kind among the higher order, in the formation of their schemes, in the felection of their ftudies, in the choice of their place of refidence, in the employment and diftribution of their time, in their thoughts, converfation, and amusements, are confidered as be ing at liberty, if there be no actual vice, to confult in the main their own gratification. Thus the generous and wakeful fpirit of Chriftian benevolence, feeking and finding every where occafions for its exercife, is exploded, and a fyftem of decent felfishness is avowedly established in its ttead; a fyftem fcarcely more to be abjured for its impiety, than to be abhorred for its cold infenfibility to the opportunities of diffufing happiness. "Have we no families, or are they provided "for? Are we wealthy, and bred to no profession? Are we young "and lively, and in the gaiety and vigour of youth? Surely we may "be allowed to take our pleasure. "We neglect no duty, we live in no vice, we do nobody any harm, "and have a right to amuse ourselves. "We have nothing better to do, we "wish we had; our time hangs heavy on our hands for want of 66 66 66 26 " it." and fhall the benevolence of Chrif tians want employment? 66 Yet thus life rolls away with too many of us in a courfe of "fhapeless "idlenefs." Its recreations conftitute its chief bufinefs. Watering places-the fports of the field-cards! never-failing cards!-the affemblythe theatres-all contribute their aid -amufements are multiplied, and combined, and varied, to fill up "the void of a liftlefs and languid "life;" and by the judicious ufe of these different refources, there is often a kind of fober fettled plan of domeftic diffipation, in which with all imaginable decency year after year wears away in unprofitable vacancy. Even old age often finds us pacing in the fame round of amufements which our early youth had tracked out. Meanwhile, being conscious that we are not giving into any flagrant vice, perhaps that we are guilty of no irregularity, and it may be, that we are not neglecting the offices of religion, we perfuade ourfelves that we need not be uneasy. In the main we do not fall below the general ftandard of morals of the class and ftation to which we belong, we may therefore allow ourfelves to glide down the ftream without apprehenfion of the confequences. I pity the man who can travel from Dan to Beersheba, and cry "It Some of a character often hardly is all barren." No man has a right to be distinguished from the clafs we to be idle. Not to fpeak of that have been just describing, take up great work which we all have to ac- with fenfual pleasures. The chief complish; and furely the whole at- happiness of their lives confift in one tention of a short and precarious life fpecies or another of animal gratifiis not more than an eternal intereft cation; and thefe perfons perhaps may well require; where is it that will be found to compofe a pretty in fuch a world as this, health, and large defcription. It will be rememleifure, and affluence, may not find bered, that it belongs not to our purfome ignorance to inftruct, fome pofe to speak of the grofsly and feanwrong to redress, fome want to fup- daloufly profligate, who renounce ply, fome mifery to alleviate? Shall all pretenfions to the name of Chrifambition and avarice never fleep? tians, but of those who, maintaining Shall they never want objects on a certain decency of character, and which to faften? Shall they be fo perhaps being tolerably obfervant of obfervant to discover, fo acute to dif the forms of religion, may yet be not cern, fo eager, fo patient to purfue, improperly termed feber fenfualifts. Ed. Mag. June 1797. 3 H Thefe, Thefe, tho' lefs impetuous and more measured, are not lefs ftaunch and fteady, than the profeffed votaries of licentious pleasure, in the purfuit of their favourite objects. "Morti fy the flesh, with its affections and lufts," is the Christian precept; a foft luxurious coufe of habitual indulgence, is the practice of the bulk of modern Chriftians; and that conftant moderation, that wholesome difcip. line of restraint and self-denial, which are requifite to prevent the unperceived encroachment of the inferior appetites, feem altogether difufed, as the exploded aufterities of monkish fuperftition. Chriftianity calls her profeffors to a ftate of diligent watchfulness and active fervices. But the perfons of whom we are now fpeaking, forgetting alike the duties they owe to themselves and to their fellow-creatures, often act as though their condition were meant to be a ftate of uniform indulgence, and vacant, unprofitable floth. To multiply the comforts of affluence, to provide for the gratification of appetite, to be luxurious without difeafes, and indolent without laffitude, feems the chief ftudy of their lives. Nor can they be clearly exempted from this class, who, by a common error, fubftituting the means for the end, make the prefervation of health and fpirits, not as inftruments of usefulnefs, but as fources of pleafure, their great bufinefs and continual care. Others again feem more to attach themselves to what have been well termed the " pomps and vanities of this world." Magnificent houfes, grand equipages, numerous retinues, fplendid entertainments, high and fafhionable connections, appear to conflitute, in their eftimation, the fupreme happiness of life. This clafs too, if we mistake not, will be found numerous in our days; for it must be confidered that it is the heart, fet on thefe things, which conftitutes the ef fential character. It often happens, that perfons, to whofe rank and ftation thefe indulgencies molt properly belong, are most indifferent to them. The undue folicitude about them is more vifible in perfons of inferior conditions and fmaller fortunes, in whom it is not rarely detected by the ftudious contrivances of a mifapplied ingenuity to reconcile parade with economy, and glitter at a cheap rate. But this temper of difplay and competition is a