9. My daughter, once the comfort of my age, 10. My tender wife, fweet foother of my care, II. Pity the forrows of a poor old man, THE TEST OF GOODNESS. REAL goodness confifts in doing good to our enemies. Of this truth the following apologue may ferve for an illustration. A certain father of a family, advanced in years, being defirous of fettling his worldly mat-ters, divided his property between his three fons. 2. Nothing now remains, faid he to them, but a dia. mond of great value; this I have determined to appropri ate to whichever of you fhall, within three months, perform the best actions.. 3. His three fons accordingly departed different ways, and returned by the limited time. On prefenting themfelves before their judge, the eldest thus began. 4. Father, faid he, during my abfence, I found a ftrangerfo circumftanced, that he was under a neceflity of entrusting me with the whole of his fortune.. 5. He had no written fecurity from me, nor could he poffibly bring any proof, any evidence whatever of the depofit. Yet I faithfully returned to him every fhilling.. Was there not fomething commendable in this action? 6. Thou haft done what was incumbent upon thee to do, my fon, replied the old man. The man who could have acted otherways were unworthy to live; for honefty is a duty; thy action is an action of juftice, not of goodness. M. 2 7 On 7. On this, the second fon advanced. In the course of my travels, faid he, I came to à lake in which I beheld a child ftruggling with death; I plunged into it and faved his life in the prefence of a number of the neighboring villagers, all of whom can atteft the truth of what I affert. 8. It was well done (interrupted the old man ;) you have only obeyed the dictates of humanity. At length the youngest of the three came forward. 9. I happened, faid he, to meet my mortal enemy, who, having bewildered himself in the dead of night, had imper. ceptibly fallen afleep upon the brink of a frightful precipice. The leaft motion would infallibly have plunged him headlong into the abyfs; and though his life was in my hands, yet with every neceffary precaution, I awaked him, and removed him from his danger. 10. Ah, my fon! exclaimed the venerable good man with transport, while he preffed him to his heart; to thee belongs the diamond; well haft thou deserved it. DESCRIPTION OF MOUNT EINA. THERE is no point on the furface of this globe, which unites fo many awful and sublime objects, as the fummit of Mount Ætna. The immenfe elevation from the surface of the earth, drawn as it were to a fingle point, without any neighboring mountain for the fenfes and imagi nation to rest upon, and recover from their astonishment in their way down to the world : 2. This point or pinnacle, raised on the brink of a bottomlefs gulph, as old as the world, often difcharging rivers of fire, and throwing out burning rocks, with a noife which fhakes the whole island : 3. Add to this, the unbounded extent of the prospect, comprehending the greateft diverfity, and the most beautiful fcenery in nature; with the rifing fun, advancing in the Eaft, to illuminate the wondrous fcene. 4. The whole atmosphere by degrees kindled up, and fhowed dimly and faintly the boundlefs profpect around. Both fea and land looked dark and confused, as if only emerging emerging from their original chaos; and light and darknefs feemed ftill undivided; till the morning, by degrees advancing, completed the feparation. 5. The stars are extinguished, and the fhades disappear. The forests, which but now feemed black and bottomlefs gulphs, from whence no ray was reflected to fhow their form or colors, appear a new creation rifing to the light, catching life and beauty from every increafing beam. 6. The scene ftill enlarges, and the horizon feems to widen and expand itfelf on all fides; till the fun, like the great Creator, appears in the East, and with his plaftic ray completes the mighty scene. 7. All appears enchantment; and it is with difficulty we can believe we are still on earth. The fenfes, unaccustomed to the fublimity of fuch a fcene, are bewildered and confounded; and it is not till after fome time, that they are capable of feparating and judging of the objects which compofe it. 8. The body of the fun is feen rifing from the ocean, immenfe tracts both of fea and land intervening; the iflands of Lipari, Panari, Alicudi, Strombolo, and Volcano, with their smoaking fummits, appear under your feet; and you look down on the whole of Sicily as on a map; and can trace every river through all its windings, from its fource to its mouth. 