sluggard, says Solomon, shall be cloathed with rags, because he cries, yet a little more sleep, a little more slumber! Indeed, the folly of sleeping away one's days is obvious to the dullest capacity, it being so much time abated from our lives, and either assimilating us to the same condition that we were in before our births, or anticipating that which we may expect in the grave, In short, sleep is only a refreshment, not an employment; and while we give way to the pleasing lethargy, we sacrifice both the duties and enjoyment of our being, and we even lose the most healthful and delightful portion of the day, the sweet morning air, with all its bracing, cheering, and invigorating powers. What is also of infinite consequence to us, the excess of indulgence in sleep weakens the powers and faculties both of mind and body---relaxes the nerves and fibres of the latter, and, from the close connexion and sympathy there exists between both, consequently impairs the springs of the former: from whence arise languor, debility, and nervous diseases, in the body; irresolution, inconstancy, and incapacity of exertion in the mind---to the extreme increase of which, nothing contributes so much as drinking to excess, and particularly that species of liquor, we term spirits, which are the certain bane of the constitution, both mental and corporeal, moral and physical.

But

But it is not enough to avoid sloth; you must likewise fly, ingenuous youth! the excesses of that enchantress, Pleasure, who, in the journey you are undertaking, will be constantly and assiduously attempting to allure you into her deceitful bowers, which, though the entrance may appear to your warm imagination to be strewed with flowers, nevertheless, horrid to tell, teem with poison, and, like the inside of a whited sepulchre, are filled with the dead bones of those whom she has inveigled to destruction by the enchantments of her treacherous tongue, and syren song. Many are the mighty who have fallen a sacrifice to her delusive, cheating arts; and, from her falsely persuasive influence, how many men of honour, fame, and renown, have been enticed into the snares of everlasting infamy and perdition, which lie concealed behind her devoted bowers, and have thus fallen from their exalted heights?---her victims are more numerous than the victims of famine, pestilence, and the sword. Avoid, therefore, her path; pass not by it, but turn from it, and pass away.

Pleasure, when it becomes our business, makes business a torment; and it is just as impossible to pursue both, as to serve God and Mammon. You may, perhaps, think this lesson hard to learn; but, my young friend, be assured, it is nevertheless the reverse of the E 4

prophet's roll

spoken

spoken of in scripture; and if bitter in the mouth, it is sweet in the belly.

I have always found, in the course of my experience in life, that, even in its earliest and most alluring stages, business was oftener really a pleasure to me than any kind of amusement or sensual indulgence that I have accidentally gratified myself in; and I can with truth affirm, that I have oftener returned with more real satisfaction to the desk, than I mounted my horse to take a jaunt into the country; that I have been weary of the dance, sick of cards, and the playhouse; tired of company, the song, and the bottle, much more frequently, and in greater degrees, than I have ever been of my pen and my book, my thoughts and my business; nay, I have been happy to exchange them all for thepleasures of labour and the exertions of useful life; and in so great a proportion has this bias of thinking gained upon me, that business and useful employment now form my only constant pleasure; all former supposed scenes and empty dreams of ideal happiness being quite effaced from my convinced mind, and now viewed as delusions, which, from the inexperience of their fallacy, I once thoughtlessly gave into with all the accustomed avidity and ardour of youth: but still there are many true pleasures which I relish, and can with satisfaction enjoy when they fall in

my

my way, such as innocent rural walks; the sweets of the healthful field and flower-garden; the in-. structive conversation of the well-informed; the amusement of observation in the bustle of the crowd, and reflections on the various scenes which present themselves to an indifferent spectator in the wide range of a great metropolis; in short, a book, a domestic fire-side chit-chat, or a newspaper, have now more charms for me than all the favourite supposed pleasures I formerly pursued, though I am only yet in the prime of life, and by no means an enemy to pleasure, or incapable of enjoying its most sensual indulgences,

It is proper for me, however, to observe to you, that, though you must live by the sweat of your brow, yet you are not forbid to reap the fruit of your own labours. Neither God nor man

exact it of you, nor would nature submit to the ungrateful dictate, if they did. I speak only of pernicious or unlawful pleasures; such as are commonly classed under the word intemperance, such as prey on the body and purse, and, in the end, destroy both. This is the rock you are to avoid with all your might.

that smiles

EXCESS is a seemingly pleasing evil, and seduces, enchants and destroys. Fly, then, her very first appearance; it is not safe to be within the glance of her eye, or the sound of her voice; and if you once become familiar with her, you are undone. Let me further add, that she puts

puts on a variety of shapes, and all pleasing, all accommodated to flatter our appetites, and inflame our desires.

To the epicure, she presents delicious banquets; to the bacchanal, store of excellent wines; to the sensualist, his seraglio of mistresses; to each, the particular allurement he is most prone to; and to. all, a pleasing poison, that not only impairs the body, but stupifies the mind, and makes us. bankrupts of our lives, as well as of our credit. and property.

Above all things, then, be temperate in eating. One nice palate, or expensive mouth, will not easily be supplied by the labour of six pair of hands; and a shilling will appease the wants of nature more effectually, as well as more inno cently, than a pound. This caution particularly deserves the attention of those who reside in the metropolis, where one of the reigning vices is the riot of a prodigal table; a riot which has been severely inveighed against by our more abstemious neighbours, and which even an effeminate Asiatic would blush to be reproached with.

Excess in eating impedes the proper circulation of the fluids in the animal part of our frame, and subjects us to sudden death, or lingering illness 5 it also obscures our mental faculties, renders us incapable of study and energy of thought, heavy and dull of comprehension, languid, and incapable of those active exertions necessary to discharge

the