had won him many large fums; but being at length excepted out of every match, as having no equal, he regard'ed even my excellence with malignity, when it was no longer fubfervient to " his intereft. Yet I ftill lived in ease and plenty; and as he was able to fell even my pleafures, though my labour was become ufelefs, I had a feraglio in which there was a perpetual fucceffion of new beauties. At laft, however, another competitor appeared: I enjoyed a new triumph by anticipation; I rufhed into the field, panting for the conqueft; and the firft heat I put my mafter in poffeffion of the stakes, which ' amounted to ten thousand pounds. The proprietor of the mare that I had distanced, notwithstanding this difgrace, declared with great zeal, that the thould run the next day againft any gelding in the world for double the fum: my mafter immediately accepted the challenge, and told him, 'that he would the next day produce a gelding that should beat her: but what was my aftonishment and indignation, ' when I difcovered that he most cru'elly and fraudulently intended to qua'lify me for this match upon the spot; and to facrifice my life at the very 'moment in which every nerve fhould be ftrained in his fervice. As I knew it would be in vain to refift, I fuffered myself to be bound: the operation was performed, and I was inftantly mounted and fpurred on to the goal. Injured as I was, the love ⚫ of glory was still fuperior to the defire of revenge: I determined to die as I ⚫ had lived, without an equal; and having again won the race, I funk down at the poft in an agony, which foon ⚫ after put an end to my life.' But When I had heard this horrid parrative, which indeed I remembered to be true, I turned about in honeft confufion, and blushed that I was a man. my reflections were interrupted by the notes of a Blackbird, who was finging the ftory of his own fate with a melody that irrefiftibly compelled my attention. By this gentle and harmonious being, I was not treated with equal contempt; he perceived that I liftened with curiofity; and, interrupting his fong- Stranger," fays he, though I am, as thou fecft, in the fields of Elyfium, yet my happinefs is not complete; my mate is still 'exposed to the miferies of mortality, and I am still vulnerable in her. O! ftranger, to bribe thy friendship, if peradventure it may reach my love, I will gratify the curiofity with which thy looks enquire after me. I fell by the unprovoked enmity of man, in that feafon when the dictates of nature are love. But let not my cenfure be univerfal; for as the elegy which I fing was written by a human being, every human being is not deftitute of com. ⚫ paffion, nor deaf to the language in which our joys and fears are expreffed.' He then, after a fweet though fhort prelude, made the grove again eccho with his fong. The fun had chac'd the winter's fnow, And kindly luos'd the froft-bound foil; The melting itreams began to flow, And plow-men urg'd their annual toil. 'Twas then, amid the vernal throng, Whom nature wakes to mirth and love, A Blackbird rais'd his amorous fong, And thus it echo'd through the grove: O! fairest of the feather d train, For whom I fing, for whom I burn; And grant my love a kind return. Let us the vernal paftime share. To pleafe his croaking paramour; The arks refponfive love-tales fing, And tell their paffions as they soar. But trust me, love, the raven's wing Is not to be compar'd with mine; Nor can the lark fo fweetly fing As I, who strength with fweetness join. Or on the flow'ry border play. And cull the best of ev'ry kind; When, prompted by a mother's care, Thy warmth fhall form th' imprison'd young, With thee the task I'll fondly fhare, Or chear thy labours with my fong.' And nestled closely to her fide, But O! my mufe with pain relates A gunner met them in the vale. Alarm'd. the lover cry'd My dear, Hafte, hafte away; from danger fly! Here, gunner, turn thy vengeance, here! At him the gunner took his aim; Or fhot as he had us'd to do! The emotions which this fong produced Valentine's day, which had a few days before, been communicated to me by a gentleman, who is not only eminent for taite, literature and virtue, but for his zeal in defence of that religion, which moft ftrongly inculcates compaffion to inferior natures, by the example of it's Divine Author, who gave the most Aupendous proof of his compaffion for ours, No XXXVIII. SATURDAY, MARCH 17, 1753. Εὖ γὰρ δὴ ὁ ἀποφηνάμενος, τὶ θεοῖς ὅμοιον ἔχοιμεν, ὁ εὐεργεσίαν, εἶπε καὶ αλήθειαν. PYTHAG. AP. LONGIN. PYTHAGORAS BEING ASKED IN WHAT MAN COULD RESEMBLE THE DI- IN THE PERSIAN CHRONICLE OF THE FIVE HUNDRED AND THIRTEENTH OF THE LETTER OF COSROU THE IMAN. T pleafed our mighty fovereign kings of the earth derive honour and dominion, to fet Mirza his fervant over the province of Tauris. In the hand of Mirza, the balance of diftribution was fufpended with impartiality; and under his adminiftration the weak were protected, the learned received honour, and the diligent became rich: Mirza, therefore, was beheld by every eye with complacency, and every tongue pronounced bleffings upon his head. But it was obferved that he derived no joy from the benefits which he diffufed; he became penfive and melancholy; he spent his leifure in folitude; in his palace he fat motionlefs upon a fofa; and when he went out, his walk was flow, and his tance; and refolved to relinquish the toil of government, of which he could no longer enjoy the reward. He therefore obtained permiffion to approach the throne of our fovereign; and