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ing Herald, in the committee-room, when my attention was roused by a sort of debate at the table, between the presiding overseer, the master of the workhouse, and a pauper, who wanted permission to go out for a hol'yday. On raising my head, I discovered, in the pauper, a young man, rather above thirty, to describe whose carbuncled face would be impossible, and whose emaciated appearance bespoke premature decay, and the grossest intemperance; whilst the faculties of his mind were evidently shown, by his conversation, to be as impaired as his body.

To my surprise, I discovered, in this shadow of a man, one who had been, but a very few years prior to this, in a good business, from which his father had retired with a comfortable fortune, and who is still living reputably in one of the villages adjoining the metropolis. At the time I speak of, I frequently met this young inan at the Freemasons', the Crown and Anchor, and other taverns, where public dinners are held, and where he was always hailed with rapture, as a second Braham; and he really sung very delightfully; but he could not stand the flattery attendant on it, and the hard drinking, which he thought necessary, poor fellow, but which is well known to be a singer's greatest enemy.

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He frequently attended two or three dinners in one day; and, in short, he altogether verified the old proverb of " short life and a merry one;" and, descending in the scale of society, step by step, he exchanged his elegant tavern dining for evening clubs and free-and-easys, till, ejected from the public-house parlour, he sunk into a frequent'er of cominon tap-rooms, and an associater with the vilest of the vile, he cared not whom,—and, provided he could get liquor to drink, he cared not what.

His business had been entirely lost, long before this utter degradation; though his friends had, from time to time, with great sacrifices, upheld him; and he was, at the period spoken of, a pensioner on their bounty, and on the оссаsional treats still procured by his failing voice; till, at length, finding he was attacked by a grim disease, and having become so lost to all decency of feeling as to make it impossible for his friends to take him into their houses, the parish workhouse was his only resource, where he is now paid for by those friends; an older man in constitution than his father, though still, by age, he ought to be numbered with our youths.

After he had left the room, the overseer told me that,

although he could not find it in his heart to refuse this lost being his request, yet he knew that he would only go begging round among his old friends and acquaintances, the consequence of which would, in all probability, be several days of intoxication before his return, when he would again come into the workhouse, in the same sickly state, from which, by good care and attention, he had been greatly relieved.

Let this communication, every syllable of which is true, sink deeply into the hearts of all my young male readers, who are just entering into life, and who may happen to have tolerable voices. Singing is an elegant, but, as I have shown, a dangerous accomplishment. Far be it from me to assert, that there are not many good singers, both public and private, who are prudent men. I have only sketched, feebly indeed, and slightly, what has been the result of musical talent of this sort, and what, therefore, may be the result again; and I have good reason to know, that a fate, similar to the one I have related, has befallen many a man besides him of whom I have been writing, whose youthful pride has been to be called a good singer.

LESSON XLI.

The Country Clergyman.-GOLDSMITH.

NEAR Yonder copse, where once the garden smiled,
And still where many a garden flower grows wild,
There, where a few torn shrubs the place disclose,
The village preacher's modest mansion rose.
A man he was to all the country dear,
And passing rich, with forty pounds a year;
Remote from towns he ran his godly race,

Nor e'er had changed, nor wished to change, his place:
Unpractised he to fawn, or seek for power,
By doctrines fashioned to the varying hour:
Far other aims his heart had learned to prize,-
More bent to raise the wretched than to rise.

His house was known to all the vagrant train;
He chid their wanderings but relieved their pain.
The long-remembered beggar was his guest,
Whose beard, descending, swept his aged breast:

The ruined spendthrift, now no longer proud,
Claimed kindred there, and had his claims allowed:
The broken soldier, kindly bade* to stay,

Satet by his fire and talked the night away;

Wept o'er his wounds, or, tales of sorrow done,

Shouldered his crutch, and showed how fields were won.
Pleased with his guests, the good man learned to glow,
And quite forgot their vices in their wo;
Careless their merits or their faults to scan,

His pity gave ere charity began.

Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride,
And even his failings leaned to virtue's side:
But, in his duty prompt at every call,

He watched and wept, he prayed and felt for all:
And, as a bird each fond endearment tries,
To tempt its new-fledged offspring to the skies,
He tried each art, reproved each dull delay,
Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way.

