tion. The time will come, when men must stand or fall by their actions; when all human pageantry fhall cease; when the hearts of all fhall be laid open to view.

If you regard your most important interefts; if you with that your confciences fhould whifper to you words of confolation, rather than speak to you in the terrible language of remorfe, weigh well the verdict you are to pronounce.

As for me, I am carelefs and indifferent to my fate. I can look danger, and I can look death in the face; for I am shielded by the consciousness of my Own rectitude. I may be condemned to languifh in the receffes of a dungeon. I may be doomed to afcend the scaffold. Nothing can deprive me of the recollection of the past; nothing can destroy my inward peace of mind, arifing from the remembrance of having dif charged my duty.

T

ON THE STARRY HEAVENS.

O us who dwell on its furface, the earth is by far the most extenfive orb that our eyes can any where behold. It is alfo clothed with verdure; diftinguished by trees; and adorned with a variety of beautiful decorations. Whereas, to a fpectator placed on one of the planets, it wears a uniform afpect; looks all luminous, and no larger than a fpot. To beings who dwell at still greater distances, it entirely difappears.

That which we call, alternately, the morning and evening star; as in one part of her orbit, fhe rides foremost in the proceffion of night; in the other, ushers in, and anticipates the dawn, is a planetary world; which, with the five others, that fo wonderfully vary their myftic dance, are in themselves dark bodies, and fhine only by reflection; have fields, and feas, and skies of their own; are furnished with all accommodations

for animal fubfiftence, and are supposed to be abodes of intellectual life. All which, together with this our earthly habitation, are dependent on that grand difpenfer of divine munificence, the fun; receive their light from the distribution of his rays; derive their comfort from his divine agency.

The fun is the great axle of heaven, about which, the globe we inhabit, and other more fpacious orbs, wheel their ftated courfes. The fun, though feemingly fmaller than the dial it illuminates, is abundantly larger than this whole earth; on which fo many lofty mountains rife, and fuch vaft oceans roll. A line, extending through the centre of that refplendent orb, would measure more than eight hundred thoufand miles. A girdle, formed to furround it, would require a length of millions. Were its folid contents to be eftimated, the account would overpower our understanding, and be almoft beyond the power of language to exprefs.

Are we ftartled at these reports of astronomy? Are we ready to cry out in a tranfport of furprife, How mighty is the Being, who kindled fuch a prodigious fire, and who keeps alive, from age to age, fuch an enormous mafs of flame! Let us attend our philosophic guides, and we shall be brought acquainted with fpeculations more enlarged, and more amazing.

This fun, with all attendant planets, is but a very little part of the grand machine of the univerfe. Every ftar, though in appearance no bigger than the diamond that glitters on a lady's ring, is really a mighty globe; like the fun in fize, and in glory; no lefs fpacious; no lefs luminous than the radiant fource of our day. So that every ftar is not barely a world, but the centre of a magnificent fyftem; has a retinne of worlds, irradiated by its beams, and revolving round its attractive influence. All which are loft to our fight in unmeafurable wilds of ether.

That the ftars appear like fo many diminutive, and fcarcely diftinguishable points, is owing to their im

menfe, and inconceivable distance. Such a distance, that a cannon ball, could it continue its impetuous flight, with unabating rapidity, would not reach the nearest of thofe twinkling luminaries for more than five hundred thousand years!

Can any thing be more wonderful than thefe obfervations? Yes; there are truths far more stupendous; there are scenes far more extensive. As there is no end of the Almighty Maker's greatness, so no imagination can fet limits to his creating hand. Could you foar beyond the moon, and pafs through all the planetary choir; could you wing your way to the highest apparent ftar, and take your ftand on one of thofe lofty pinnacles of heaven, you would there fee other skies expanded; another fun, diftributing his inexhaustible beams by day; other flars which gild the horrors of the alternate night; and other, perhaps, nobler fyftems, established in unknown profufion, through the boundlefs dimenfions of fpace. Nor do the dominions of the univerfal Sovereign terminate there. Even at the end of this vaft tour, you would find yourself advanced no further than the fuburbs of creation; arrived only at the frontiers of the great JEHOVAH's kingdom.

S

PAPER, A POEM.

OME wit of old; fuch wits of old there were,
Whofe hints fhow'd meaning, whofe allufions, care,

By one brave ftroke, to mark all human kind,
Call'd clear blank paper every infant mind;
When ftill, as op'ning sense her dictates wrote,
Fair virtue put a feal, or vice a blot.

The thought was happy, pertinent, and true,
Methinks a genius might the plan purfue.
I, (can you pardon my prefumption ?) I,
No wit, no genius, yet for once will try.

Various the papers, various wants produce,
The wants of fashion, elegance, and use.
Men are as various: and, if right I scan,
Each fort of paper reprefents fome man.

Pray note the fop; half powder and half lace;
Nice, as a band-box were, his dwelling-place;
He's the gilt paper, which apart you store,
And lock from vulgar hands in the fcrutoire.

Mechanics, fervants, farmers, and so forth,
Are copy paper of inferior worth;

Lefs priz'd, more useful, for your desk decreed,
Free to all pens, and prompt at ev'ry need.

The wretch, whom av'rice bids to pinch and spare, Starve, cheat, and pilfer, to enrich an heir, Is coarfe brown paper, fuch as pedlars choofe To wrap up wares, which better men will use.

Take next the mifer's contraft, who deftroys Health, fame, and fortune, in a round of joys. Will any paper match him? Yes, throughout, He's a true finking paper, past all doubt.

The retail politician's anxious thought
Deems this fide always right, and that stark naught;
He foams with cenfure; with applause he raves,
A dupe to rumours, and a tool of knaves;
He'll want no type his weakness to proclaim,
While fuch a thing as fools-cap has a name.

The hafty gentleman whose blood runs high,
Who picks a quarrel if you step awry,
Who can't a jeft, or hint, or look endure:
What's he? What? Touch paper to be fure.

What are our poets, take them as they fall, Good, bad, rich, poor, much read, not read at all? Them and their works in the fame clafs you'll find They are the mere wafte-paper of mankind.

Obferve the maiden, innocently fweet,
She's fair white paper, an unfullied sheet;
On which the happy man whom fate ordains,
May write his name, and take her for his pains.

One inftance more, and only one I'll bring;
'Tis the great man who scorns a little thing;
Whofe thoughts, whofe deeds, whofe maxims are his
Form'd on the feelings of his heart alone;
True genuine royal paper is his breast;
Of all the kinds most precious, purest, best.

[own,

EXTRACT FROM CATO'S SPEECH BEFORE THE KOMAN SENATE, AFTER THE CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE.

I

HAVE often spoken before you, Fathers, with fome extent, to complain of luxury and the greedinefs for money, the twin vices of our corrupt citizens; and have thereby drawn upon myself abundance of enemies. As I never fpared any fault in myfelf, I was not eafily inclined to favor the criminal ex.ceffes of others.

But though you paid little regard to my remonftrances, the Commonwealth has ftill fubfifted by its own ftrength; has borne itself up notwithstanding your neglect. It is not now the fame. Our manners, good or bad, are not the question, nor to preserve the greatnefs and lufture of the Roman empire; but to refolve whether all we poffefs and govern, well or ill, fhall continue ours, or be transferred with ourselves to enemies.

At fuch a time, in such a state, fome talk to us of lenity and compaffion. It is long that we have loft the right names of things. The Commonwealth is in this deplorable fiituation, only because we call beftow