€ 
pound for 2 little falutary fuperftition on 
fuch a fubje&, and would almeft with 
eur young people had the fame belief of 
fpirits and goblins which their great 
grandmothers had, if it would have the 
effect of fending them to their beds at the 
fame hour. Ve pity the inhabitants of 
fome of the deep vallies of Switzerland, 
upon whom the fun never rifes. till he is 
near his meridian altitude; and yet we 
moft of us voluntarily fubjeét ourfelves 
to the fame deprivation. A clofe-drawn 
curtain will exclude him as effectually as 
a range of Alpine hills; and all nature 
has been rejoicing under the beams 
of that glorious luminary for. many 
long hours, before we can prevail 
upon ourfelves to be at all the better for 
him. It is, indeed, a kind provifion of 
Providence that the conititution of man 
im this, as well as in many other par- 
ticulars, is able to accommodate itfelf to 
fuch changes as particular modes of life 
or incidental occurrences may require ; 
but it is abufing this advantage to de- 
viate, without neceffity, from the plaineft 
diGiates of common fenfe. One would 
naturally fuppofe, that if a wife man 
? 
Ay 
On the progreffive Latenefs 
“4 
wifhed at any time to interrupt the ufual 
regularity of his hours, and to wake 
when others fleep, it would be to enjoy 
the general repofe; to fee the animals 
ef the fold and pafture all fretched out, 
as it were, on the breaft of their common 
mother ; labour and toil fufpended in the 
village ;. its fires,extinét, and its various 
murmurs hufhed, prefenting a touching 
picture of peace and fecurity in the arms 
of public faith and mutual confidence ; 
the ftars leading on the filent hours ; and, 
from time to time, thofe infrequent founds 
which caufe the filence to be more felt. 
5 
an 
But this can never be enjoyed by the in- 
habitant of a perverted town.” ‘There the 
rattle of late diffipation meets the early 
eccupations, of labour: there is no hour 
in which the idle do not fleep; there is 
none in which the wretched do not toil. 
‘The rays of the fun are clouded with 
fmoke, and obftruéted by the contiguity 
of buildings; and the night, on the other 
kand, is made brilliant by the thoufand 
lamps thae ftream in every dire&tion; fo 
that the very diftinétion of day and night 
is leffened, and all hours partake of a 
kind of dubious and uncertain twilight. 
If this prepofterous deviation from, na- 
ture were confined to a few fine gentle- 
men and ladies, as they, after all, make 
but an inconfiderable part ef the human 
fpecies, the harm might not be great; 
but, unfortunately, the mfuence extends 
to all thofe who adminifter to their ha-. 
of Hours kept in England, > - 
bitudes: the country girl muft watch her 
rofes pale for their vigils, and the coach- 
man muft guard againft the noxious m- 
fluence of the night air with more noxious ~ 
fpirits. It is well for mankind that we 
cannot alter the courfe of the day, or 
pufh back the feafons with our fantaftic 
humours. . 
“¢ Up rofe the fun, and up rofe Emily,” 
fays one of our meft charming poets ; 
but what a penury of funfhine would it 
bring upon the world, if he were com- 
plaifant enough to wait till our modern 
Emilys were ready to ftart along with him! 
From the fame difpofition to latenets, the 
{pring would probably be put off till 
fafhionable people chofe to go out of 
town; and the labourers would often ‘be 
driven to the fhort days of Chriftmas to 
get in their harveft. But, thanks to the 
Author of nature, thefe matters are not 
left to our difpofal. Though we {peak 
of turning day into night, and inverting 
the feafons, it is what we really cannot 
do. The cocks crow at the fame hour; 
the flowers open and clofe with their ac- 
cuftomed regularity; and nature moves on 
with the fame even majeftic march, un- 
diftturbed by our fancies or our follies, 
Thofe eternal land-marks ftill fubfift 
which feparate the portions of our time; 
and however we may difpofe ef it in 
theatres and drawing-rooms; wherever 
the moft ufeful occupations of life are 
carried on, they muft be carried en ac- 
cording to her laws. It is impoilible to 
frequent the cowztry, and not hear the 
voice which from time to time gently 
recals us to nature and true enjoyment. 
Tf thefe confiderations fail, there 1s one 
more on which I refit my. laft hope. 
There are but four and twenty hours in 
the whole circle, and it is impoflible te 
proceed as we have ‘done of late years, 
without pretty foon getting round to the 
point from which we fet out: in which 
cafe, all will be right again, and we fhall 
have accomplifhed a revolution fimilar to 
that of the great platonic year, fo much 
celebrated by antient philofephers and 
pocts. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, . 
N your Magazine for May,. you 
did me the favowr to infert fome ac- 
count of the ftate of the Grey-ceat fchool 
in this city, previous to the new regula- 
tions which were adopted in the year 
1783, when the ladies, who had pointed 
out the probable caufes of its detects, en- 
gaged to fuperintend it. I now refume 
my 

