art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we defire or deserve; pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy, forgiving us those things whereof our confcience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but thro' the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord. Amen.

14. Almighty and merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh, that thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable fervice; grant, we beseech thee, that we may fo faithfully serve thee in this life, that we fail not finally to attain thy heavenly promifes, through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

15. Almighty and everlasting God, give unto us the increase of faith, hope, and charity; and that we may obtain that which thou doft promise, make us to love that which thou dost command, through Jesus Chrift our Lord. Amen.

16. Keep, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy church with thy perpetual mercy. And because the frailty of man without thee cannot but fall, keep us ever by thy help from all things hurtful, and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation, through Jefus Christ our Lord. Amen.

17. O Lord, we beseech thee, let thy continual pity cleanse and defend thy church; and because it cannot continue in fafety without thy fuccour, preferve it evermore by thy help and goodness, thro' Jefus Christ our Lord. Amen.

18. Lord, we pray thee, that thy grace may always prevent and follow us; and make us continually to be given to all good works, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

19. Lord, we beseech thee, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and with pure hearts and minds to follow thee the only God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

20. O God, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee; mercifully grant, that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts, through Jesus

Chrift our Lord. Amen.

21. O Almighty and most merciful God, of thy bountiful goodness keep us, we befeech thee, from all things that may hurt us: that we being ready both in body and foul, may cheerfully accomplish those things that thou wouldest have done, through Jefus Chrift our Lord. Amen.

22. Grant, we beseech thee, merciful Lord, to thy faithful people pardon and peace, that they may be cleanfed from all their fins, and serve thee with a quiet mind, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

23. Lord, we beseech thee to keep thy houshold the church in continual godliness, that through thy protection it may be free from all adversities, and devoutly given to serve thee in good works, to the glory of thy name, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

24. O God, our refuge and strength, who art the author of all godliness; be ready, we beseech thee, to hear the devout prayers of thy church; and grant that those things which we ask faithfully, we may obtain effectually, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

25. O Lord, we beseech thec, abfolve thy people from their offences; that thro' thy bountiful goodness we may all be delivered from the bands of those sins, which by our frailty we have committed: grant this, O heavenly Father, for Jesus Chrift's fake, our blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen.

26. Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people, that they plenteoufly bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plentcoufly rewarded, through Jesus Chrift our Lord. Amen.

COLLECTS for the Festivals.

1. The Nativity of our Lord. Almighty God, who hast given us thy only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure virgin; grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit, through the fame our Lord Jesus Chrift, who liveth and reigneth with thee, and the fame Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

2. St. Stephen.

Grant, O Lord, that in all our sufferings here upon earth, for the teftimony of thy truth, we may stedfastly look up to heaven, and by faith behold the glory that shall be revealed; and being filled with the Holy Ghost, may learn to love and blefs our perfecutors by the example of thy first martyr Saint Stephen, who prayed for his murderers to thee, O bleffed Jesus, who standest at the right hand of God, to fuccour all thofe

13. St. Mark.

O Almighty God, who hast instructed thy holy church with the heavenly doc. trine of thy Evangelist Saint Mark; give us grace, that being not like children carried away with every blaft of vain doctrine, we may be established in the truth of thy holy gospel, through Jesus Chrift our Lord. Amen.

14. St. Philip and St. James. O Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life; grant us perfectly to know thy Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life; that following the steps of thy holy Apostles, Saint Philip and Saint James, we may stedfaftly walk in the way that leadeth to eternal life, through the fame thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

15. St.

15. St. Barnabas.

O Lord God Almighty, who didst endue thy holy Apoftle Barnabas with fingular gifts of the Holy Ghost; leave us not, we befeech thee, deftitute of thy manifold gifts, nor yet of grace to use them alway to thy honour and glory, through Jefus Christ our Lord. Amen.

