led to execution; and having given him from the window fome token of her remembrance, fhe waited with tranquillity till her own appointed hour fhould bring her to a like fate. She even faw his headless body carried back in a cart; and found herself more confirmed by the reports, which fhe heard of the conftancy of his end, than fhaken by fo tender and melancholy a fpectacle. Sir John Gage, conftable of the Tower, when he led her to execution, defired her to bestow on him fome fmall prefent, which he might keep as a perpetual memorial of her. She gave him her table book, in which she had just written three fentences, on feeing her husband's dead body; one in Greek, another in Latin, a third in English. The purport of them was, "that human justice was against his body, but the Divine Mercy would be favourable to his foul; and that if her fault deferved punishment, her youth, at least, and her imprudence, were worthy of excufe; and that God and pofterity, fhe trufted, would fhow her favour." On the fcaffold, fhe made a fpeech to the byftanders, in which the mildnefs of her difpofition led her to take the blame entirely on herself, without uttering one complaint against the feverity with which fhe had been treated. She faid, that her offence was, not having laid her hand upon the crown, but not rejecting it with fufficient conftancy: that she had lefs erred through ambition than through reverence to her parents, whom he had been taught to refpect and obey: that the willingly received death, as the only fatisfaction which the could now make to the injured state; and though her infringement of the laws had been conftrained, fhe would fhow, by her voluntary fubmiffion to their fentence, that he was defirous to atone for that disobedience, into which too much filial piety had betrayed her: that he had juftly deferved this punishment for being made the inftrument, though the unwilling inftrument, of the ambition of others: and that the ftory of her life, fhe hoped, might at leaft be useful, by proving that innocence excufes not great mifdeeds, if they tend any way to the deftruction of the commonwealth. After uttering thefe words, fhe caused herself to be difrobed by her women, and with a fteady, ferend countenance, fubmitted herfelf to the executioner.

HUME

SECTION VI.

THE HILL OF SCIENCE.

In that feafon of the year, when the ferenity of the sky, the various fruits which cover the ground, the difcoloured foliage of the trees, and all the fweet, but fading graces of infpiring autumn, open the mind to benevolence, and difpofe it for contemplation, I was wandering in a beautiful and romantic country, till curiofity began to give way to weariness; and I fat down on the fragment of a rock overgrown with mofs; where the ruftling of the falling leaves, the dafhing of waters, and the hum of the diftant city, foothed my mind into the most perfect tranquillity ; and fleep infenfibly ftole upon me, as I was indulging the agreeable reveries, which the objects around me naturally infpired.

I immediately found myself in a vaft extended plain, in the middle of which arofe a mountain higher than I had before any conception of. It was covered with a multitude of people, chiefly youth; many of whom preffed forwards with the livelieft expreffion of ardour in their countenance, though the way was in many places steep and difficult. I obferved, that thofe who had but just begun to climb the hill, thought themselves not far from the top; but as they proceeded, new hills were continually rifing to their view; and the fummit of the higheft they could before difcern feemed but the foot of another, till the mountain at length appeared to tofe itself ha the clouds. As I was gazing on thefe things with aftonifhment, a friendly inftructor fuddenly appeared: "The mountain before thee," faid he, "is the Hill of Science. On the top is the temple of Truth, whofe head is above the clouds, and a veil of pure light covers her face. Obferve the progrefs of her voraries be filent and attentive.”

After I had noticed a variety of objects, I turned my eye towards the multitudes who were climbing the steep afcent; and obferved amongit them a youth of a lively look, a piercing eye, and fomething fiery and irregular in all his motions. His name was Genius. He darted like an eagle up the mountain; ant jeft his companions gazing after him with envy and admiration: but his progrefs was unequal, and interrupted by a thoufand caprices. When

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Pleafure warbled in the valley, he mingled in her train. When Pride beckoned towards the precipice, he ventured to the tottering edge. He delighted in devious and untried paths; and made fo many excurfions from the road, that his feebler companions often outstripped him. I obferved that the mufes beheld him with partiality; but Truth often frowned, and turned afide her face. While Genius was thus wafting his ftrength in eccentric flights, I faw a person of a very different appearance, named Application. He crept along with a flow and unremitting pace, his eyes fixed on the top of the mountain, patiently removing every ftone that obftructed his way, till he faw most of thofe below him, who had at firft derided his flow and toilfome progrefs. Indeed, there were few who afcended the hill with equal, and uninterrupted, fteadinefs; for, befide the difficulties of the way, they were continually folicited to turn afide, by a numerous crowd of appetites, paffions, and pleasures, whofe importunity, when once complied with, they became lefs and less able to refit and though they often returned to the path, the afperities of the road were more feverely felt; the hill peared more fteep and rugged; the fruits which were wholcfome and refreshing, feemed harfh and ill tafted their fight grew dim; and their feet tript at every little obftruction.

