Jones or a Roderick Random, he may struggle with misfortunes, and he may indulge his passions, without reaping any other fruit at last than poverty, shame, and remorse. It is not the dashing hero of romance who will always attain the golden apple. The road to independence, may, indeed, occasionally deviate into the wilderness of thoughtless benevolence, and unrestrained indulgence, but in by far the greater number of instances, it is to be tra ced by the industrious and prudent traveller, in a direct and undeviating course. By such kind of reading, howmuch-soever the fancy may be enamour. ed, the judgment is in great danger of being misled. Life appears as a state of retribution as well as of trial, and the rewards of virtue and sobriety are often bestowed on the thoughtless and the profligate. fancy, It is difficult, I believe, to admire without a wish to imitate. Seldom did I lay down a book of poetry, without spending some hours afterwards in fruitless attempts at rhyme. The fancy, heated by the imaginary scenes and characters in novels, returns slowly to the sober realities of life. It was after having perused with no common interest the simple but pathetic letters of the Peruvian Princess, that the following lines were composed: THE FORSAKEN MAID'S LAMENT. "Ah cruel Aza, thy Zilia for ever! 'Shall mourn for thy sake all alone and unblest; No! I'll not forget thee-I wish not to sever Thy form from the place which it held in my breast. Once rob'd in the white flowing garb of the sun, 'Twas then whilst enrapt in the song of the God, The son of my prince first appeared in my view; 'Twas then-that my breast with devotion that glow'd, 'Proved false to my God, cruel Aza! for you. 'When the sea bore me far from the land of my joy, And wide roll'd the wave 'twixt my Aza and me; Neither danger nor distance my peace could destroy, For I thought cruel Aza, I thought upon thee. Thy form wont to calm; and to soothe every pain, "When my fortune was dark and the Spaniard unkind, 'I mus'd on my lover, and scorn'd to complain, Ah! false cruel Aza, thy Zilia shall ever, Lament for thy sake, all alone and unblest; "Yet I would not forget thee, I wish not to sever, 'Thy form from the place which it holds in my breast." I have already said enough to make the gentle reader acquainted with the colour and state of my mind, at a time when I was beginning to divest myself of prejudices, and struggling for a livelihood against obscurity and opinion. I shall now enter upon the second and most important period of my history; the time when, with thirteen pounds in my pocket, (the well saved earnings of three long years,) with a letter to a great relation, and a heart big with futurity, I, for the first time in my life, gained the summit of that ridge of mountains which separate Lanark from Dumfries-shire, on my way to the University of Edinburgh. versity of Edinburgh. It was on the morning of a fine day in the latter end of October. The fields of my youthful sports and labours were lying below me. I could see them distinctly as on a map, and mark the smoke ascending from my native glen. The Nith lay below me, like a silver serpent reflecting from its sparkling scales a thousand suns.It was then, for the first time, I contrasted the sons of ambition with the calm contentment of simple and unaspiring men. Before me I saw nothing but mountains rising above cach other On my arrival in Edinburgh, I repaired to the house of my relation, who kindly enough detained me to dinner, and put me on a plan for obtaining a comfortable lodging. There are in Edinburgh, Mr. Spy, a class of men, who being originally possessed of good memories, and great perseverance, have acquired a considerable store of what is termed classical learning; but being at the same time equally destitute of taste and of judge. ment, are wholly incapable of discriminating. These men read the story of Niseus and Euryalus as they do that of Stiles and Nokes, and if they have succeeded in discovering the sense, they are perfectly satisfied. Such men associate with each other merely to communicate conjecture, to fix a comma, or debate a correction. Placed at a table so richly covered with all the delicacies of genius and of taste, they fix their critical claws on the crumbs and the scraps of literature. Buzzing around the sacred altars of Greece and of Rome, they rest on that putrefaction which their unhallowed touch has occasioned. My great relation was a man of this description. He carried me, at our second meeting into his study, where he took occasion to ask my opinion concerning a difficult passage in Virgil, and without waiting for answer, proceeded to enlarge at some length on an important discovery of his own. It had baffled the most acute of the German It had even escapcommentators. ed the eagle eye of Dr. Hunter; and Mr. Few of your readers, Sir, are to be informed, that in the year 1802, Edinburgh could boast of a Greek Professor who