The constitutionalist — Exeter, N.H., 1810-05-21 00:00:00, page 4

From the Anthology of August, 1809^
SUMMER EVENING.
How sweet the summer gales of night.
That blow, when all is peaceful round;
As if some spirit's downy flight
Swept silent through the blue profound.
How sweet at midnight to recline.
Where flows their cool and fragrant stream;
There half repeat some raptur'd line ;
There court each wild and fairy dream.
Or idly mark the volumed clouds,
Their broad, deep mass of darkness throw,
Where as the moon her radiance shrouds,
Their changing sides with silver glow.
Or see where from that depth of shade.
The ceaseless lightning faintly bright
In silence plays, as if afraid
To break the deep repose of night.
Or gaze on heaven's unnumber'd fires,
While dimly-imaged thoughts arise,
And fancy, loosed from earth, aspires
To search the secrets of the skies.
What various beings there reside,
What forms of life to man unknown
Drink the rich flow of bliss, whose tide
Wells from beneath th' eternal throne.
Or life's uncertain scenes revolve,
' And musing how to act or speak,
Feel dome high wish, some proud resolve
Throb in the heart, or flush the cheek.
Meanwhile may reason's light, whose beam,
Dimmed by the World's oppressive gloom,
Sheds but a dull, unsteady gleam,.
In this still hour its rays relume.
Then oft in this still hour be mine
The light all meaner passions fear,
The wandering thought, the high design,
And fairy dreams to virtue dear.
From the Boston Mirror.
MONODY.
To THE MElrflY OF MR. Amos CUTTER.
" Each lonely scene shall thee restore,
" For thee the tear be duly shed,
" Beloi'd till life can charm no more,
" And mourn'd till pity's self be dead-"
To mournful strains Iwake the trembling
string,
My weeping muse her last sad office pays :
The gushing tears that flow from sorrow's
spring,
Perhaps may drop on my unpolish'd lays.
An anguish'd mothers eye perhaps may
trace,
An humble effort to assuage her woes,
A beam of pleasure may illume her face,
Her bursting heart may find a short repose.
What though no storied marble rears its
comes News.
From North, East, West, South, the
head,
To blaze thy merits to the giddy throng,
The spring's first flow'rs shall blossom o'er
thy bed,
And evening breezes chaunt thy fun'ral
song.
No noisome weed shall mark the hallowed
mound,
Where sweet he sleeps on whom affection
smil'd;
But earliest roses of the year be found.
To deck the grave of virtues' fav'iite child-
See the lone mourner bending o'er his bier,
And strives his fleeting spirit to recall,
The rending sigh, the agonizing tear,
Proclaims the anguish of his early fall.
“ Was it for this" she cries " that love had
twin'd
Its brightest wreath and plac'd it on my
breast ?
Was it for this I marlgdthe placid mind,
Which sooth'd with nflg@ force each care
to rest."
right.
®n the Derivation of the word News.
The word explains itself without the
Muse,
And the four letters speak from whence
An Irish peasant was carried before
4 magistrate, on a charge of having
stolen a sheep, the property of Sir
Garret Fi'z Maurice, The justice
asked him if he could read ; to which
he answered "a little"-—" You could
not be ignorant then, said Mr. Quo
rum, that the sheep belonged to Sir
Garret, as his brand (G. F. M.) was
on it." —“ True replied the prisoner,
but I really thought the letters stood
for Good Fat Mutton."\
cease!
See, angels point the way to realms of joy,
Where bloom the flowers of everlasting
peace,
Whose tints no earthly vapours can destroy.
The hand of him who ev'ry thought com-
mands
This flowretpluck'd to grace his native skies,
Mingled with saints in snowyrobes he stands,
And meek, receives his never-fading prize.
THE VILLAGE GIRL.
Sweet mourner hush! thy plaints of sorrow
WHAT'S HONOUR ?
Not to be captious ; not unjustly fight;
'Tis to confess what's wrong, and do what's
' An unprincipled debtor being in
formed by his friend, that one of his
creditors wished to receive the interest,
as he could not obtain the principal,
he replied with more wit than honesty,
that it was not his interest to pay the
principal, nor his principle to pay the
interest. , ~
A man, on his way to market with
a sley load of dead hogs, observing a
little Girl courtesey to him as he pass
,ed her in the street, exclaimed, what .
do' you courtesey to dead hogs. No,
Si„ replied she, to the live one-
solution's made
Each quarter gives account of war or
trade.
