The Works, in verse and prose, of ... R. T. Paine ... With notes. To which are prefixed sketches of his life, character and writings (by Charles Prentiss)

Front matter

' A Jetton. Pud. i>- J.'.r/trr.r jBclcAcr. /,!/: THE WORKS, IN- VERSE AND PROSE, OF THE LATE EOBEET TREAT PAINE, JUN. ESQ. WITH MOTES. TO WHICH ARE PREFIXED, SKETCHES OF HIS LIFE, CHARACTER AND WRITINGS. Diis sacer est vates, dirumque sacerdos, Spirat et occultum pectus et ora Jovem. Milt : VI. Ei.Et*: BOSTON : PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY J. BELCHER. 1812. DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT: District Clerk's Office. BE it remembered that on the 28th day of October, in the thirty seventh year of the Independence of the United States of Amer ica, Joshua Belcher, of the said district, has deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following to wit : "The Works, in Verse and Prose, of the late RobertTreat Paine, Jun. Esq^ with Notes. To which are prefixed, Sketches of his Lite, Character and Writings.

Diis sacer est vates, divamque sacerdos, Spirat et occullum pectus et ora Jovem. Milt : VI. Eleg ;" In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, " An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and hooks, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned ;" and also to an act entitled, " An act supplementary to an act, entitled, An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned ; and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching, historical and other prints." WILLIAM S. SHAW,|C/r*'/'*e.1M,'"'c'

Preface

. It is now somewhat more than eight months since proposals were issued for this edition of Mr. Paine's works. This inter val, it is said, is unreasonably long ; and it is sometimes inti mated, in no very equivocal language, that the pubUcation has been delayed, till the author and his writings are no longer of sufficient interest to retain their share of the general curiosity. For this delay, had it been needless, the publick might certainly exact an apology. When however the causes, that have retarded the press, are recounted, the period of publica tion will not appear to have been wantonly protracted. Of diese causes, too many and various to be distinctly enumer ated, the principal were, the disorder of Mr. Paine's manuscripts, and the difficulties attending the search for his printed essays.

The latter of these causes was of much more influence than the former. The manuscripts required nothing but arrangement and selection ; but the printed essays were often to be recovered from journals, which, having been long since discontinued, were not always remembered. Newspapers and Magazines for a series of twenty years were to be consulted. From this examination, though far from heedless or desultory, it is not improbable that many pieces have escaped.

PREFACE.

. VI The volume contains nothing, that is not known to be Mr. Paine's, by evidences stronger, if that were necessary, than even the characteristicks of his peculiar and unborrowed manner; except only the verses of an accomplished lady, whom it is easy to commend to her full deserts, without forcing her into a thankless and unwarrantable comparison with that Lesbian enchantress, whose lyre subdues the listener to a deaf and dizzy delight, not unlike that, which she herself experienced when gazing on her favourite : fftv <f a,KoeU Fo/. Beside these two, other causes of obstruction have not sailed to operate. Every one, who has undertaken to publish an Author's remains, will acknowledge, that to such an under taking there are incident many obstacles, which, before he ventured on the task, he could hardly have imagined possible ; to such persons enough has been said ; and those, who do not care to become editors, would feel little gratitude for a reca pitulation of the discouragements, under which this collection has gradually grown and spread to its present size and form.

At length the work is abroad ; and it is not without anxiety, that Mr. Paine's friends await the decision of the publick. The author is, indeed, removed beyond the reach of censure ; and the voice of praise, however chaste and sincere, if not lost in the bustle of the world, will sigh only in a faint and barren echo through the chambers of death. This volume, warmly and cordially welcomed, will do much to soothe an afflicted family. A proud neglect or a sullen rejection may embitter the cup of sorrow with the tears of honest and indignant pride. Although the work consists, for the most part, of occasional performances, yet with local and temporary topicks Mr. Paine has not unfrequently connected subjects of general and per manent interest. From his Prize Prologue, may be learnt the progress of the scenick art ; and one can hardly open the Ruling Passion without encountering something, that may enlarge his knowledge, or elevate his virtue, or ennoble his patriotism. The Monody on Sir John Moore, though the fate and character of that gallant officer might furnish materials

PREFACE.

