Slew fifty thousand of his enemies.

These are their sepulchres, and this his trophy."
I leave such things to conquerors; enough
For me, if I can make my subjects feel
The weight of human misery less, and glide
Ungroaning to the tomb; I take no licence
Which I deny to them. We all are men.
Sale, Thy sires have been revered as gods-
Sar.
In dust
And death, where they are neither gods nor men.
Talk not of such to me! the worms are gods;
At least they banqueted upon your gods,

And died for lack of farther nutriment.
Those gods were merely men; look to their issue-
I feel a thousand mortal things about me,
But nothing godlike, unless it may be
The thing which you condemn, a disposition
To love and to be merciful, to pardon
The follies of my species, and (that's human)
To be indulgent to my own.

In the following observations of Sardanapalus, we behold the wisdom and philosophy of a Socrates.

I hate all pain,

Given or received; we have enough within us,
The meanest vassal as the loftiest monarch,
Not to add to each other's natural burthen
Of mortal misery, but rather lessen,

By mild reciprocal alleviation,

The fatal penalties imposed on life;

But this they know not, or they will not know.

I have, by Baal! done all I could to soothe them :

and power of a God.-The hypocrite starts with horror from his picture; craft shudders to see himself detected; superstition hates her own weak deformity, and deceit mutters the execration of disappointment and exposure.

D

THE

AUTHOR'S JEWEL,

NUMBER IV.

THE VALUE OF TIME.

For what to-morrow shall disclose,
May spoil what you to night propose ;
England may change or Cloe stray,
Love and Life are for to-day

Prior.

It is the peculiar privilege of authors to moralize upon the waste of that time, of which their labours and lucubrations so often convice them of the importance. The proper measure of life is what we do or what we enjoy, not what we might have done or omitted to perform. He lives long, who lives to a good purpose; who fills his hours with useful occupation, or innocent hiliarity, and crowds into the period of a year, the labour or the enjoyment which the indolent only can accomplish, in the same peri. od doubly protracted.

"The morn is up again, the dewy morn,

With breath all incense, and with cheeks all bloom,
Laughing the clouds away with playful scorn,

And living as if earth contained no tomb,
And glowing into day? we may resume
The march of our existence; and thus I,
Still on thy shores, fair Leman! may find room

And food for meditation nor pass by

Much that may give us pause if pondered fittingly.

To make a wise use of the present time, and not to defer our duties to the uncertainty of the future, which to us may never arrive, is a maxim which has devolved to mankind from the wisdom of antiquity, and the truth of which is daily attested by the experience of thousands. It is singular however, that what all are so willing to admit and believe, so few should illustrate or confirm by their practice; while as we advance in life, and the loss of opportu nity drives the mind to retrospection, we grieve over the mispent hours of past existence, and repeat the offence at the same time we deplore it, by indulg⚫ ing in unavailing lamentation instead of rectifying our errors by immediate application and industry.

Every man, whatever be his station in life, has du. ties to perform, which indolence inclines him to postpone, or to omit. Were I to define happiness, it should be the proper use of time, both as it respects the employment of the mind, and the enjoyment of pleasure. If you are rich, waste not your hours in the toil of endless accummulation, but study how to fill the present moment with rational enjoyment and virtuous occupation. Those who are in want, require your succor, those who are oppressed, demand your protection. If you have leisure, which neither virtuous pleasures nor necessary avocations consume, learning and philosophy invite you to unfold their treasures and give expansion to your intellect, and benignity to your feelings. Books and science, are the auxilaries of virtue, and the champi