father, pervade likewise the whole mass of being; and, though weaker in proportion to the distance of propinquity, yet cannot he be called wretched, who receives, or communicates the smallest portion of their influence. From the impassioned feelings of the mother, to him who stands joyless on the verge of apathy, the tide of affection flows in a long and devious course. Clear, full, and vehement, it descends into the vale of life, where, after a short time, becoming tranquil and serene, it separates into many branches; and these, again dividing, wander in a thousand streams, dispensing, as they move along, the sweets of health and happiness. That no felicity exists independent of a susceptibility for these emotions, is a certain. fact; for to the heart of him who hath been cold to filial or fraternal duty, the soothing charm of friendship and of love will ever be unknown. It is, therefore, evident, that to be happy, man must invariably consult the wellbeing of others; to his fellow-creatures he must. attribute the bliss which he enjoys; it is a reward proportional to the exertion of his philanthropy. Abstract the man of virtue and benevolence from society, and you cut off the prime source of his happiness; he has no proper

object on which to place his affection or exercise his humanity; the sudden rapture of the grateful heart, the tender tones of friendship, and the melting sweetness of expressive love, no longer thrill upon his ear, or swell his softened soul; all is an aching void, a cheerless, and almost unproductive waste; yet even in this situation, barren as it is, where none are found to pour the balm of pity, or listen to the plaint of sorrow, even here some enjoyment is derived from letting loose our affections upon inanimate nature. "Were I in a desert," says Sterne, "I would find something in it to call forth my affections. If I could not do better, I would fasten them upon some sweet myrtle, or seek some melancholy cypress to connect myself to. I would court their shade, and greet them kindly for their protection. I would cut my name upon them, and swear they were the loveliest trees throughout the desert. If their leaves withered, I would teach myself to mourn; and when they rejoiced, I would rejoice with them."

That man was formed for society, seems a truth so well established, and the benefits arising from such an union, so apparent, that few

would ever suppose it to have been doubted; yet have there been philosophers whom hypothesis, or the love of eccentricity, has led to prefer that period,

When wild in woods, the noble savage ran.

An election so absurd, merits not a serious refutation; every day's experience must convince the man of observation, that our happiness depends upon the cultivation of our social duties, upon the nurture of humanity and benevolence, that our crimes are nearly in proportion to the rupture of domestic harmony, and that the flagitious deeds which glare upon us with so horrid an aspect, are often the consequences of indirect deviation from the still small voice of duty and of love. He, who has been accustomed to despise the feelings of the son, the husband, and the friend, will not often be found proof against the allurements of interest and of vice. He, who, unless driven by hunger and despair, lifts up his daring arm to arrest the property or the life of his fellow creature, never felt those soft sensations which arise from the consciousness of being beloved: for let no man be called wretched who has this in reserve, let no man be called poor who has a friend to consult."

Nor is social happiness less injured by that semblance of sensibility which it has become of late but too common to assume: for if we trust to the assertions of all those, who think proper to claim its possession, how common, how widely diffused among the sons of men, must this best and sweetest of the gifts of nature and education be; and yet, alas! when he whose heart hath ever melted at the sufferings of distress, whose liberality hath ever been poured out upon the children of penury, whose friendship and whose love hath been permanent and pure, when he shall step forward in the world, solicitous to extend the sphere of his benevolence, solicitous to claim kindred with those of a congenial temper, with those whose conversation or compositions had impressed him in their favour, how will he stand aghast, how will his heart sink within him, when, instead of sympathy and of charity, of social and of domestic feeling, he shall find apathy and avarice, find extortion and cruelty!

That this is not an overcharged picture, I am well convinced. There are many, whose, writings breathe the very soul of sensibility, with whom the slightest impulse of pity and

distress ought to operate, and yet, unhappily for virtue, their compofitions and their lives, their sentiments and their actions, correspond not. There are many, also, from whom the delineations of elegant distress, the struggles of disastrous love, or the plaintive sorrows of deluded innocence, will not fail to elicit the tear of sympathy; but when objects of real distress, when sickness and when poverty, when pain and when decrepitude present themselves, they shudder at the sight, they pass on, they fly the wretched mourner.

It should, therefore, be a principle early inculcated into the minds of our youth, that to be happy, is to be beloved, and that our enjoyment will be commensurate to our efforts in relieving the distress and the misery of others. Were this the case, how much of that wanton and pernicious cruelty would be avoided, as frequently the disgrace of manhood as of boyish years. Were our children taught to nourish sentiments of love and of esteem for those around them, to elicit their affection by each amiable exertion in their power, to visit and give succour to the sick and the afflicted, how often would the tear of rapture fill their