Till they can laugh at virtue; mock the fools
That truft them; and, in th' end, difclofe a face
That would have fhock'd credulity herself,
Unmafk'd, vouchfafing this their fole excufe-
Since all alike are felfifh, why not they?
This does profufion, and th' accurfed cause
Of such deep mischief has itself a cause.
In colleges and halls, in ancient days,
When learning, virtue, piety, and truth,
Were precious, and inculcated with care,
There dwelt a fage call'd Difcipline. His head,
Not yet by time completely filver'd o'er,
Bespoke him past the bounds of freakish youth,
But strong for service ftill, and unimpair'd.
His eye was meek and gentle, and a smile
Play'd on his lips; and in his fpeech was heard
Paternal fweetnefs, dignity, and love.
The occupation dearest to his heart
Was to encourage goodness. He would ftroke
The head of modeft and ingenuous worth,
That blufh'd at its own praife; and prefs the youth
Close to his fide that pleas'd him. Learning grew,
Beneath his care, a thriving vig'rous plant;
The mind was well inform'd, the paffions held
Subordinate, and diligence was choice.
If e'er it chanc'd, as fometimes chance it must,
That one among fo many overleap'd
The limits of controul, his gentle eye
Grew ftern, and darted a fevere rebuke:
His frown was full of terror, and his voice
Shook the delinquent with such fits of awe
As left him not, till penitence had won
Loft favour back again, and clos'd the breach.
But Discipline, a faithful fervant long,
Declin'd at length into the vale of years:
A palfy ftruck his arm; his sparkling eye
Was quench'd in rheums of age; his voice, unftrung,
Grew tremulous, and mov'd derision more
Than rev'rence in perverse rebellious youth.
So colleges and halls neglected much
Their good old friend; and Difcipline at length,
O'erlook'd and unemploy'd, fell fick and died.
Then study languifh'd, emulation flept,
And virtue fled. The fchools became a scene
Of folemn farce, where Ignorance in ftilts,
His cap well lin'd with logic not his own,
With parrot tongue perform'd the scholar's part,
Proceeding foon a graduated dunce.
Then compromife had place, and scrutiny
Became ftone-blind; precedence went in truck,
And he was competent whofe purfe was so.
A diffolution of all bonds enfued;
The curbs, invented for the mulish mouth
Of head-ftrong youth, were broken; bars and bolts
Grew rufty by difufe; and maffy gates
Forgot their office, op'ning with a touch;
Till gowns at length are found mere masquerade,
The taffel'd cap and the spruce band a jeft,
A mock'ry of the world! What need of these
For gamefters, jockeys, brothellers impure,
Spendthrifts, and booted fportfmen, oft'ner feen
With belted waist and pointers at their heels
Than in the bounds of duty? What was learn'd,
If aught was learn'd in childhood, is forgot;
And fuch expence as pinches parents blue,
And mortifies the lib'ral hand of love,
Is fquander'd in pursuit of idle fports
And vicious pleasures; buys the boy a name,
That fits a ftigma on his father's house,
And cleaves through life infeparably clofe
To him that wears it. What can after-games
Of riper joys, and commerce with the world,
The lewd vain world, that must receive him foon,
Add to fuch erudition, thus acquir'd,
Where fcience and where virtue are profefs'd?
They may confirm his habits, rivet fast
His folly, but to fpoil him is a tafk
That bids defiance to th' united pow'rs
Of fashion, diffipation, taverns, ftews.
Now, blame we most the nurflings or the nurse?
The children, crook'd, and twisted, and deform'd,
Through want of care; or her, whofe winking eye
And flumb'ring ofcitancy mars the brood?
The nurse no doubt.
Regardlefs of her charge,
She needs herself correction; needs to learn,
That it is dang'rous fporting with the world,
With things fo facred as a nation's trust,
The nurture of her youth, her dearest pledge.
All are not fuch. I had a brother oncePeace to the men'ry of a man of worth, A man of letters, and of manners too! Of manners fweet as virtue always wears, When gay good-nature dreffes her in files. He grac'd a college*, in which order yet Was facred; and was honour'd, lov'd, and wept, By more than one, themselves confpicuous there. Some minds are temper'd happily, and mix'd With fuch ingredients of good sense and taste Of what is excellent in man, they thirst With such a zeal to be what they approve,
That no reftraints can circumfcribe them more
Than they themselves by choice, for wifdom's fake;
Nor can example hurt them: what they fee
Of vice in others but enhancing more
The charms of virtue in their just esteem.
If fuch escape contagion, and emerge
Pure from fo foul a pool, to fhine abroad,
And give the world their talents and themselves,
Small thanks to those whofe negligence or floth
Expos'd their inexperience to the fnare,
And left them to an undirected choice.
See, then, the quiver broken and decay'd,
In which are kept our arrows! Rufting there
In wild diforder, and unfit for use,
What wonder if, discharg'd into the world,
They shame their shooters with a random flight,
Their points obtuse, and feathers drunk with wine!
Well may the church wage unfuccessful war,
With fuch artill❜ry arm'd. Vice parries wide
Th' undreaded volley with a fword of straw,
And ftands an impudent and fearless mark.
Have we not track'd the felon home, and found His birth-place and his dam? The country mourns➡ Mourns, because ev'ry plague that can infest
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