. VII for amore elaborate panegyrick, is not destitute of moral instruc tion ; and many of his festal songs are of such an impress, as to shew that Mr. Paine was not always content to filter off his political opinions from the common sewers, but could, if he thought himself bound to such exertion, ascend to the living springs of truth and right. Although the Prize Prologue will at once shew itself to be considerably improved, yet that poem, even as now printed, did not satisfy him, and Mr. Paine was resolved on further improvements. He had sketched with great boldness and felicity, the characters of the principal writers for the English stage. Of these characters, when to each he had assigned his proper features, and imparted to all something of that enthusiasm, which the mere thought of Shakespeare and his successors was seen to kindle in his own bosom, he had determined to form a gallery of portraits.

It is to be lamented, that this determination was forgotten almost as soon as made. Some additions are interwoven with the Invention of Letters 5 and similar emendations were projected for many of his other poems. But his latter years were dark and cheerless ; and he seems never to have summoned his powers to an attempt, which he was not unwilling to contemplate, as feasible only to a sound and active health. These remarks are not designed to propitiate the stern or interest the tender. Neither is it intended by what may follow, to defy the austerity of criticism, or to interdict to any bosom the indulgence of a generous sympathy. The book, such as it is, is now open on its merits to discus sion ; and, while it is not ambitious of a place in the reviews, it does not shrink from a strict and impartial scrutiny.

Like other posthumous works, it will undoubtedly betray many venial, and a few almost inexpiable faults. It will also present no scanty measure of beauties, some of the softest grace, and others of the brightest bloom. The same page that is here tarnished with blemishes, which the slightest attention may seem sufficient to have prevented, may there sparkle with decorations, such as the happie st fancy in its most propitious moments can hardly hope to surpass.

PREFACE.

. The notes, promised in the proposals, it was originally in tended to throw into the margin ; but this intention being resigned, the Editor's labours will be found at the end of the volume. From assigning, as at first proposed, so much of the whole commentary to each production, as its worth, whether admitted or assumed, might have claimed, the Editor soon found it necessary to desist. Had he continued the notes, as begun, his pages might have out-numbered the author's. Many pieces are, accordingly, dispatched in a single sentence ; and some are silently dismissed, not because they do not some times require, and might not always admit explanation, but lest productions of higher dignity or deeper interest, might be defrauded of their proportion of the commentary. Meagre as the notes are, they would have been still more meagre, had not a liberal and elegant friendship suggested many grounds of comparison and sources of illustration.

Thus assisted, however, and enabled, beside his own slender stock of learning, to command the resources of a rich and vigorous mind, the Editor does not presume to think, that his labours will afford any light to the only persons, who will probably ever inspect the commentary, to the lovers of sound literature and the patrons of genuine criticism. Lest he should be accused of permitting errors, which he liadno means of excluding, to obtrude themselves; or applaud ed for accuracy and excellence, from which, as he contributed nothing to their production, he is not entitled to any portion of praise, it becomes the Editor to declare, that he holds himself responsible for the text only, and the notes subjoined to the text. CONTENTS. Sketches of the Life, Character and Writings of the late Robert Treat Paine, Jun.

Esq. - - page 13 Monody on the Death of Robert Treat Paine, Jun. Esq. 88 Columbia's Bard, 89 Tributary Lines, on the Death of Robert Treat Paine Jun. Esq ..--93 the works OF ROBERT TREAT PAINE, JUN. ESQ.

Part I. College Exercises

Preface, ---------5 Theme, " An undevout astronomer is mad," - 7 Theme, Sacred to the memory of Bowdoin, - - 15 Theme, "Know then thyself; presume not God to scan," 20 Theme, "Homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto," 26 Theme, " Humanum est errare," (part of,) - - - 31 Sensibility, lines on, ----.- 35 Pastoral, — Damon and Corydon, - - - - - 41 Forensick Disputation, lines in conclusion of, - * 46 The Refinement of Manners, an Exhibition Poem, - 47 Valedictory Poem, on leaving College, 60 The Nature and Progress of Liberty, A. B. Poem, - 70 Pastoral, — Morning, Noon and Evening, X CONTENTS. Reflections on a lonely Hill, which commanded the prospect of a Burying ground, - - - - - 82 Lines to Miss ****, 83 Fragment, ---------84 Lines, supposed to belong to the Invention of Letters, 86 Eclogue, first of Virgil's, translated, ... 87 Ode, tenth of second Book of Horace, translated, - - 92 Ode, fifth of first Book of Horace, translated, - - 93 Stanzas, on receiving a Frown from Cynthia, - - 94 Ode, ninth of third Book of Horace, translated, - 96 Nymph, the laurelled, addressed to Philenia, - - 98 Ode to Compassion, - - - - - - 101 Golden Age, translated from Ovid's Metamorphoses, 102 Lilies to Harriot, on a bunch of Roses presented to the Author, - - r ..... 104 Verses to a young Lady, - - - - - 105 Ode, of Sappho's, translated, ..... 108 Ode to Winter, 109 Song, the Lass of Eden Grove, - - - J .111