POETRY.
ANECDOTES.
ISAAC BARROW,f
AN eminent mathematician and di-I
vine, born in 1636. He was first placed
in the Charter-house, and afterwards
removed to a school at Felsted, inl
Essex, from whence he was sent to I
Cambridge, where he entered of Trin
ity College. When the king advanced
him to the dignity of master, his majesty
was pleased to say, " He had given it
to the best scholar io England :" and
he did not speak from report, but from
his own knowledge. The doctor be
ing then his chaplain, he used frequently
to converse with him, and, in his hum
orous way, to call him an " unfair
preacher," because he exhausted every
.subject, and left nothing for others to
say after him. He was appointed
Gresham professor of geometry, 1662,
and was elected Fellow of the Royal
Society, 1663. He resigned his Gres
ham professorship on being appointed |
Lucasian professor of mathematicks at
Cambridge, 1664, which chair he re
signed to his illustrious pupil, Sir Isaac,
then Mr. Newton, in 1669. He was
created D. I), in 1670, and two years
afterwards was appointed Master of
Trinity College. In 1675, he served
the office of vice chancellor. He died
in 1677, and was interred in West
minster Abbey. He was a man of
Considerable courage and eccentric
humour, as the following anecdotes
will illustrate :—Being once on a visit
at a gentleman's house in the country,
where the necessary was at the end of j
the garden ; as he was going to it beforei
day, (for he was an early riser) a fierce
mastiff, that used to be chained up all
day and let loose at night, set upon
him with great fury ; the doctor caught
him by the throat, and throwing him
down, lay upon him ; once he had a
mind to kill him, but he altered his res
olution on recollecting that this would
be unjust, as the dog only did his duty :
at length he called so loud that he was
heard by some of the family, who came
out and freed both from their disagree
able situation. As a proof of his wit
the following is recorded : —Meeting
lord Rochester one day at court, his
lordship, byway of banter, thus ac
costed him ; —" Doctor, L am yours to
my shoe-tie." Barrow, seeing his aim,
returned his salute as obsequiously,
with " My lord, I'm yours to the
ground." Rochester improving his
blow, quickly returned it, with " Doc
tor, I'm yours to the centre ;" which
was as smartly followed by Barrow,
with " My lord, I'm yours to the an
tipodes :" upon which Rochester,
scorning to be foiled by a musty old
piece of divinity (as he used to call him,)
exclaimed, ' Doctor, I'm yours to the
lowest pit of hell !" on which Barrow,
turning on his heel, answered " There,
my lord, I leave you."
PAT AND THE TRAVELLER.
A trav'ller one day chanc'd to meet
brother Pat,
Come tell me I pray, whose fine man-
sion is that?
Arrah honey, says Paddy, whilst
scratching his head,
One Patrick Fitzgibbon lives there—
but he's dead.
The trav'ller, good soul, said to Pat as
he sigh'd,
I pray thee how long since the owner
has dy'd?
Oh your honor, says Patin very great
sorrow,
ge'd be just thee weeks dead had he
liv'd till tomorrow.
A history of New-York, from the
begining of the world to the end of
the Dutch Dynasty. Containing
among many surprising and curi
ous matters, the unutterable pand
erings of Walter the Doubter, the
disastrous projects of William the
Testy, and the chivalrick achieve
ments of Peter the Headstrong,
the three Dutch Governors of New-
Amsterdam ; being the only au
thentic history of the times that
ever hath been, or ever will be
published. By Diedrick Knicker
bocker. In two volumes. Ins
keep and Bradford and W. M'llhen
ny. 1809. pp. 526. 12mo.
Captain Hudson, an Englishman,;
commanding a ship belonging to the
Dutch East India Company, while pros
ecuting a voyage for the discovery of
a north-west passage to China, enter
ed the bay of New-York in the year
1609. He advanced up the majestic
river Mohegan, as it was called'by the
Indians, but which now bears his
name. After his return to Holland,
the Dutch government sent out a ship
with a few colonists who took posses
sion of the country, called it Niew-
Nederlandts, and' began to build the
present city of New-York, under the
name of New-Amsterdam. The Dutch
retained possession of this fine, and
from its situation very important
country, till 1664, when an English
Literary.
