plished. For know, proud noble that the deliverer of your only son from slavery is-the banished UBERTO." 13. Adorno dropped the letter, and covered his face with his hand, while his son was displaying in the warmest language of gratitude the virtues of Uberto, and the truly paternal kindness he had`experienced from him. As the debt could not be cancelled, Adorno resolved, if possible, to repay it. He made such powerful intercessions with the other nobles, that the sentence pronounced on Uberto was reyersed, and full permission given him to return to Genoa. In apprising him of this event, Adorno expressed his sense of the obligations he lay under to him, acknowledged the genuine nobleness of his character, and requested his friendship. Uberto returned to his country, and closed his days in peace, with the universal esteem of his fellow-citizens. CHAPTER XLVI. VICE. f. WE all of us talk so loud against vicious characters, and are so unanimous in our cry against them, that an inexperienced man, who only trusted his ears, would imagine the whole world was in an uproar about it, and that mankind were all associating together, to hunt vice utterly out of the world. 2. Shift the scene, and let him behold the reception which vice meets with: he will see the conduct and behaviour of the world towards it so opposite to their declarations; he will find all he heard so contradicted by what he saw, as to leave him in doubt which of his senses he is to trust; or in which of the two cases mankind were in earnest. 3. Was there virtue enough in the world to make a general stand against this contradiction; that is, was every one, who deserved to be ill-spoken of, sure to be looked on too; was it a certain consequence of the loss of a man's character, to lose his friends-to lose the advantages of birth and fortune, and thenceforth be universally shunned, universally slighted, there would be hopes of a reformation, 4. Was no quality a shelter against the indecorums of -the other sex, but was every woman without distinction, who had justly forfeited her reputation-from that moment was she sure to forfeit likewise all claim to civility and respect or, in a word, could it become a law in our ceremonial, that whenever characters of either sex were become notorious, it should be deemed infamous, either to pay or receive a visit from them, and that the door should be shut against them in all public places, till they had satisfied the world, by giving testimony of a better life; a few such plain and honest maxims, faithfully put in practice, would force us upon some degree of reformation. Till this is done it avails little that we have no mercy upon them with our tongues, since they escape without feeling any other inconvenience. 5. We all cry out that the world is corrupted, and I fear too justly; but we never reflect what we have to thank for it, and that our open countenance of vice, which gives the lie to our private censures of it, is its chief protection and encouragement. To those, however, who still believe that evil-speaking is some terror to evil-doers, one may answer, as a great man has done upon the occasion that after all our exhortations against it--it is not to be feared but that there will be evil-speaking enough left in the world to chastise the guilty, and we may safely trust them to an ill-natured world, that there will be no failure of justice upon this score. 6. The passions of men are pretty severe executioners, and to them let us leave this ungrateful task; and rather ourselves endeavour to cultivate a friendly one, recommended by the Apostle-of letting all bitterness, wrath, and clamour, and evil-speaking, be put away from us ; and of being kind to one another, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake forgave us. CHAPTER XLVII. SCHEMES OF LIFE DEFEATED BY IRRESOLUTION. 1. OMAR, the son of Hassan, had passed seventy-five years in honour and prosperity. The favour of three successive Califs had filled his house with riches, and whenever he appeared, the benediction of the people proclaimed his approach. 2. Terrestrial happiness is of short continuance, The brightness of the flame is wasting its fuel, and the fragrant flower passing away in its own odours. The vigor of Omar began to fail, the curls of beauty fell from his head, strength departed from his hands, and agility from his feet. He gave back to the Calif the keys of trust, and the seals of secrecy; and sought no other pleasure for the remainder of his days, than the converse of the wise, and the gratitude of the poor whom he relieved. 3. The powers of his mind were yet unimpaired. His chamber was filled by visitants, eager to catch the dictates of experience, and officious to pay the tribute of admiration. Calid, the son of the viceroy of Egypt, enter-ed every day early, and retired late; he was beautiful and eloquent; Omar admired his wit, and loved his docility. "Tell me," said Calid, "thou to whose voice nations have listened with admiration, and whose wisdom is known to the extremities of Asia, tell me how I may resemble Omar the prudent. The arts by which thou hast gained power, and preserved it, are no longer necessary, or useful to thee; impart to me therefore the secret of thy conduct, and teach me the plan on which thy wisdom has built thy fame." 4. Young man," said Onar, "it is of little use to form plans of life. When I took my first survey of the world, in my twentieth year, having considered the various conditions of mankind, in an hour of solitude I said thus to myself, leaning against a cedar which spread its branches over my head, seventy years are allowed to man; I have yet fifty remaining; ten years I will allot to the attainment of knowledge, and ten I will pass in foreign countries. 