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I faw, with fome furprife, that the mufes, whofe businefs was to cheer and encourage thofe who were toiling up the afcent, would often fing in the bowers of pleasure, and accompany those who were enticed away at the call of the paffions. They accompanied them, however, but a little way; and always forfook them when they loft fight of the hill. The tyrants then doubled their chains upon the unhappy captives; and led them away, without refiftance, to the cells of Ignorance, or the manfions of Mifery. Amongst the innumerable feducers, who were endeavouring to draw away the votaries of Truth from the path of fcience, there was one fo little formidable in her appearance, and fo gentle and languid in her attempts, that I fhould fcarcely have taken notice of her, but for the numbers she had imperceptibly loaded with her chains. Indolence, (for fo fhe was called,) far from proceeding to open hoftilities, did not attempt to turn their feet out of

the path, but contented herself with retarding their progrefs; and the purpofe fhe could not force them to abandon, fue perfuaded them to delay. Her touch had a power like that of the torpedo, which withered the strength of thofe who came within its influence. Her unhappy captives till turned their faces towards the temple, and always hoped to arrive there; but the ground feemed to fide from beneath their feet, and they found themselves at the bottom, before they fufpected they had changed their place. The placid ferenity, which at firft appeared in their countenance, changed by degrees into a melancholy languor, which was tinged with deeper and deeper gloom, as they glided down the ftream of Infignificance; a dark and fluggish water, which is curled by no breeze, and enlivened by no murmur, till it falls into a dead fea, where startled paffengers are awakened by the fhock, and the next moment buried in the gulf of Oblivion.

Of all the unhappy deferters from the paths of Science, none feemed lefs able to return than the followers of Indolence. The captives of appetite and paffion could often feize the moment when their tyrants were languid or afleep, to escape from their enchantment; but the dominion of Indolence was conftant and unremitted; and feldom refifted, till refiftance was in vain.

After contemplating these things, I turned my eyes towards the top of the mountain, where the air was always pure and exhilarating, the path fhaded with laurels and other evergreens, and the effulgence which beamed from the face of Science feemed to fhed a glory round her votaries. Happy, faid I, are they who are permitted to afcend the mountain! But while I was pronouncing this exclamation, with uncommon ardour, I faw, ftanding befide me, a form of diviner features, and a more benign radiance. "Happier," faid fhe, "are they whom Virtue conducts to the Manfions of Content !" "What," faid I, "does Virtue then refide in the vale?" "I am found," faid fhe, "in the vale, and I illuminate the mountain. cheer the cottager at his toil, and infpire the fage at his meditation. I mingle in the crowd of cities, and blefs the hermit in his cell. I have a temple in every heart_that owns my influence; and to him that withes for me, I am already prefent. Science may raise thee to eminence; but

I alone can guide thee to felicity!" While Virtue was thus fpeaking, I ftretched out my arms towards her, with a vehemence which broke my flumber. The chill dews were falling around me, and the fhades of evening stretched over the landscape. I haftened homeward; and refigned the night to filence and meditation.

SECTION VII.

AIKIN.

THE JOURNEY OF A DAY; A PICTURE OF HUMAN LIFE.

OBIDAH, the fon of Abenfina, left the caravanfera) early in the morning, and purfued his journey through the plains of Indoftan. He was fresh and vigorous with reft; he was animated with hope; he was incited by defire; he walked fwiftly forward over the vallies, and faw the hills. gradually rifing before him. As he paffed along, his ears were delighted with the morning fong of the bird of paradife; he was fanned by the laft flutters of the finking breeze, and fprinkled with dew by groves of fpices. He fometimes contemplated the towering height of the oak, monarch of the hills; and fometimes caught the gentle fragrance of the primrofe, eldest daughter of the fpring : all his fenfes were gratified, and all care was banished from his heart.

Thus he went on, till the fun approached hi meridian,) and the increafing heat preyed upon his ftrength; he then looked round about him for fome more commodious path. He faw, on his right hand, a grove that feemed to wave its fhades as a fign of invitation; he entered it and found the coolness and verdure irrefiftibly pleafant. He did not, however, forget whither he was travelling; but found a narrow way bordered with flowers, which appeared to have the fame direction with the main road; and was pleafed, that, by this happy experiment, he had found. means to unite pleasure with bufinefs, and to gain the rewards of diligence without fuffering its fatigues. He, therefore, ftill continued to walk for a time, without the leafttremiflion of his ardour, except that he was fometimes. tempted to ftop by the mufic of the birds, which the heat had affembled in the fhade; and fometimes amufed himfelf with plucking the flowers that covered the banks on eith fide, or the fruits that hung upon the branches. Atlaf The green path began to decline from its first tendene v