From the Anthology.
REVIEW
expedition, commanded by colonel
Nicholls, arrived before the city, which
was surrendered to him by capitulation.
It was immediately erected into an
English province, which, as well as its
capital, took the name of New-York.
The meagre annals of this short
lived Dutch colony have afforded the
ground-work for this amusing book,'
which is certainly the wittiest our press
has ever produced. To examine it
seriously in a historical point of view,
would be ridiculous ;• though the few
important events of the period to
which it relates are, we presume, re
corded with accuracy as to their dates
and consequences.
These materials, which would have
hardly sufficed to fill a dry journal of
a few pages, are here extended to two
volumes. They only compose the
coarse net-work texture of the cloth,
on which the author has embroidered
a rich collection of wit and humour.
The account of these honest Dutch
governors has been made subservient
to a lively flow of good natured satire
on the follies and blunders of the pres
ent day, and tire perplexities they have
caused. This Writer, wisely enough
perhaps, laughs at what makes others
groan ; and if any thing can be hoped
from ridicule, the rash imbecility of
those ignoble plagiarists, who have
been for some years past carrying on
war by proclamations and resolutions,
might by this work be shamed into a
retreat aid concealment.
The great merit, and indeed almost
the only one, which the varied labours
of former times have left to the litera
ture of the present day, aptness and
fertility of allusion, will be found al
most to satiety in these pages. Those
who have a reEsh for light humour,
and are pleased with that ridicule
which is caused by trifling, and, to the
mass of the woild, unobserved rela
tions and accidents of persons and sit
uations, will be iften gratified. They
will soon perceive that the writer is l
oneof those privileged beings, who,
in his pilgrimage through the lanes and
streets, the road and avenues of this
uneven world, ipfreshes himself with
many a secret imile at occurrences
that excite no observation from the
dull, trudging mas of mortals. "The
little Frenchmat, skipping from the
battery to avoid a shower with their
hats covered witljtheir handkerchiefs ;"
the distress of 'the worthy Dutch
family" annoyed by the vicinage of a
" French boarding house," with all
its attendant circumstances, even down
to " the little pug-nose dogs that pen
etrated into their best room," are ex
amples among many others of this dis
position; The people of New-Eng
land are the subjects of many humor
: bus remarks, but we are glad to ob
serve made with to much good-nature
and mingled compliment and satire,
that they themselves must laugh.
It is in vain to attempt to analyse a
work of this kiid; its character can
be best made kniwn by extracts. We
shall sel^t for bis purpose the por
trait of IVouter Van Twiller.
" The renowned Wouter (or
Walter) Van Twiller was descend
ed from a long line of Dutch burgo-
Imasters, who lad successively dozed
away their lives and grown fat upon
the bench of magistracy in Rotterdam ;
and who had comported themselves
I with such singular wisdom and pro-
Ipriety,lpriety, that they were never either
heard or talked of—which, next to
being universally applauded, should be
the object of ambition of all sage mag
listrates and rulers.
I'' His surname of Twiller, is said
Ito be a corruption of the original
I Ttotyter, which in English means
doubter; a name admirably descrip
|tive of his deliberative habits. For
I thoughhe was a man, shut up within
I himself like an oyster, and of such a
I profoundly reflective turn, that he
I scarcely ever spoke except in mono-
Isyllables, yet did he never make up his
I mind, on any doubtful point. This
I was clearly accounted for by his ad-
Iherents who affirmed that he always
I conceived, every subject on so compre
hensive a scale, that he had not room
in his head, to turn it over and exam
ine bothfides of it, so that he always
I remained in doubt, merely in conse
quence of the astonishing magnitude of
his ideas!
“ There are two opposite ways by
I which some men get into notice—one
by talking .a vast deal and thinking a
little, and the other by holding their
tongues and not thinking at all. By
the first many a vaporing, superficial
I pretender acquires the reputation of a
Iman of quick parts —by the other
I many a vacant dunderpate, like the
I owl, the stupidest of birds, comes to
be complimented; by a discerning
world, with all the attributes of wis.
dom. This, by the way, is a mere
}casual remark, which I would not foi
Ithe universe have it thought, I apply
to Governor Van Twiller. On the
contrary he was a very wise Dutch.
