HINTS TO A SCHOOL-MASTER. Address'd to the Rev d. 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.
SHOULD 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
* 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.