Be ever free, be ever kind,

Preserve an equal, tranquil mind,

Serene, not vainly gay;

Let ev'ry wish be rul'd by sense,

And ev'ry act delight dispense,
In each revolving day.

Confide in some approved friend,
In friendship all enjoyments blend,
But yet with caution fix:
Reserve is prudence, till we find
A feeling and congenial mind
With which 'tis safe to mix.

Be zealous to extinguish pride,
Let reason be thy constant guide,
And modest worth thy care:

May rectitude thy life adorn,
Nor be thou torn by vice's thorn,
Nor caught in folly's snare.

Behold the trifler's wanton smile
Conceals a heart intent on guile,
With base deception fraught;

Avoid the dangers which await
This transient and uncertain state,
Where oft the weak are caught.

Be firm, not obstinately just,

Declare on what and whom you trust,

DIALOGUE XII.

FRIDAY.

ON ADVERSITY AND PROSPERITY.

Mentoria.

As the life of man, my dear Lady Mary, consists of a train of events which tend either to increase or destroy his happiness,-for the present I shall engage your attention with an inquiry into the cause and consequence of their operations. Adversity and Prosperity are considered as the two extremes of good and evil incident to human nature: and the enjoyments or sufferings which are dispensed in our present probationary state, are nothing more than a commixture of these separate ingredients, which are pleasing or afflictive according to the proportion with which they are blended.

Lady

Lady Mary. It is very happy for those who receive great portion of pleasure, as pain renders persons very miserable. Do you not, my dear Mentoria, rejoice that I have so little?

Ment. Joy and sorrow constantly attend on our pursuits, but are uncertain in the periods of their visitations. The Royal Psalmist has declared, that it was good for him that he was afflicted; and Solomon has also borne his testimony, that it was better to go to the house of mourning than of feasting; as scenes of jollity and dissipation tend to extinguish the soft emotions of compassion as much as spectacles of affliction conduce to the expansion of the human heart.

Lady Louisa. Whenever I behold an object in distress, I become a partaker in his sufferings, and experience unspeakable satisfaction if I can remove or mitigate the unhappy cause.

Ment. The modes of affliction are so various, and proceed often from such latent causes, it is difficult to trace them to their source; or are so complicated, it is frequently not in our power to administer comfort. As affliction, which is a mental medicine, differs, like corporeal remedies in the course of operation, it increases the susceptibility of a good mind, and renders a bad

a bad one more obdurate: it also excites in the well-disposed commiseration for the sufferings of others; but in the evil mind creates envy, malice, and a train of unchristian vir

tues.

Lady L. From the picture you have drawn of adversity, I am of opinion few wish to be ruled by its rigid laws.

Ment. Sorrow may be styled the school of virtue, as it counteracts the pernicious effects of prosperity, by awakening the human understanding from the stupor of lethargic indifference, and by suggesting how transitory our present enjoyments are, and scarcely worthy of pursuit or regret.

Lady M. There are some 'persons who are perpetually bewailing their hard fate and peculiay ill luck: you cannot imagine how much I wish to comfort them, by endeavouring to persuade them many are equally unfortu

-nate.

Ment. The kind of grief which is produced by an habit of complaining is incorrigible, and generally takes its rise from some slight or unjustifiable cause; such as inferiority of fortune to those with whom we are connected; deprivation of some benefit unessential to our hap

piness;