; I man, for he never said a foolish thing
ll —and of such invincible gravity, tha,
he was never known to laugh, or even
to smile, through the course of a long
and prosperous life. Certain howev
er it is, there never was a matter pro
posed, however simple, and on which
your common narrow-minded mortals,
would rashly determine at the first
glance, but what the renowned Wou
ter put on a mighty mysterious, va
cant kind of look, shook his capa
cious head, and having smoked for
five minutes with redoubled earnest
ness, sagely observed, that " he had
his doubts about the matter" —which
in process of time gained him the
character of a man slow of belief, and
not easily imposed on.
“ The person of this illustrious old
gentleman was as regularly formed
and nobly proportioned, as though it
had been moulded by the hands of
some cunning Dutch statuary, as a
model of majesty and lordly grandeur,
lie was exactly five feet six inches in
height, and six feet five inches in cir
cumference. His head was a perfect
sphere, far excelling in magnitude that
of the great Pericles (who was thence
waggishly called Schenocephalus, or
onion head) —indeed, of such stupen
dous dimensions was it, that dame
nature herself, with all her sex's in
genuity, would have been puzzled to
construct a neck, capable of support
ing it ; wherefore she wisely declined
the attempt, and settled it firmly on
the top of his back bone, just between
the shoulders ;. whererfit remained, as
snugly bedded, as a ship of war in
the mud of the Potowmack. His
body was of an oblong form, particu
larly capacious at bottom ; which was
wisely ordered by providence, seeing
that he was a man of sedentary habits,
and very averse to the idle labour of
walking. His legs, though exceeding
short, were sturdy in proportion to
the weight they had to sustain ; so
that when erect, he had not a little the
appearance of a robustious beer barrel,
standing on skids. His face, that in
fallible index of the mind, presented a
vast expanse perfectly unfurrowed or
deformed by arty of those lines and
iangles, which disfigure the human
countenance with what is termed ex
pression. Two small grey eyes twink
ied feebly in the midst, like two stars
of lesser magnitude, in a hazy firma
ment ; and his full fed cheeks, which
seemed to have taken toll of every
thing that went into his mouthywere
curiously mottled and streaked with
dusky red, like a spitzenberg apple.
. " His habits were as regular as his
I person.—He daily took his fourstated
meals, appropriating exactly an hour
to each ; he smoked: and doubted eight
hoirs, and he slept the remaining
twelve of the four and twenty. Such
was the renowned Wouter Van Twill
er—a true philosopher, for his mind
was either elevated above, or tran
quilly settled below, the cares and
perplexities of this world. He had
lived in it for years, without feeling the
least curiosity to know whether the
sun revolved round it, or it round the
sun; and he had even watched for at
leasthalf a century, the smoke curling
from his pipe to the ceiling, without
once troubling his head with any of
those\numerous theories, by which a
philosopher would have perplexed his
brain, in accounting for its rising
above the surrounding atmosphere."
[to BE CONTINUED;]
MERINO SHEEP.
We are happy to see in the Boston
papers, that 44 full blooded Merinos
have lately arrived at that port from
Lisbon. They are said to be natives
of the same part of Spain from whence
Col. Humphreys' flock was extracted
in 1802, and to possess superior qual
ities to the few sheep which have re
cently been imported from the south
of Europe. It is expected they will
command an high price, since they are
altogether incompetent to supply the
great demand for them.
To enable onr farmers the better to
discriminate between the genuine and
spurious race, we insert the following
descriptions of the trustees of the Mas
sachusetts Society for promoting Agri
culture, being considered as the most
perfect that have been offered to the
public. Lt is believed they will serve
as a guide to the purchasers of that an
imal; either in Spain or this country.
