The tongue, that knew no friend to bid farewell,
Might once the nobleft fentiments express!
The wretched head, that unfupported fell,
Might once be turn'd to ftories of diftrefs!

Some base deceiver, practis'd' to betray,

Might win thy easy faith, destroy thy fame; Then caft thee, like a loathfome weed away, The fport of fortune, and the child of fhame!

Poor wanderer! perhaps thou couldst not find One generous hand the flender gift to spare! Infatiate avarice the foul confin'd,

Or timid prudence difbeliev'd thy prayer.

Whate'er thy lot has been, unhappy shade!
From fin, at least, and forrow, thou art free;
Thy debt to virtue it has fully paid,
And wounded pity pays her debt to thee.

ANECDOTE.

A Commotion was flirred up by fome COMMON

ERS, in Ireland, againft engroffing their

grounds, when King James I. in a hunting journey happened to pass that way, and turning fhort at the corner of a common, happened to come near a countryman fitting by the heels in the ftocks, who cried HOSANNAH! to his Majefty; which invited

the King to ask the reafon of his restraint. One of his attendants faid, "It is for flealing geefe from the common." The fellow replied, "I befeech your Majefty, who is the greater thief, I, for ftealing geefe from the common; or his worship, for stealing the common from the geefe?" The King immediately ordered the witty fellow to be released, and the common to be restored to the poor.

Religious and Moral Reflections On the Practice of Gaming.

M

ANY young gentlemen have been there bubled and cheated of large fums of money, which were given them by their parents to fupport them honourably in their ftations. In fuch fort of shops young ladies are tempted to fquander away too large a fhare of their yearly allowance, if not of the provision their parents have made for their whole lives. It is a fatal fnare to both fexes: if they win they are allured ftill onward, while, according to their language, luck runs on their fide: if they lose they are tempted to another caft of the die, and enticed on ftill to fresh games by a delufive hope, that fortune will turn, and they fhall recover all that they have loft. In the midft

of

of these fcenes their paffions rife fhamefully, a greedy defire of gain makes them warm and eager, and new loffes plunge them fometimes into vexation and fury, till the foul is quite beaten off from its guard, and virtue and reason have no manner of command over them.

Mr. Neal, in his Reformation Sermon, has taken occafion not only to inform us, that "Merchants and tradefmen mix themselves "at these tables with men of desperate fortunes, and throw the dice for their eftates." But in a very decent and soft manner of addrefs, has enquired, "Whether public gaming in virtuous ladies is not a little out of character. "Whether it does not draw them into mixed company, and give them an "air of boldness, which is perfectly inconfiftent with that modefty, which is the ornament of the fair fex? Whether it does not engage them in an habit of idleness, and of keeping ill hours? Whether their paffions are not fometimes difordered, and whether the loffes they fuftain, have not a tendency to breed ill blood in their families, and between their nearest relations?" It has been often obferved, that gaming in a lady has ufually been attended with the lofs of reputation, and fometimes of that which is ftill more valuable, her virtue and honour.

Now, if these be the difmal and frequent confequences of the gaming-table, the lofs of a little money is one of the least injuries you fuftain by it. But what if you should still come off gainers! Is this the way God has taught or allowed us to procure the necessary comforts of life? It this a fort of labour or traffick on which you can afk the bleffing of heaven? Can you lift up your face to God, and pray that he would fucceed the caft of the die? the drawing of the lot, or the dealing out of the cards, fo as to increase your gain, while it is the very fenfe and language of the prayer, that your neighbour may fuftain fo much lofs. This is a fad and guilty circumftance which belongs to gaming, that one can gain nothing but what another lofes; and confequently we cannot afk a bleffing upon ourselves, but at the fame time pray for a blaft upon our neighbour.

Will you hope to excufe it by faying, that my neighbour confents to this blaft or lofs by entering into the game, and there is no injury where there

is confent?

I answer, that though he confents to lofe conditionally and upon a venturous hope of gain, yet he is not willing to fuftain the lofs abfolutely; but when either chance, or his neighbour's fkill in the game has determined againft him, then he is con

ftrained

ftrained to lose, and does it unwillingly; so that he ftill fuftains it as a lofs, or misfortune, or evil. Now, if you afk a bleffing from heaven on this way of your getting money, you afk rather abfolutely that your neighbour may sustain a loss, without any regard to the condition of his hope of gain. Your wifh and prayer is directly that you may get, and he may lofe: you cannot wifh this good to yourself but you wish the contrary evil to him: and therefore I think gaming for gain cannot be confiftent with the laws of Chrift, which certainly forbid us to wish evil to our neighbour.

And if you cannot fo much as in thought ask God's bleffing on this, as you certainly may on Such recreations as have an evident tendency innocently to exercife the body and relax the mind, it seems your confcience fecretly condemns it, and there is an additional proof of its being evil to you.

All the jufteft writers of morality, and the best cafuifts, have generally, if not univerfally, determined against thefe methods of gain. Whatfoever game may be indulged as lawful, it is ftill as a recreation, and not as a calling or bufinefs of life: and therefore no larger fums ought to be rifqued or ventured in this manner, than what may be lawfully laid out by any perfons for their prefent recreation, according to their different circumftances in the world.

Befides