9. The view is abfolutely boundlefs on every fide ; nor is there any one object, within the circle of vifion, to interrupt it; fo that the fight is every where loft in the immenfity. IO. The circumference of the visible horizon on the top of Etna cannot be lefs than 2000 miles. At Malta, which is nearly 200 miles diftant, they perceive all the irruptions from the fecond region; and that ifland is often difcovered from about one half of the elevation of the mountain; fo that at the whole elevation, the horizon muft extend to nearly double that distance. II. But this is by much too vaft for our fenfes, not intended to grafp fo boundless a scene. I find by some of the Sicilian authors, that the African coaft, as well as that of Naples, with many of its iflands, has been difcovered from the top of Etna. Of this, however, we cannot boast, though we can very well believe it. 12. But 1 12. But the most beautiful part of the fcene is certainly the mountain itself, the ifland of Sicily, and the numerous iflands lying round it. All these, by a kind of magic in vifion, feem as if they were brought clofe round the skirts of Etna; the distances appearing reduced to nothing. 13. The present crater of the volcano is a circle of about three niiles and a half in circumference. It goes shelving down on each fide, and forms a regular hollow like a vast amphitheatre. 14. From many places of this fpace, iffue volumes of fmoke, which, being much heavier than the circumambient air, inftead of rifing in it, as fmoke generally does, rolls down the fide of the mountain like a torrent, till, coming to that part of the atmosphere of the fame fpecific gravity with itself, it fhoots off horizontally, and forms a large tract. in the air, according to the direction of the wind. 15. The crater is fo hot, that it is very dangerous, if not impoffible to go down into it. Befides, the smoke is very incommodious; and, in many places, the furface is fo foft, that there have been inftances of people's finking down into it, and paying for their temerity with their lives. 16. Near the centre of the crater is the great mouth of the volcano. And when we reflect on the immenfity of its depth, the vaft caverns whence fo many lavas have iffued; the force of its internal fire, fufficient to raise up those lavas to fo great a height; the boiling of the matter, the fhaking of the mountain, the explofion of flaming rocks, &c. we must allow, that the moft enthufiaftic imagination, in the midst of all its terrors, can hardly form an idea more. dreadful. A DIALOGUE BETWEEN TWO SCHOOL- Harry. TOM, when are you going to begin your dancing? You will be fo old in a fhort time as to be alhamed to be feen taking your five pofitions. Thomas. I don't know as I fhall begin at all. Father fays he don't care a fig whether I learn to jump any better than than I do now; and as I am to be a tradesman, he is determined, at prefent, to keep me at the reading and writing fchools. Har. That must be very dull and dry for you. And what good will all fuch learning do you, fo long as you make the awkward appearance you do at prefent? I am furprised at your father's folly. So, because you are to be a tradefman, you are not to learn the graces! I expect to learn a trade too. But my papa says I fhall first learn the dancing trade; and then, if I never learn any other, I fhall make my way through the world well enough. Tom. I don't know which discovers the most folly, your father or mine. Old folks certainly know more than young ones; and my father is much the oldest man. Har. I don't believe that doctrine. There's Jack Upfart knows more than his father and mother both. And he is but nineteen yet. And he fays the prefent generation, under five and twenty years of age, knows more than fifteen generations that have gone before us. Tom. I don't know how that is. But father early taught me this proverb, "Young folks think old folks are fools ; but old folks know young ones to be fo." But to return to schools.-Pray how far have you gone in your arithmetic ? Har. Arithmetic ! I have not begun that yet; nor 'fhall I till I have completed dancing. That is a nurly ftudy; I know I never fhall like it. Tom. Writing I fuppofe you are fond of. 1 Har. I can't fay I am, Tom. I once had a tolerable fondness for it. But fince I began dancing, I have held it in utter contempt. It may be well enough for a person to write a legible hand; but it is no mark of a gentleman to write elegantly. Tom. You would have a gentleman Spell well, I fuppofe. Har. I would have him fpell fo well as to be underflood; and that is enough for any man. Tom. What fay you to grammar and geography? Har. Don't name them, I entreat you. There is notlıing I fo much abhor, as to hear your learned school boys jabbering over their nouns, their pronouns, their werbs, their parables, their congregations, their imperfections, and confluctions. |