1756. A Moral ORIENTAL TALE. quires great delicacy; and as all I can fay will, perhaps, be much better conveyed to you in a little oriental tale I lately met with, I beg leave to fubjoin it. Selima was the daughter of Abdallah, a Perfian of fome diftinction in the reign ef Abas the Great; but being difgufted withdrew from court, and fettled on the A banks of the Zenderoud. He had likewife a retreat in mount Taurus, and as Selima had a tafte for folitude, he often accompanied her there during the exceffive heats of fummer. No expence was fpared to render this abode delightful; the walks were lined with trees of various fruits and foliage, and flowers, of a thoufand different hues and odours, painted the B parterre. It was furnished with water from the adjacent mountains, which pouring down a natural cafcade, was afterwards divided into fmaller ftreams, and diftributed to every part of the garden. The murmuring of thefe little rills, and the foft melody of the birds, gave the mind a peculiar turn to mufing; and as Selima's was naturally difpofed to reflection, the enjoyed this recefs with double pleasure, and never left it but with extreme regiet. D She was now in her twenty first year, and was often rallied by her coufin Zara on her fondnefs for retirement: To what end, she would fay, is all that enchanting bloom, and eyes fparkling with the moft vivid luftre, if not employed to thofe purposes for which they were defigned? You are formed for love, enjoy it in all its pleafures: Young Ibrahim pants for a fight of you, and, tho' contrary to our rules, I have promifed to use all my intereft for his admittance. I tremble, replied Selima, at the propofal, and can E by no means confent to fuch an interview; it is contrary to my duty, offends my delicacy, and troubles my repofe : The pleafures of love are too tumultuous, and little fuited to a heart like mine. Zara was filent; yet ftill determined to purfue her point, and withdraw her cousin from a folitude fhe thought fo injurious to her, and which in her opinion, was only proper for the old, the melancholy, and the deformed. F It was in one of thofe fine autumnal evenings, which, in the fouthern parts of Perfia, are fo delightful, that the propof d to Selima to take a walk along the banks of the Zenderoud, with an intention to carry her to a houfe in the fuburbs of If-G fahan, where Ibrahim bad formed a party to entertain them. The moon and stars fhone with uncommon fplendor, and were reflected from the furface of the river with additional luftre: The woodbines and jafmines, which grew in great profu September, 1956. 425 fion, filled the air with their fragrance; and the trembling leaves, which the dying gales had yet left in motion, diverfified the fcene, and made it altogether charming. How tranfporting, cried Selima, are thefe rural delights! I tafte them pure and unmixed! Alas, how different from thofe delufive pleafures which play upon the fenfes for a moment, and leave nothing behind them but uneafinefs and regret! You are much miftaken, interrupted Zara, if you think there are no other amufements you are capable, of relishing; and if you are pleased to permit me, I will immediately conduct you where you will meet with joys, of which thefe are but the fhadow. Amazement and furprize ftopped Selima; a fudden tremor fhook her whole frame; and, before the could recover herfelf, a thin mit arifing from the river condenfed into a cloud, and covered her entirely from the view of her companion. A pleafing number fole upon her fenfes, and when the awoke, the found herself upon the highest peak of mount Taurus: She had fcarce tinie for recollection, when one of thofe benevolent genii, who prefde over the good and virtuous, thus addreffed her. I have faved thee, O Selima, if not from ruin, yet at least from the extremeft danger: The importunities of Zara would at length have prevailed; and wine, mufick, and the fofteft tales of love, would jointly have contributed to thy undoing. Thofe objects which affect the fenfes frike most ftrongly, and numbers reft there without looking farther, or confidering the great end of their existence. To convince thee of this truth; clofe thy eyes for a moment, then look beneath the mountain, and tell me what thou feeft. I fee, faid Selima, a vast expanfe of water, and one fmall island in the midst of it: A river divides it into two parts, equally productive of the conveniences of life, and traced out into numberlefs little paths, which at length unite in one common road on each fide of the river. This fpot feems to be inhabited by the fame fpecies of beings, but their employments and purfuits are extremely different: Thofe on the left hand are either perpetually toiling to amafs little heaps of carth, and gather together the various productions of the foil, in much greater quantities than they can poffibly make ufe of, or, impatient of labour, confume in riot and excefs, that neceffary portion which is allotted them for their fupport. They travel, indeed, thro' different paths, but their tendency is the fame; and I fee them fucceffively plunging into that il'imitable track of waters, with looks Hbh full 426 On HEAVEN. full of anxiety and follicitude, or with an air of the greatest gaiety and unconcern. To the