Beside the bed where parting life was laid,
And sorrow, guilt, and pain, by turns dismayed,
The reverend champion stood. At his control
Despair and anguish fled the struggling soul;
Comfort came down, the trembling wretch to raise,
And his last, faltering accents whispered praise.

At church, with meek and unaffected grace,
His looks adorned the venerable place;
Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway,
And fools, who came to scoff, returned to pray.
The service past, around the pious man,
With ready zeal, each honest rustic ran:
Even children followed with endearing wile,

And plucked his gown, to share the good man's smile;
His ready smile a parent's warmth expressed,
Their welfare pleased him, and their cares distressed:
To them his heart, his love, his griefs, were given,
But all his serious thoughts had rest in heaven.
As some tall cliff, that lifts its awful form,

Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm,
Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread,
Eternal sunshine settles on its head.

* Pron bad.

+ Pron. sat.

LESSON XLII.

Parody on the preceding.-BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE.

NEAR where yon brook flows babbling through the dell, From whose green bank those upland meadows swell, See where the rector's splendid mansion stands, Embosomed deep in new-enclosed lands,— Lands wrested from the indigent and poor, Because, forsooth, he holds the village cure.t A man is he whom all his neighbours fear, Litigious, haughty, greedy, and severe; And starving, with a thousand pounds a year.

'Midst crowds and sports he passed his youthful prime; Retirement, had, with him, been deemed a crime:

When the young blood danced joc'und through his veins,
'Tis said his sacred stole‡ received some stains.
By doctrines fashioned to the varying hour,
By friends, or fawning, he lays claim to power:
For, three fat livings own his goodly sway;
Two wretched curates starve upon his pay.

Celestial Charity, that heavenly guest,

Could ne'er find entrance to his close-locked breast
The common vagrants pass his well-known gate
With terror's hasty step, and looks of hate;
For well they know the suffering poor he mocks;
Their wants are promised Bridewell or the stocks.
'The soldier, seamed with honourable scars,
The sailor, hasting from his country's wars,
In vain to him may tell their wo-fraught tale;
Their wounds, their eloquence, may not prevail :
Though, by their valour, he in peace remains,
He never gives a mite, to soothe the wanderers' pains.
Thus to depress the wretched is his pride;

His seeming virtues are to vice allied;

Backward to duty, hateful to his ears

Sound the church bells to summon him to prayers;

* Parody;—A kind of writing, in which the words of an author, or his thoughts, are taken, and, by a slight change, adapted to some other subject. + Cure;-The office or employment of a curate or clergyman.

+ Stole ;-A long robe worn by the clergy in England.

Bridewell;-A house of correction.

And, like the wolf that stole into the fold,
And slew the sheep, in woolly vestments rolled,
Still bent on gain, he watcheth night and day,
To rend and make God's heritage his prey.

Called to the bed where parting life is laid,
With what reluctance is the call obeyed!
A few brief prayers in haste he mutters o'er,
For time is precious, and the sick man poor;
Fancy, even now, depictures to his eye
Some neighbour's pigs forth-issuing from the sty,
Whose wicked snouts his new-formed banks uproot
Close in the ditch, and lop the hawthorn shoot.
Full many a luckless hog, in morning round,
He drives, deep grunting, to the starving pound.
When in the church, that venerable place,
A sullen frown o'erspreads his haughty face:
A preacher's frown conviction should impart,
But oft his smile should cheer the drooping heart.
He blunders through the prayers with hasty will,—
A school-boy would be whipped who read so ill,-
Then mounts the pulpit with a haughty mien,
Where more of pride than godliness is seen;
Some fifteen minutes his discourse will last,
And thus the business of the week is past.
The service o'er, no friendly rustics run

To shake his hand; his steps the children shun;
None for advice or comfort round him press,
Their joys would charm not, nor their cares distress;
To notice them they know he's all too proud;
His liveried lackeys spurn the village crowd.
When for the mourner heaved his breast the sigh!
When did compassion trickle from his eye!
Careless is he if weal or wo betide,

If dues and tithes be punctually supplied.

Such is the man blind chance, not God, hath given To be the guide of humble souls to heaven. To preach of heaven he'll sometimes condescend, But all his views and wishes earthward tend. Like a tall guide-post, towering o'er the way, Whose lettered arms the traveller's route display, Fixed to one spot, it stands upon the down, Its hand still pointing to the distant town.

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