WISDOM itself retires from the decayed mansion !" Of the reduction of man into this Second Childishness, many instances are recorded in the annals of biography. The heroic DUKE of MARLBOROUGH, who "never fought a battle he did not win, nor besiege a town that was not taken," passed his last years in this lamentable state of imbecility. And yet this was the man who struck such terror into the French by his unparalleled victories, that it is said that, in France, babes at the breast clung to their mothers at the mention of his name! Such were his exploits against the enemy, that the obstreperous trump of fame emblazoned them throughout the whole civilized world. The other instance of this excessive imbecility induced by age, will be found in JONATHAN SWIFT, Dean of St. Patrick's; so that faculties however vigorous, attainments however splendid, and reputation however unbounded, claim no exemption from this painful condition of humanity. This witty Dean, as he was usually denominated, passed the last year of his uncommonly active life in a state of helpless idiotism. Breaking the profound silence he had observed, he on one occasion exclaimed "I am a fool!" and on another occasion being told it was his birth-day, and that bonfires and illuminations were as usual preparing for its celebration, The emphatically replied, "It is all folly, they had better let it alone!" How humiliating is such a spectacle-How mortifying this condition of humanity! It would be the height of injustice not to notice the fine description of the decay of the human frame given by an inspired writer in the book of Ecclesiastes, xii. 3-7. In the day when the keepers of the house (the hands) shall tremble, and the strong men (the legs) shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease, because they are few; (the teeth be loosened and drop out) and those that look out of the windows be darkened, (the sight be decayed) and the door shall be shut in the streets, (when the mouth can be hardly opened to eat or speak) when the sound of the grinding is low, (the digestion is weak and disordered) and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, (be easily awakened at every little noise) and all the daughters of music shall be brought low; (the ear and voice shall fail, so that he can neither sing himself, nor take pleasure in the music of others) also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, (the hair grow white) and the grasshopper shall be a burden, (if it but leap on them it shall put them in a fright) and the desire shall fail, (all appetite or relish for former pleasures be lost) because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets. Then follows an account of MAN'S dissolution. Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. This is the end of human life YES-Such the destiny of all on earth, Borne on the swift though silent wings of Time, And be it so-Let those deplore their doom, Soon shall the orient with new lustre burn, And SPRING shall soon her vital influence shed, Again attune the grove, again adorn the mead! Shall I be left forgotten in the dust, When Fate, relenting, lets the flower revive? Bright through the eternal year of Love's triumphant reign! BEATTIE. By the sacred writers, who delineate the infirmities of OLD AGE in a very affecting manner, the greatest tenderness is inculcated upon young people towards their parents. And the imbecilities of advanced years are softened by the assiduities of filial affection. Thus POPE, whose asperity towards his contemporary authors gained him the reproachful appellation of the Wasp of Twickenham; yet his treatment of an aged mother was exemplary, even to admiration With lenient arts t' extend a mother's breath, In the discharge of this important duty towards the aged, the fair sex have more especially distinguished themselves. The peculiar tenderness of their nature, and the endearing softness of their manners, fit them for these situations. Nor is there a more interesting spectacle than a daughter leading about AN INFIRM PARENT, bending over his couch with a tremulous anxiety, and smoothing his passage to the tomb! Such conduct will be crowned by a distinguished reward. But the most illustrious exemplification of filial affection is given in the exquisite History of Joseph, especially the final scene between him and Jacob. "And surely it will appear," says the amiable Dr. Doddridge, "none of the least considerable of those rewards which Providence bestowed on the approved and distinguished virtue of JOSEPH, that he had an opportunity of nourishing his pious father in his declining days, of spreading a mild and pleasant ray over the evening of life which had been so often beclouded with storms, and of sheltering as it were under his princely robe, that hoary head, which had once been turned into a fountain of tears over the bloody fragments of the many-coloured coat!" These are the sentiments of virtue and of piety. Of the reverence due to THE AGED, take the interesting story of BARZILLAI, recorded 2 Sam. xix. 31, &c. "And Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim, and went over Jordan with the king, to conduct him over Jordan. Now BARZILLAI was a very aged man, even fourscore years old, and he had provided the king of sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim, for he was a very great man. And THE KING said unto BARZILLAI, Come thou over with me, and I will feed thee with me in Jerusalem. And BARZILLAI said unto the king, How long have I to live that I should go up with the king unto Jerusalem? I am this day fourscore years old, and can I discern between good and evil? can thy servant taste what I eat, or what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men, and singing women? Wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king? Thy servant will go a little way over Jordan with |