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By his glad tutors-gave him good advice-
Bless'd him and bade him prosper.

With warm heart

He drew his purse-strings, and the utmost doit
Pour'd in the youngster's palm. "Away, he cries,
"Go to the seat of learning, boy, be good,
"Be wise, be frugal, for 'tis all I can."
"I will," said Toby, as he bang'd the door,
And wink'd, and snapp'd his finger, " Sir, I will.”
So joyful he to Alma Mater went

A sturdy fresh man. See him just arriv'd,
Receiv'd matriculated, and resolv'd

To drown his freshness in a pipe of port.

"Quick, Mr. Vintner, twenty dozen more ;
"Some claret too. Here's to our friends at home.
"There let 'em doze. Be it our nobler aim

Then to town

"To live-where stands the bottle ?"
Hies the gay spark for futile purposes,
And deeds my bashful muse disdains to name,
From town to college, till a fresh supply
Sends him again from college up to town..
The tedious interval the mace and cue,
The tennis-court and racket, the slow lounge-
From street to street, the badger-bunt, the race,
The raffle, the excursion and the dance,
Ices and soups, dice, and the bet at whist,
Serve well enough to fill. Grievous accounts
The weekly post to the vex'd parent brings
Of college impositions, heavy dues,
Demands enormous, which the wicked son
Declares he does his utmost to prevent.

So, blaming with good cause the vast expence,
Bill after bill he sends, and pens the draught
Till the full ink-horn fails. With grateful heart
Toby receives, short leave of absence begs,,
Obtains it by a lie, gallops away,

And no one knows what charming things are doing,
Till the gull'd boy returns without his pence,
12

And prates of deeds unworthy of a brute.

Vile deeds, but such as in these polish'd days

None blames or hides.

So Toby fares, nor heeds,

Till terms are wasted, and the proud degree,

Soon purchas'd, comes his learned toils to crown.
He swears, and swears he knows not what, nor cares,
Become a perjur'd graduate, and thinks soon

To be a candidate for orders. Ah!

Vain was the hope. Tho' many a wolf as fell
Deceive the shepherd and Devour the flock,
Thou none shalt injure. On a luckless day,
Withdrawn to taste the pleasures of the town,
Heated with wine, a vehement dispute
With a detested rival shook the roof:

He penn'd a challenge, sent it, fought, and fell.

ADRIANG.

BOOK III.

DIDACTIC PIECES.

CHAP. I.

ON MODESTY.

I KNOW no two words that have been more abused by the different and wrong interpretations which are put upon them, than these two, Modesty and Assurance. To say, such a one is a modest man, sometinies indeed. passes for a good character; but at present is very often used to signify a sheepish aukward fellow, who has neither good breeding, politeness, nor any knowledge of the world.

Again, a man of assurance, though at first it only denoted a person of a free and open carriage, is now very usually applied to a profligate wretch, who can break through all the rules of decency and morality without a blush.

I shall endeavour therefore in this essay to restore these words to their true meaning, to prevent the idea of Modesty from being confounded with that of Sheepishness, and to hinder impudence from passing for Assur

ance.

If I was put to define Modesty, I would call it, the reflection of an ingenuous mind, either when a man has committed an action for which he censures himself, or fancies that he is exposed to the censure of others.

For this reason a man truly modest is as much so when he is alone as in company, and as subject to a blush in his closet, as when the eyes of multitudes are upon him.

I do not remember to have met with any instance of modesty with which I am so well pleased, as that celebrated one of the young Prince, whose father, being a tributary king to the Romans, had several complaints laid against him before the senate, as a tyrant and oppressor of his subjects. The Prince went to Rome to defend his father, but coming into the senate, and hearing a multitude of crimes proved upon him, was so oppressed when it came to his turn to speak, that he was unable to utter a word. The story tells us, that the fathers were more moved at this instance of modesty and ingenuity, than they could have been by the most pathetic oration; and, in short, pardoned the guilty father for this early promise of Virtue in the son.

I take assurance to be, the faculty of possessing a man's self, or of saying or doing indifferent things without any uneasiness or emotion in the mind. That which generally gives a man assurance, is a moderate knowledge of the world, but above all, a mind fixed and determined in itself to do nothing against the rules of honour and decency. An open and assured behaviour is the natural consequence of such a resolution. A man thus armed, if his words or actions are at any time misinterpreted, retires within himself, and from a consciousness of his own integrity, assumes force enough to despise the little censures of ignorance or malice.

Every one ought to cherish and encourage in himself the modesty and assurance I have here mentioned.

A man without assurance is liable to be made uneasy

by the folly or ill-nature of every one he converses with A man without modesty is lost to all sense of honour and virtue.

It is more than probable, that the Prince above-mentioned possessed both these qualifications in a very eminent degree. Without assurance he would never have undertaken to speak before the most august assembly in the world; without modesty he would have pleaded the cause he had taken upon him, though it had appeared ever so scandalous.

From what has been said, it is plain, that modesty and assurance are both amiable, and may very well meet in the same person. When they are thus mixed and blended together, they compose what we endeavour to express when we say a modest assurance; by which we understand the just mean between bashfulness and impudence.

I shall conclude with observing, that as the same man may be both modest and assured, so it is also possible for the same person to be both impudent and bashful.

We have frequent instances of this odd kind of mixture in people of depraved minds and mean education; who though they are not able to meet a man's eyes, or pronounce a sentence without confusion, can voluntarily commit the greatest villanies, or most indecent actions.

Such a person seems to have made a resolution to do ill even in spite of himself, and in defiance of all those checks and restraints his temper and complexion seem to have laid in his way.

Upon the whole, I would endeavour to establish this maxim, that the practice of virtue is the most proper method to give a man a becoming assurance in his words and actions. Guilt always seeks to shelter itself in one of the extremes, and is sometimes attended with both.

SPECTATOR.

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