nually from things more simple, clear, and easy, to things more complex, obscure, and difficult; from material, to moral and spiritual objects; and finally, ascending to the highest and noblest degree in the scale of human Knowledge; and from the whole of what we previously see and know, learning to know this-that an eternal all-perfect Being is the cause of all, that to him we belong, and from him derive all good. Is there no sign of creative wisdom in this admirable and evident process of nature? Is not here the finger of God visible, teaching men Knowledge? Did he not intend thus to disclose to us his works, and consequently lead us to the study and contemplation of himself? He seems to be destitute of the reason of a man, who does not perceive this divine intention and procedure.

The general branches of Knowledge which the faculties of the mind in their natural state are adapted to acquire, and which education, the objects of the world, and the events of life, are fitted to teach; are at the same time the most important and most useful to mankind: this plainly argues the wise and beneficent design of the Almighty Maker.

The first branch of Knowledge, is that which respects ourselves and mankind around us, the relations, dependencies, connections, interests, inclinations, customs, and laws, of human society. This qualifies men to live in society, and to behave as subjects of law and government, and in a manner proper to domestic and national obligations. And parental instruction, mutual converse, daily experience of the events and transactions of the world, and the whole process of life, are continually teaching this science.

The second branch of Knowledge, is that of a Supreme Being, as the maker and disposer of all things, the all-wise governor of the whole world, the just judge of mankind, and the original author of all good. This Knowledge has a general tendency to, restrain men from evil, and incite them to goodness, and to confirm the bonds of social order, virtue, and happiAnd this Knowledge is constantly taught by

the still eloquence of universal nature; "the heavens declaring the glory of God, the firmament shewing his handy-work, day unto day uttering this instruction, night unto night revealing this doctrine." Every object in the visible creation, the order, uniformity, and variety, conspicuous in the whole,--and the faculties of our own minds, all indicating the same divine cause; and all our knowledge of every kind leading to, and terminating in, this one most momentous and certain truth.

And these two kinds of Knowledge, so important and so beneficial, are common to mankind in general; they are not peculiar to the great, the wealthy, or the learned the vulgar, the poor, and the illiterate, have their share, and partake of the same divine instructions.

It is well observed by Mr. Knight, that of all our desires, perhaps the desire of Knowledge is that of which the gratifications are the most pure and unmixed, as well the most permanent, and which being, at the same time, the most difficult to cloy or satiate, affords the most certain and ample means of durable and solid happiness.

The science of the philosopher, by giving him a more extensive view of things, makes him sensible of his own insignificance in the scale of being; and whilst it enlarges his understanding, it narrows his pretensions and humbles his pride: for, whatever may be said of the pride of science, it is always meek and humble, compared with the pride of ignorance.

Knowledge! thou fair effusive ray
From the great Source of mental day,
Free, gen'rous, and refin'd,
Descend with all thy treasures fraught,
Illumine each bewilder'd thought,

And bless my lab'ring mind.

But first with thy resistless light
Disperse those phantoms from my sight,
Those mimic shades of thee,

The sciolist's learning, sophist's cant,
The visionary bigot's rant,

The monk's philosophy.

O let thy powerful charm impart
The patient head, the candid heart,
Devoted to thy sway!

Which no weak passions e'er mislead,
Which still with dauntless steps proceed
Where reason points the way.

Give me to learn each secret cause;
Let numbers, figures, motion's laws,
Reveal'd before me stand;

Then to great nature's scenes apply,
And round the globe and through the sky
Disclose her working hand.

Next, to thy nobler search resign'd,
The busy restless human mind
Through ev'ry maze pursue;
Detect perception where it lies,
Catch the ideas as they rise,
And all their changes view.
Her secret stores bid mem'ry tell,
Bid fancy quit her airy cell
In all her treasures drest;
While, prompt her sallies to control,
'Reason, the judge, recalls the soul
To truth's severest test.

Say, from what simple springs began
The vast ambitious thoughts of man,
That range beyond control,
Which seek eternity to trace,
Drive through th' infinity of space,
And strain to grasp the whole?

Then range through being's wide extent,
Let the fair scale with just ascent
And equal steps be trod,

Till, from the dead corporeal mass,
Through each progressive rank you pass
To instinct-reason-God!