16. St. John Baptift.

Almighty God, by whose providence thy fervant John Baptift was wonderfully born, and fent to prepare the way of thy Son our Saviour, by preaching of repentance; make us so to follow his doctrine and holy life, that we may truly repent according to his preaching, and after his example constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth's fake, through Jesus Chrift our Lord. Amen.

18. St. James.

Grant, O merciful God, that as thine holy Apostle Saint James, leaving his father and all that he had, without delay was obedient unto the calling of thy Son Jesus Chrift, and followed him; fowe, forsaking all worldly and carnal affections, may be evermore ready to follow thy holy commandments, through Jesus Chrift our Lord. Amen.

19. St. Bartholomew.

O Almighty and everlasting God, who didit give to thine Apostle Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to preach thy word; grant, we beseech thee, unto thy church to love that word which he be lieved, and both to preach and receive the fame, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

20. St. Matthew.

O Almighty God, who by thy blessed Son didst call Matthew from the receipt of custom, to be an Apoftle and Evangelist, grant us grace to forsake all covetous defires, and inordinate love of riches, and to follow the same thy Son Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghoft, one God, world without end. Amen.

21. St. Michael and All Angels. O everlasting God, who haft ordained and conftituted the services of angels and men in a wonderful order; mercifully grant, that as thy holy angels alway do thee service in heaven, so by thy appointment they may fuccour and defend us on earth, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

22. St. Luke.

Almighty God, who calledst Luke the physician, whose praise is in the gospel, to be an evangelift and physician of the foul; may it please thee, that by the wholsome medicines of the doctrine delivered by him, all the diseases of our fouls may be healed, through the merits of thy Son Jefus Chrift our Lord. Amen.

23. St. Simon and St. Jude.

O Almighty God, who haft built thy church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Chrift himself being the head corner-stone; grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their doctrine, that we may be made an holy temple acceptable unto thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

§198. A Morning Prayer for a young Student at School, or for the common Use of a School.

Father of All! we return thee moft

humble and hearty thanks for thy protection of us in the night season, and for the refreshment of our fouls and bodies, in the sweet repose of sleep. Accept also our unfeigned gratitude for all thy mercies during the helpless age of infancy.

Continue, we beseech thee, to guard us under the shadow of thy wing. Our age is tender, and our nature frail; and, without the influence of thy grace, we shall surely fall.

Let that influence descend into our hearts, and teach us to love thee and truth above all things. O guard us from temptations to deceit, and grant that we may abhor a lye, both as a fin and as a disgrace. Inspire Inspire us with an abhorrence of the loathsomeness of vice, and the pollutions of fenfual pleasure. Grant, at the fame time, that we may early ea feel the delight of conscious purity, and wash our hands in innocency, from the united motives of inclination and of duty.

Give us, O thou Parent of all know ledge, a love of learning, and a taste for the pure and fublime pleasures of the understanding. Improve our memory, quicken our apprehenfion, and grant that we may lay up fuch a store of learning, as may fit us for the station to which it shall please thee to call us, and enable us to make great advances in virtue and religion, and shine as lights in the world, by the influence of a good example.

Give us grace to be diligent in our ftudies, and that whatever we read we may strongly mark, and inwardly digeft it.

Bless our parents, guardians, and instructors; and grant that we may make them the best return in our power, for giving us opportunities of improvement, and for all their care and attention to our welfare. They ask no return, but that we should make use of those opportunities, and co-operate with their endeavours-Ogrant that we may not disappoint their anxious expectations.

Afsist us mercifully, O Lord, that we may immediately engage in the studies and duties of the day, and go through them chearfully, diligently, and successfully.

Accept our endeavours, and pardon our defects, through the merits of our blessed Saviour, Jefus Christ our Lord. Amen.

§ 199. An Evening Prayer.

O Almighty God! again we approach thy mercy-feat, to offer unto thee our thanks and praises for the blessings and protection afforded us this day; and humbly to implore thy pardon for our manifold tranfgreffions.

Grant that the words of various inftruction which we have heard or read this day, may be so inwardly grafted in our hearts and memories, as to bring forth the fruits of learning and virtue.

