The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1779-12-21 00:00:00, page 2

The CHARACTER, with a fh^rt Biographical
Account of JOS EPH the SECOND, present E M
PEROR of GERMANY.
J/eph the Second was born March 13th, 1741, was
crowned King of rhe Romana, April 3d, 1764, and Em
peror ^f Germany, Au/uft 18th, 1765. He isa man of
an excellent good natur d understanding, highly improved
by literature, ana a princely education, endowed with a
remarkable qnicknefs of apprehension, and readiness of
expression. He has a noble mind, an elevated foul, and
an humane heart. His manners are simple and unaffected,
and his affability and condefeenfion beggar the pride and
paradeof Kings. So that, Homofum, et nihil humani a
me alienum puto, may be justly given as the motto of this
illustrious Prince's life.
But as general characters require to be vouched and il
lustrated by particular examples, I shall here subjoin a
few, out of many instances of this great man's virtue,
goodness, and humanity, felefted from some collections
of memoirs and anecdotes, relative to his life, conversa
tion, and morals, which have been some time ago pub
liflied, both at Vienna and Paris.
This Emperor is generally filled the Titus of Germany
---notby the Poets-Laureat, for be has no such sycophants
upon his Court Calendar-- but by the literati of the age
in which he lives; which honorable appellation he has
long obtained, from this general observation, that hardly
a day passes over his head without being diftißguifhed by
some aft or other of public munificence, or of privrte be
nevolence, either to his people collectively, or the separate
individuals of them.
An old Austrian officer, being reduced to the halfpay
establishment, with a large family, presented a memorial
to the Emperor, fettinq forth,the indigence of his circum.
fiances, and particularly mentioning that lie had ten help
less children to support. His Majesty enquired where he
lived, went privately in disguise to the house, upon some
foreign pretence or other, and observing the number of
boys and girls about him to be eleven, asked carelefily if
they were ail his ? " No, Sir, replied the good old soldi
er • one of them isa poor orphan, thata motive of mere
humanity has induced me to feed and cioath along with
my own. The Monarch then discovered himfelf, not by
throwing open his coat, and difphying an embroidered
vest, as Princes reveal themselves in modern tragedies,
but by more unequivocal signs of royalty, by fettling a
pension on each of the half-fcore children; adding this tru.
ly noble sentiment at the fame time. That he left the or
phan to his own care, as he should think it but an envious
deed to deprive him of the virtuous pleafare of providing
for bis charitable adoption himfelf.
The Emperor keeps no fort of slate at Vienna, in his
own person, but when the public ads of the empire re
quire it; so that he frequently walks about the streets,
and mixes with the populace, likea private man. A boy
of nine years ©ld, one day, accosted him thus : " Sir, I
never begged before; but my mother is just dying, and
I want a florin to pay a phyfi Jan for her. We have no
money ; and oh! if you would but give us so much, how
happy would it make us !" The Emperor gave the fee,
butafked the name and abode of the sick person. The
child flew off with the money, and his Majesty went di
redly to the poor woman's house, passed for a physician,
consoled her, wrote a prescription, and retired. Her son
conies running home, soon after, with his florin, and a
doftori The mother was furprized, said foe had been
just before visited by a physician, and Viewed the recipe
to the doctor, who found it to be an order from the Empe
ror, on his treasury, for a pension to her of 50 ducats.
Soon after his Majefly's accession to the throne, an of
ficer in his army happened to die, leaving a wife and
daughter totally unprovided for. Tae poor widow drew
up a memorial, by way of petition, to the Emperor, and
confided it to a p rfon about the Court, whom she thought
her friend, and who promised to present it. But offici
oufnef' is seldom sincere. The courtier was at ease in his
own circuit fiances, and therefore the less sensible to the
sympathy of didrefs. He neglected her suit, and the poor
woman had disposed of every moveable (he had in her
house, except her bed, to which she was then confined
with a fever, brought on by the pressure both of poverty
and anxiety of mind.
In this forlorn filiation, the daughter took a solitary
walk into one of the suburbs, to be at liberty to indulge
her grief and diftraCtion alone, imp'oring Providence tc in
spire her with some thought or scheme toad ninifter t® her
poor mother's relief. Providence did meet her, in the
person of the Emperor, then going one of his rounds, who
observing her emotions and tears, ordered his attendants
to step aside, and coming up to her, enquired with tender
ness the cause of her affliction.