There, Knowledge, veil thy daring eye,
Nor dive too deep, nor soar too high,
In the divine abyss;

To faith content thy beams to lend,
Her hopes t'assure, her steps befriend,
And light the way to bliss.

Then downward take thy flight again,
Mix with the policies of men,
And social nature's ties;

The plan, the genius of each state,
Its interest and its power relate,
Its fortunes and its rise.

Through private life pursue thy course,
Trace ev'ry action to its source,
And means and motives weigh;
Put tempers, passions, in the scale,
Mark what degrees in each prevail,
And fix the doubtful sway.

The last, best effort of thy skill,
To form the life and rule the will,
Propitious pow'r ! impart ;

Teach me to cool my passion's fires,
Make me the judge of my desires,
The master of my heart.

Raise me above the vulgar breath,
Pursuit of fortune, dread of death,
And all in life that's mean:
Still true to reason be my plan,
And let my actions speak the man,
Through ev'ry varying scene.

Hail, queen of manners! test of truth!
Hail, charm of age, and light of youth!
Sweet refuge of distress;

E'en business thou canst make polite,
Can give retirement its delight,
Prosperity its grace.

Of pow'r, wealth, freedom, thou the cause,
Foundress of order, cities, laws,

Of arts inventress thou!
Without thee, what were human kind?
How vast their wants, their thoughts how blind!
Their joys how mean, how few!

Sun of the soul! thy beams unveil !
Let others spread the daring sail
On fortune's faithless sea:
While undeluded, happier I
From the vain tumult timely fly,
And sit in peace with thee.

Montaigne, in his Essays, has the following beautiful passage on the characteristics of true wisdom :-"The most manifest sign of wisdom is a continual cheerfulness; her estate is like that of things in the regions above

the moon, always clear and serene. "Tis Baraco and Baralipton that render their disciples so dirty and ill-favour'd, and not she; they do not so much as know her, but by hearsay. "Tis she that calms and appeases the storms and tempests of the soul, and who teaches famines and fevers to laugh and sing; and that, not by certain imaginary epicycles, but by natural and manifest reasons. She has virtue for her end; which is not, as the schoolmen say, situate upon the summit of a perpendicular rock, and an inaccessible precipice. Such as have approach'd her, find it, quite contrary, to be seated in a fair, fruitful, and flourishing plain, from whence she easily discovers all things subjected to her; to which place any one may however arrive, if he know but the easiest and the nearest way thro' shady, green, and sweetly-flourishing walks and avenues, by a pleasant, easy, and smooth descent, like that of the cœlestial arches. 'Tis for not having frequented this supreme, this beautiful, triumphant, and amiable, this equally delicious and courageous virtue, this so profess'd and implacable enemy to anxiety, sorrow, fear, and constraint, who, having nature for her guide, has fortune and pleasure for her companions, that they have gone according to their own weak imagination, and created this ridiculous, this sorrowful, querulous, despiteful, threatening, terrible image of it to themselves and others, and plac'd it upon a solitary rock, amongst thorns and brambles, and made of it a hobgoblin to fright people from daring to approach it. But the governour that I would have, that is, such a one as knows it to be his duty to possess his pupil with as much or more affection than reverence to virtue, will be able to inform him, that the poets have evermore accommodated themselves to the publick humour, and make him sensible, that the gods have planted more toil and sweat in the avenues of the cabinets of Venus than those of Minerva, which, when he shall once find him begin to apprehend, and shall represent to him a Bradamanta, or an Angelica, for a mistress, a natural, active, generous, and not a mankind, but a manly beauty, in comparison of a soft, delicate, artificial, simp'ring, and affected form; the one disguis'd in the habit of an heroick youth, with her beautiful face set out in a glittering helmet, the other trick'd up in curls and ribbons like a wanton minx; he will then look upon his own affection as brave and masculine, when he shall choose quite contrary to that effeminate shepherd of Phrygia. Such a tutor will make a pupil to digest this new doctrine, that the height and value of true virtue consists in the facility, utility, and pleasure of its exercise; so far from difficulty, that boys, as well as men, and the innocent as well as the subtle, may make it their own; and it is by order and good conduct, and not by force, that it is to be acquir'd. Socrates, her first