Part II. Miscellaneous Poems

Edwin and Emma, - - - . . . 1 1 5 Monody, to the Memory of William H. Brown, - - 1 18 Self Complacency, - - - - . . 121 Stanzas, addressed to Thomas Brattle, Esq. - - 124 Stanzas, addressed to Miss B. - - , . 125 Stanzas to Clora, - - - - - _ .126 Sonnet to Eliza, - T 1 - - - . 128 Sonnet to Belinda, r^ Menander to Philenia, - - - - . „ 129 Philenia to Menander, - - - . . -132 Menander to Philenia, I34 Sonnet to Philenia, - - - . . . . 136 Country Girl to Menander, - - . . . i37 Stanzas to the Country Girl, - ; . . . CONTENTS. XI Country Girl to Menander, 139 Sonnet to the Country Girl, - - - - - 140 Sonnet to Anna Louisa, - - - - - - 141 Stanzas to Anna, ....... ibid. Stanzas to Truth, 142 Stanzas to Truth - -143 Stanzas on a Bamboo Fan, - - - - - 146 Prize Prologue, at die opening of the Boston Theatre, 151 The Invention of Letters, A. M. Poem, - - - 1 63 The Ruling Passion, *.

B. K. Poem, - - - 177 Notes to Ruling Passion, - - - - - - 192 Dedicatory Address, at the re-opening of the Boston Theatre, 199 Address, delivered by Master John H. Payne, as Young Norval, 206 Epilogue to the Soldier's Daughter, ... 209 Valedictory Address, spoken by Miss Fox, at her benefit, 212 Epilogue to the Clergyman's Daughter, - - - 214 Epilogue to the Poor Lodger, ... - 222 Monody on the Death of Lieut. Gen. Sir John Moore, 229 Notes to Monody, - 237

Part III. Odes And Songs

Rise Columbia, 243 Adams and Liberty, ------- 245 " Bleak lowered the morn ; the howling snow-drift blew," 248 To Arms, Columbia, .----. 250 Rule New-England, 252 The Street was a Ruin, ------ 254 Spirit of the Vital Flame, ------ 256 " When first the Mitre's wrath to shun," - - 258 The Yeomen of Hampshire, ----- 261 " Sweet Minstrel, who to mortal ears," - - - 263 « Sainted Shades ! who dared to brave," ... 265 The Green Mountain Farmer, ... - CONTENTS. XII " Shall man, stern man, 'gainst Heaven's behest," - 270 " Wide o'er the wilderness of waves," - 272 " Hail i Hail, ye patriot spirits," .... 274 " Let patriot pride our patriot triumph wake," - 277 " On the tent-plains of Shinah, Truth's mystical clime," 280 " Blest be the sacred fire," 283 « The Steeds of Apollo, in coursing the day," - - 286 Spain, Commerce, and Freedom, .... 288 Elegiac Sonnet, to the Memory of M. M. Hays, Esq. 292 Address, for the Carriers of the Boston Gazette, • 293 Lines to Miss F 296 Reply to the above, -----. ibid,

Part IV. Prose Writings

Oration, before the Young Men of Boston, - - - 301 Eulogy on the Life of General George Washington, 329 Communication on the Boston Female Asylum, - - 345 Critique on the Drama of " Adrian and Orilla," - 353 Critique on the Comedy of " Rule a Wife and have a Wife," - - - 357 Critique on the Play of " Henry IV." ... 366 Critique on the Tragedy of '-' Venice Preserved," - 370 Critique on the Tragedy of " Othello," - - 377, 384 Critique on the Drama of " Pizarro," - - 390, 392 Critique on Mr. Bernard's performance, and on the Tragedy of " George Barnwell," .... 395 Critique on the Comedy of " John Bull," ... 400 Brief Sketch of Spain, ...... 409 Notes to the College Exercises, - 435 Notes to the Miscellaneous Poems, ... SKETCHES OF THE LIFE, CHARACTER AND WRITINGS OF THE LATE ROBERT TREAT PAINE, JUN.

