and fpirits rife

how foon, and infen

fibly, they are got above the pitch and first bounds which cooler hours would have marked.

When the gay and fmiling afpect of things has begun to leave the paffages to a man's heart thus thoughtlessly unguarded when kind and careffing looks of every object without that can flatter his fenfes, have confpired with the enemy within to betray him, and put him off his defence when mufic likewife has lent her aid, and tried her power

upon his paffions

when the voice of

finging men, and the voice of finging women with the found of the viol and the lute have broke in upon his foul, and in. fome tender notes have touched the fecret

fprings of rapture — that moment let us

diffect and look into his heart fee how

vain! how weak! how empty a thing it is! Look through its feveral receffes, thofe pure manfions formed for the reception of innocence and virtue - fad Spectacle! Behold thofe fair inhabitants

now difpoffeffed

for

turned out of their facred dwellings to make room what? at the beft for levity and indifcretion perhaps for folly it may be for more impure guests, which poffibly in fo general a riot of the mind and fenfes may take occafion to enter unfu-i fpected at the fame time.

In a fcene and difpofition thus defcribed can the most cautious faythus far fhall my defires go and no farther or will the coolest and most circumfpect fay, when pleasure has taken full poffeffion of his heart, that no thought nor purpose fhall arife there, which he

སྙ་

would have concealed ? In thofe loose and unguarded moments the imagination is not always at command in fpite of reafon and reflection, it will forceably carry him fometimes whither he would not like the unclean fpirit, in the parent's fad defcription of his child's cafe, which took him, and oft times caft him into the fire to destroy him, and wherefoever it taketh him, it teareth him, and hardly departeth from him.

But this, you'll fay, is the worft account of what the mind may suffer here.

Why may we not make more favourable fuppofitions?that numbers by exercife and cuftom to fuch encounters, learn gradually to defpife and triumph over them; that the minds of many are not fo fufceptible of warm impreffions, or fo badly fortified against them,

that

that pleasure should easily corrupt or foften them; that it would be hard to fuppofe, of the great multitudes which daily throng and prefs into this houfe of feafting, but that numbers come out of it again, with all the innocence with which they entered; and that if both fexes are included in the computation, what fair examples fhall we fee of many of fo pure and chafte a turn of mindthat the houfe of feafting, with all its charms and temptations, was never able to excite a thought, or awaken, an inclination which virtue need to blush ator which the moft fcrupulous confcience might not fupport. God forbid wc fhould fay otherwife: - no doubt, numbers of all ages escape unhurt, and get off this dangerous fea without shipwreck. Yet, are they not to be reckoned amongst the more fortunate adventurers? and

though one would abfolutely prohibit the attempt, or be fo cynical as to condemn every one who tries it, fince there are fo many I fuppofe who cannot well do otherwife, and whofe condition and fituation in life unavoidably force them upon it yet we may be allowed to defcribe this fair and flattering coaft we may point out the unfufpected dangers of it, and warn the unwary paffenger, where they lay. We may fhew him what hazards his youth and inexperience will run, how little he can gain by the venture, and how much wifer and better it would be [as is implied in the text] to feek occafions rather to improve his little ftock of virtue than incautiously expofe it to fo unequal a chance, where the best he can hope is to return safe with what treafure he carried out but where probably, he may be fo unfortunate as to

lofe