5. "I shall be learned, and consequently honored; every city will shout at my arrival, and every student will solicit my acquaintance. Twenty years thus passed will store my mind with images, which will be employment for me through the rest of my life, in combining and comparing, I shall revel in fresh accumulations of intellectual wealth. I shall find new pleasures for every moment, and shall never more he weary of myself. 6. "I will, however, not deviate too far from the beat en track of common life, but will try what can be found in female conversation. I will marry a wife beautiful as the Houries, and wise as Zobida. With her I will live twenty years within the suburbs of Bagdat, in every pleas ure that wealth can purchase, and fancy can invent. I will then retire to a rural dwelling, and pass my last days in obscurity and contemplation; and lie silently down on the bed of death. Through my life it shall be my settled resolution, never to depend on the smiles, nor stand exposed to the artifices, of courts; I will never pant for public honors, nor disturb my quiet with affairs of state. Such was my scheme of life in my younger days. 7. "The first part of my ensuing time was to be spent in search of knowledge, and I know not how I was diverted from ny design. I had no visible impediments without, nor suffered any ungovernable passions within. I regarded knowledge as my highest honor and most engaging pleasure; yet day stole on day, and month glided after month, till I found that seven years of the first ten had vanished, and left nothing behind them. 8. "I now postponed my purpose of travelling; for why should I go abroad, while so much remained to be learnt at home? I therefore immured myself at home for four years, and studied the laws of the empire. The fame of my knowledge reached even the judges; I was found able to speak upon doubtful questions, and was commanded to stand at the foot-stool of the supreme Calif. I was heard with attention. I was consulted with confidence, and the love of praise fastened on my heart. 9. "I still wished to see distant countries, listened with rapture to the relations of travellers, and resolved to ask my dismission, that I might feast my soul with novelty; but my presence was always necessary, and the stream of business hurried me along. Sometimes I was afraid lest I should be charged with ingratitude; but I proposed to travel, and therefore would not confine myself by marriage. 10. "In my fiftieth year I began to suspect that the time of travelling was past, and thought it best to lay hold on the felicity yet in my power, and indulge myself in domestic pleasures. But at fifty no man finds a woman beautiful as the Houries, and wise as Zebida. I inquired and rejected, consulted and deliberated, till the sixty second year made me ashamed of gazing upon the fair. I had now nothing left but retirement, and for retirement I never found a time, till disease forced me from public employment. 11. "Such was my scheme, and such have been its consequences With an insatiable thirst for knowledge, I trifled away the years of improvement; with a restless desire of seeing different countries I have always resided in the same city; with the highest expectation of connubial felicity, I have lived unmarried; and with unalterable resolutions of contemplative retirement, I am going to die within the walls of Bagdat." CHAPTER XLVIII.... PRIDE. 1. PRIDE is a vice which grows up in society so insensibly; steals in unobserved upon the heart on so many occasions; forms itself upon such strange pretensions, and when it has done, veils itself under such variety of unsuspected appearances, sometimes even under that of hu mility itself; in all which cascs, self-love, like a falsefriend, instead of checking, most treacherously feeds this humour, points out some excellence in every soul to make him vain, and think more highly of himself than he ought to think; that, upon the whole, there is no one weakness into which the heart of man is more easily betrayed; or which requires greater helps of good sense and good principles to guard against. 2. Thou art weil born; then trust me, it will not pollute one drop of thy blood to be humble. Humility calls no man down from his rank; divests not princes of their titles; it is in life what the clear obscure is in painting. It makes the hero step forth in the canvass, and detaches his figure from the group in which he would stand confounded forever. 3. If thou art rich, then show the greatness of thy for. tone, or what is better, the greatness of thy soul, in the meekness of thy conversation; condescend to men of low estate support the distressed, and patronize the neglect |