gether fome of thofe Leffons which they will teach us if we carefully watch them; not that I think you want many Hints for your Improvement.

1. Their being confined in a Cage, may put us in Mind of the general Confinement of our Natures, which are ever aiming at fomething which now is, and always will be (whilft we are in this World, and till we take our Flight hence) out of our Reach; and our Confinement is what we cannot (by fluttering about ever fo much) get free from, till we are released from the Prifon of the Body.

2. From their Industry in making their Nefts, we may alfo learn a Leffon of Diligence, to endeavour to provide for ourselves the proper Neceffaries for our Well-being and Comfort, and the Indulgence of innocent Pleafures; it likewife points out how wifely Providence has provided them with Instinct, instead of Reason and Reflection in Man.

3. When you obferve them alternatively to pull and destroy their own Works, and again and again to arrange them, and can hardly fix them to their Minds; in this, I think, they plainly exemplify to us that Ficklenefs in our Natures, which is fo apparent, that we fcarcely know how ever to please ourselves; and ferves alfo as a Leffon of Contentment at our feveral Allotments.

4. When you hear them fing in the Morning, let then put you in Mind how early we ought to be in our Praife to our Creator; and how thankfully we (with them) ought to be for every renewed Day, and efpecially after any

par

particular Deliverance from Danger, or great Illness.

They joyfully jump and fing around their Meat when given them; and thereby hint to us, that all our. Provifions fhould be received with Thankfulness and Joy, that is, that we should fay Grace before Meat.-N. B. They do not do fo afterwards; which fhews, that Satiety is too apt to make us forget the Donor's Hand.

5. If you watch them when they go to Rooft, you will hear them fing a kind of Requiem to themselves; which may ferve to put you in Mind, how eafily and refignedly you may go to your Bed, when the Duties of the Day, properly performed, are over.

6. When there are young ones, you will often fee the Hen fed by the Cock (while fhe as it were lays in); in which is obfervable, how much Affection and Friendship will lead us to do for each other; especially that Affection, Friendship, and Complaifance, which ought to fubfift in the married State.

7. It is very inftructive and amusing, to fee how tenderly the Cock and Hen feed the young ones by Turns, and how anxious they feem for their Welfare; which is a Leffon to Parents in general, to be careful and anxious for the Welfare of their Children; a Duty this, which I know no-where better performed than by yours.

8. As the young ones begin to be fledged, they alfo are Monitors to us in this Respect, that we fhould always hope, that he who clothes thefe little Birds, will never leave thofe deftitute O

for

for whose Amusement they were fent, for whose Sake they were created.

9. Obferve the Hen whilft fhe feeds them, and you will fee the utmoft Equality, in diftributing to them the Focd by Turns, without Partiality to one more than to another; which is a Monition to us, to free ourselves from all Partiality in our Friendships and Affections, where the Merit is equal.

10. It is very obfervable to fee (in case you take one of these little ones away, or that one of them dies) how wretched the old ones are till they have forgot it, which they foon do; for as their Pleasures are but of a fhort Duration, fo are their Pains too: Let us, with them, alfo endeavour to fet light by reparable Loffes, and to value Trifles but as fuch.

1

11. When the firft Set of young ones fly, you will foon find another Neft of young ones follow; which it is two to one but they are in Part deftroyed by thofe that were first hatched pecking at them, and endeavouring to ftarve them: And herein is reprefented to you a juft Picture of the World, full of Jealoufy and Illnature, continually as it were pecking at, and endeavouring to ftarve or undermine one another: Now, when you find your Refentment rife against them for thefe Faults, let it be a Leffon to you of universal Charity and Goodwill to others.

In fhort, the whole Proceedings of them will be a general Leffon (to all) of Gratitude to God, Affection and Love to our Parents; who have, and do, take infinitely more Pains with us than

is

is neceffary with thefe little Animals, who have, only a Body to be provided for, but no Mind which wants Cultivation.

You will, by carefully watching them, obferve a different Language for almost every different, Employ they fet each other about; which may teach you the Neceffity of learning feveral Languages, in order to render yourself the more univerfally useful.

When you fee the little Animal in the Shell ftruggling into Life, and obferve the Perfection of every Part, it may put you in Mind of your own Creation, and raise you up to a due Contemplation of his Power who formed you in the Womb, in whofe Book all your Members were written, which Day by Day were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

Their Moulting makes them very fick, and comes pretty fudden; it often kills them! Hence may be conveyed to us a Monition, to endeavour to be always ready to meet Sickness or Death, that fo fhould it come fuddenly, it may not surprise us unprepared.

Note well, that you will be very fubject to have them die, fo do not fet your Heart too much upon them; but, from thefe trifling Difappointments, endeavour to arm yourself with Patience against greater.

Was you not the fenfible and engaging Perfon you are, and had you not a Mind fufficiently improved to receive this grave Lecture (on a merry Subject) I would have endeavoured to have dreffed it up in a more juvenile Strain; but, as I think you qualified, in all Respects,

O 2

for

for any Thing ever fo philofophic, I was willing to accommodate my Stile to you in that Way which I thought would beft fuit your Tafte, and, at the fame Time, prove a Teftimony how ambitious I am to have all the World my Rivals, whilft I fubfcribe myself

Yours, &c.

AMATOR.

******

The PROTESTANT's Univerfal Prayer.

O MOST Almighty God, Lord of Heaven

and Earth, the fupreme Difpofer of all Events, the eternal Source of all Being; thou firft uncreated Caufe of all Things, and the only beginninglefs Being; thou, who in thyself art all glorious, and the only (abfolutely) unoriginated Existence; be pleafed to hear the Prayers of thy People; when they call upon thee,

Hear, O God, from Heaven, thy Dwellingplace, and, when thou heareft, forgive; receive the Petitions of thofe who apply to thee in every Exigence, relative, both to their Souls and Bodies, to this Life, or a better.

Give to thofe who wait at thine Altar, a wife and an understanding Heart, that they (properly interpreting thy holy Word) may give to thy

People