Yet even on this her load Misfortune flings, To press the weary minutes' flagging wings; New sorrow rises as the day returns, A sister sickens, or a daughter mourns; Now kindred Merit fills the sable bier, Now lacerated Friendship claims a tear; Year chases year, decay pursues decay, Still drops some joy from withering life away; New forms arise, and different views engage, Superfluous lags the veteran on the stage, Till pitying Nature signs the last release, And bids afflicted worth retire to peace.

But few there are whom hours like these await,
Who set unclouded in the gulfs of Fate.
From Lydia's monarch should the search descend,
By Solon caution'd to regard his end,

In life's last scene what prodigies surprise,
Fears of the brave, and follies of the wise:
From Marlborough's eyes the streams of dotage

flow,

And Swift expires a driveller and a show!

The teeming mother, anxious for her race, Begs for each birth the fortune of a face; Yet Vane could tell what ills from beauty spring; And Sedley cursed the form that pleased a king. Ye nymphs of rosy lips and radiant eyes, Whom Pleasure keeps too busy to be wise; Whom joys with soft varieties invite, By day the frolic, and the dance by night; Who frown with vanity, who smile with art, And ask the latest fashion of the heart;

What care, what rules, your heedless charms shall

save,

rival patters, and the lover mines: distant voice neglected Virtue calls, heard and less, the faint remonstrance falls; I with contempt, she quits the slippery reign, Pride and Prudence take her seat in vain. owd at once, where none the pass defend, harmless freedom, and the private friend; guardians yield, by force superior plied: nterest, Prudence; and to Flattery, Pride Beauty falls betray'd, despised, distress'd. hissing Infamy proclaims the rest.

here then shall Hope and Fear their objects find?

dull suspense corrupt the stagnant mind? helpless man, in ignorance sedate, darkling down the torrent of his fate?

no dislike alarm, no wishes rise,

eries invoke the mercies of the skies? rer, cease; petitions yet remain

ch Heaven may hear, nor deem Religion vain. raise for good the supplicating voice, leave to Heaven the measure and the choice. in His power whose eyes discern afar secret ambush of a specious prayer, ore His aid, in His decisions rest, re, whate'er He gives, He gives the best. when the sense of sacred presence fires, strong devotion to the skies aspires, forth thy fervors for a healthful mind, lient passions, and a will resign'd; love, which scarce collective man can fill; patience, sovereign o'er transmuted ill; faith, that, panting for a happier seat, ts death kind Nature's signal of retreat.

HNSON TO LORD CHESTERFIELD EVEN years, my Lord, have now passed since

I waited at your outward rooms or was resed from your door; during which time I have n pushing on my work through difficulties of ch it is useless to complain, and have brought at last, to the verge of publication, without one of assistance, one word of encouragement, or smile of favor. Such treatment I did not ext, for I never had a Patron before. Is not a ron, my Lord, one who looks on a man strugng for life in the water, and when he has reached und encumbers him with help? The notice ch you have been pleased to take of my labors, it been early, had been kind; but it has been ayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; I am solitary, and cannot impart it; till I am wn, and do not want it. I hope it is no very ical asperity not to confess obligations where benefit has been received, or to be unwilling t the Public should consider me as owing that a Patron which Providence has enabled me to for myself. Having carried on my work thus with so little obligation to any favorer of learnI shall not be disappointed though I should clude it, if less be possible, with less; for I e been long waking from that dream of hope which I once boasted myself with so much exulon, my Lord, your Lordship's most humble, most dient servant, Sam. Johnson.

SIONS: An allowance made to anyone witht an equivalent. In England it is generally ood to mean pay given to a state hireling eason to his country.-LEXCOGRAPHER: A of dictionaries, a harmless drudge.-GRUB= The name of a street in London much ed by writers of small histories, dictionaries, mporary poems, whence any mean producer d Grub-Street.-FAVORITE: One chosen as a nion by a superior; a mean wretch whose business is by any means to please.-Excise: eful tax levied upon commodities, and adnot by the common judges of property, etches hired by those to whom excise is paid.

E dined at an excellent inn at Chapelhouse, where Dr. Johnson expatiated on the felif England in its taverns and inns, and trid over the French for not having, in any tion, the tavern life. "There is no private 'said he, "in which people can enjoy themso well as at a capital tavern. Let there be o great plenty of good things, ever so much eur, ever so much elegance, ever so much that everybody should be easy, in the nature ngs it cannot be; there must always be some e of care and anxiety. The master of the is anxious to entertain his guests; the guests nxious to be agreeable to him: and no man very impudent dog indeed can as freely comwhat is in another's house as if it were his

more good things you call for, the welcomer are. No servants will attend you with the rity which waiters do who are excited with prospect of an immediate reward in proporas they please. No, sir; there is nothing which yet been contrived by man by which so much piness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.

A PRIVATE PRAYER BY DR.

JOHNSON

GOD, giver and preserver of all life, by whose power I was created, and by whose provie I am sustained, look down upon me with teness and mercy; grant that I may not have been ted to be finally destroyed; that I may not be erved to add wickedness to wickedness.

Lord, let me not sink into total depravity: down upon me, and rescue me at last from captivity of sin.

Imighty and most merciful Father, who has inued my life from year to year, grant that by er life I may become less desirous of sinful sures, and more careful of eternal happiness. et not my years be multiplied to increase my t; but as my age advances, let me become more in my thoughts, more regular in my desires, more obedient to thy laws.

orgive, O merciful Lord, whatever I have è contrary to thy laws. Give me such a sense ny wickedness as may produce true contrition effectual repentance: so that when I shall be ed into another state, I may be received among sinners to whom sorrow and reformation have ined pardon, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.