ESQ. BY CHARLES PRENTISS. 44 Nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice. " BIOGRAPHY. It is not the desigu of the writer of this memoir, nor the wish of the publisher of this volume, to present .an ample biography of the late ROBERT TREAT PAINE, Jun. Esq. or an elaborate dis. cassion on the merits of his poetic effusions. This sketch will therefore embrace merely a short ac count of his life and writings, together with a brief critical notice of his principal poetic productions. In Europe, scarcely a year has of late elapsed, which had not been pregnant with rhyming vol umes, born only to see the light and die ; many of them swelled with unimportant biographical infor mation, or a prodigality of critical disquisition. The labors of the poet, of his biographer and critic, are soon forgotten : hence, however barren the first, or partial or inadequate the latter, the public sustain little injury from such evanescent performances.

With Mr. Paine and the offspring of his muse, it is far otherwise. Although some of his writings are but the moderate efforts of boyhood, or the subsequent effects of casual and careless exertion ; many of them are the legitimate and in- BIOGRAPHY. disputable heirs of immortality. Were it probable that this volume would find readers only in this vicinity, where Mr. Paine's manners, habits, and whole tenor of life are known, a biographical sketch would be a superfluous task : but, confident as we are, that at least, his more labored and polished productions will be long and generally read ; it is a duty to gratify that curiosity, that anxiety, which is ever felt by the reader of taste, to know some thing more of an author, than the place of his na tivity, or the date of his mortal exit. The dearest relatives of an author being yet alive, and his friends charitably anxious for the mainte nance of his moral as well as poetical reputation, to paint the poet as he was is at once a very deli cate, difficult, and disagreeable task.

Yet, what ever may be due to the feelings of consanguinity or the tenderness of friendship, the commands of justice are paramount. Should the glowing and exact pencil of Stuart be employed iu pourtraying the features of an un celebrated maiden, over whose head more than forty annual suns may have rolled, at her instiga tion, and to gratify her vanity, omit many a wrinkle or supply many a deficient rose, few would feel disposed to censure the painter. But, were he employed to give a portrait of a poet, patriot, or hero, whose reputation was familiar, but whose visage w as unknown, except to a few, flattery would BIOGRAPHY. XVII be falsehood and omission crime. When a faithful likeness is expected by the public, the pencil and the pen owe obedience only to truth. Thomas Paine, whose name was afterwards, by an act of the legislature in 1801, changed to Robert Treat Paine, was born at Taunton, in the county of Bristol, December 9th, 177-3.

He was the second son of the Hon. Robert Treat Paine, an eminent lawyer, well known as one of the patriots of the American revolution ; one of the Delegates in Congress from Massachusetts, his native state, who signed the Declaration of Inde pendence ; for many years the Attorney General, and afterwards one of the Judges of the Supreme Judicial Court for this Commonwealth. His moth er's maiden name was Cobb, a sister of the soldier and patriot, General Cobb. Eight adult children were the fruit of this union ; four sons and four daughters. The three eldest sons, Robert Treat, Thomas, and Charles, were educated for the bar. Henry was educated in a compting room. Robert, in 1798, unmarried, fell a victim to the yellow fever, after which Thomas assumed his christian name. The younger brothers were both married, and Charles died of a consumption early in 1810.

The parents are now living. Our poet was about seven years of age when hi* father removed his family to Boston. BIOGRAPHY. I have neither time nor opportunity to enquire, whether in his infantile or more juvenile years, he exhibited any of those traits of genius or eccen tricity, which the world is generally so desirous of finding, or at least of believing must have char acterized infancy, because displayed in riper years. He once informed the writer that he was uncon scious of the possession of more than ordinary talents, till some of his classmates flattered him with a belief of their existence, by praising some of his earliest poetical efforts. If a statesman, hero or poet, mathematician, painter or musician, acquires celebrity, the public are delighted with anecdotes of precocious traits of sentiment or action, indica tive of future excellence ; of which no notice was taken at the time ; or which had never been con sidered uncommon, without a connexion with sub sequent eminence.