being asked what was his request, he made this reply: May the Lord of the world forgive the flave whom he has honoured, if Mirza prefume again to lay the bounty of Abbas at his feet. • Thou haft given me the dominion of a country, fruitful as the gardens of Damafcus; and a city, gloricus above all others, except that only which reflects the fplendor of thy prefence. But the long life is a period fcarce fufficient to prepare for death: all other business * Never having killed any thing before ar fince, * is vain and trivial, as the toil of emmets in the path of the traveller, under whose foot they perifh for ever; and all enjoyment is unfubstantial and evanef'cent, as the colours of the bow that appears in the interval of a torn. Suffer me, therefore, to prepare for the approach of eternity; let me give up my foul to meditation: let folitude ⚫ and filence acquaint me with the myfteries of devotion; let me forget the world, and by the world be forgotten, till the moment arrives in which the veil of eternity thall fall, and I hall be found at the bar of the ALMIGH. 'TY. Mirza then bowed himself to the earth, and stood filent. he drew a letter from his bofom, and having kiffed it, he prefented it with his right hand. My lord, faid he, I have learned by this letter, which I received from Cofrou the Iman who now ftands before thee, in what manner life may be bett improved. I am enabled to look back with pleafure, and forward with hope; and I fhall now rejoice ftill to be the fhadow of thy power at Tauris, and to keep thofe 'honours which I so lately wifhed to ' refign. The king, who had liftened to Mirza with a mixture of furprize and curiofity, immediately gave the letter to Coirou, and commanded that it fhould be read. The eyes of the court were at By the command of Abbas it is ré- once turned upon the hoary fage, whofe corded, that at these words he trembled countenance was fuffufed with an honeft upon that throne, at the footftool of blufh; and it was not without fome hewhich the world pays homage: he look-fitation that he read these words. ed round upon his nobles; but every countenance was pale, and every eye was upon the earth. No man opened his mouth; and the king firft broke filence, after it had continued near an hour. ‹ Mirza, terror and doubt are come upon me. I am alarmed, as a man who fuddenly perceives that he is near the brink of a precipice, and is urged forward by an irreliftible force: but yet I know not, whether my danger is a reality or a dream. I am as thou art, a reptile of the earth; my life is a moments and eternity, in which days and years and ages are nothing, eternity is before me, for which I alfo fhould prepare: but by whom then muft the faithful be governed? by thofe only who have no fear of judgment? by thofe only whofe life is brutal, be'caufe like brutes they do not confider To Mirza, whom the wifdom of Abbas our mighty lord has honoured with dominion, be everlasting health! "When I heard thy purpofe to withdraw the bleffings of thy government from the thousands of Tauris, my heart was wounded with the arrow of affliction, and my eyes became dim with forrow. But who fhall peak before the king, when he is troubled? and who fhall boat of knowledge, when he is diftreffed by doubt? To thee I will relate 'the events of my youth, which thou haft renewed before me; and thofe truths which they taught me, may the Prophet multiply to thee. • Under the inftruction of the physi'cian Aluzar, I obtained an early knowedge of his art. To those who were finitten with difeafe, I could adminifter plants, which the fun has impreg that they fhall die? Or who, indeed,nated with the spirit of health. But the ' are the faithful? Are the bufy multitudes that croud the city, in a state of perdition? and is the cell of the dervife alone the gate of paradife? To all, the fcenes of pain, languor, and mortality, which were perpetually rising before me, made me often tremble for myself. I faw the grave open at my feet: I de life of a dervife is not poffible: to all,termined, therefore, to contemplate ⚫ therefore, it cannot be a duty. Depart to the houfe which has in this city been prepared for thy refidence; I will meditate the reafon of thy requeft; and may he who illuminates, the mind of 'the humble, enable me to determine ✦ with wifdom!'' Mirza departed; and on the third day having received no command, he again requested an audience, and it was granted. When he entered the royal prefence, his countenance appeared more hearful; only the regions beyond it, and to defpife every acquifition which I could not keep. I conceived an opinion, that " as there was no merit but in voluntary poverty, and filent meditation, those who defired money were not proper 'objects of bounty; and that by all who were proper objects of bounty, money was defpifed. I, therefore, buried mine in the earth; and renouncing fociety, I wandered into a wild and fequeftered part of the country: mỳ 'dwelling 102 an invisible being, who pronounced dwelling was a cave by the fide of a hili; I drank the running water from the fpring, and eat fuch fruits and herbs as I could find. To increase the aufterity of my life, I frequently watched all night, fitting at the entrance of the cave with my face to the east, refigning myself to the fecret influences of the Prophet, and expecting illuminations from above. after my nocturnal vigil, just as I perceived the horizon glow at the approach of the fun, the power of fleep became irrefiftible, and I funk under it. I imagined myself still