Who there will court thy friendship, with what views,
And, artlefs as thou art, whom thou wilt choose;
Though much depends on what thy choice fhall be,
Is all chance-medley, and unknown to me.-
Can't thou, the tear just trembling on thy lids,
And while the dreadful rifque foreseen forbids;
Free, too, and under no conftraining force,
Unless the fway of cuftom warp thy courfe;

Lay fuch a stake upon the lofing fide,
Merely to gratify fo blind a guide?

Thou can't not! Nature, pulling at thine heart,
Condemns th' unfatherly, th' imprudent part.
Thou would'st not, deaf to Nature's tend'reft plea,
Turn him adrift upon a rolling fea,

Nor fay, Go thither, conscious that there lay
A brood of afps, or quickfands in his way;

Then, only govern'd by the felf-fame rule
Of natʼral pity, fend him not to school.
No-guard him better. Is he not thine own,
Thyself in miniature, thy flesh, thy bone?

And hop'st thou not ('tis ev'ry father's hope)

That, fince thy strength must with thy years' elope,

And thou wilt need fome comfort to affuage

Health's laft farewell, a ftaff of thine old age, That then, in recompenfe of all thy cares, Thy child shall show refpect to thy gray hairs, Befriend thee, of all other friends bereft, And give thy life its only cordial left? Aware then how much danger intervenes, To compass that good end, forecast the means. His heart, now paffive, yields to thy command Secure it thine, its key is in thine hand. If thou desert thy charge, and throw it wide, Nor heed what guests there enter and abide, Complain not if attachments lewd and bafe Supplant thee in it, and ufurp thy place. But, if thou guard its facred chambers fure From vicious inmates and delights impure, Either his gratitude shall hold him fast, And keep him warm and filial to the laft;

Or, if he prove unkind (as who can say
But, being man, and therefore frail, he may ?)
One comfort yet fhall cheer thine aged heart-
Howe'er he flight thee, thou haft done thy part.

Oh barb'rous! would't thou with a Gothic hand Pull down the fchools-what!-all the fchools i' th'

land;

Or throw them up to liv'ry-nags and grooms,
Or turn them into fhops and auction rooms?

A captious queftion, fir, (and your's is one)
Deferves an answer fimilar, or none.

Would't thou, poffeffor of a flock, employ
(Appriz'd that he is fuch) a careless boy,
And feed him well, and give him handsome pay,

Merely to fleep, and let them run aftray?
Survey our schools and colleges, and fee
A fight not much unlike my fimile.
From education, as the leading cause,

The public character its colour draws;

J

Thence the prevailing manners take their cast,
Extravagant or fober, loose or chaste.

And, though I would not advertise them yet,
Nor write on each-This Building to be Let,
Unless the world were all prepar'd t' embrace
A plan well worthy to fupply their place;
Yet, backward as they are, and long have been,
To cultivate and keep the MORALS clean,
(Forgive the crime) I wish them, I confess,
Or better manag'd, or encourag'd lefs.

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