He was placed under the care of master Carter, who for many years kept one of the public schools, for instruction in reading, writing, arithmetic, &c. Here he made so little proficiency that he was re luctantly received at the Latin school, long kept by master Hunt ; he however soon acquired the first standing in his class, which he maintained until he Avas offered for the Freshman class at Cambridge ; and in July, 1788, he was examined as such, at that university, and matriculated. BIOGRAPHY. XIX It is remarkable that the last mentioned gentle man, who prepared him for college, is not possessed of a single anecdote which would distinguish him from " the million." But of his moral qualities, during this period, his school mates bear honorable testimony. When he had accomplished his own task, which he always did with great facility, he was ever ready to lend his aid to those who studied more tardily, or who had consumed their time in play.

This benefaction was, in some degree, his pastime : as he never engaged in the gymnastic sports of the school. His temper was placid and Ms disposition gay, and apparently feeling no supe riority, he was infected with no other ambition, than that of acquitting himself to the satisfaction of his instructor. During the first two years of his collegiate life, he was generally attentive to the studies assigned, excelling particularly in the Latin and Greek lan guages, in English grammar and rhetoric : but to stated recitations he was not unfrequently inatten tive ; devoting his time, not to idleness nor dis sipation, but to natural philosophy and elegant literature. To the Greek language he was very attentive, insomuch that the government of college assigned to him a Greek oration at one of the exhi bitions of his class.

This performance is generally nothing more than a recitation from some of the orations of Demosthenes or Isocrates, or a speech XX BIOGRAPHY. from Plutarch or Xenophon ; but Paine chose to write his own in Greek, without first preparing in English ; which he did much to the satisfaction of Doctor Willard, at that time President, who was considered a very accurate Greek scholar. The manuscript is now in existence. One of his classmates, J. Allen, whether from mere wantonness, or to gratify some particular resent ment, we know not, wrote several satirical verses, abusive of Paine, inscribed on the college wall. Discovered by Paine, he was resolved on replica tion ; but, having never written a line of poetry, he was for some time undetermined on the mode. Some of his class instigated him to attempt a poetical retort, by depreciating his talents, and doubt ing his ability to produce a rhyming reply.

Allen was a young man of a most vigorous mind, and had long, and not unsuccessfully, paid his respects to the muses. He at that time reigned laureat of the class. Paine, however, fearlessly attacked him in return. This anecdote the writer had from Mr. Paine the last summer, on asking him the occasion of his first attempt to rhyme. He could not recolleet the verses, but believed there was little wit on either side, though he was not then dissatisfied with his first metrical effort. '•Were it not for this circum stance," said he, " probably, I should never have undertaken a couplet." How trivial an incident BIOGRAPHY. XXI may so affect the helm, as to give a new direction to the whole voyage of life. The falling of a pin may decide the fate of an empire. Gratified in his first excursion on Parnassian heights, he persevered in his intimacy with the nine, till friendship became love ; and he found it ever after impracticable to divorce his affections.

Thus seduced, he became ambitious of showing the world how much he was their favorite. He saw his own rhymes in print, and his blessed ruin was inevitable. Scarcely less pleasure has a young author, at the sight of his first printed couplets, than a young lover at the moment of contract for the approaching hymeneal knot. It is the practice at Cambridge for the professor of Rhetoric and the English language, commencing in the first or second quarter of the student's soph omore year, to give the class a text ; generally some brief moral quotation from some of the an cient or modern poets, from which the students write a short essay, usually denominated a theme. These are examined and corrected by the Profes sor, and a straight line is drawn by him on the back of the theme, under the name of the writer.

