And he that feem'd our counterpart at first,
Soon fhows the ftrong fimilitude revers'd.

Young heads are giddy, and young hearts are warm,
And make mistakes for manhood to reform.
Boys are at best but pretty buds unblown,

appears,

Whose scent and hues are rather guess'd than known.
Each dreams that each is just what he
But learns his error in maturer years,
When difpofition, like a fail unfurl'd,
Shows all its rents and patches to the world.
If therefore, ev'n when honeft in defign,
A boyish friendship may fo foon decline,
'Twere wiser fure t' infpire a little heart
With juft abhorrence of fo mean a part,
Than fet your fon to work at a vile trade,
For wages fo unlikely to be paid.

Our public hives of puerile refort,
That are of chief and moft approv'd report,
To fuch base hopes in many a fordid soul,
Owe their repute in part, but not the whole.
A principle, whofe proud pretenfions pafs
Unqueftion'd, though the jewel be but glass,
That with a world, not often over-nice,
Ranks as a virtue, and is yet a vice,
Or rather a grofs compound, juftly try'd,
Of envy, hatred, jealoufy, and pride,
Contributes moft, perhaps, t' inhance their fame,
And Emulation is its fpecious name.

Boys once on fire with that contentious zeal,
Feel all the rage that female rivals feel,
C

The

The prize of beauty in a woman's eyes,
Not brighter than in theirs the scholar's prize.
The spirit of that competition burns,
With all varieties of ill by turns,
Each vainly magnifies his own fuccefs,
Refents his fellows, wifhes it were less,
Exults in his miscarriage, if he fail,
Deems his reward too great, if he prevail,
And labors to furpafs him day and night,.
Lefs for improvement, than to tickle fpite.
The fpur is pow'rful, and I grant its force,
It pricks the genius forward in its course,
Allows fhort time for play, and none for floth,
And felt alike by each, advances both;
But judge where fo much evil intervenes,
The end, though plausible, not worth the means.
Weigh, for a moment, claffical defert,
Against an heart deprav'd, and temper hurt,
Hurt too, perhaps for life, for early wrong
Done to the nobler part, affects it long,
And you are ftaunch indeed in learning's caufe,
If you can crown a difcipline that draws
Such mifchiefs after it, with much applaufe.

Connection form'd for int'reft, and endear'd
By felfifh views, thus cenfur'd and cashier'd,
And emulation, as engend'ring hate,
Doom'd to a no lefs ignominious fate,
The props of fuch proud feminaries fall,
The JACHIN and the Boaz of them all.

}

Great

Great fchools rejected then, as thofe that fwell.
Beyond a fize that can be manag'd well,
Shall royal inftitutions mifs the bays,
And fmall academies win all the praife?
Force not my drift beyond its juft intent,
I praise a school as Pope a government;
So take my judgment in his language dress'd,
"Whate'er is beft adminifter'd, is beft."
Few boys are born with talents that excel,
But all are capable of living well.

Then af not, whether limited or large,
But, watch they ftrictly, or neglect their charge?
If anxious only that their boys may learn,
While Morals languifh, a despis'd concern;
The great and fmall deferve one common blame,
Diff'rent in fize, but in effect the fame.

Much zeal in virtue's caufe all teachers boaft,
Though motives of mere lucre fway the moft.
Therefore in towns and cities they abound,
For there, the game they feek is easiest found,
Though there, in fpite of all that care can do,
Traps to catch youth are most abundant too.
If fhrewd, and of a well-constructed brain,
Keen in purfuit, and vig'rous to retain,
Your fon come forth a prodigy of skill,
As wherefoever taught, fo form'd, he will,
The pædagogue, with felf-complacent air,
Claims more than half the praise as his due fhare;
But if with all his genius he betray,

Not more intelligent, than loofe and gay,

Such vicious habits as difgrace his name,
Threaten his health, his fortune, and his fame,
Though want of due reftraint alone have bred
The fymptoms that you fee with fo much dread,
Unenvy'd there, he may fuftain alone,
The whole reproach, the fault was all his own..

Oh, 'tis a fight to be with joy perus'd,
By all whom fentiment has not abus'd,
New-fangled fentiment, the boafted grace,
Of those who never feel in the right place,
A fight furpafs'd by none that we can show,
Though Veftris, on one leg, ftill shine below,
A father bleft with an ingenious fon,
Father, and friend, and tutor all in one.
How? turn again to tales long fince forget,
Efop, and Phædrus, and the reft?-why not??
He will not blush, that has a father's heart,
To take in childish plays, a childish part,
But bends his furdy back to any toy
That youth takes pleasure in, to please his boy;
Then, why refign into a ftranger's hand,

A task as much within your own command,
That God and nature, and your int'rest too,
Seem with one voice to delegate to you?
Why hire a lodging in a house unknown,
For one whofe tend'reft thoughts all hover round
your own ?

This fecond weaning, needlefs as it is,

How does it lacerate both your heart and his !

Th' in

Th' indented ftick that lofes day by day,
Notch after notch, 'till all are smooth'd away,
Bears witness long ere his difmiffion come,
With what intenfe defire he wants his home.
But though the joys he hopes beneath your roof,.
Bid fair enough to answer in the proof,
Harmless, and safe, and natʼral as they are,
A difappointment waits him even there:
Arriv'd, he feels an unexpected change,
He blushes, hangs his head, is fhy and ftrange,
No longer takes, as once, with fearless ease,
His fav'rite ftand between his father's kaces,
But feeks the corner of fome distant seat,
And eyes the door, and watches a retreat,
And leaft familiar where he should be moft,.
Feels all his happiest privileges loft.
Alas, poor boy !-the natural effect
Of love by abfence chill'd into respect.
Say, what accomplishments at school acquir'd
Brings he to fweeten fruits fo undefir'd?
Thou well deferv'ft an alienated fon,
Unless thy confcious heart acknowledge-none.
None, that in thy domeftic fnug recefs,

He had not made his own with more address,
Though fome, perhaps, that shock thy feeling mind,
And better never learn'd, or left behind.

Add too, that thus eftrang'd, thou can't obtain,
By no kind arts, his confidence again,

That here begins with moft that long complaint,
Of filial franknefs loft, and love grown faint,

Which,