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But judge, where so much evil intervenes,

The end, though plausible, not worth the means.
Weigh, for a moment, claffical defert

Against an heart deprav'd and temper hurt;
Hurt, too, perhaps for life; for early wrong,
Done to the nobler part, affects it long;
And you are ftaunch indeed in learning's cause,
If you can crown a difcipline, that draws
Such mischiefs after it, with much applause.

Connexion form'd for int'rest, and endear'd By felfish views, thus cenfur'd and cashier'd ; And emulation, as engend'ring hate, Doom'd to a no lefs ignominious fate; The props of fuch proud feminaries fall, The Jachin and the Boaz of them all. Great schools rejected then, as those that swell Beyond a fize that can be manag'd well, Shall royal inftitutions mifs the bays, And small academies win all the praife? Force not my drift beyond its juft intent, I praise a school as Pope a government; So take my judgment in his language drefs'd "Whate'er is best administer'd is best." Few boys are born with talents that excel, But all are capable of living well;

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Then afk not, Whether limited or large?
But, Watch they ftrictly, or neglect their charge?
If anxious only that their boys may learn,
While morals languifh, a defpis'd concern,

The great and small deserve one common blame,
Diff'rent in fize, but in effect the fame.

Much zeal in virtue's cause all teachers boast,
Though motives of mere lucre fway the most;
Therefore in towns and cities they abound,
For there the game they feek is easiest found;
Though there, in fpite of all that care can do,
Traps to catch youth are most abundant too.
If fhrewd, and of a well-conftructed brain,
Keen in pursuit, and vig'rous to retain,
Your fon come forth a prodigy of skill;
As, wherefoever taught, fo form'd, he will;
The pedagogue, with felf-complacent air,
Claims more than half the praise as his due fhare.
But, if, with all his genius, he betray,

Not more intelligent than loofe and

gay,

Such vicious habits as difgrace his name, Threaten his health, his fortune, and his fame; Though want of due restraint alone have bred The fymptoms that you fee with so much dread; Unenvy'd there, he may sustain alone

The whole reproach-the fault was all his own!

Oh 'tis a fight to be with joy perus'd,
By all whom fentiment has not abus'd;
New-fangled fentiment, the boasted grace
Of those who never feel in the right place;
A fight furpafs'd by none that we can show,
Though Veftris on one leg ftill fhine below;
A father bleft with an ingenuous fon-
Father, and friend, and tutor, all in one.
How!-turn again to tales long fince forgot,
Æfop, and Phædrus, and the rest?—Why not?
He will not blush that has a father's heart,
To take in childish plays a childish part;
But bends his sturdy back to any toy

That youth takes pleasure in, to please his boy
Then why refign into a stranger's hand
A task as much within your own command,
That God and nature, and your int'rest too,
Seem with one voice to delegate to you?

Why hire a lodging in a house unknown

[own?

For one whofe tend'reft thoughts all hover round your

This fecond weaning, needlefs as it is,

How does it lacerate both your heart and his!
Th' indented ftick, that lofes day by day
Notch after notch, till all are fmooth'd away,
Bears witness, long ere his dismiffion come,
With what intense defire he wants his home,

But, though the joys he hopes beneath your roof
Bid fair enough to answer in the proof,
Harmless, and safe, and natʼral, as they are,
A disappointment waits him even there:
Arriv'd, he feels an unexpected change;
He blushes, hangs his head, is fhy and strange,
No longer takes, as once, with fearless ease,
His fav'rite ftand between his father's knees,
But feeks the corner of fome distant feat,
And eyes

the door, and watches a retreat,
And, leaft familiar where he should be most,
Feels all his happieft privileges loft.
Alas, poor boy!-the natural effect

Of love by abfence chill'd into refpect.
Say, what accomplishments, at school acquir'd,
Brings he, to fweeten fruits fo undefir'd?

Thou well deserv'st an alienated fon.
Unless thy conscious heart acknowledge—none;
None that, in thy domeftic fnug recess,

He had not made his own with more addrefs,
Though fome perhaps that shock thy feeling mind,
And better never learn'd, or left behind.
Add too, that, thus eftrang'd, thou canst obtain
By no kind arts his confidence again;
That here begins with most that long complaint
Of filial franknefs loft, and love grown faint,

Which, oft neglected, in life's waning years
A parent pours into regardless ears.

Like caterpillars, dangling under trees
By flender threads, and fwinging in the breeze,
Which filthily bewray and fore difgrace
The boughs in which are bred th' unfeemly race
While ev'ry worm induftriously weaves
And winds his web about the rivell'd leaves;
So num'rous are the follies that annoy
The mind and heart of every fprightly boy;
Imaginations noxious and perverfe,
Which admonition can alone disperse.
Th' encroaching nuifance afks a faithful hand,
Patient, affectionate, of high command,
To check the procreation of a breed

Sure to exhaust the plant on which they feed.
'Tis not enough that Greek or Roman page,
At ftated hours, his freakish thoughts engage;
Ev'n in his paftimes he requires a friend,
To warn, and teach him safely to unbend,
O'er all his pleafures gently to prefide,
Watch his emotions, and controul their tide
And, levying thus, and with an easy sway,
A tax of profit from his very play,

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