did the University honour. Dalzell did not content himself with discharging, in a most creditable and faithful manner, his public duties; he enquired into the situation of his pupils, and without discouraging genius, he knew how to reward industry, and patronize unassuming merit. He judged of boys as he did of men; he knew that talents misapplied are hurtful, not only to their possessor but to society, and he supplied the families of our nobility with tutors, and our schools with masters, who at this hour do credit to themselves and to him. To him, Sir, I am indebted for that character under which I now address you, as it was by his timely and humane interposition that I was prevented from returning to the country, and to all the obscurity and labours of a parish schoolmaster, Some great author or other has said (for one can scarcely perform the most common offices of life, without running the risk of plagiarism,) that we ought to pause on two occasions; before we do any thing, and after we have done it. As, however, the greater part of the events of my life have taken place without any foreknowledge of mine, I have only had an opportunity of putting the latter part of the advice into effect. I shall therefore beg leave to arrest the current of my narrative at this important era, and conclude for the present with a few reflections. Edinburgh is a strange place to a young man, who is altogether unacquainted with the world. The continued succession of passengers along the streets-the richness and splendour of the shops, the variety and oddity of the signs, the rattling and justling of carriages the elegance and magnificence of dwelling houses, and public buildings, and above all the sublime grandeur of the Castle;-all these and inany other objects overpower and bewilder a stranger. I was several days in acquiring a correct idea of the geography of the streets, and in familiarizing my eyes to the wonders of this mighty city. At every corner my at tention was arrested, by a Phoenix, or an Eagle, by a sore with her brush-or a negro with his pipe;-I was once or twice in some danger of being rode down, whilst contemplating the wonders of the thistle, or the spectacles. - But if these external features were calculated to amaze, the internal were not less so.-Soon after my arrival, I was introduced by my great relation to a" speaking society." Never was man so confounded-speech following speech like wave succeeding wave, the former still swallowed up by the last-the orators discussing good and evil, free will, and necessity, cause and effect, with as much fluency and precision, as the devils in Pandy. In vain did I endeavour to form some idea of the subject in dispute. It was victory, not truth for which they were contending. They appeared to be engaged at battle door and shuttle cock, whilst each party was resolved to demonstrate, that truth should not, could not rest with. them.. Having joined the Logic class, I began the study of what is termed philosophy. I read Hume, Reid, Burke, Berkeley, I found them madly at variance with each other. It appeared to me, that they had been members of the same speaking society, so widely did. they differ in sentiment. My mind. having lately undergone a considerable change, was prepared for a revolution; I began to dispute every thing;—my moral sense, my ideas of external ną-ture my own personal identity !-En-. couraged by the unanswerable nature. of my jargon, I entered into disputation with all my acquaintances. In vain. did the Professor raise his warning. voice, in the words of my favourite. Beattie : "Hence ye who snare and stupify the mind, "Sophists of beauty, virtue, joy, the bane, "Greedy and fell, tho' impotent and blind, "Who spread your filthy nets in truths fair fane, "And ply your venomed fangs amain; "Hence to dark error's den, where rankling slime, "(Though loth on theme, so mean, to waste a rhyme,) Such were my situation and senti ments, at the time when by Professor Dalzell's recommendation, I commenced the office of tutor. From which period I shall with your permission, on some future occasion, continue my narrative. In the mean time, I am, Your obedient Servant, A SCOTS TUTOR. MORNING. Waken, drowsy slumberer, waken! Waken, drowsy slumberer, waken! Round and round from glen and grove, O'er the moon-fern whews the plover; See how light the wood-fly dances, Specks of purple, sprigs of yellow, On the leaf of beech and willow; Rouse thee, slumberer from thy pillow. Gay its morn, but, short as gay! } Hope---even hope, can point no morrow! Murm'ring, worn, enfeebled, shaking, Bow thy head, and sleep for ever! Rise! O rise! to work betake thee, Wake thee, drowsy slumberer, wake thee! EDINBURGH-Printed at the Star Office, (price 4d. a single Number, 4s. 6d. per quarter, deliverable in town, and 5s. when sent to the country), by A. AIKMAN, for the PROPRIETORS; where Subscriptions, and Communications, (post paid), will be received. |