T'imprefs a value, not to be eras'd,

On moments fquander'd elfe, and running all to waste.
And feems it nothing in a father's eye,

That, unimprov'd, those many moments fly?
And is he well content his fon fhould find

No nourishment to feed his growing mind
But conjugated verbs and nouns declin'd?
For fuch is all the mental food purvey'd
By public hackneys in the schooling trade;
Who feed a pupil's intellect with store
Of fyntax, truly, but with little more;
Difmifs their cares when they dismiss their flock-
Machines themselves, and govern'd by a clock.
Perhaps a father, bleft with any brains,

Would deem it no abuse, or waste of pains,
T'improve this diet at no great expence,
With fav'ry truth, and wholesome common sense;
To lead his fon, for profpects of delight,
To fome not steep, though philofophic, height,
Thence to exhibit to his wond'ring eyes,

Yon circling worlds, their distance, and their fize,
The moons of Jove, and Saturn's belted ball,
And the harmonious order of them all;

To fhow him, in an infect or a flow'r,
Such microscopic proof of skill and pow'ra

As, hid from ages paft, God now displays
To combat atheists with in modern days;
To spread the earth before him, and commend,
With defignation of the finger's end,

Its various parts to his attentive note,

Thus bringing home to him the most remote;
To teach his heart to glow with generous flame,
Caught from the deeds of men of ancient fame;
And, more than all, with commendation due
To fet fome living worthy in his view,
Whofe fair example may at once inspire
A wish to copy what he must admire.

Such knowledge, gain'd betimes, and which appears,
Though folid, not too weighty for his years,
Sweet in itself, and not forbidding sport,

When health demands it, of athletic fort,

Would make him-what fome lovely boys have been,
And more than one, perhaps, that I have seen-
An evidence and reprehenfion both

Of the mere school-boy's lean and tardy growth,

Art thou a man profeffionally tied, With all thy faculties elsewhere applied, Too busy to intend a meaner care,

Than how t' enrich thyself, and next thine heir;

Or art thou (as, though rich, perhaps thou art)
But poor in knowledge, having none t' impart ;-
Behold that figure, neat, though plainly clad;
His fprightly mingled with a fhade of fad;
Not of a nimble tongue, though now and then
Heard to articulate like other men;

No jester, and yet lively in difcourse,

His phrafe well chofen, clear and full of force;
And his address, if not quite French in ease,
Not English stiff, but frank, and form'd to please;
Low in the world, because he fcorns its arts;
A man of letters, manners, morals, parts;
Unpatroniz'd, and therefore little known;
Wife for himfelf and his few friends alone-
In him the well-appointed proxy fee,
Arm'd for a work too difficult for thee;
Prepar'd by tafte, by learning, and true worth,
To form thy fon, to strike his genius forth;
Beneath thy roof, beneath thine eye, to prove
The force of difcipline when back'd by love;
To double all thy pleafure in thy child,
His mind inform'd, his morals undefil'd.
Safe under fuch a wing, the boy shall show
No fpots contracted among grooms below,
Nor taint his fpeech with meanneffes, defign'd
By footman Tom for witty and refin'd.

There, in his commerce with the livʼried herd,
Lurks the contagion chiefly to be fear'd;
For, fince (fo fashion dictates) all, who claim
An higher than a mere plebeian fame,
Find it expedient, come what mifchief may,
To entertain a thief or two in pay,

(And they that can afford th' expence of more,
Some half a dozen, and fome half a score)
Great cause occurs to fave him from a band
So fure to fpoil him, and so near at hand;
A point fecur'd, if once he be fupplied
With fome fuch Mentor always at his fide.
Are fuch men rare? perhaps they would abound
Were occupation easier to be found,

Were education, else so fure to fail,
Conducted on a manageable scale,

And schools, that have outliv'd all just esteem,
Exchang'd for the fecure domeftic scheme.-
But, having found him, be thou duke or earl,
Show thou haft fenfe enough to prize the pearl,
And, as thou would'st th' advancement of thine heir
In all good faculties beneath his care,

Respect, as is but rational and just,

A man deem'd worthy of fo dear a trust.
Defpis'd by thee, what more can he expect
From youthful folly than the fame neglect?

A flat and fatal negative obtains,

That inftant, upon all his future pains ;
His leffons tire, his mild rebukes offend,
And all th' instructions of thy fon's best friend
Are a stream choak'd, or trickling to an end.
Doom him not then to folitary meals;

But recollect that he has fenfe, and feels;
And that, poffeffor of a foul refin'd,
An upright heart, and cultivated mind,
His poft not mean, his talents not unknown,
He deems it hard to vegetate alone.
And, if admitted at thy board he fit,
Account him no just mark for idle wit;
Offend not him, whom modesty restrains
From repartee, with jokes that he disdains;
Much lefs transfix his feelings with an oath ;
Nor frown, unless he vanish with the cloth.-
And, traft me, his utility may reach
To more than he is hir'd or bound to teach ;
Much trash unutter'd, and fome ills undone,
Through rev'rence of the cenfor of thy fon.

But, if thy table be indeed unclean,

Foul with excefs, and with difcourfe obfcene,
And thou a wretch, whom, following her old plan,
The world accounts an honourable man,