Here Obidah paufed muring with water-falls. for a time, and began to confider whether it were longer fafe to forfake the known and common track; but remembering that the heat was now in its greatest violence, and that the plain was dufty and uneven, he refolved to pursue the new path, which he fuppofed only to make a few meanders, in compliance with the varieties of the ground, and to end at laft in the common road. Having thus calmed his folicitude, he renewed his pace, though he fufpected that he was not gaining ground. This uneafinefs of his mind inclined him to lay hold on every new object, and give way to every fenfation that might foothe or divert him. He liftened to every echo, he mounted every hill for a fresh profpect, he turned afide to every cafcade, and pleafed himself with tracing the courfe of a gentle river that rolled among the trees, and watered a large region with innumerable circumvolutions. In thefe amufements the hours pafled away uncounted, his deviations had perplexed his memory, and he knew not towards what point to travel. He flood penfive and confufed, afraid to go forward left he should go wrong, yet confcious that the time of loitering was now paft. While he was thus tortured with uncertainty, the sky was overspread with clouds, the day vanifhed from before him, and a fudden tempeft gathered round his head. He was now roufed by his danger to a quick and painful remembrance of his folly; he now faw how happiness is loft when eafe is confulted; he lamented the unmanly impatience that prompted him to feek fhelter in the grove, and defpifed the petty curiofity that led him on from trifle to trifle. While he was thus reflecting the the air grew blacker, and a clap of thunder broke his meditation. He now refolved to do what remained yet in his power, to tread back the ground which he had paffed, and try to find fome iffue where the wood might open into the plain. He proftrated himself on the ground, and commended his life to the Lord of nature. He rofe with confidence and tranquillity, and preffed on with his fabre in his hand, for the beafts of the defert were in motion, and on every hand were heard the mingled howls of rage and fear, and ravage and expiration: all the horrors of darknefs and folitude furrounded him: the winds roared in the woods, and the torrents tumbled from the hills, - χείμαρροι ποταμοὶ κατ' ὄρεσφι ρέοντες Thus forlorn and diftreffed, he wandered through the wild, without knowing whither he was going, or whether he was every moment drawing nearer to fafety or to deftruction. At length not fear but labour began to overcome him; his breath grew fhort, and his knees trembled, and he was on the point of lying down in refignation to his fate, when he beheld through the brambles the glimmer of a taper. He advanced towards the light, and finding that it proceeded from the cottage of a hermit, he called humbly at the door, and obtained admiffion. The old man fet before him fuch provifions as he had collected for himself, on on which Obidah fed with eagerness and gratitude. When the repaft was over, "Tell me,” said the hermit," by what chance thou haft been brought "hither; I have been now twenty years an inha"bitant of the wilderness, in which I never faw "a man before." Obidah then related the occurrences of his journey, without any concealment or palliation. "Son," faid the hermit, "let the errors and "follies, the dangers and escape of this day, fink "deep into thy heart. Remember, my fon, that "human life is the journey of a day. We rife "in the morning of youth, full of vigour and "full of expectation; we fet forward with spirit and hope, with gaiety and with diligence, and travel "on awhile in the ftraight road of piety towards "the manfions of reft. In a fhort time we remit "our fervour, and endeavour to find fome mitiga"tion of our duty, and fome more easy means "of obtaining the fame end. We then relax our "vigour, and refolve no longer to be terrified "with crimes at a distance, but rely upon our "own conftancy, and venture to approach what "" we refolve never to touch. We thus enter the "bowers of cafe, and repofe in the fhades of fe"curity. Here the heart foftens, and vigilance "fubfides; we are then willing to enquire whe"ther another advance cannot be made, and "whether we may not, at leaft, turn our eyes. upon the gardens of pleasure. We approach "them with fcruple and hesitation; we enter them, but enter timorous and trembling, and "always hope to pafs through them without lofing the road of virtue, which we, for a "while, "while, keep in our fight, and to which we propose "to return. But temptation fucceeds temptation, "and one compliance prepares us for another; we "in time lose the happiness of innocence, and fo"lace our difquiet with fenfual gratifications. By "degrees we let fall the remembrance of our origi"nal intention, and quit the only adequate object "of rational defire. We entangle ourselves in "bufinefs, immerge ourselves in luxury, and rove "through the labyrinths of inconftancy, till the "darkness of old age begins to invade us, and dif"ease and anxiety obftruct our way. We then "look back upon our lives with horror, with for"row, with repentance; and wifh, but too often "vainly with, that we had not forfaken the ways of "virtue. Happy are they, my fon, who fhall "learn from thy example not to defpair, but shall "remember, that though the day is past, and their "ftrength is wafted, there yet remains one effort "to be made; that reformation is never hopeless, 66 nor fincere endeavours ever unaffifted, that the "wanderer may at length return after all his errors, "and that he who implores ftrength and courage "from above, fhall find danger and difficulty give 66 way before him. Go now, my fon, to thy re pofe, commit thyfelf to the care of Omnipotence, "and when the morning calls again to toil, begin "anew thy journey and thy life." NUMB. 66. SATURDAY, November 3, 1750. Pauci dignofcere poffunt Vera bona, atque illis multum diverfa, remotâ Erroris nebula. -How few Know their own good; or, knowing it, pursue? Juv. DRYDEN. THE folly of human wishes and pursuits has always been a standing subject of mirth and declamation, and has been ridiculed and lamented from age to age; till perhaps the fruitless repetition of complaints and cenfures may be juftly numbered among the fubjects of cenfure and complaint. Some of these instructors of mankind have not contented themselves with checking the overflows of paffion, and lopping the exuberance of defire, but have attempted to deftroy the root as well as the branches, and not only to confine the mind within bounds, but to fmooth it for ever by a dead calm. They have employed their reafon and eloquence to perfuade us, that nothing is worth the wifh of a wife man, have reprefented all earthly good and evil as indifferent, and counted among vulgar errors the dread of pain and the love of life. It is almost always the unhappiness of a victorious difputant, to destroy his own authority by claiming too many confequences, or diffufing his propofition to an indefenfible extent. When we have heated our zeal in a caufe, and elated our confidence with fuccefs, we are naturally inclined to pursue the fame train of reasoning, to establish |