A Wish.

(Said to be written by JAMES OSBOURN, a blind Sailor in South Shield
WHILST hostile armies rend the troubl❜d skies,
And groans and shouts in mix'd confusion rise:
Whilst, rob'd in terrors, with gigantic stride,
Death marches o'er the blood-soak'd plain;
And ghastly smiles to view the slain,
The dire effect of avarice and pride :-

Whilst clashing arms and martial trumpets sound,
And mangl❜d limbs lie scatter'd o'er the ground:
Whilst cannons roar, and balls with vengeful ire
O'erturn whate'er their force impede,
The warrior and his fiery steed,

And ghosts by thousands from the field retire :-
Whilst dubious fate the equal balance guides,
And jilting hope alone the day decides,
Let me, in some small village, distant far
From noise and strife, and violence,
In peace and rural innocence,

There let me live, secure from cruel war.
Let the ambitious fight for fame, as boys
For painted feathers, or for tinsel'd toys;
I pity and despise the sons of pride,

Who all their little powers strain,
Like emmets struggling for a grain,
To snatch a bubble floating on the tide.
By me unenvied, may the grov❜ling crowd
Grope wealth and fame, while in sweet solitude,
Beneath some spreading oak or stately pine,
Where gently rolls a murm'ring stream,
I there indulge my fav'rite theme,
Contemplate on his works, the GREAT DIVINE.
Happy in such a state, supremely blest,
I'd ask no more of all that earth's possess'd,
But view the world with cool reflection's eye:
Unmov'd at its perplexing wiles,

Its frowns, or more pernicious smiles;
And only live to learn the way to die.

NOTES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

ECONOMY the source of Charity-On a late Thunder StormRiches-and, an Address to a new married pair, are received.

HADDINGTON: Printed and Published by G. MILLER & Ses

VIRTUE TRIUMPHANT.

BEING A CONCLUSION TO THE

HISTORY OF AN IRISH FAMILY:

CONTAINING

In ABSTRACT on the subject of EDUCATION, well suited to the circumstances of the LOWER ORDERS of society; but, in a due attention to which, the interests of the HIGHER ORDERS are intimately connected.

THE friends assembled, at the time and place appointed, xulting in all they had heard, and all they saw, of HAMJEL and GEORGE; but language vainly labours in seekng to express the delicious feelings with which the youths eceived those testimonies of fond approbation. The selflenials or exertions they had endured, as scholars or apprentices, seemed immeasurably overpaid; nor could the nost unbounded gratification of appetite or caprice confer one emotion so exquisitely pleasurable, as the pure, ardent, and honorably triumphant consciousness of deserving applause from those dear and estimable relatives.

"My dear nephews," said ROGER, "your aspect beams with the most genuine satisfaction; and your fund of enjoyment can never be exhausted, while you pursue the same lauVOL. II.

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dable

dable conduct. Young though you be, you have largely ex perienced the blessings attendant on a religious education Practical piety has produced integrity, temperance, pru dence, and industry, without diminishing the true and solid joys peculiar to your age. You have resisted entice ments, you have submitted to inconveniencies and labour yet you were never destitute of cheerfulness and content ment; and you must look back on your toils with unal loyed self-complacency. In looking forward the prospect is bright and serene, whether regarding life or death."

"We are much beholden to your maxim," returned HAMMEL. "When tempted to join our acquaintances in a frolic of dubious propriety, we endeavoured to keep in mind how often you repeated to us,-that the fleeting de ceitful gaiety of the licentious and the idle, like the delirium of a fever, springs from a distempered mind; but the sacrifice of inclination to duty, costs only temporary pain, whilst the beneficial consequences are interminable and, oh! how clearly are those truths demonstrated to us at this moment, when we compare our own delightful sen sations with the self-inflicted wretchedness of NÅD R."

GEORGE concurred in this sentiment; and both the bro thers, recollecting how soon they must quit their beloved home, entreated LEWIS to explain Mr. B.'s request, and to enable them to comply with it. LEWIS, after recapitulating the particulars, concluded, by saying, if his abilities were equal to the task, he would gladly oblige Mr. B. and with alacrity undertake any labour in behalf of infancy; but a distressing apprehension of injuring the cause he desired to serve, made him shrink from an attempt, in which the inadequacy of his powers might frustrate their anxious aim.

