HINTS TO A SCHOOL-MASTER. Address'd to the Revd . Dr. TURNBULL.
By STEPHEN DUCK.
LONDON:
Printed for J. ROBERTS, in
Warwick-Lane
; and R. DODSLEY, in
Pall-mall.
M.DDC.XLI. [Price Six-pence.]
HINTS TO A SCHOOL-MASTER.
I.
S HOULD You, my Friend, employ your Time
In teaching tuneful POPE to rhyme,
And harmonize his Style:
Or should our Poet cease to write,
And teach brave VERNON how to fight,
The wond'ring World would smile.
II.
Not less absurd may I be thought,
Who bred, from
Colleges
remote,
In honest simple Truth;
Ne'er study'd Science at the
Schools,
And yet presume to give
You
Rules
For educating Youth.
III.
Yet if the Maxims I advance
May be of Use, or right by chance,
They cannot give Offence:
Forgive me then, for
Reason
's sake;
For
Reason
dictates what I speak,
And says, 'tis
Common Sense.
IV.
A Man of
mod'rate
Skill may teach
His Pupils all the
Parts of Speech,
Perhaps old HOMER's Songs:
But there are other things, my Friend,
Important things! that far transcend
This wond'rous Gift of Tongues.
V.
O! skill'd in all the various Parts
Of
Learning,
and the
lib'ral Arts,
That polish Human Kind,
Early instruct your tender Youth
In Heav'n's unerring
Law of Truth,
Engrave it on their Mind.
VI.
Ere Vice the spotless Paper foul,
Imprint the Volume of the Soul
With VIRTUE's noble Mark!
The Mark, extending by degrees,
Shall grow like Letters carv'd on Trees,
That widen with the Bark.
VII.
As VIRTUE shall her Charms display,
(Charms! which increasing ev'ry Day,
Shall make her more approv'd)
Your Pupils shall adore the Dame,
Shall court her with a Lover's Flame,
As
worthiest
to be lov'd.
VIII.
To make her Beauty more complete,
The
Handmaid Sciences
shall wait
Around her Day and Night;
To
polish
and
adorn
the Fair,
To make her pleasing Charms appear
In more conspicuous Light.
IX.
Be VIRTUE, then, their
chief
Regard;
For VIRTUE
is her own Reward,
Were there
no other
giv'n:
Let nothing
mean
their Souls entice;
Teach them to tremble more at Vice,
Than at the Bolts of Heav'n.
X.
For conscious
Merit
is a Meed
That amply crowns each honest Deed
With Joy of
acting well:
While conscious
Guilt
allows no Rest,
But stings and burns the Villain's Breast,
Worse than the Flames of Hell.
XI.
A Sense of
Honour,
and of
Shame,
Will best your erring Youth reclaim,
Whene'er they give Offence:
By
gentle Methods
guide your School,
Nor follow BUSBY's bloody Rule,
To flog them into Sense.
XII.
No. Be not rigid, stern and sour;
Display your
Mercy
more than
Pow'r,
And imitate your
GOD:
For Tyrants cannot be approv'd,
They may be fear'd, but never lov'd,
Who daily use the Rod.
XIII.
Teach them a reasonable Awe
Of
true Religion,
as by Law
Establish'd in the Land.
Yet never puzzle
Truth
with
Lyes
;
But leave all heav'nly
Mysteries
For
Heav'n
to understand.
XIV.
Avoid the Rock where Thousands split,
On purpose to
display
their
Wit,
Or
Folly
to
expose
;
Where he who wrangles best, confutes,
And with rash Eloquence disputes
Of what he nothing knows.
XV.
Beware your Pupils tender Age
Imbibe no
superstitious
Rage,
Which Fools Religion call;
Such narrow Principles remove,
Inculcate
universal Love,
And
Charity
to all.
XVI.
Bid them assert their
Country's Cause,
Teach them our
Government
and
Laws,
All
servile
Precepts shun,
Such as, contriv'd by holy Knaves,
Persuade us, Subjects are but
Slaves,
And
All
were made for
One.
XVII.
The
Law of Nature
Alluding to the
Law of Nature and Nations,
lately publish'd by Dr.
Turnbull.
let them know,
Instruct their Bosoms how to glow
And pant for
honest Fame
;
Make it their
Bus'ness
and
Delight
To vindicate the native Right,
Which free-born
Britons
claim.
XVIII.
Yet shun the furious Zeal of such
Who act the
Patriot
overmuch,
And Monarchy invade;
Who mindless of their
Laws
at
home,
Would copy those of
Greece
and
Rome,
Where
Commonwealths-men
sway'd.
XIX.
Where
Civil Wars
were often wag'd,
Where mad
Ambition
hotly rag'd,
While
Public Spirit
cool'd;
Where
Tyrants
now usurp'd Command,
Where now a
Senate
sway'd the Land,
And now a
Rabble
rul'd.
XX.
Where, wanting
Pilots
at the Helm,
To guide and moderate the Realm,
The
Bark of State
was tost
By Waves of
Faction
to-and-fro,
Sometimes too
high,
sometimes too
low,
And frequently was
lost.
XXI.
Our Fathers wisely dar'd to raise
Their Fabric on the
triple
Base
Of COMMONS, LORDS, and KING;
And hence BRITANNIA's happy Fate,
Hence all the Music of our State,
Hence all our Blessings spring.
XXII.
We see a MONARCH grace the Throne,
Who makes our Happiness his own,
Our Property defends:
Maintains, in spite of
Party Hate,
The
well-pois'd Balance
of the State,
On which our Bliss depends.
XXIII.
Let HIM be chearfully obey'd,
Instruct your Pupils how to aid
Their KING with loyal Care;
That all may some Assistance yield,
For
Council
these, and those to wield
The
Thunder
of the
War.
XXIV.
So shall your SCHOOL increase each Day,
And flourish like the verdant Bay,
Or branching Vine in Spring;
Your Youth be virtuously inclin'd,
Be
real
PATRIOTS of Mankind,
And loyal to their KING.
XXV.
But whither would my Thoughts aspire?
Rash daring Muse, resign the Lyre;
For Shame! be not so bold;
Nor useless Hints to Him impart,
Who knows so well to cast the Heart
In VIRTUE's genuine Mould.
FINIS.
[Lately Published] By the same Author,
ALRICK
and
ISABEL:
OR, The Unhappy Marriage. A POEM.
[Price One Shilling.]