She did not know he was; but judging from the suit
she had seen him dismiss, that he must be some person of
rank, replied, " Alas! Sir, what have such as you to do
with the unhappy? Suffer me to pass on---your notice
but bumbles me the more." " Believe me, fair maiden,
he replied, it is not curiosity but companion, that prompts
the qneflion. One must know before they can relieve."
—“ Know then (answered she) that my mother lies now
cn her death-bed, but fuffering more through griefand
want than disease. We have loft my father, Sir, and
with him our only fubfiflaoce, which was his pay, having
been able to bequeath us nothing but the honor of his
name---for he was an officer, Sir -"
Here his Majesty interrupted her---his feelings were too
quick to listen more. " Why did you not set forth your
case and pretentions to the Emperor, whose proper pro
vince it is to relieve distress ?" " We did so, Sir.
Wedrew up a memorial and were promised to have it
delivered, but are certain that it nver was, because no
notice has been taken of it." “ Make out another then
(said he) and bring it to this very spot, at the fame hour
to morrow. I know the Emperor, aid promise to take
charge of it myfelf." “ You seem to have some diffidence
of me (added he;) so here take this purse as a surety for
my good behaviour, and haflen home quick to the re
lief of your affiided mother.
THERE is a certain natural curiosity in the human
mind, to be formed of trie flighted particulars re
lative to eminent perfdns, whether distinguished by their
rank or characters. The present fubjeft now before us,
is a considerable object in both of these lights; equally
derigting the tite ot Optimus, as well as that @f Maxi
mum
The transported and aftonihed girl flood far some mo
ments, doubting the veracity of her senses, expecting,
perhaps, to fee him mount into the ikies; then falling on
her knees, poured forth her blessings on her benefactor to
the empty air, he having fled beyond the reach of hear
ing, the inftaht he had closed his consolatory adieu, and
joined his retinue.
'Tis pleasant for a while to flop and conceive the hap
py impatience with which the girl hastened back to her
mother, and with what earnestness the related her adven
ture. The languishing invalid, however, being posses
sed of a quick sentiment, and some experience, received
the account but coldly. She forefaw confequemces in this
rencounter, that the youthful innocence and filial piety of
her daughter could not have the lead conception of.
“ My dear child (cried this refpe&able matron), what
you seem to look upon now to be the earnest of our good
fortune, may perhaps but tend to the very last degree of
our wretchedness. If this money was Oh, my
child ! Such is the goodness of certain people—their boun
ty is but the price of crime. I am not fufpeding your
virtue in the least-- but---let us die, my child---but let
us die innocent- Touch not a penny of this purfe."---Nor
did they.
The next morning, at the prefixed hour, the daughter
repaired to the appointed place, with the money and the
memorial in her hand. His Majesty cameup to her fooa
after, when file, all pale and trembling, addressed him
thus: “ There is your purse, Sir, and here is our memori
al. If that was given us as a snare, we return it to you a
gain untouched ; and then, as you can mean nothing with
this, I fliall carry it back with me, unprefented." "My
good girl (he replied), your Emperor lays traps for no one.
Carry back both the purse and your memorial, and call at
the exchequer every quarter day, for your father's pay,
which is already appointed far you, during your mother's
life and your own. I should, perhaps, (added he) require
his name who trifled with your dihrefs.---But---
" Behold how Kind's are served (said he, turning to
his suite); the coldness of those who surround them, to
wards the welfare of the people, freezes the whole state to
their masters, who with the utmost good will, and best
intentions in the world, may be handed down to poflerity
with detestation or contempt, for want of proper means of
information, where or when to exert their virtues."
We could proceed with pleasure through a volume on
this fubjed; for fiories such as these, of this great and
good man, are not deficient to fill it ; but that we fear the
incredulity of common readers, who may, possibly pe
ruse this detail as a fiction of the golden age, the legend
of some romance, or a fable of one of the vrfiting gods of
old, defeended from above to create a heaven upon earth
here below. This is a King, inde d. by the true Jure
Divine; by the only te st °' Right Divine, that reason
or philosophy will admit.---For 'tis character, not a
crown---'tis sentiment, and not succession, that confti
tutea sovereign. Joseph is an honour to human nature, and
a reproach to royalty.