right is exhibited a very different fcene; a pleafing chearfulness dwelis upon every face, except a few, whofe melancholy caft and difpofition of mind throws a gloom on all which they behold. These chufe out the most difficult paths; A they look with horror on every innocent amufement, and partake even of the neceffaries of life with fearfulness and trembling: Their journey is fafe, but very unpleafant; and like weary travellers they are continually withing for an end of it. Their happier companions, who travel with great alacrity along the borders of the river, tafte its refreshing stream, and gather, with a frugal but unfparing hand, whatever the lexuriant foil affords them. A firm perfuafion of a never-failing fupply, takes from them all follicitude; light, and ditincumbered of every care, they prefs forward with incredible ardor; their views extend, the profpe&t opens, and a flood of glory, brighter than the C mid-day fun, receives them to unutterable blifs and rapture. B Sept. To the AUTHOR of the LONDON SIR, HAVE here attempted to arrange fome hints, collected from feveral authors, concerning that place we have all in view, and into which we hope, in due time, to be admitted. Pleafe to give them the publick. Your conftant reader, &c. A. Z. On HEAVEN. GLO O city of God! Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks! Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Rush out of the gates of Babylon, lock upon Zion, the city of our folemnities! Thine eyes fhall fee Jerufalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that fhall not be taken down, not one of the ftakes thereof fhall ever be removed, neither fhall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there, the glorious Lord will be to us a place of broad rivers and ftreams, wherein hail go no gally with oars, neither shall a galJant hip pafs thereby. No enemy to terrify us with a threatned invafion, nor any to moleft us with a bloody perfecution. The gates of this city are built with pearls, the walls with precious stones, Dthe treets paved with gold, and God himfelf is the temple! No need of the light of the fun, nor of the moon, for the glory of the Lord is the light thereof! This eternal city is of incomparable claritude! where there is victory! where there is dignity! where there is life! where there is eternity! where the river fprings from under the throne and hill of God! The water clear as cryftal! the banks fet with trees of life! where your chear, is joy! your exercife, finging! your duties, praife! the fubject, God! the choir, confifting of angels and faints, and the fongs, hallelujahs !-They that have been wrapt up in darkness, and buFried in disgrace, fhall wear robes of light, and crowns of glory! No fear of your eyes being dimmed with tears, or ears affrighted with cries, or your fenfes disturbed with pain, or the heart damped with forrow, or the foul furprized with death! -Where there is all good, no evil! no perfecutors, no fequetirators, to claim your poffeffions, nor to envy your happinefs; there the rich cannot be robbed, nor kings flattered; but poffeffions are held without impeachments, royalties without cares, length of years without decay of ftrength, love without jealoufy, greatness of fate without confcioufnefs of corrup What thou haft feen, faid the genius, requires no explanation: I fhall only obferve to thee, that human life is that portion of time allotted to mortals by way of trial; and every thing neceflary to make it eafy and delightful, is freely given, and may be enjoyed, within proper limitations, with perfect innocence and fafety: In the excefs lies all the danger, and the unavoidable confequence of that excefs, is mifery. This profufion of good things, is thus indulgently poured out around thee, by the great Author of thy being; every pleasure thou poffeffeft flows from his immediate E bounty, and to him thou art indebted for thofe external graces which adorn thy perfon, as well as for the moral and intellectual beauties of thy mind. The proper return for all these favours, is a grateful heart, and a chearful obedience and fubmiffion to his will. Confider him as the fountain of thy happiness, and he will neceffarily become the fupreme object of thy affections; and friendship, love, and every human paffion, will give place to this diviner ardor. Selima was ftill liftening to the genius with great attention, and expecting the fequel of his difcourfe; when looking up, the found he had disappeared. She was troubled at his leaving her, and uneafy to G think how the should defcend from the fammit of the mountain, when a bird of the finest plumage flew before her, and conducted her down the declivity with the greatest ease and fafety. (See p. 334.) Liverpoole, August 17. tion! 1756. STRICTURES on FAM E. tion! There we are fatisfied with enjoying, and fecured from retaining; glory perfected! being made one with Jefus Chrift! who will fay, Come ye, beloved, who washed your garments white in my blood! Come, and poffefs things unutterable by mortal tongue; glorious even beyond the power of words! Receive the new name A with the white stone, and the living waters that nourish to eternal life! Poffefs the land of Promife! See the beauties, tafte the pleafures, and enjoy