direct contrast to the lowly, modeft, unaffuming carriage of the true Chriftian: and wherever there is an evident effort and struggle to excel in the particulars here in question, a manifeft wifh thus to rival fuperiors, to outftrip equals, to dazzle inferiors, it is manifeit the great end of life, and of all its poffeffions, is too little kept in view, and it is to be feared that the gratification of a vain oftentatious humour, is the predominant difpofition of the heart. As there is a fober fenfuality, fo is there alfo a fober avarice, and a fober ambition. The commercial and the profeffional world compofe the chief fphere of their influence. They are often recognized, and openly avowed as juft mafter principles of action. But where this is not the cafe, they affume fuch plaufible shapes, are called by fuch fpecious names, and urge fuch powerful pleas, that they are received with cordiality, and fuffered to gather ftrength without fufpicion. The feducing confiderations of diligence in our callings, of fuccefs in our profeffion, of making handfome provifions for our children, beguile our better judgements. "We "rife early, and late take reft, and "eat the bread of carefulness." our few intervals of leifure, our exhaufted spirits require refreshment; the ferious concerns of our immortal fouls, are matters of fpeculation too grave and gloomy to anfwer the pur In may pofe, and we fly to fomething that may better deferve the name of relaxation, till we are again fummoned to the daily labours of our employ ment. to think on these ferious fubjects at prefent. "Men of leisure they con"fefs fhould confider them; they "themselves will do it hereafter "when they retire; meanwhile they Meanwhile, religion feldom comes," are ufefully, or at least innocently in our way, fcarcely occurs to our thoughts; and when fome fecret mifgivings begin to be felt on this head, company foon drowns, amufements diffipate, or habitual occupations infenfibly difplace or fmother the rifing apprehenfion. Profeffional and commercial men perhaps, especially when they happen to be perfons of more than ordinary reflection, or of early habits of piety, not quite worn away, eafily quiet their confciences by the plea, that neceffary attention to their bufinefs leaves them no time "employed. This business and pleafure fill up our time, and the "one "thing needful," is forgotten. Refpected by others, and fecretly applauding ourselves (perhaps congratulating ourselves that we are not like fuch an one who is a spendthrift, or a mere man of pleasure, or fuch another who is a notorious miser) the true principle of action is no less wanting in us, and perfonal advancement, or the acquifition of wealth, is the object of our fupreme defires and predominant purfuits. REMARKABLE CHANGE OF AN AFRICAN'S COMPLEXION. From the Monthly Magazine. IN July 1796, Henry Mofs came to Philadelphia, and returned to Virginia in November following. He produced a certificate of which the following is a copy : "I do hereby certify, that I have "been well acquainted with Henry "Mofs, who is the bearer hereof, up"wards of thirty years; the whole "of which time he has fupported an "honeft character. In the late war, "he enlifted with me in the conti"nental army,, as a foldier, and be"haved himself very well as fuch."From the first of my acquaintance "with him, till within two or three years paft, he was of as dark a "complexion as any African; and, "without any known caufe, it has changed to what it is at prefent. "He was free-born, and ferved his "time with Major John Brint, late "of Charlotte county. Given under "my hand, the 2d of Sept. 1794. 66 Jofeph Holt, Bedford county." He was alfo perfonally known to feveral of the other officers of the re 3 giment in which he ferved, who afferted, that he was then black, and that there was no reafon to question his veracity. When at Philadel phia, the Prefident (Washington) faw him, as well as many others, whofe notice of him was attracted by the fingularity of the cafe. He appeared to be a modeft, well-behaved man, and the clear pertinent manner in which he answered their various queftions, left them in no doubt of the truth of fuch parts of his story as rested on his own credit. Being afked a great many, tending to discover whether the change had been effected by any alteration in his mode of life or diet, of his health, of cuta. neous disorders, or remedies used for their removal, or any other phyfical caufe? nothing appeared to account for it. He has all the features common to the African; though not fo ftrongly marked. His ftature is about five feet fix inches; his age 42 years. On his face, from the roots of his H 2 hair, hair, on the finciput, about one inch in breadth, extending by his right ear, with increase of breadth under his chin, and upwards, to with in two inches of the left ear, is perfectly fair as any European. From the eye-lids, above both eyes, the African complexion has entirely difappeared. For nearly one inch in latitude, under the right eye, there is a small white ftreak; and under the left eye, a broader one. Around his mouth, is a ftreak of white, fhaded by another remaining ftreak of black, reaching nearly to the chin, under which, all round his neck, he has a very fair European complexion. The lines dividing the black from the white, are not regularly defined, but indented and infulated, the borders appearing as iflands and peninfulas, as are reprefented on the chart of a fea coaft. The whole of his breast, arms, and legs, fo far as it was decent to expofe them to a mixed company, were of a clear European complexion, interfperfed with fmall fpecks of his original colour, as freckles on the skin of a fair woman appear in fummer. The backs and palms of his hands are alfo perfectly fair; but on their fides, from the wrifts to the ends of his thumbs and fingers, there are ftripes of black; and on the outfides of his thumbs and fingers, there are fpots of