⚫on in a former letter, and cannot with• out pleasure call to mind the thoughts of Cicero to this purpofe, in the close of his book concerning Old Age. Every one who is acquainted with his writings will remember that the elder Cato is introduced in that difcourfe as the Speaker, and Scipio and Lelius as his Auditors. This venerable perfon is re'prefented looking forward as it were from the verge of extreme old age, into a future ftate, and rifing into a contemplation on the unperishable part of his nature, and its existence after death. I fhall collect part of his discourse. And as you have formerly offered fome arguments for the Soul's Immortality, ⚫ agreeable both to reafon and the Chriftian doctrine, I believe your readers will not be displeased to fee how the fame 'great truth fhines in the pomp of Roman· eloquence.

This, fays Cato, is my firm persuafion, that fince the human Soul exerts ⚫ itself with fo great activity, fince it has fuch a remembrance of the Past, such a concern for the Future, fince it is enriched with fo many arts, fciences, and discoveries, it is impoffible but the

"Being

"Being, which contains all these must "be Immortal.

"The elder Cyrus, just before his "death, is reprefented by XENOPHON speaking after this manner. Think not, my dearest Children, that when I depart from you I fhall be no more, but remember, that my Soul, even while I lived among you, was invifible to you; yet by my actions you were fenfible it exifted in this body. Believe it therefore exifting ftill, though • it be ftill unfeen. How quickly would the • bonours of illuftrious men perifh after death, • if their Souls performed nothing to preferve

their fame? For my own part, I could "never think that the Soul while in a mortal body, lives, but when departed out of it, dies; or that its confcioufness is loft when it is difcharged out of an unconscious 'habitation. But when it is freed from all corporeal alliance, then it truly exists. • Further, fince the human frame is broken by death, tell us what becomes of its parts? It is vifible whither the materials of other Beings are tranflated, namely, to the fource from whence they had their • birth. The foul alone, neither prefent nor departed, is the object of our eyes.

"Thus

Thus Cyrus. But to proceed. No one "fhall perfuade me, Scipio, that your "worthy Father, or your Grandfathers "Paulus and Africanus, or fricanus his "Father, or Uncle, or many other excel"lent men whom I need not name, per"formed fo many actions to be remem"bred by pofterity, without being fen"fible that Futurity was their right. And, "if I may be allowed an old man's pri

vilege, to speak of myself, do you think "I would have endured the fatigue of "fo many wearifom days and nights "both at home and abroad, if I ima

gined that the fame boundary which is "fet to my life muft terminate my glo"ry? Were it not more defirable to "have worn out my days in ease and "tranquillity, free from labour, and with"out emulation? But I know not how,

66

my Soul has always raised itself, and "looked forward on futurity, in this "view and expectation, that when it "fhall depart out of life, it fhall then "live for ever; and if this were not true, that the Mind is immortal, the "Souls of the moft worthy would not, "above all others, have the strongest impulse to glory.

66

"What

"What befides this is the cause that "the wifeft men die with the greatest "æquanimity, the ignorant with the

66

greatest concern? Does it not seem "that those minds which have the most "extensive views, foresee they are re"moving to a happier condition, which "thofe of a narrower fight do not per❝ceive? I for my part, am transported "with the hope of feeing your ancestors, "whom I have honoured and loved, and "am earnestly defirous of meeting not

only thofe excellent perfons whom I "have known, but thofe too of whom "I have heard and read, and of whom I "myself have written; nor would I "be detained from fo pleafing a Jour"ney. O happy day, when I fhall escape "from this croud, this heap of pollu❝tion, and be admitted to that divine "affembly of exalted fpirits! When I

fhall go not only to thofe great perfons I have named, but to my Cato, "my fon, than whom a better man was "never born, and whofe funeral rites I "myself performed, whereas he ought " rather to have attended mine. Yet has "not his Soul deferted me, but seeming "to caft back a look on me, is gone beO

"fore

"fore to thofe habitations to which "it was fenfible I should follow him. "And though I might appear to have "borne my lofs with courage, I was not "unaffected with it, but I comforted "myself in the affurance that it would "not be long before we fhould meet again, and be divorced no more.

66

I am, SIR, &c.

A

Nec morti effe locum

Virg.

Lewd young fellow feeing an aged Hermit go by him barefoot, Father, says he, you are in a very miserable condition if there is not another world. True, Son, faid the Hermit; But what is thy condition if there is? Man is a creature designed for two different ftates of Being, or rather for two different Lives. His first life is fhort and tranfient; his fecond permanent and lafting. The queftion we are all concerned in is this, In which of these two lives it is our chief intereft to make ourselves happy? Or, in other words, Whether we fhould endeavour to fecure to ourselves the pleasures and grati