Grant that as we recline on our pillows, we may call to mind the transactions of the day, condemn those things of which

our confcience accuses us, and make and keep refolutions of amendment.

Grant that thy holy angels may watch over us this night, and guard us from temptation, excluding all improper thoughts, and filling our breasts with the purest sentiments of piety. Like as the hart panteth for the water-brook, so let our fouls thirst for thee, O Lord, and for whatever is excellent and beautiful in learning and behaviour.

Correct, by the sweet influence of Chrif. tian charity, the irregularities of our temper; and restrain every tendency to ingratitude, and to ill-usage of our parents, teachers, pastors, and masters. Teach us to know the value of a good education, and to be thankful to those who labour in the improvement of our minds and morals. Give us grace to be reverent to our superiors, gentle to our equals or inferiors, and benevolent to all mankind. Elevate and enlarge our fentiments, and let all our conduct be regulated by right reason, attended with Chriftian charity, and that peculiar generofity of mind, which becomes a liberal scholar and a fincere Chriftian.

O Lord, bestow upon us whatever may be good for us, even though we should omit to pray for it; and avert whatever is hurtful, though in the blindness of our hearts we should defire it.

Into thy hands we refign ourselves, as we retire to reft; hoping by thy mercy, to rife again with renewed spirits, to go through the business of the morrow, and to prepare ourselves for this life, and for a blessed immortality; which we ardently hope to attain, through the merits and interceffion of thy Son, our Saviour, Jefus Christ our Lord. Amen.

§ 200. THE LORD'S PRAYER.

Our Father, which art in heaven; Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trefpaffes, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

END OF ТИЕ

FIRST BOOK.

ELEGANT

1. Beneficial Effects of a Taste for the

B

BELLES LETTRES.

ELLES Lettres and criticism chiefly confider Man as a being endowed with those powers of taste and imagination, which were intended to embellith his mind, and to fupply him with rational and useful entertainment. They open a field of inveftigation peculiar to themselves. All that relates to beauty, harmony, grandeur, and elegance; all that can foothe the mind, gratify the fancy, or move the affections, belongs to their province. They present human nature under a different aspect from that which it affumes when viewed by other sciences. They bring to light various springs of action, which, without their aid, might have passed unobserved; and which, though of a delicate nature, frequently exert a powerful influence on several departments of human life.

Such studies have also this peculiar advantage, that they exercise our reason with out fatiguing it. They lead to enquiries acute, but not painful; profound, but not dry nor abstrufe. They ftrew flowers in the path of science; and while they keep the mind bent, in some degree, and active, they relieve it at the same time from that more toilfome labour to which it must fubmit in the acquisition of necessary erudition, or the investigation of abstract truth.

Blair.

life. The most busy man, in the most active sphere, cannot be always occupied by business. Men of ferious profeffions cannot always be on the stretch of ferious thought. Neither can the most gay and flourishing situations of fortune afford any man the power of filling all his hours with pleasure. Life must always languish in the hands of the idle. It will frequently languish even in the hands of the bufy, if they have not some employment subsidiary to that which forms their main pursuit. How then shall these vacant spaces, those unemployed intervals, which, more or lefs, occur in the life of every one, be filled up? How can we contrive to dispose of them in any way that shall be more agreeable in itself, or more confonant to the dignity of the human mind, than in the entertainments of tafte, and the study of polite literature? He who is so happy as to have acquired a relish for these, has always at hand an innocent and irreproachable amufement for his leifure hours, to fave him from the danger of many a pernicious paffion. Hie is not in hazard of being a burden to himself. He is not obliged to fly to low company, or to court the riot of loofe pleasures, in order to cure the tediousness of existence.

Providence feems plainly to have pointed out this useful purpose, to which the pleasures of taste may be applied, by interpofing them in a middle station between the pleasures of sense, and those of pure intellect. We were not defigned to grovel always among objects so low as the former; nor are we capable of dwelling con stantly in so high a region as the latter.

The