Tuis Emperor has not kept his pageant and fequeflered
state, all his life, immured within his solitary palace walls.
He has seen the world ; conversed with, inveftigatsd, and
benefited, the world. He has extended the sphere of his
aßivity beyond his own dominions, and exercised his be
nevolence, good offices, and munificence to the advantage
©ffubjeßs and of countries not his own, both by his pre
cept and example.
Some memoirs of him, when he travelled under theti
tle of Count de Falkenfteiq (which inferior stile he assu
med, to rid himfelf and others of the fa ftidious and in
commodious parade of sovereign etiquette) we fliall here
insert, for the amusement and approbation of our read
ers, who may be pleased to view him now in the more
familiar light, as a man of tafle, sentiment, observation,
and reflection.
When he was in France or Italy, he usually paid the
firft visit to all persons eminent for wit, learning or sci
ence, either men or women, and never retired without
leaving some other token of his efteere, than merely the ho
nour ®f his visit. Nor was he more liberal of his pre
ftnts than of his compliments, which he was capable of
paying in the most flattering terms, and the politest turn
of expression.
He used often to fay to those who were encumbering him
with too much refpeH, either at their houses or in his walks:
" Be covered, pray- you constrain me-.-put on your
hat, or I shall take off mine. Attend me not to the door,
your time is precious.--.No compliment! Speak the
truth; I seek to know it. Deliver yourfelf with freedom ;
I love it. Disguise nothing, I came not abroad to seek
honours, but information." He likewise declined the feat
or place ' of diftindion, whenever he appeared in the Aca
demies of sciences, and always fat down any where near
the door at which he entered.
This character of him was so generally known, even in
the short time he Raid in France, that at the theatre one
night when Oedipus was a€lbd, and he was present, when
Jocafia (peaking; to her son of the journey of Laius, thus
describes him,
Ce roi, plus grand que fa fortune,
Dedaignoit corame vous, une pompe importune;
On ne voyoit jamais marcher devant son char,
D'un bataillon nombreux le fa fteux'rempart;
Au milieu des fujets bumis a fa puiffance,
Comme il etoit fans crainte, il marchoit fans defenfe.
Far l'amour de son peuple il fe croyoit garde;
the whole audience burst forth in one shout of applause,
directed to the Emperor, and which was several times re
peated.
Mr.,Cotton, Profeffer in thf Mazarine College, has
published an excellent Latin poem, with this title, The
memorable Journey of Count Falkenftein, in which he
describes him endeavouring to conceal himfelf from public
notice and popular applause, and seeking, with unwearied
afliduity, every opportunity of acquiring ufeful informa
tion. But no part of the work will be read with greater
pleasure by the lovers of humanity, than where he speaks
of his disdaining the proud mansions railed by luxury
and ostentation, and visiting with tears and tenderness
the gloomy abodes inhabited by pale sickness, and melan
choly age.
Our illustrious traveller having heard of the extraordi
nary talents of the Abbe L'Epec, who teaches persons,
born deaf, to speak, and to communicate their ideas to
others, paid him a visit, conversed with him a considera
ble time on the Angularity of his profeffion, and expressed
himfelf perfcaly fatisfied with the rationale he gave him
of his art. When hb was taking leave, he prevented the
Abbe from waiting on him down flairs, faying these me
morable words, " Your time. Sir, is too precious to be
wafted in vain ceremony. —You owe an account of it to
God."
He refufed the pomp of all equipages offered to him
from the Courts through which he patied in his travels,
and made use only of the common hired coaches. " One
should travel only to fee," as he said at Auglburgh, " and
diftinaions but dezzir"
, Being at the Academy des Eleves, at Stifgard, once,
and hearing one of the profeffors explaining Fontenelle's
plurality ot worlds to his pupils,-" very well," said he ;
“ but let us perfectly underhand the real world we inha
bit, before we trouble our heads about the possible ones
that may exist."
At Strafourgh he visited the military hospital, the one
for reduced citizens, and the other for foundlings. He
infpeded the chambers of the sick, examined their medi
cines and their food, interrogated the officers of the seve
ral houses upon every article of the provisions, regulations
and expences.—" One goes to Rome," said he, on reti
ring from these feenes, " to fee the productions of Mi
chael Angelo, of Raphael, of Julio Romano, *t. This
is well enough for those who have fouls only for admi
ration. An hospital speaks louder to those who have feel
ing ones. No: I should never enter into such places ex
cept to officiate, if Providence had not put it in my power
to relieve."
