Whofe heirs, their honours none, their income small,
Muft shine by true desert, or not at all,
What dream they of, that with fo little care
They risk their hopes, their dearest treasure, there?
They dream of little Charles or William graced
With wig prolix, down flowing to his waift;
They fee the attentive crowds his talents draw,
They hear him speak-the oracle of law.
The father, who defigns his babe a priest,
Dreams him episcopally such at least;
And, while the playful jockey scours the room
Brifkly, aftride upon the parlour broom,
In fancy fees him more fuperbly ride
In coach with purple lined and mitres on its fide. Events improbable and ftrange as these,
Which only a parental eye forefees,
A public school shall bring to pass with ease.
But how? refides fuch virtue in that air,
As must create an appetite for prayer?
And will it breathe into him all the zeal,
That candidates for fuch a prize fhould feel,
To take the lead and be the foremoft ftill
In all true worth and literary fkill?
"Ah blind to bright futurity, untaught
"The knowledge of the world, and dull of thought!
"Church-ladders are not always mounted best
"By learned clerks and Latinifts profeffed.
"The exalted prize demands an upward look,
"Not to be found by poring on a book.
"Small skill in Latin, and still lefs in Greek,
"Is more than adequate to all I seek.
"Let erudition grace him or not grace,
"I give the bauble but the second place;
“His wealth, fame, honours, all that I intend,
"Subfift and centre in one point-a friend.
"A friend, whate'er he studies or neglects,
"Shall give him confequence, heal all defects.
"His intercourfe with peers and fons of peers→
"There dawns the splendour of his future years;
"In that bright quarter his propitious skies
"Shall blush betimes, and there his glory rife.
"Your Lordship, and Your Grace! what school can
" teach
"A rhetoric equal to thofe parts of speech?
"What need of Homer's verfe or Tully's profe,
"Sweet interjections! if he learn but those?
"Let reverend churls his ignorance rebuke, "Who ftarve upon a dog's-eared Pentateuch,
The parfon knows enough,who knowsa duke." Egregious purpofe! worthily begun
In barbarous prostitution of your fon;
Preffed on his part by means, that would difgrace
A fcrivener's clerk or footman out of place,
And ending, if at last its end be gained,
In facrilege, in God's own houfe profaned.
It may fucceed; and, if his fins fhould call
For more than common punishment, it shall;
The wretch fhall rife, and be the thing on earth
Leaft qualified in honour, learning, worth,
To occupy a facred, awful poft,
In which the best and worthieft tremble moft.
The royal letters are a thing of course,
A king, that would, might recommend his horfe;
And deans, no doubt, and chapters, with one voice,
As bound in duty, would confirm the choice.
Behold your bishop! well he plays his part,
Chriftian in name, and infidel in heart,
Ghoftly in office, earthly in his plan,
A flave at court, elsewhere a lady's man.
Dumb as a senator, and as a priest
A piece of mere church-furniture at best;
To live eftranged from God his total scope,
And his end fure, without one glimpse of hope.
But fair although and feafible it seem,
Depend not much upon your golden dream;
For providence, that seems concerned to exempt
The hallowed bench from absolute contempt,
In spite of all the wrigglers into place,
Still keeps a feat or two for worth and grace;
And therefore 'tis, that, though the fight be rare,
We fometimes fee a Lowth or Bagot there.
Befides, school-friendships are not always found,
Though fair in promise, permanent and found;
The most difinterested and virtuous minds,
In early years connected, time unbinds;
New fituations give a different caft
Of habit, inclination, temper, taste;
And he, that seemed our counterpart at first,
Soon shows the ftrong fimilitude reversed.
Young heads are giddy, and young hearts are warm,
And make miftakes for manhood to reform.
Boys are at beft but pretty buds unblown,
Whofe fcent and hues are rather gueffed than known;
Each dreams that each is juft what he appears,
But learns his error in maturer years,
When difpofition, like a fail unfurled,
Shows all its rents and patches to the world.
If, therefore, ev'n when honeft in defign,
A boyifh friendship may fo foon decline,
"Twere wiser sure to infpire a little heart
With just 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 most approved report,
To fuch bafe hopes, in many a fordid foul,
Owe their repute in part, but not the whole.
A principle, whose proud pretenfions pass
Unqueftioned, though the jewel be but glaf-
That with a world, not often over-nice,
Ranks as a virtue, and is yet a vice;
Or rather a grofs compound, juftly tried,
Of envy, hatred, jealousy, and pride-
Contributes moft perhaps to enhance their fame;
And emulation is its fpecious name.
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