fitting at the entrance of my cell; that the dawn increased; and that as I looked earnest⚫ly for the first beam of day, a dark spot I perceived appeared to intercept it. that it was in motion; it increased in fize as it drew near, and at length I difcovered it to be an eagle. I Rill kept my eye fixed ftedfaftly upon it, and faw it alight at a small diftance, ⚫ where I now defcried a fox whofe two ⚫fore legs appeared to be broken. Before this fox the eagle laid part of a kid, which he had brought in her talons, and then difappeared. When I forehead upon the ' awaked I laid my ground, and blessed the Prophet for the inftruction of the morning. I reviewed my dream, and faid thus to myself: "Cofrou, thou hast done well to renounce "the tumult, the bufinefs, and the va"nities of life: but thou haft as yet only "done it in part; thou art ftill every day "bufied in the search of food, thy mind "is not wholly at reft, neither is this “trust in Providence complete. What "art thou taught by this vifion? If thou "haft feen an eagle commiffioned by "Heaven to feed a fox that is lame, fhall not the hand of Heaven alfo fupply me, "difabled as the fox? haft thou not ra- ' At thefe words I was not lefs aftonished than if a mountain had been ' overturned at my feet; I humbled myfelf in the duft; I returned to the city; I dug up my treafure; I was liberal, yet I became rich. My skill in restoring health to the body, gave me frequent opportunities of curing the difeafes of the foul. I put on the facred vettments; I grew eminent beyond my merit; and it was the pleasure of the king that I fhould ftand before him. Now, therefore, be not offended; I 'boast of no knowledge that I have not received; as the fands of the defart drink up the drops of rain, or the dew ' of the morning; fo do I also, who am but duft, imbibe the instructions of the Prophet. Believe then that it is he who tells thee, all knowledge is prophane which terminates in thyfelf; and by a life wasted in speculation, litthe even of this can be gained. When 'the gates of paradife are thrown open 'before thee, thy mind fhall be irra'diated in a moment: here thou canft < <tice. The relief of the poor is equal, 'whether they receive it from oftentation or charity; and the effect of example is the fame, whether it be in⚫tended to obtain the favour of GOD or man. Let thy virtue be thus diffufed; and if thou believeft with reve'rence, thou shalt be accepted above. Farewell. May the fmile of Him who ' refides in the Heaven of Heavens, be ' upon thee! and against thy name in the volume of His will, may happiness be written!' The king, whofe doubts, like thofe of Mirza were now removed, looked up with a fmile that communicated the joy of his mind. He dimiffed the prince to his government; and commanded thefe events to be recorded, to the end that pofterity may know That no life is pleafing to GOD, but that which is ufeful to MANKIND!' N° XXXIX. TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 1753 - Οδύσεις φύλλοισι καλύψατο, τῷ δ' άρ Αθήνη Υπνον ἐπ ̓ ὄμμασι χευ, ἵνα μεν απαύσειε τάχισα Δυστονία καμάτοιο. HOM. PALLAS POUR'D SWEET SLUMBERS ON HIS SOULG F every day did not produce fresh inftances of the ingratitude of mankind, we might, perhaps, be at a lofs, why fo liberal and impartial a benefactor as Sleep fhould meet with fo few historians or panegyrifts. Writers are fo totally abforbed by the business of the day, as never to turn their attention to that power, whofe officious hand fo feafonably fufpends the burthen of life; and without whofe interpofition, man would not be able to endure the fatigue of labour however rewarded, or the struggle with oppofition however fuccessful. Night, though the divides to many the longest part of life, and to almost all the most innocent and happy, is yet unthankfully neglected, except by thofe who pervert her gifts. The aftronomers, indeed, expect her with impatience, and felicitate themselves upon her arrival: Fontenelle has not failed to celebrate her praifes; and to chide the fun for hiding from his view the worlds which he imagines to appear in every conftellation. Nor have the poets been always deficient in her praises: Milton has obferved of the night, that it is the pleafant time, the cool, the ⚫ filent.' Without touching upon the fatal confequences of a custom, which, as Ramazzini obferves, will be for ever conderaned, and for ever retained; it may be obferved, that however fleep may be put off from time to time, yet the demand is of fo importunate a nature, as not to remain long unfatisfied: and if, as fome have done, we confider it as the tax of life, we cannot but observe it is a tax that must be paid, unless we could ceafe to be men; for Alexander declared, that nothing convinced him that he was not a divinity, but his not being able to live without fleep. To live without fleep in our prefent fluctuating state, however desirable it might feem to the lady in Clelia, can furely be the with only of the young or Thefe men may, indeed, well be ex- the ignorant; to every one elfe, a perpe pected to pay particular homage to night; tual vigil will appear to be a state of fince they are indebted to her, not only wretchednefs, fecond only to that of the for ceffation of pain, but increase of plea- miferable beings, whom Swift has in his fare, not only for flumber, but for know- travels fo elegantly defcribed, as 'fuledge. But the greater part of her avow-premely curfed with immortality.” jed votaries are the fons of luxury; who Sleep is neceffary to the happy, to pre |