it. But generally between the limbs, and whereever skin meets skin, and is covered by clothing, the change is perfect from the colour of an African, to that of fair European; and it was believed, that the whole of the form er, then remaining, if accurately meafured, would not amount to one square foot. His hair is undergoing a fimilar change, from the black criply wool of the African, to the foft curly hair of an European, wherever the colour of the skin is altered; and in the white parts, it is become foft and long, instead of harsh and fhort. Upon preffing his skin with a finger, the part preffed appeared white; and on removal of the preffure, the displaced blood rushed back, fuffufing the part with red, exactly as in the cafe of an European, in like circumstances; and his veins, and their ramifications, had the fame appearance. In the borders of the two colours, their appeared no difcontinuity, or fiffure, in the external furface of the fkin; and it feemed evident, that the change was not occafioned by the cafting off the epidermis, but by the diffolution of the rete mucofum, between the dermis and epidermis: fo that he was not fenfible of the leaft obftruction, on the paffage of a razor from the black to the white, or from the white to the black parts of his face. He faid, that his paternal grandfather was born in Africa, and his grandmother an Indian native of America; that his father (the iffue of their marriage,) married a mulatto woman, born of an African father; and an Irish mother; and that his maternal grandfather was a native of Africa: That about February 1792, he firft perceived a change in his skin, about the roots of his finger-nails, which extended to the length of the first joints; that about two months afterwards, the back of his neck began to change gradually extending downward, and round his body, to most parts covered by his clothes; that the alteration was greater in the fecond, than the first year; and that he has not perceived much, if any, progrefs in the winter, or cold weather. In the lat ter part of the fummer of 1796, it was fo rapid on his face and hands, that feveral who revifited him, after an absence of 12 or 14 days, difcovered a very obvious alteration; and they had no doubt, that if he should live over another fummer or two, the change would be completed throughout. He remarked, that fince it be gan, he has been much more fenfible of of the heat of the fun on his fhoul. Such is the hiftory, fo far as it goes, of the change of a negro to a white man;-a change, which, had Henry Mofs happened to have been a flave, would have farnifhed an irrefragable argument for annihilating his owner's claim. ders, than formerly; and that blifters and freckles have been raised on every part which holes in his clothes had expofed to its action; and alfo, that he has felt the cold much more fenfibly than before. MEMOIRS OF THE LATE MRS POPE, OF COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE. MISS [Concluded from our last, page 359.] ISS YOUNGE having made fome occafional trips to Ireland, her fame in Dublin was as well eftablished as in London. The Manager of Crow-ftreet Theatre therefore, in the year 1785, renewed an engagement with her for that fummer, when the in company with the late Mr Henderson and Mr Pope (a young actor from Dublin, who made his appe arance the winter before at Covent Garden Theatre in Oroonoko with very confiderable applaufe,) fet out for that capital in the June of the fame year. Accident threw Mr Pope, Mifs Younge, and another Lady of her acquaintance, into the fame poft chaife, and as Cupid avails himself much of accident, the two former, from fellow travellers, foon commenced lovers. In fhort, towards the close of that feafon they were married together in Dublin, on terms of fettlement, &c. very credit able to the fincerity of Mr Pope's affections. The following winter Mr and Mrs Pope reaffumed their fituations at Covent Garden Theatre; he in the first lines of Tragedy and Comedy, The as evidently the first actress in all the parts of her profeffion; which the fupported with a ftationary degree of reputation till Thurfday the 26th of January 1797, when, in the run of the new Comedy called "A Cure for the Heart Ache," fhe was reluctantly confined to her bed. She was fo ill three days before this, that none but those who felt like her would venture out; but fuch was her zeal for her profeffion, fuch her invariable fenfe of duty to Managers, Authors, and Performers, that, from the bare hint from her physician Dr. Warren, that her business might diffipitate her diforder, the cheerfully tried the experiment. Nature, however, was not to be conquered thus; her illness increased upon her fo much, that on her return. from the Theatre the was feized with fuch a lightness in her head, as for a while to deprive her of all fenfation. From this moment he was confined to her bed, and it was foon discover. ed that he had a paralytic affection. During the first month there were hopes of her recovery, as the retained her fenfes pretty accurately, and employed them to the best of all poffible purposes, in conftant acts of prayer, and pious refignation to her condition. During this interval, being requefted by a female friend to endeavour to compofe herself, the complacently faid, he would, if he would first permit her to repeat Pope's Univerfal Prayer," which the immediately began, and recited without ever miffing a fingle word, with a precifion, a fervour, and fullness of voice, that delighted and aftonished every body. about her. For the laft fortnight the daily be came more infenfible, feldom fpeaking, and then evidently with great effort, until Sunday the 12th of March, when the refufed all nourishment, and gave ftrong fymptoms of approaching diffolution. She continued in this ftate till the morning of the 14th, when he made figns to a particular friend as if he had fomething to communicate; many things were fuggeft ed |