If I fpeak true; if hollowly, invert Beyond all limit of what of all else i'th' world, - MIRA. I am a fool, To, weep at what I am glad of. that dare not offer, MIRA. At mine unworthinefs, The bigger bulk it fhews. Hence bashful cunning! If not, I'll die your maid: to be your fellow, FER. My miftress, dearest, FER. Ay, with a heart as willing, As bondage e'er of freedom; here's my hand. MIRA. And mine, with my heart in't; and now farewell, Till half an hour hence.. FER. A thoufand, thousand. The fourteen words of And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Imply more, and bring the meaning nearer to the heart. The blush of fhame was not indeed, yet known; and the only rofes that painted the human face, were the rofes of health and beauty. The man and his wife, as yet understood not that nakednofs discovered ought indelicate or mysterious: B Then was not guilty fhame, dishonest shame Hence, then, it is apparent, that the fig-leaf was not introduced until imagination became corrupt, and a train of vicious paffions feized upon the heart. If fuch the origin of drefs, if fuch the hiftory of external decoration, how few reafons have we to plume ourfelves upon our finery! ESSAY III. LONGEVITY. PASSAGE. And all the days of Mathufalah were nine hundred Ta fixty and nine years. O what a span is existence reduduced in the comparison! Threefeore and ten, with nine hundred and fixty-nine! What a difference! Yet the scheme of ambition is vaft, as ever; and, perhaps, it is for the best it fhould be fo. I fear, pofterity is more indebted to our pride than any better prin ciple: age ciple we build houfes, lay out gardens, and purfue the moft coftly and laborious projects very frequently, when we have measured three fourths. of our time, while the foot totters, and the hand shakes. Yet, let us make an honeft, and candid confeffion. Is all this toil and expence to accommodate the new comers into life! Is it to render the paffage delightful to our heirs; or, is it to gratify a paffion for property; to furnish with a fresh play-thing; or to fhew the world how unwilling we are to leave it, by making preparations to enjoy it? Whatever be the motive, the end is well anfwered. Whatever the impetus which prompts to magnificence and convenience; which bids us delight in extensive improvements; whether it fprings from our pride, or our pleafure, it is juft the fame; pofterity is ultimately the better for it. Thus, life hath pleasing attentions and amufements to the laft; the old are bufied in defigns, which the young fhall enjoy; the father fows, the fon reaps; and and a general and healthful exercise, both of body and mind, preferves us, equally from gloom, vacuity and ftag Ration. ESSAY IV. ORIGIN OF SHIPPING. PASSAGE. And God faid unto Noah, make thee an ark of Gopher wood; rooms fhalt thou make in the ark, and fhalt pitch it within, and without, with pitch. THE most ingenious and ufeful arts are of celeftial origin; and from this chapter it is evident, that the first ship that ever floated on the world of waters, was built according to the plan, and under the regulating eye, of a divine artificer. With what amazing contrivance and economy were the directions given by the Deity to Noah! How exact the architecture, and what judicious hints were hence furnished to human creatures in regard to maritime affairs! Man has always been been characterised by his powers of imitation. From this very ark arose the first ideas of a poffibility to pafs beyond the limits of land: the scheme once projected, and the fecret of its conftruction once imparted, it was not likely to be forgotten; fo far otherwife, that we ftand indebted to it, for many valuable bleffings-for the advantages of commerce, the pleasure of travel, and the glory of victory. The merchant and the failor owe to this undertaking all their benefits; and whatever defirable circumftances arise from connections with remote climates, certainly originate from an imitation of that facred repofitory, which preferved from the deluge the family of Noah. |