as foon as the OAK had done fpeaking, he order'd his workmen to proceed. When immediately, as VIRGIL has it,

ferro accifam crebrifque bipennibus inftant
Eruere agricolæ certatim: illa ufque minatur,
Et tremefacta comam concuflo vertice nutat;
Vulneribus donec paulatim evicta fupremùm
Congemuit, traxitque jugis avulfa ruinam.

Æneid. II. 627.

Or as Doctor TRAPP better expreffes it,

It is hewn

With ftrokes of axes and repeated steel
To overturn it oft it nods, and fhakes
Its leafy top, ftill tottering; 'till at length
Subdu'd by wounds it groans its laft, and torn
From the high ridge with cumb'rous ruin falls.

C.

Of INTELLECTUAL PLEASURE.

T is obferved in the life of the famous Dr. MORE, that by a conftant adherence to one temperate and regular courfe of diet and exercife, he fitted and prepared his body to be an affiftant to his mind in contemplative ftudies: 'till at length the evil tendency of nature was almost entirely fubdued, and his appetites were no otherwife perceived by him, than by their admonitions for his neceffary corporal refreshment, and their affistance of his elevated conceptions. His paffions were refined by his virtues, his virtues were ftrengthened by his paffions: the vivacity of his imagination gave life to the folidity of his judgment, and in the fame manner, his corporal functions coincided fo willingly with the rectitude of his thoughts, that the body never led the

mind astray, nor did the mind need to exert a painful fovereignty over the body.

Perhaps the author of this account may have carried the point too far: but tho' fuch an union of intellectual and fenfual pleasure may not be found in extreme perfection, it is certainly probable and even actual in a degree. So close an union muft have been defigned by providence for wife purposes and happy effects: and even in this life the energy of religion, the prevalence of cuftom, and the watchfulness of a well-difpofed mind may produce fuch an harmony in the human frame, as may foften the cares of this life, and lift both foul and body into moft delightful foretaftes of a better. Our bodies are no other than temples of the Divine Grace, where, if good thoughts and pious intentions be the affiftant priests, and the fire of devotion ftill kept alive, (tho' perhaps not always vigorously burning) the Almighty Being will condescend to inhabit, corruption and carnal affection fhall vanish in the brightnefs of his prefence, and the body purified and illuminated fhall affift the foul in her fublime fpeculations and righteous dealings: and if the body must be thought an incumbrance by that spark of divinity ftill longing for releasement, it will be fuch an one, as wiil by the weight it adds to the zealous travellor encfeafe his merit and double his reward.

Intellectual Pleafure is in vain purfued, 'till the paffions and appetites are brought under proper restraints. The thinking faculty can have no true fatisfaction in examining, comparing, and furveying her own attainments, 'till the profpect within is cleared from the difagreeable views which vice and depravity raife: 'till these are removed, fhe flies from her own reflections: fcience but enereafes her difmay, and folitude (the nurfe and parent of true speculative felicity) but gives light to the shocking scene.

Το

1

To look on our bodies as enemies to our peace, would be ingratitude to the wife and good author of them: to cherish them as friends or indulge them as favourites; would be deftructive of our own fpiritual advantage. They are in fhort fuch as we ourselves make them: it is in the power of temperance, attention, and refolution to correct them into promoters, and of luxury, negligence, and instability to footh them into destroyers of our real happiness.

The fenfes are the wings of contemplation: we fee the present operations of providence, we hear the mighty works of God to them who lived in the days before us, we feel his mercies to ourselves, and the very means by which wẻ obferve his goodness are the immediate gifts of it.

In pursuance of this union of sense and understanding we are to take proper care of our health, in justice to both these faculties; but particularly that we may enjoy the contemplations of the latter in their full perfection. Sickness and pain disturb and cloud their beauty, and diftract the fobriety of reflection. If God fhould fee fit to afflict us with weakness and anguish of body, he will undoubtedly make allowances for the disturbance they occasion; but we have additional guilt to account for, if by our own debaucheries or want of care, we throw ourselves into a ftate of torment or difpiritedness, and confequently into an incapacity for religious duties; embittering with pain of our own procuring those last moments in which we have the greatest occafion for tranquillity, to call to our fober and ferious reflection the things in which we have offended.

The AUTHOR of this is defired to favour us with his further correfpondence.

NUMB. I.

C

A LETTER

A LETTER to a YOUNG GENTLEMAN

I

on his entrance at the UNIVERSITY.

DEAR SIR,

Am very glad to find by your father that you are so

fettled at

agreeably fettled at

College; and that you have there made fo good an acquaintance. All your friends, I affure you, obferve with great pleasure, what unufual inftances of favour your merit and good behaviour at Westminster have already entitled you to: they don't doubt but you'll thereby be animated and encouraged to persevere and advance as much as poffible in your new and feverer ftudies, by which you will obtain fresh laurels, and answer their ample and juft expectations.

Your known good difpofition, and the careful hands you are put into, make it, I dare fay, unneceffary for me to offer you any advice and yet from my regard for your welfare I cannot forbear fuggesting a caution or two at your first setting out; which indeed were in my time much wanting among the more fprightly young gentlemen, especially of your college.

From the fuperior figure fuch make at their first admiffion, from the facility they find in themselves above their cotemporaries in reading and relishing the claffics as well as in compofing politer exercises; from thence they are too apt to conclude themselves compleat scholars; and either to give up all future application towards further attain ments, or at least to employ the greateft part of their time upon pleasure, referving only fuch a fhort portion of it for study, as will be fufficient to fave common appearances, and make them merely keep pace with the less quick but more plodding youth of their own standing.

The former of these errors has often prov'd fatal to many a fine genius at his first fetting out in the Univer

fity;

fity; who has had the mortification to find himself outdone by fuch as at first he infinitely surpassed and even despised. But this I beleive feldom happens at prefent; at least I am fure it betrays too much self-sufficiency for me to fufpect it can ever be your cafe.

The latter falfe ftep, tho' fomewhat lefs pernicious, is however more common, and has hindered many bright youths from making a figure in the learned world, and from being of eminent use to themselves as well as their country. Instead of employing their fingular talents closely to their studies, and in making progreffive advances in the fpacious field of useful knowledge, they meanly content themselves with vulgar attainments, and making only a common figure in life. And fo they devote the chief part of their time (that might have turned to fo glorious an advantage) to nothing but indolence or pleasure, to trifling amusements, or perhaps (which is worfe) to a loose con

verfation.

But no present pursuits I perfuade myself either of ease or pleasure will draw you into fuch inglorious and groveling fentiments. Your laudable ambition and industry will, I hope, ever keep pace with the quickness of your parts; and you never will fuffer others to outdo or even equal you in any branch of study, who are known to be your inferiors in apprehenfion and capacity.

To be eminent in any of the learned profeffions requires a close application as well as strong sense: and as you are blessed with a happy fhare of the latter, we truft you will never be wanting in a due cultivation of the former qualification.

To pafs for a good middling scholar at OXFORD is too mean a character for one of your spirit to be satisfied with. You must afpire to a much higher title, which will give you a claim to the favour of your friends, and reflect a credit on them for their well-placed affection and confidence. But befides the certain pleasure and profit of it to yourself, this