the privileges of the celestial Canaan, the fupernal Jerufalem! You have been toffed on a troubled fea; this is the haven of happiness, the land of glory, the centre of rest! I faw you, captives, fitting by the rivers B of Babylon, weeping, when you remembered Sion, the place of your triumph and joy, the city of the great KING! Your waters of forrow, will now be turned into the wine of joy. For I was an hungred and ye gave me meat, thirsty and ye gave me drink, a ftranger and ye took me in, naked and ye clothed me, C fick and imprisoned and ye vifited me! Not content with the fpecious fhews of devotion, your hands were ftretched out to blefs the indigent, and you thereby fup plied the feeming defects of Providence. Great is your reward! fet ye down with Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, with the general affembly, and church of the firstborn, whofe names are written in the book of life! God the judge of all is your God; in whofe prefence is fulness of joy, and at whofe right hand, there are pleafures for evermore. Oxfordshire, August 16. W. 427 py would it be for the world! The world, which often becomes a victim to its own folly and infatuation, being fcourged and ravaged by the very idols which it adores. Were virtue to be made the criterion of fame, thofe to whom hiftory gives the furname of great, would be reduced to a very fmail number; and many names now mentioned with indifference, or buried in obfcurity, would fhine forth with all the genuine luftre of true glory, and be celebrated with the refpe&t and veneration due alone to good actions. The pains which fome writers have taken to excite in men's minds a love of fame, had been much better bestowed in incul cating a love of virtue; for tho' fame is faid to be one of the greatest incentives to virtue, yet it is too evident from ex. perience and examples, that unless men can be perfuaded to purfue virtue for her own fake, they will generally neglect the fubftance for the fhadow, and, dazzled by the glaring meteor, prefer the noify praife of giddy popularity, to the filent approbation of their own reafon and confcience: Thus Alexander, fired by reading the works of Homer, mistook ambition for honour, and fame for virtue; he filled the eatern world with flaughter and devaftation, and yet is handed down to pofterity as a pattern for future heroes, or rather for future mad men to imitate; Cæfar wept at reading the exploits of Alexander, because he had then done nothing to fignalize his name; his great mind, tho' fraught with every amiable virtue, yet being corrupted with the fame fatal thirst of fame, prompted him to fubdue his country, and to ruin that commonwealth, of which his vaft abiliE ties in war and peace enabled him to have been the ornament and defender. But had Alexander and Cæfar placed their happiness in virtue, and not in fame, what bleffings might they have conferred on their countries, and what noble examples had they left for future princes to follow! Some excufe may indeed be admitted for their deviation from reafon and virtue, because the notions of heathens, with regard to a future ftate, were fo dark and imperfect, that the acquifition of fame was looked upon as a fure means of admittance to the elylian manfions. But now, when our reafon is enlightned by revelation, fhall we perfift in the fame abfurd error? Shall we continue to honour thofe names with encomiums of praife, which we ought to point out with marks of infamy? Far otherwife: Let us rather thake off the fhackles of opinion, and the authority of cuilom, and learn to make a proper ofe F reafon, may be reckoned the unequal and 428 VIRTUE fuperior to FAME. of our reafon; by this means we shall It is finely obferved by fome of the Thus Sept. Military men may, perhaps, think thefe others who claim a fhare of the renown of his exploits. Befides, it is more difficult to conquer ourfelves by fubduing our paffions, than, by the help of multitudes and the concurrence of fortune to conquer others; if virtue then is more difficult to be attained than fame, it is confequently more glorious. It often hap- C pens, that fame is no fooner acquired, than it is loft again; whereas nothing can deprive us of our virtue. Charles of Sweden loft his glory at Pultowa, altho' no defeat could have robbed Peter the Great of his fame, because he did not derive it from his military exploits, but from his God-like labours, for rendering his people happy. He that D obtains fame at the expence of virtue, muft furely find his enjoyment embittered with remorfe; he must reflect, that he has been the author of innumerable murders and miferies, in wading thro' human blood, before he could reach the fummit of his ambition: If heroes then have any humanity, they muft furely be forry for E their conquefts, and blush at fame: But every victory over our paffions produces true fatisfaction, and every approach towards virtue is attended with encreafing happiness. Fame is not only uncertain and precarious, but tranfitory; new candidates arife in every age, and obliterate the memory of their predeceffors: But virtue is always the fame, always flourifhing, and always lafting. Fame adds nothing to the happiness of life, but, on the other hand, fills the world with calarity, and