Hints to a school-master: Address'd to the Revd. Dr. Turnbull. By Stephen Duck.

Table of contents

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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.

Notes

*
Alluding to the Law of Nature and Nations, lately publish'd by Dr. Turnbull.
↵

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.]

[Lately Published] By the same Author,

ALRICK and ISABEL: OR, The Unhappy Marriage. A POEM.

[Price One Shilling.]

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Title statement

Hints to a school-master: Address'd to the Revd. Dr. Turnbull. By Stephen Duck.

Duck, Stephen, 1705-1756.

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ID [ota]

http://ota.ox.ac.uk/id/3313

ID [isbn10]

1106003128

ID [isbn13]

9781106003126

ID [TCP]

K000379.000

ID [BIBNO]

CW3310184104

ID [ECLL]

0099900700

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— Hints to a school-master: Address'd to the Revd. Dr. Turnbull. By Stephen Duck., Duck, Stephen, 1705-1756.. [2],9,[1]p. ; 2⁰. London :: printed for J. Roberts; and R. Dodsley,. 1741.. [Verse.] [Reproduction of original from the Harvard University Houghton Library.] [Foxon, D470] [English Short Title Catalog, ESTCN628.] [Electronic data. Farmington Hills, Mich. : Thomson Gale, 2003. Page image (PNG). Digitized image of the microfilm version produced in Woodbridge, CT by Research Publications, 1982-2002 (later known as Primary Source Microfilm, an imprint of the Gale Group).]

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