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little experience on their part, satisfy my young readers, or some few of them at least, of the folly and wickedness of spending their precious time in a place, where, while they gain no valuable information, which they cannot obtain easier and cheaper at the book-stores, they run the risk of debauching their minds, brutalising their hearts, destroying their health, and finally losing, not only their earthly reputation, but their immortal hope: I say with a very little experience on their part; unless indeed they will take my word for it, which I can scarcely expect, knowing, as I do, how hard it is to put an old man's head upon a young man's shoulders. There is an old saw-" that young men think old men fools, but old men know young ones to be fools." I would correct this old saw, and would say Young men think old men fools; but old men know that all men are fools; for the wisest live only long enough to discover their own folly or weakness, to step only upon the threshold of the temple of wisdom, and then sink into their graves; and hence it is that the world is kept so much in a state of infancy: those who have lived long enough to learn a little, die off, and leave behind, those who have not lived long enough to learn scarcely any thing. But if we be all fools, still we are bound to seek wisdom; and rely upon it, my young

readers, if I did not feel an interest in your prosperity and happiness in life, I should not trouble my old brain to give you this advice; which the longer you live to become acquainted with the Theatre, the sounder you will perceive it to be—and, I hope, have the good sense to act accordingly.

Before we proceed further, we must remark, that by the "wise men" alluded to in our motto, Mr. Pollok no doubt meant such men, in particular, as Addison, Johnson, Home and Blair, all of whom entertained the opinion that "the Theatre might be turned to good account;" and though all these gentlemen wrote in favor of it, yet we believe none of them ever exhibited any specific plan for its improvement; and if any of them did so, the plan unfortunately was either never adopted, or proved to be nugatory on trial; for as Mr. Pollok says, "it never was," so we can add with perfect safety, that the Theatre never has been "turned to good account." Of the above named gentlemen, Home and Blair were clergymen of high standing. What Addison was, all the world knows. Though Blair, very indiscreetly, to say the least, approved of the Theatre, he never wrote a play. Home wrote the tragedy of Douglass; Addison wrote that of Cato. Home was censured by his brethren, both lay and clerical; though he was no

doubt a virtuous man; yet not in this instance a "wise" one:-For I will venture to say, that few young men ever witnessed the exhibition of that tragedy, unless possessed of sounder heads than generally stand upon young shoulders, who did not, while listening to what is said by young Norval, on his first introduction to Lord Randolph, imbibe from it a false lesson in morals: And as this lesson is perhaps one of the least faulty out of more than a thousand vicious ones to be found in the drama at large, I will quote it here, and show its evil tendency. In the first place, Norval declares himself—

"A low born man, of parentage obscure,

Who nought can boast but his desire to be

A soldier, and to gain a name in arms."

Norval is not the only obscure genius, by some thousands, who have been willing to emerge from obscurity by any means, whether right or wrong; but be this as it may, he had come suddenly, unexpectedly, and providentially, no doubt, unless the story be a fiction, to the aid of Lord Randolph, when attacked by banditti, and bravely fighting in his cause, saved him from assassination: Now the virtue did not lay in the fighting of itself-for in itself fighting can never be a virtue, and much less a christian virtuebut to fight on such an occasion, in such a cause, to save a fellow-man from being murdered by a band of ruffians, was virtuous and praise-wor

thy; was in fact an act of necessity as well as mercy; and as such, and such only, is worthy of imitation; yet instead of having acted from such a principle, Norval is made to say that he he had "nought" to

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Now, this is the very "desire" that has led all the blood-stained murderers and tyrants, who have ever outraged humanity and trampled upon the rights of mankind, to the performance of all the mischief, all the murder, they committed: And yet such is the principle inculcated, under a momentary delusion, no doubt, by the pen of a minister of the gospel, a messenger of the glad tidings of peace, life and salvation, instead of war and slaughter, and destruction, to the hu

man race.

But let us hear the young man again

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My name is Norval; on the Grampian hills

My father feeds his flocks; a frugal swain,

Whose constant cares were to increase his store,

And keep his only son, myself, at home.

For I had heard of battles: And I long'd

To follow to the field some warlike Lord,

And heav'n soon granted what my sire deny'd.

Yon moon which rose last night, round as my shield,
Had not yet fill'd her horns, when, by her light,
A band of fierce barbarians from the hills,
Rush'd like a torrent down upon the vale,

Sweeping our flocks and herds. The shepherds fled
For safety and for succour. I alone,
With bended bow, and quiver full of arrows,
Hover'd about the enemy, and mark'd

The road he took, then hasted to my friends,

Whom with a troop of fifty chosen men,
I met advancing. The pursuit I led,
Till we o'ertook the spoil-encumbered foe.

We fought and conquer'd. Ere a sword was drawn,
An arrow from my bow had pierc'd their chief,
Who wore that day the arms which now I wear.
Returning home in triumph, I disdain'd

The shepherd's slothful life; and having heard
That our good king had summon'd his bold peers
To lead their warriors to the Carron side,

I left my father's house, and took with me

A chosen servant to conduct my steps:-
Yon trembling coward who forsook his master.
Journeying with this intent, I pass'd these towers,
And heaven-directed, came this day to do

The happy deed that gilds my humble name."

To this speech Lord Randolph makes the following reply, in part addressed to Lady Randolph

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With such a gallant modesty rehears'd?
My brave deliverer! thou shalt enter now
A nobler list, and in a monarch's sight
Contend with princes for the prize of fame.
I will present thee to our Scottish king,
Whose valiant spirit ever valor loved," &c.

These two speeches, it will be seen, are in perfect keeping with the first announcement by Norval of what he was; and no young man, whose mind is not fixed on the pursuit of a rational course of life, or not fortified by the soundest native sagacity, can listen to either of the three, without receiving wrong impressions; without a "desire to gain a name in arms!"— and, whether right or wrong,

"To follow to the field some warlike Lord !''

And without learning, at the same time, to dis

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