corrupts our minds, by giving a wrong turn to thofe paffions, which might be of fervice in the caufe of virtue; it produces thofe beings whom the world calls heroes and politicians, but G whom reafon teaches us to regard as villains and madmen. For grant that thofe can conquer, thefe 'Tis phrafe abfurd to call a villain great : The 1756. INDIAN CONFERENCE. governors of all our colonies north of Carolina, to levy troops for this purpose * ; and according to thefe orders a great number of troops were raifed by our northern colonies, and long kept in pay, as no orders were fent for dibanding them; but our troops and fquadron from hence, after having been kept in readiness all the fummer, were at laft fent upon that famous expedition to Britany in France, inftead of Canada, to the great grief and difappointment of all our northern colo-, nies, as well as every man here, who had any concern for their profperity, or future fecurity. A 431 carry them to Nova Scotia, where they all arrived fafe, together with col. Cornwailis, who had been appointed governer, about the end of June and beginning of July, and as had been before fettled here, took up their refidence on the fide of that fine natural harbour called Chebu&to, where they immediately set out about teginning to build a new city, which they called Hallifax, in honour to a noble lord who had been the chief promoter of this ufeful undertaking ++. Whether the French fquadron that failed in October, 1747, had any orders to B attack Cape-Briton, or any defign but that of convoying their fleet of merchantmen to the West Indies, is uncertain, but whatever defign they had, it was disappointed by our brave admiral Hawke, who to k and brought most of them into England t. And neither our people in Cape-Breton, nor those at Annapolis, met with any dif- C turbance afterwards during the war. But what the French could not effe&urate by war, they found means to effectuate by peace; for by the treaty at Aix-la-Chapelle it was agreed to restore the important inland of Cape-Breton, and that without obliging them to demolish any of the forts they had built in time of peace to the fouth of the river St. Lawrence, or the D Great Lakes, all of which were encroachments upon us, or upon our allies, the Six Nations; and indeed without obliging either the French or the Spaniards to make any one conceffion in favour of England, as that of Madrafs in the Eaft-Indies could not be called a conceffion, because it was a place not worth their keeping, and hardly worth our receiving, in the condition it had by them been reduced to † ; fo that we may be faid to have given the French 600,cool. for nothing §, befides enabling them to contend with us in naval power. This definitive treaty of peace (as it was called) was no fooner agreed to and ratified, than fome people here began to form (chemes for doing what we had neglected for above 40 years paft, that is to fay, for establishing, at the publick expence, a new colony in Nova Scotia, which project was at laft adopted by our minifters, and an advertisement published in in our Gazettes for carrying it into execu- G tion **. Such a propofal we may believe, could not be long in being embraced by great numbers of people, and accordingly by the end of April fome thousands had entered, and about that time embarked in the tranfports that had been provided to x.] [To be continued in our next. CONFERENCE betaveen Sir WILIIANY JOHNSON and the Indians, continued from p. 388. T THE general had frequently in fined upon knowing their refolut.ons, with respect to the ravages committed by the Delawares, &c. This paragraph is intended as an apology for their not inaking their answer fooner. Brother Warraghiyagry, You have moft carneitly and frequently pretfed us to accommodate that unhappy breach, between the Delawares and ouT brethren the English; our delay did not proceed from any backwardness on our part, but from the great fense we had of its importance: We hope you have received fatisfaction on that bead, by the great belt we juft now delivered with fo much folemnity and fincerity. Brother Warraghiyagey, You have acquainted us, that the great king, our father, 'is firmly refolved to defend our country, and recover fuch parts of it, as the French have encroached upon; alfo, to protect us to the utmoft of his power, by erecting forts for our fafety and defence; we are grateful for this inftance of his goodness; but have not yet concluded any thing with regard to the latter. Brother Warraghiyagay, You have informed us, that the governor of New-York has a prefent for us, from the great king, our father, we are thankful for it; but are afraid, that as it comes fo foon upon the back of this meeting, it will be inconvenient for our aged people to attend; but our warriors thall come upon that occafion. Brother Warraghiyagey, As you have given us a large pipe, to be a conftant memorial of the important advice you have given us, when you are dead and gone, and to fmoke out of it, at our publick meeting-place, when we jointly and maturely reflect upon our engagements; we affure you, we shall hang it up in our council-chamber, and make proper use of it upon all occafions; we + Ditto, 1747, p. 482. Dino, P. 555 likewife Ditto, 1748, ** Ditto, |