At Metz he attended a review- It rained hard. The
Count had no parapluie. All the officers wer^ provided
with them. A Major-General offered his to the Count,
which he refufed, faying, " I value not a shower, it hurts
nothing of a man but his cioaths." The infant after all
the umbrellas were folded pp, and disappeared. He smiled
also at observing the officers galoshes ihod with iron, to
k^p the wet from their feet. There was a higher reproof
in that smile, than in all the ftri&ures of Lycurgus against
effeminacy anti foftn^fs.
Upon feeing the monument es M. Turenne among the
tombs, of the Kings at St.-Denis, " He is, after his death,
as he was always in his life, “ said he, " in his proper
place," He expressed furprize at not finding any epitaph
engraven 011 the marble, and being told by the Abbe who
attended, that they had not hither > been able to get one
adequate : " Yen have now made it," replied be quickly.
On the Itft hand of the monument ther^ flands the figure
of an eagle, towbofe attitude and features the ingenious
artist has contrived to communicate the expression of grief.
The noble Prince, on viewing it, said, with a sigh, " Tu
renne has often made him weep.''* There was a magna
nimity in this sentence that must stir the heart of a liberal
reader, likethe found of a trumpet. Theimpremptu mi
litary honours he paid to the memory of Count Schwerin,
another brave enemy, is a story of the fame kind, but this
was shorter.
He was regular in his attentions on all religious duties,
in the public churches, and as corifiantly declined accept
ing any particular refpe& offered to him in such places.
He drank of the common cup with the rest of the com
municants, always refuting any appropriate one that was
presented to him. “ Why such diflinaions?" said he
once. It is at thetable of onr Lord that all mankind re
enter into the common rights of Human Nature. If
diflindions are there to be made, the honour should be
paid to virtue, not to rank, and are Kings always inti
tled to such a preference."
These anecdotes, tho' few, and perhaps too carelessly
feleded, are, however, fufficient to ledge the image of Jo
seph the Second in the heart, mind and esteem of every
virtuous, or intelligent reader. He is the true father
of his people ; the conflant tenor and exertions of his go
vernment have been directed and applied to the good and
happiness of his fubjeft ; nor is he possessed, rather than
inspired with any of the vain ambition of that long ex
ploded heroism, which damned your ancient warriors to
everlasting fame,
" From Macedonia's madman to the Swede."
Would such a Prince as this, I ask, in whose rich and
noble composition, humanity, humility, morality, and
religion, are so happily blended, facrifice the lives of half
a million ofhis people in the pursuit of falfe glory, or un
just claims ?—Pe reunt et imputantur.—No ; “ Tis gross
and palpable to thinking :" he has—he must have—l rely
upon it, the fanflions both of God and man cn his fide.
For fuiely we may venture to pronounce of his political
principles, what Pope does of the Modes of Faith,
“ He cant be wrong whose life is in the right."
* Alluding to the many victories obtained by the French'
under his command, over the Germans, before Marlbo
rough took their part.
+-s+44+s^ +*+ -Q*oQ4,g+Q.
TO, B E S O L D,
AVERY elegant SPINNET, in compleat order,
"almost new; a case of filver-h^ndled KNIVES
and FORKS, containing one dozen each ; also two
very good neat W ATCHES, one gold, the other
pinchbeck, with chain, seals, &c. &c. Enquire of the
Printer.
FIFTY DOLLARS R EWAR D.
STRAYED or STOLEN about four weeks
ago, from Penrofe's Island, a large roan HORSE,
supposed to be branded, a natural pacer, between fix
and seven years old, his tail has been nicked and'he car
ries it on one fide. Whoever brings the said horse to
Jonathan Penrose, in Southwark, (hall have the
above reward.
WA S taken up, and is now confined in
Trenton gaol, by the fubferiber, living in New-
Germantown, Hunterdon County, State of New-Jersey,
a young Negro Man, who fays his name is Peter ;. he is
nearly fix feet high, of a slender make, speaks and un
derstands very little English, and appears to have been
but a short t me in America ; had scarce any eloathing.
The owner is desired to apply, pay charges and take
him away.
%.2. GODFREY RHINEHEART.