without deferving them: That he had with invincible temper fuftained the affaults of calumny: That having at laft, with fagacity and spirit, extricated himself from a train of difficulties; and having by unwearied application acquired an opulent fortune; while by perfevering probity joined to fine parts he converted cenfure into applaufe, he betrayed no elation of mind, but continued uncorrupted by profperity, as he had been unconquered by affliction: That he had availed himfelf of his new-acquired riches, in fupplying the wants of thofe very relations who had ufed him worft, in maintaining fome of them who were difabled by age or infirmities, and fettling others in the world: That his hand was ever open to indigent merit, his house a fanctuary to injured innocence, his advice and affiftance free to all, and his company courted equally by the old and the young, of whom he was particularly folicitous to infpire the laft with a fenfe of Honour and the love of VIRTUE.

The GODDESs, delighted with this relation of fo extraordinary a personage, commanded two of her attendants, Magnanimity and Liberality, to crown him with a wreath of laurel, as if he had been a conqueror juft returned from the field of battle. Then, with a voice melodious as the fongs of Elyfium, fhe thus addressed him : "Shine on, thou generous youth! shine "on invariably, with the fplendour of 66 a fuperlative humanity. Inftru&t man"kind by thy perfuafive conversation; "charm them with thy great example:

make the unthinking, the vicious, and the vain, afhamed: teach even the most favage minds to revere that "exalted form of goodnefs which they can never rife to imitate."

Struck with this folemn atteftation of VIRTUE herself, the hero, with an amiable bafhfulness, retired behind the Throne, and difappeared amongst the admiring croud.

1

The next votarift introduced was a perfon far advanced in years, whofe reverend vifage betokened a certain facred fimplicity of character. His demeanour was perfectly plain, and his appearance altogether primitive and artlefs. He ap proached the Throne flowly. On his right hand ftepped RELIGION; on his left, Philofophy: Humility walked behind him. Of him it was told, that he was one of VIRTUE's pricfts, who had ferved at her altar with a zeal as pure as the fire which' burnt upon it, and withal as mild as the oil which fed the holy flame: Every hour that could be fpared from an immediate attendance on his function, he had employed in exercises of a rational piety, or in offices of an unlimited benevolence, or in ftudies devoted to the purposes of both: Having received from Nature a marvellous perfpicacity in experimental refearches, he had, with a diligence and fuccefs till then unknown, applied it to penetrate her works: He explored ac

cordingly many of her fecrets, efpecially thofe relating to the vegetable and animal machinery: By drawing afide the veil which had hitherto enveloped them, he difclofed fuch miracles of power, intelligence, and goodness, as ftruck each attentive fpectator into devout aftonishment: By thefe difcoveries, he had not only advanced the glory of the great Artificer; he had contributed to the benefit of man, in pointing out their important uses, for the prefervation, comfort, or improvement of life. He had fubdued the very elements to the fervice of his fpecies, even there where they had been moft refractory and noxious: The air and water he had purified and fweetened by thofe admirable arts for which multitudes of human beings in every age would "rife up and call him bleffed." He had in fome fenfe reftored breath to thousands of his fellow creatures: The fame of his incomparable ingenuity and worth, having induced an

illuftrious perfonage to force him by a fort of friendly violence to the court, he' had remained, amidst the glitter of a palace, the fame contemplative and ele-* vated fpirit that he had ever been found in the fhade of retirement; retreating thither, as often as he could; and when he could not, walking through the circles of grandeur and gaiety with an' undefigning heart and unaffected manners; breathing an air of fanctity like the inhabitant of fome fuperior region, and, as by beams brought down from above, kindling in thofe about him the love of RELIGION, Temperance, and Wif

dom.

VIRTUE fmiled upon the faint with affection and delight, which, when the Recorder had ended, fhe thus expreffed : "Happy old man! let me, in the "prefence of this Affembly, congra

tulate thee on thy fingular felicity. "Happy in thy genius, in thy difpofition,