat expectation and forrow of their weary moments!Long-long fince had ye numbered out my days, had I not trod fo great a part of them upon this enchanted ground; when my way is too rough for my feet, or too fteep for my ftrength, 1 get off it to fome fmooth velvet path which fancy has scattered over with rofe buds of delight; and having taken a few turns in it, come back strengthen'd and refresh'd-When evils prefs fore upon me, and there is no retreat from them in the world, then I take a new courfe. I leave it —and as I have a clearer idea of the Elyfian fields than I have of heaven, I force myself, like Eneas, A THE SUPPER. SHOE coming loose from the fore-foot of the thill-horse, at the beginning of the ascent of mount Taurira, the poftillion difmounted, twisted the fhoe off, and put it in his pocket: as the afcent was of five or fix miles, and that horse our main dependance, I made a point of having the shoe fastened on again, as well as we could; but the poftillion had thrown away the nails, and the hammer in the chaisebox being of no great ufe without them, I fubmitted to go on. He had not mounted half a mile higher, when coming to a flinty piece of road, the poor devil loft a fecond fhoe, and from off his other fore-foot. I then got out of the chaife in good earnest; and seeing a houfe about a quarter of a mile to the left-hand, with a great deal to do, I prevailed upon the poftillion to turn up to it. The look of the houfe, and of every thing about it, as we drew nearer, foon reconciled me to the difafter. It was a little farm-house, surrounded with about twenty acres of vineyard, about as much cornand close to the houfe, on one fide, was a potagerie of an acre and an half full of every thing which could make plenty in a French peafant's houfe-and on the other fide was a little wood which furnished wherewithal to drefs it. It was about eight in the evening when I got to the houfe-fo I left the poftillion to manage his point |