Unufual progrefs in a fummer's night.

He call'd him home, with great applaufe difinifs'd
By his glad tutors-gave him good advice-

Blefs'd him, and hade him profper, With warm heart
He drew his purfe-ftrings, and the utmost doit

Pour'd in the youngster's palm.

Go to the feat of learning, boy.

Away, he cries,

Be good,

Be wife, be frugal, for 'tis all all I can.'
I will,' faid Toby, as he bang'd the door,
And wink'd, and fnap'd his finger, Sir, I will,'
So joyful he to Alma Mater went
A fturdy fresh-man, See him juft arriv'd,
Receiv'd, matriculated, and refolv'd

6

To drown his freshness in a pipe of port,

Quick, Mr. Vintner, twenty dozen more ;

• Some claret too. Here's to our friends at home,

There let 'em doze. Be it our nobler aim

To live-where ftands the bottle?

Hies the gay fpark for futile purposes,

Then to town

And deeds my bafhful mufe difdains to name,
From town to college, till a fresh supply
Sends him again from college up to town.
The tedious interval the mace and cue,
The tennis-court and racket, the flow lounge
From ftreet to ftreet, the badger-hunt, the race,
The raffle, the excurfion and the dance,
Ices and foups, dice, and the bet at whist,
Serve well enough to fill. Grievous accounts
The weekly post to the vex'd parent brings
Of college impofitions, heavy dues,
Demands enormous, which the wicked fon
Declares he does his utmost to prevent.

So, blaming with good caufe the vaft expence,
Bill after bill he fends, and pens the draught
Till the full ink-horn fails. With grateful heart
Toby receives, fhort leave of absence begs,
Obtains it by a lie, gallops away,

And no one knows what charming things are done,
Till the gull'd boy returns without his penee,
And prates of deeds unworthy of a brute.
Vile deeds, but fuch as in these polish'd days
None blames or hides.

So Toby fares, nor heeds,
Till terms are wafted, and the proud degree,

Soon purchas'd, comes his learned toils to crown.

He fwears, and fwears he knows not what, nor cares,
Becomes a perjur'd graduate, and thinks foon
To be a candidate for orders. Ah!

Vain was the hope. Tho' many a wolf as fell
Deceive the fhepherd and devour the flock,
Thou none fhalt injure. On a luckless day,
Withdrawn to taste the pleasures of the town,
Heated with wine, a vehement difpute
With a detefted rival shook the roof:

He pen'd a challenge, fent it, fought, and fell.

ADRIANO.

BOOK

BOOK III.

DIDACTIC PIECES.

I

CHA P. I.

ON MODESTY.

KNOW no two words that have been more abused by

the different and wrong interpretations which are put upon them, than these two, Modefty and Affurance. To fay, such a one is a modeft man, fometimes indeed paffes for a good character; but at prefent is very often used to fignify a fheepish awkward fellow, who has neither good breeding, politenefs, nor any knowledge of the world.

AGAIN, A man of affurance, though at firft is only denoted a perfon of a free and open carriage, is now very ufually applied to a profligate wretch, who can break through all the rules of decency and morality without a blush.

I SHALL endeavour therefore in this effay to restore these words to their true meaning, to prevent the idea of Modesty from being confounded with that of Sheepifhnefs, and to hinder Impudnce from paffing for Assurance.

IF I was put to define Modefty, I would call it, The reflection of an ingenuous mind, either when a man has committed an action for which he cenfures himself, or fancies that he is expofed to the cenfure of others,

For this reafon a man truly modeft is as much so when he is alone as in company, and as subject to a blush in his closet, as when the eyes of multitudes are upon him.

I Do not remember to have met with any inftance of modesty with which I am fo well pleased, as that celebrated one of the young Prince, whose father, being a tributary king to the Romans, had feveral complaints laid against him be fore the fenate, as a tyrant and oppreffor of his fubjects. The Prince went to Rome to defend his father, but coming into the fenate, and hearing a multitude of crimes proved upon him, was fo oppreffed when it came to his turn to Ipeak, that he was unable to utter a word. The ftory tells us, that the fathers were more moved at this inftance of modefty and ingenuity, than they could have been by the moft pathetic oration; and, in fhort, pardoned the guilty father for this early promife of virtue in the fon.

I TAKE Affurance to be, The faculty of poffeffing a man's felf, or of faying and doing indifferent things without any uneafinefs or emotion in the mind. That which generally gives a man affurance, is a moderate knowledge of the world, but above all, a mind fixed and determined in itself to do nothing against the rules honour and decency. An open and affured behaviour is the natural confequence of fuch a refolution. A man thus armed, if his words or actions are at any time misinterpréted, retires within himself, and from a consciousness of his own integrity, affumes force enough to defpife the little cenfures of ignorance or malice.

EVERY one ought to cherish and encourage in himfelf the modesty and affurance I have here mentioned.

A MAN without affurance is liable to be made uneafy by the folly or ill nature of every one he converfes with. A man without modefty is loft to all fenfe ofhonour and virtue.

It is more than probable, that the Prince above mentioned poffeffed both thefe qualifications in a very eminent degree. Without affurance he would never have undertaken to fpeak before the most auguft affembly in the world; without modefty he would have pleaded the caufe he had taken upon him, though it had appeared ever fo fcandalous.

FROM what has been faid, it is plain, that modefty and affurance are both amiable, and may very well meet in the fame perfon. When they are thus mixed and blended together, they compofe what we endeavour to exprefs when we Lay a modeft affurance; by which we underfland the just mean between bashfulness, and impudence.

I SHALL Conclude with obferving, that as the fame man may be both modeft and affured, fo it is alfo poffible for the same person to be both impudent and bashful.

We have frequent inftances of this odd kind of mixture in people of depraved minds and mean education; who though they are not able to meet a man's eyes, or pronounce a fentence without confufion, can voluntarily commit the greateft villainies, or moft indecent actions.

SUCH a perfon feems to have made a refolution to do ill even in fpite of himself, and in defiance of all thofe checks and reftraints his temper and complexion feem to have laid in his way.

UPON the whole, I would endeavour to establish this maxim, That the practice of virtue is the moft proper me thod to give a man a becoming affurance in his words and

E 4

actions.