Oh were the sweet assurance mine!

-But take, dear girl, th' unpolish'd line;

On my fond heart's effusions smile,

Nor, while thou read'st, regard the style,

A sorry one in sooth;

But let this best excuse be brought,

That ev'ry word, and ev'ry thought,

Is prompted, penn'd, by

TRUTH.

THE MAN OF HONOUR.

Quos cùm nihil refert pudet,

Ubi pudendum est, ibi deserit eos pudor,

Quum magis usus est ut pudeat.

PLAUTUS.

When Honour is a support to virtuous principles, and runs parallel with the laws of GOD and our Country, it cannot be too much cherished and encouraged: but when the dictates of Honour are contrary to those of Religion and Equity, they are the greatest depravations of human nature, by giving wrong ambitions, and false ideas of what is good and laudable; and should therefore be exploded and driven out as the bane and plague of Human Society.

ADDISON.

YES 'tis he; mark where he goes,

The modern Man of Honour! of first rank

In Fashion's catalogue.-But why such haste?

One minute, pray," No, 'pon his honour, no!

"Can't stop a second; his best friend Sir Charles

"Has done him so much honour, as to beg

"The honour of his company, at six,

"To"What? A turtle-feast

" No; to exchange

"A brace of bullets! and for all the world

"He would not fail the time."

Now this is he,

The honourable he, who, at a call

To shoot his friend or to debauch his wife,

Will never be found tardy: "dn it, no!

"His honour is at stake on such occasions."

But at an oft repeated suit to pay

Some starving tradesman," What! confound him, no! "'Tis not convenient; let the rascal wait; "What means he, thus to bore a gentleman!" -To trample on divine and human laws, Oppress his neighbour, or revile his God,

This hero fears not; but should some foul chance

Detect him in an act of Charity,

Or on the inside of a Church,-he'd blush

To be accounted so unfashionable!

This is the man whom, knowledge not to have
In all that Coachmen aim at, not to judge
With critical sagacity and skill

A Horse-race, Cock-fight, or a Boxing match,
Would ruin past redemption in the world,

And stamp a very fool: whilst of the page
Of History or Science, of the Arts

Which men and nations raise, and (weightier far!)
Of God, and his own Soul, he knows not aught,
Nor aught to know aspires.The portrait's drawn!

Drawn from the very life; behold the Man,
The modern Man, of Honour! Say ye then,

Ye connoisseurs, say, is the picture like?

i

Is't faithful?-CHARITY Would answer No!

Would say the features were too highly touch'd,

Too prominent;-but that best Critick, TRUTH,

Reluctant sets her seal on't, and declares

It is a Likeness.