slighted thy ordinances, and turned my back upon thy sanctuary; I have neglected thy sacraments, abused thy word, despised thy ministers, and despised their ministry; I have come into thy courts with an unprovided heart, and have drawn near with uncircumcised lips: and, Lord, I know thou art a jealous God, and most severe against all such as violate thy rest. The glory of thy name is precious to thee, and thine honour is as the apple of thine eye: but thou, O God, that art the God of Hosts, hast published and declared thyself the Lord of mercy. The constitution of thy Sabbath was a work of time; but, Lord, thy mercy is from all eternity: I, that have broke thy Sabbaths, do here present thee with a broken heart; thy hand is not shortened, that thou canst not heal, nor thy ear deafened that thou canst not hear: stretch forth thy hand, O God, and heal my wounds. Bow down thine ear, O Lord, and hear my prayers; alter the fabric of my sinful heart, and make it tender of thy glory; make me ambitious of thy

service, and let thy Sabbaths be my whole delight; give me a holy reverence of thy word, that it may prove a light to my steps, and a lantern to my feet. Endue my heart with charity and faith, that I may find a comfort in thy sacraments. Bless thou the ministers of thy sacred word, and make them holy in their lives, sound in their doctrine, and laborious in their callings. Preserve the universal church in these distracted times; give her peace, unity, and uniformity; purge her of all schism, error, and superstition; let the king's daughter be all glorious within, and let thine eyes take pleasure in her beauty, that being honoured here, to be a member of her militant, I may be glorified with her triumphant."

(To be continued.)

Published by LONGMAN, HURST, REES, and ORME, Paternoster Row; J. HATCHARD, Bookseller to Her Majesty, 190, Piccadilly; and WILLIAM MILLER, Albemarle Street.

William Savage, Printer, Bedford Bury.

THE DIRECTOR.

No. 20. SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 1807.

VICE IS NEVER SO DANGEROUS, AS WHEN IT

ASSUMES THE GARB OF MORALITY.

Preface to Lovers' Vows.

IN dramatic compositions, when the hopes and fears of mankind are delineated with a masterly hand, when the former are shown to be abortive even in the promised moment of enjoyment, and when the latter are unexpectedly relieved by an unforeseen and providential intervention, the mind receives a double benefit from the representation. It learns moderation and temperance, in the current of prosperity; it acquires fortitude G g

VOL. II.

and resignation, amidst the storms of adversity.

THE drama combines all the various powers of the imitative arts, and at the same time unites duties, arduous and honorable in themselves, and highly beneficial to the community. While it has the charms of poetry in language, of painting in scenery, of statuary in form and figure, and of music in melody and harmony of sounds,-it has the power of displaying the uncertainty of earthly grandeur, of marking the calamitous end of violence and injustice, and of thereby cautioning the unwary heart against the first temptations of unregulated ambition. It possesses the most effectual means of guarding against the indulgence of the malignant passions, and of directing the desires and the habits to the gratification of the benevolent feelings;—of placing falsehood and knavery in their true light, and of making folly, presumption, and vanity contemptible and ridiculous...

I HAVE already had an opportunity of noticing some traits of indecency and profaneness, which have disgraced the English stage. I now direct the attention of my readers to a more important subject; and lament that the Drama, which is capable of being applied to the noblest and most useful purposes, and which is admirably calculated to give just and correct impressions of life and manners, and thereby to increase the prevalence of moral truth, should have been in so many instances applied to the establishment of defective principles, and to the bewildering of the unpractised and unsuspecting mind, by the palliation of vice, and by the disparagement of virtue.

To give prevalence to false motives of conduct, is extremely injurious to the interests of the community. Disorderly passions, though they may impel to vicious courses, yet they are corrigible:but tainted and defective principles preclude the return to virtue. When vice is