dereliction of society; which will be found, when seriously examined, to be equally romantic and impracticable. To be able to live independently of all assistance, except from our own power, is, I acknowledge, a noble effort of the human mind; but it is equally great and dignified to learn the art of enjoying the comforts of society with hap.. piness to ourselves, and with utility to others.

While, therefore, I exhort my readers to listen to the advantages of occasional retirement, I warn them against that dangerous excess into which some of the disciples of this philosophy have fallen; an excess equally repugnant to reason and religion. May I happily steer through all the dan, gers with which my subject is surrounded; sacrifice nothing to prejudice; offer no violation to truth; and gain the approbation of the judicious and reflecting! If affliction shall feel one ray of comfort, or melancholy, released from a portion of its horrors, raise its downcast head; if I shall convince the lover of rural life, that all the finer springs of pleasure dry up and decay in the intense joys of crowded cities, and that the warmest emotions of the heart become there cold and torpid :` if I shall evince the superior pleasures of the country'; how many resources rural life affords against the languors of indolence; what purity of sentiment, what peaceful repose, what exalted happiness, is inspired by verdant meads, and the view of lively flocks quitting their rich pastures to seek, with the declining sun, their evening folds; how highly the romantic scenery of a wild and striking coun try, interspersed with cottages, the habitations of a happy, free, contented race of men, elevates the soul; how far more interesting to the heart are the joyful occupations of rural industry, than the dull and tasteless entertainments of a dissipated city; how much more easily, in short, the most excruciating sorrows are pleasingly subdued on the fra grant border of a peaceful stream, than in the

midst of those treacherous delights which occupy the courts of kings; all my wishes will be accomplished, and my happiness complete.

Retirement from the world may prove peculi. arly beneficial at two periods of life: in youth, to acquire the rudiments of useful information, to lay the foundation of the character intended to be pursued, and to obtain that train of thought which is to guide us through life: in age, to cast a retrospective view on the course we have run; to reflect on the events we have observed, the vicis situdes we have experienced; to enjoy the flowers we have gathered on the way, and to congratulate ourselves upon the tempests we have survived. Lord Bolingbroke, in his "Idea of a Patriot King," says, there is not a more profound nor a finer observation in all Lord Bacon's works than the following: "We must choose betimes such virtuous objects as are proportioned to the means we have of pursuing them, and belong particularly to the stations we are in, and the duties of those stations. We must determine and fix our minds in such manner upon them, that the pursuit of them may become the business, and the attainment of them the end of our whole lives. Thus we shall imitate the great operations of nature, and not the feeble, slow, and imperfect operations of art. We must not proceed in forming the moral character as a statuary proceeds in forming a statue, who works sometimes on the face, sometimes on one part, and sometimes on another; but we must proceed, and it is in our power to proceed, as Nature does in forming a flower, or any other of her productions; rudimenta partium omnium simul parit et producit: she throws out altoge ther and at once the whole system of every being and the rudiments of all the parts."

It is, therefore, more especially to those youthful minds, who still remain susceptible of virtuous

impressions, that I here pretend to point out the path which leads to true felicity. Dear and virtuous youths, into whose hands this book may. chance to fall, adopt with affectionate zeal the good it contains, and reject all that does not touch and penetrate the heart: and if you acknowledge that I have enlightened your mind, corrected your manners, and tranquillized your heart, I shall congratulate myself on the success of my design, and think my labours richly rewarded.

Believe me, all ye amiable youths, from whose minds the artifices and gaieties of the world have not yet obliterated the precepts of a virtuous education; who are yet uninfected with its inglorious vanities; who, still ignorant of the tricks and blandishments of seduction, have preserved the desire to perform some glorious action, and retained the power to accomplish it; who, in the midst of feasting, dancing, and assemblies, feel an inclination to escape from their unsatisfactory delights; Solitude will afford you a safe asylum. Let the voice of experience recommend you to cultivate a fondness for domestic pleasures, to incite and fortify your souls to noble deeds, to ac quire that cool judgment and intrepid spirit which enables you to form correct estimates of the cha1. cters of mankind and of the pleasures of society. But to accomplish this high end, you must turn your eyes from those trifling and insignificant examples which a degenerated race of men affords, and study the illustrious characters of the ancient Greeks, the Romans, and the modern English. In what nation will you find more celebrated instances of human greatness? What people possess More valour, courage, firmness, and knowledge? Where do the arts and sciences shine with greater splendour, or with more useful effect? But do not deceive yourselves by a belief that you will ac. quite the character of an Englishman by wearing a cropped head of hair: no, you must pluck the

roots of vice from your mind, destroy the seeds of weakness in your bosoms, and imitate the great examples of heroic virtue which that nation so frequently affords. It is an ardent love of liberty, undaunted courage, deep penetration, elevated sentiment, and well cultivated understanding, that constitute the British character; and not their cropped heads, half boots, and round hats. It is virtue alone, and not dress or titles, that can enoble or adorn the human character. Dress is an object too minute and trifling wholly to occupy a rational mind; and an illustrious descent is only advantageous as it renders the real merits of its immediate possessor more conspicuous. In tracing your genealogies, rank, ye noble youths, those only among your ancestors, who have performed great and glorious actions, whose fame shines in the pages of their country's history, and whose admired characters foreign nations envy and applaud. Never, however, lose sight of this important truth, that no one can be truly great until he has gained a knowledge of himself; a knowledge which can only be acquired by occasional

retirement.

May the perusal of the following pages increase your inclination for a wise and active Solitude, justify your aversion from worldly pleasures, and heighten your repugnance to employ vicious means in the attainment even of virtuous ends; for no worldly advantages, purchased by dishonourable means, can be either solid or lasting.

Retir'd, we tread a smooth and open way;

Thro' briars and brambles in the world we stray:
Stiff opposition, and perplex'd debate,
And thorny care, and rank and stinging hate,
Choak up our passage, our career control,
And wound the finest feelings of the soul.
O sacred Solitude! divine retreat!
Choice of the prudent! envy of the great!
By thy pure stream, or in thy waving shade,
We court fair Wisdom, that celestial inaid.

The genuine offspring of her lov'd embrace.
Strangers on earth! are Innocence and Peace.
There from the ways of men laid safe ashore,
We smile to hear the distant tempest roar:
There blest with health, with business unperplex'd,
This life we censure, and ensure the next;
There too the Muses sport, with myrtles crown'd,
While joys untainted beam on all around."

CHAP. II.

The Influence of Solitude upon the Mind. THE true value of liberty can only be conceived by minds that are free: slaves remain indolently contented in captivity. Men who have been long tossed upon the troubled ocean of life, and have learned by severe experience to entertain just notions of the world and its cóncerns, to examine every object with unclouded and impartial eyes, to walk erect in the strict and thorny paths of virtue, and to find their happiness in the reflections of an honest mind, alone are-free.

The path of virtue, indeed, is devious, dark, and dreary; but though it leads the traveller over hills of difficulty, it at length brings him into the delightful and extensive plains of permanent happiness and secure repose.

The love of Solitude, when cultivated in the morn of life, elevates the mind to a noble independence: but, to acquire the advantages which Solitude is capable of affording, the mind must not be impelled to it by melancholy and discontent, but by a real distate to the idle pleasures of the world, a rational contempt for the deceitful joys of life, and just apprehensions of being corrupted and seduced by its insinuating and destructive gaieties.

Many men have acquired and exercised in Solitude, that transcendent greatness of mind which defies events; and, like the majestic cedar, which