Under the names of those, whose themes are of more than ordinary correctness or elegance, the Professor draws two lines. This distinction, though it occasions jealousies and complaints of partiality among the students, greatly excites their ambition. + BIOGRAPHY. Many, if not the greater part of Paine's themes, were written in verse ; and his vanity was gratified, and his emulation roused by the honor of constant double marks. Few, if any of these exercises, however, did Paine think proper to publish. And there are some, which it is presumed he never would have published, or certainly not without further correc tion. Though they give evidence, and contain examples of high poetic powers, there are many feeble lines, which he would have omitted, or amended ; and many inaccuracies, which he would have subsequently rectified.

Can there exist a son, from Adam sprung, How abject e'er from native dignity, &c. — page 1 1. And solemn silence bids the mind revere. — p. 15. He [nature] blushed, he sighed, and asked her hand. And, unsupprcssed, returned the sigh. — p. 20. Page 21 . Amours is accented on the first syllable. The whole poem, however, on the text, " Know then thyself ; presume not God to scan j The proper study of mankind is man ;" exemplifies the author's creative powers Where crags me-nace — p. 32. Till then thy name shall pervagrate the earth, — p. 35. Page 45, as in many other places, the transi tion is immediate from the familiar to the grave style : BIOGRAPHY. XXIII When with your lyre you swell melodious songs, E'en Orpheus owns to thee the wreath belongs. Shall court thy smile, and in your praise combine. — p. 46.

Created life was formed — p. 49 Splendid greens, — p. 60. Sweet are the hours of life's expanding years, — p. 62. Swords turned the scale, and nods edict ed law; — p. 72. Pervagrate and edicted, with several other words, were coined in Mr. Paine's own mint. Whether the republic of letters will recognize the validity of these acts of poetic sovereignty, time must determine. Here museful thought and contemplation dwell,— p. 82. Such tautology is, however, very rare with Mr. Paine. Yet this is not more censurable than Pope's "pensive contemplation," which perhaps Paine had in view. No more, amid the sylvan dance, Smiles round the soul-subduing glance! — p. 110. We have here noticed a tew inaccuracies. The list might be greatly augmented ; and still it is wonderful there are so few. In the exactness of his rhymes, he was not then, very scrupulous.

Warm and born are grating to the ear : but the eye rather than the ear is displeased with lorn and dawn. There is no uncommon merit in his translations. We are surprised that he should have attempted Sapho's *AINETAI MOI 'KHNOS, after Phillips. BIOGRAPHY. It is not designed to notice the many beauties and evidences of ripening excellence, which are scattered over his college exercises : we must, however, select and refer to a few examples. No sooner morn had cheered the skies with light, And modest fields blushed from the embrace of night, — p. 42. The first fourteen lines of the Valedictory (p. 60.) are exquisitely beautiful. How comprehensive the second line of his Address to Freedom : .Heaven-born goddess, hail Friend of the fieri, the sickle, and the sail ! — p. 70. His imitations were not very frequent.

The following line, No fear of death their dauntless souls deplore ; — p. 52. is but a slight variation from one in Young's Para phrase of Job, describing the war-horse : No sense of fear his dauntless soul allays. On the whole, although his earlier academic productions would not have ensured immortality, they contain some sublimity and much vigor and beauty, as well as a maturity and copiousness of style, uncommon Avith juvenility. They are far from being models of perfection ; but, to quote from his Refinement of Manners, Vain is the hope, in life's first dawn, to find Those nerves of thought, that grace the ripened mind. At the usual quarterly exhibition, in the autumn of 1791, the government of college assigned to BIOGRAPHY. XXV Paine an English poem. There is an unaccount able indolence, or love of delay with respect to original composition, common to many, if not to most of those, who are capable of the finest execution.

He neglected his task day after day, till the morning of the exhibition, on which, he wrote and committed to memory about a third part of the whole. Although there was much merit in this poem, he did not, by it, acquire much reputation ; merely on account of the plaintive monotony of his languid delivery : so disposed is a vast majority, even of an academic audience, to put their trust in the into nations of emphasis and the gracefulness of gesture. Mr. Paine, however, afterwards improved in public speaking ; and his elocution became almost perfect. The delivery of a poem at an exhibition, in the senior year, generally ensures a similar appoint ment at the ensuing commencement. Feeling se cure in this respect, Paine became negligent with regard to attendance on public prayers and stated recitations ; not wasting his time, but applying to such studies and authors as were more con genial to his taste, than some to which it was his duty, as a student, to have attended.