I went to church, and heard the clerk
Preface the psalm with “Pardon me,
But really friends it is so dark,
Do all I may I cannot see”——
The “quire” that used the psalms to chant
Not dreaming to be thus misled—
Struck up in chorus jubilant,
The clerk’s apology instead!
MORAL.
“The force of habit” should not keep
Our trust in other heads so sure,
That reason may drop off to sleep.
Or sense enjoy a sinecure.
A. X.
For the Table Book.
CINDERELLA.
Of all the narratives either of fact or of fiction there are none, I will pledge my veracity, like the Fairy Tales of the Nursery, for interesting all the best feelings of our nature, and for impressing an imperishable and beautiful morality upon the heart. Was there ever, can you imagine—was there ever a young woman hardened and heartless enough to explore a forbidden closet, after she had perused the romantic history of Bluebeard? Would she not fearfully fancy that every box, bag, and bottle, jar, jelly, and jam-pot was grinning hideously at her in the person of one of the departed Mrs. Bluebeards? In fact, there is not a tale that does not convey some fine instruction, and, I would venture to affirm, that does not produce more salutary influence on the youthful mind, than all that Dr. Gregory and Mrs. Chapone, Dr. Fordyce and Miss Hannah More, have ever, in their wearisome sagacity, advised.