12THE faint glimmerings of the pale-faced moon on the troubled billows of the ocean are not so fleeting1 and inconstant as the fortune and condition of human life. We one day bask2 in the sunshine of prosperity, and the next, too often, roll in anguish3 on the thorny4 bed of adversity and affliction. To be neither too fond of prosperity, nor too much afraid of adversity, is one of the most useful lessons we have to learn and practise in the extensive commerce of this world. Happy is the youth whose parents are guided by these principles, who govern their children as good princes should their subjects, neither to load them with the chains of tyranny, nor suffer them to run into8 the excesses of dissipation and licentiousness5. The following History of Ernestus and Fragilis is founded upon these general principles.
Ernestus and Fragilis were both the children of Fortune, but rocked in two different cradles. Philosophy and Prudence6 were the nurses of the first, and Vanity and Folly7 lulled8 the second to his repose9. Ernestus was early used to experience the various changes of the air, and accustomed to a regular diet; while Fragilis was treated in a very different manner, being kept in a room where, it was supposed, no rude wind could intrude10 itself; and hurtful delicacies11 were given him, under the idle notion, that strength is to be acquired in proportion to the dainties and excesses of our meals.
Hence it is no wonder if, after a few years had strengthened their limbs and mental faculties12, that there appeared an indisputable difference between the two youths.
Ernestus was all life and gaiety, and soon showed a propensity13 to be at the head of all kinds of mischief14. Though this disposition15 often got him into disgrace with his parents, yet he always showed much contrition16 and sorrow when he really found he had injured any one, and seldom slept after the commission of a boyish crime till he had made ample amends17 to the party injured.
Fragilis had very different passions, and very contrary notions of things. Being accustomed to9 be indulged with whatever he cried for, his ideas soon wandered from real to imaginary wants, and as these could not possibly be gratified, he naturally became peevish18, fretful, and ill-natured. Whenever the mind is affected19, the body must partake of the shock it occasions. Fragilis was weak, rickety, and feeble; and the remedies they applied20 to relieve him only contributed to increase the evil.
As the two little heroes of my history lived in the same neighbourhood, and their parents were nearly equal in point of fortune, they consequently became intimate companions, and frequently visited each other. It was easily to be discovered which of these two children would one day figure most on the busy stage of the world. Ernestus and his lady with pleasure beheld21 in their little son an ample share of spirit and activity, kindness and affability, resolution and integrity. The parents of Fragilis, however, had not the same pleasing prospect22 in their favourite and darling; for he was of a dull and gloomy turn, seldom contented23 with any thing, perpetually wrangling24 with every one about him, and constantly pining after those things which he knew were not to be procured25.
Ernestus made a rapid progress in his literary pursuits, under the tuition of his masters; for his application to his books was equal to the genius nature had bestowed26 on him. On the other hand, Fragilis advanced very slowly in the paths of science;10 for his genius had been spoiled by the pernicious indulgences of his parents in his infant years, and he had been suffered to acquire a habit of indolence, which made the least labour of body or of mind tiresome27 and disgustful.
These circumstances, however, did not seem to interrupt the rising friendship between these two youths, their connections growing stronger as they ripened28 in years. They were joint29 proprietors30 in their kites, their tops, their marbles, and their dumps; though Ernestus was generally the manufacturer of the first and last articles. Indeed, the kites made by Fragilis were always too heavy, and not equally balanced on both sides; consequently they were difficult to be raised into the air, and when there, they had a wavering and unsteady motion; whereas, those made by Ernestus were light and elegant, darted31 into the air like an eagle, and remained there as steady as a hawk32 resting on its wings; his dumps had the elegance33 of medals; and his tops and marbles were so judiciously34 chosen as to claim the admiration35 of all the neighbouring youths.
The time at length arrived, when it is usual for parents to begin to think of sending their children from home, to engage in the busy commerce of the world, and to learn how to provide for themselves. The feathered inhabitants of the woods and groves36 give up every pleasure to that of rearing11 their little brood; but, as soon as they have acquired a proper degree of maturity37, they then drive them from their nests, to form new connections, and to shift for themselves. Man, more helpless than birds, requires the assistance of the parental38 hand, for some years, to rear and cherish him; nor do their cares and anxieties for him cease till life is no more.
Though Ernestus loved his parents with all the affections of a dutiful child, yet he could not help rejoicing at the idea of embarking39 in the bustle40 of the world, and making a figure as a man. On the other hand, Fragilis could not prevail on himself to quit the apron-string of his mother, and engage in the rude clamour of a commercial life, in which so much attention, thought, and industry, are required. Neither could his parents part with their darling, whose constitution they had spoiled, and rendered unfit for business. Ernestus, in a short time after, by his own desire, was placed as a clerk in a merchant's house in London; while Fragilis continued with his parents, to squander41 away his time in destructive scenes of indolence and luxury.
Five years had glided42 away as it were imperceptibly, when Ernestus found himself disengaged from the ties of his clerkship. His person was by this time arrived at the state of manhood, his figure was graceful43 and genteel, and his mind was improved from the polite companies he had engaged in at his leisure hours. As business had ever been12 the first object of his attention, and as he had thereby44 made himself of no small consequence to his late master, the latter, to connect him more closely with his interests, offered Ernestus his daughter in marriage, and a considerable share in the trade of the house. Such a flattering offer could not admit of a moment's hesitation45, especially as a secret passion had long mutually glowed in the bosom46 of each party. They were married, and they were happy.
Soon after this period, a most dreadful inundation47 happened on the sea-coast, on the very spot where the houses and lands of the parents of Ernestus and Fragilis were situated48. Dreadful indeed it was, for it not only washed down their houses, but drowned some hundreds of cattle, and left that as a part of the briny49 ocean, which, but a few hours before, was beautiful meadows and gardens, adorned50 with every thing pleasing to regale51 the appetite, or please the eye.