The first is by Lord Somerville, who
observes, " These Sheep are different
from any other breed in the color of
the fleece—there is a dark brown tinge
I on the surface of the best fleeces, which
I is formed by dust adhering to the
greasy and yolkey properties of its pile
—The harder the fleece, the finer the
wool. It appears knotted and curled
close to the body. The males have
horns, the females have none —but
:somtimes the males are polled, or have
1 I nohorns ; .but it is a rare occurrence
—There is a loose pendulous skin
, under the neck, or throat, which if
, usually attended with a sinking oi
F hollow in the neck. These sheep hav<
H always a large tuft of wool betwcei
rtf..* VOW' 3 ^ . *\,
To prevent any evil minded person
from stealing this valuable race of ani
mals, which are easily distinguished fron^
ordinary sheep, we recommend to a!
persons who keep taverns, or attend
at turnpike gates, ferries and bridges,
to take particular notice of all sheeps
of this description which pass their
several stations—By such observation,
the thieves could rarely escape detec
tion.
(^ The printers in New England,
are requested to publish the above.
the eyes, and it grows on the legs al
most to the hoofs." Col. Humphreys
describes two distinct species of shee r
in Spain. ''One is called Merinoes.
famous for their fine wool ; the othc:
is called Churros, distinguished foe
their coarse and bad wool. Th
head of the Merino appears more wool
ly than our common sheep —their ear;
larger—their eyes bright—the horn
are curved in a spiral turn —the neck
short—the chest broad—the body
face, and legs are covered with a deli
cate fleece, without any mixture of
of coarse locks or hairs. The fleece
is remarked to be much more impreg
nated than other breed, with an oil,
substance, apparently exuded in pers
piration. This species of sheep is per
fectly gentle—but firm in all its
movements."
This fever does not appear to be of
the description which the medical writ
ers of Europe denominate the Spotted
Fever. It appears to be another kind
of the putrido febris. The remote
causes of this disorder are said to be
improper, or putrid diet, corrupted:
grain, a too free use of those salts
which dissolve the blood, putrid mias
mata, &c. The Spotted Fever in Eu
rope always, we believe, makes its ap
pearance iv hot weather ; the fever
which now prevails in this country, and
which has proved very fatal in Provi
dence, Hartford, Moritches (Long Isl
and) in Vermont, Canada, &c. always
rages in the winter. It seems to occur
after seasons which are unfavourable
to the productions of the earth. 1^
might therefore be worthy the atten
tion of the faculty, to inquire whether
this destructive disease is not occasion
ed by immature, crude and consequent
ly unwholesome provisions. The cortw
was, in many places, killed by the
frost, last year,, and of course, it can
not be so wholesome as when it arrives
at maturity. We have lately heard oF
several animals having been killed by
mouldy corn—it may also be destruc
tive to human beings. European
writers have given accounts of very fa
tal consequences which have resulted
from the use of blasted, or otherwise
damaged rye. ,These things seem to
require investigation.
Such extraordinary cases certainly can
not be expected to yield to ordinary treat
ment. Reasoning, from analogy, we ven
ture,.with all deference to the faculty win.
may be concerned, to submit the following
suggestions.
Do not purple spots, and the whole trains
of symptoms which attend this disease
prove a disoxygenated state of the system ?
If, whatever be the remote cause of dis
ease, the immediate cause be a defect of
oxygone how can it be better treated tham
by the introduction of oxygone ?
As the introduction of oxygone by inspi
ration is not practicable in country towns,
from the want of chemical apparatus, it muse
be done by the stomach, aided by external
application.
Oxygone exhibited in diluted sulphurick.
acid readily unites witli the blood, and is:
there diffused through the system. It has
been taken in quantities which, even to many
practitioners, would seem incredible. Pro
fessor Reich, "having purposely caused him
self an indigestion, consumed by degrees, hi
one hour, a whole ounce of concentrated sul
phurick acid (Oil of Vitriol) which was
diluted in a great quantity of water."* Fist;. -
drops for an incipient dose, diluted in syrup
aud water, and a hundred drops in subse
quent doses, may be safely given. The
effect of these may be aided by in
jections with 40 drops of muriatick acid.
This may appear bold practice ; but where
death is making such tremendous ravages,
and ordinary means are found totally inef
ficient, a mere decided course seeing
justifiable..
' * This is not quoted as a precedent fit
practice ; if pursued for a number of hours,,
it -would undoubtedly be deleterecus : but t^
shew that the sulphurick acid may be used
much more liberally than has been common
-without danger, and with probable advantage
Repertory.
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POLITICAL and MISCELLANEOUS
SPOTTED FEVER.
REMARKS.