or his multitude of motionless ftatues, do his country in the day of battle? What could fuch a general do, but, in his trepidation and inexperience, have recourse to fome inferior commander, for direction in difficulties, to which he was not himself equal? Thus, your Patrician general, would, in fact, have a general over him; fo that, the acting commander would ftill be a Plebeian. So true is this, my countrymen, that I have, myfelf, known thofe, who have been chofen confuls, begin, then, to read the hiftory of their own country, of which, till that time, they were totally ignorant: that is, they first obtained the employment; and, then, bethought themselves of the qualifications neceffary for the proper discharge of it.

I fubmit to your judgment, Romans, on which fide the advantage lies, when a comparison is made between Patrician haughtiness, and Plebeian experience. The very actions, which they have only read, I have partly feen, and partly myfelf atchieved. What they know by reading, I know by action. They are pleased to flight my mean birth: I defpise their mean characters. Want of birth and fortune, is the objection against me: want of perfonal worth, against them. But are not all men of the fame fpecies? What can make a difference between one man and another, but the endowments of the mind? For my part, I fhall always look upon the braveft man as the nobleft man. Suppose it were enquired of the fathers of fuch Patricians as Albinus and Beftia, whether, if they had their choice, they would defire fons of their character, or of mine: what would they answer, but that they fhould with the worthiest to be their fons? If the Patricians have reason to defpife me, let them, likewife, defpife their ancestors, whofe nobility was the fruit

of

;

of their virtue. Do they envy the honours bestowed upon me? Let them envy, likewife, my labours, my abstinence, and the dangers I have undergone for my country, by which I have acquired them. But thofe worthless men, lead fuch a life of inactivity, as if they defpifed any honours you can beftow whilft they afpire to honours, as if they had deserved them by the most induftrious virtue. They lay claim to the rewards of activity, for their having enjoyed the pleasures of luxury. Yet none can be more lavifh, than they are, in praife of their ancestors. And they imagine they honour themfelves, by celebrating their forefathers. Whereas, they do the very contrary. For, as much as their ancestors were diftinguished for their virtues, fo much are they difgraced by their vices.

OBSERVE, now, my countrymen, the injustice of the Patricians. They arrogate to themselves, honours, on account of the exploits done by their forefathers; whilft they will not allow me the due praise, for performing the very fame fort of actions, in my own perfon. He has no ftatues, they cry, of his family. He can trace no venerable line of ancestors.-What then! Is it matter of more praise to disgrace one's illuftrious ancestors than to become illuftrious by one's own good behaviour? What if I can fhew no ftatues of my family? I can fhew the ftandards, the armour, and the trappings, which I have myself taken from the vanquished: I can fhew the fears of those wounds, which I have received by facing the enemies of my country. These are my ftatues. These are the honours I boast of. Not left me by inheritance, as theirs: but earned by toil, by abftinence, by valour; amidst clouds of duft, and feas of blood: fcenes of -action, where thofe effeminate Patricians, who endeavour by indirect means to depreciate me in your esteem, have never dared to shew their faces.

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III.

THE PULPIT ORATOR.

HE Dean we heard the other day, is an ora tor. He has fo much regard to his congregation, that he commits to memory, what he has to fay to them. To a propriety of fpeech, which might pafs the criticism of Longinus, he adds an action, which would have been approved by Demofthenes.

-This art he uses with the most exact and honest skill. He never attempts your paffions, till he has convinced your reafon; nor does he pretend to show the beauty of holiness, till he has made you fenfible of its importance. All the objections he can form, are laid open, and difperfed, before he ufes the leaft vehemence in his action. But, when he thinks he has your head, he very foon wins your heart.

DUTIES OF THE YOUNG.-PART OF A SERMON.

TITUS . 6.

Young men, likewife, exhort to be fober-minded.

OBRIETY of mind, is one of thofe virtues, which the present condition of human life ftrongly inculcates. The uncertainty of its enjoyments, checks prefumption; the multiplicity of its dangers,

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demands

PART Ì. demands perpetual caution. Moderation, vigilance, and felf-government, are duties incumbent on all; but especially on such as are beginning the journey of life. To them, therefore, the admonition in the text, is, with great propriety, directed; though there is reason to fear, that, by them, it is in hazard of being leaft regarded. Experience enforces the admonition on the most giddy, after they have advanced in years: but the whole ftate of youthful views and paffions, is adverfe to fobriety of mind. The fcenes which prefent themfelves, at our entering upon the world, are commonly flattering. Whatever they be in themfelves, the lively fpirits of the young gild every opening profpect. The field of hope appears to ftretch wide before them. Pleafure feems to put forth its bloffoms on every fide. Impelled by defire, forward they rufh with inconfiderate ardour: prompt to decide, and to choose; averfe to hefitate, or to enquire; credulous, because untaught by experience; rafh, because unacquainted with danger; headstrong, because unfubdued by difappointment. Hence arife the perils, of which it is my design at present to warn them. I fhall take fobriety of mind, in its most comprehensive sense, as including the whole of that difcipline, which religion and virtue prefcribe to youth. Though the words of the text are directly addreffed to young men, yet, as the fame admonition is given in a preceding verse to the other fex, the inftructions which arife from the text, are to be confidered as common to both. I intend, firft, to fhow them the importance of beginning early to give ferious attention to their conduct; and, next, to point out thofe virtues which they ought chiefly to cultivate.

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As foon as you are capable of reflection, you must perceive, that there is a right and a wrong, in human actions. You see, that those who are born with the fame advantages of fortune, are not all equally profperous in the courfe of life. While fome of them, by wife and steady conduct, attain diftinction in the world, and pafs their days with comfort and honour; others, of the fame rank, by mean and vicious behaviour, forfeit the advantages of their birth, involve themselves in much mifery, and end in being a difgrace to their friends, and a burden on fociety. Early, then, you may learn, that it is not on the external condition in which you find yourselves placed, but on the part which you are to act, that your welfare or unhappiness, your honour or infamy, depend. Now, when beginning to act that part, what can be of greater moment, than to regulate your plan of conduct with the most serious attention, before you have yet committed any fatal or irretrievable errors? If, inftead of exerting reflection for this valuable purpose, you deliver yourfelves up, at fo critical a time, to floth and pleasure; if you refuse to liften to any counfellor but humour, or to attend to any purfuit except that of amusement; if you allow yourselves to float loofe and carelefs on the tide of life, ready to receive any direction which the current of fashion may chance to give you; what can you expect to follow from fuch beginnings? While fo many around you are undergoing the fad confequences of a like indifcretion, for what reafon shall not those consequences extend to you? Shall you only attain fuccefs without that preparation, and efcape dangers without that precaution, which is required of others? Shall happiness grow up to you, of its own accord, and folicit your acceptance, when, to the reft of mankind, it is the fruit of long G2 cultivation,