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"Be not dismayed, my too diffident LEWIS," said TER ENCE; you are not called upon to invent ingenious novel ties: you have but to select from well-known opinions and practices, such as accord with plain sense and experience; or to point out the fallacy of absurd or pernicious prejudi ces that have misled the unreflecting or ignorant.'

"Here we are all ready to assist you," said ROGER "and we are none of us novices in the treatment of chil dren. Let HAMMEL and GEOP GE take down our conver

sation

tion in shorthand; and as you, dear LEWIS, have abunant leisure, and the pen of a ready writer, we shall beg ou to arrange our desultory observations to-morrow mornIn the evening, I hope, you will all come to my ouse, and we shall read over the manuscript."

g.

“And all help me to revise it," said LEWIS.

Here a little girl entered with a letter, which she said vas certainly worth much money. The paper was like ilk, and the folds were fixed by the finest thing she had ever seen, and yet she got it at the post-office without paying for it. The letter was from Lady M. addressed to SUSAN, and franked by the Earl; and the beautiful ornament so admired by the child, was a seal with the impression of his lordship's coat-of-arms. "This letter is indeed worth gold," said SUSAN, giving it to LEWIS, beside whom she was seated. "The following extract ought to be attentively studied by all who are entrusted with the care of children: Though I enclose a letter from your daughter, I think it due to her exemplary parents to let them know, she obtained her new situation by the most convincing proofs of stedfast rectitude. When my CAROLINE had her arm dislocated, I happened to be at Cheltenham, and so ill as to preclude the possibility of travelling homewards. As the joint was immediately returned to its place,, the superintendant in our nursery wished to take upon herself to complete the cure, but THERESA insisted for surgical aid; and she besought the doctor, to inform my lord, as she would neither alarm me, nor break the solemn promise made to her mother at parting, to give instantaneous notice in case any misfortune befel her charge. The lively CAROLINE in leaping upon her nurse's knee, had fallen with her arm bent backwards, and THERESA might have dreaded our displeasure. Immediately on our return, HUDSON married; and my lord and I, rejoiced at the opportunity, for appointing as her successor the excellent young woman, whose inviolable principles rose superior to all sinister considerations.""

"Thank God! thank God!" said TERENCE, "that our girl has acted worthily, and that her employers were capable of appreciating her motives of action; but even if her lord and lady had been insensible to her good inten

Ss 2

tions

tions, her own conscience would have yielded an abundant reward, and the knowledge of her behaviour would have gladdened my heart."

"You may indeed take comfort in your daughter," said SUSAN; "for to you alone is she indebted for the noble independance of spirit, which prefers the secret whispers of self-approving innocence, to all interested views. There are ladies who would have discharged her directly, without enquiring how the accident happened; and, being so short a time in the family, she hazarded every thing by reveal ing it."

"As much as I love TERENCE," said DICK, "in my mind you are as fit to bring up your damsels as he at least.”

"I must undeceive you," returned SUSAN, "and give TERENCE the praise so justly due. Over-anxiety to make my first-born a pattern of goodness, rendered me impatient of her faults, and I spoke of quickening her sense of right and wrong by terror of the rod. TERENCE, with a sad solemnity in his countenance, said to me: Let me beseech you to consider, that fear is a passion at variance with moral stability, and too overwhelming for the indistinct and feeble perceptions of good or evil in minds of more advanced growth than this infant's. Beware of opposing the most irresistible feeling in human nature, to the principles of veracity in our child. Under the slavish influence of terrors, she will, in self-defence, learn to deceive before she has any precise idea of duty, or any object but to escape suffering. Believe me, it is not the bodily an guish I wish to spare, though, even in that light, we ought to be very scrupulous in using our power; but you, my dear SUSAN, must discern, it would be barbarous to torture her at present, and by that means to ingraft falsehood and cunning on her disposition through life.' I followed my husband's advice, and every hour, I see increasing cause to be thankful for it."

"Every body can't make use of good advice," said DICK; "so you shan't let yourself down, SUSAN."

"If Su

"Very well observed, DICK," said ROGER. SAN had been self-willed, and made THERESA afraid of telling when any disaster occured, she would not have had courage to risk her place by honest dealing. It really is

not