The Mirror — Concord, N.H., 1798-07-17 00:00:00, page 4

Thine eyes vie with the morning dawn,[
That blulhes in the etft,
. And their foft attrading beam
Has pierc'd my tender breast.
Thy sweetly foft enchanting finite
/ Emits young Cupid's dart,
The beauties that around thee play
Has caught my ravilh'd heart.
Let me no longer distant glow,
'But take me to thine arms ;
Whilst there is transport I remain.
I'll coltemplate thy charms.
Lay me on your snowy breast,
And grant my love return ;
In pleasure both ecstatic melt,
And both with rapture burn.
fflffcellanp.
An Eulogy on Ugliness.
TO undertake an eulogy
on uglinefs,which by its
nature seems to let all flattery
and compliment at defiance,
must be thought an attempt
,as difficult as singular, yet may
be accomplished ; not, it is
true, by borrowing arguments
from its native excellence, but
by detracting from its oppo
site beauty ; in the fame man
ner that an ill- favored woman
thinks to render herlelf hand
rfdme, by discovering a blem
iffi ? T :"°"^ °& 211
iiands to be beautiful. Here
A DESCRIPTIVE COMPLIMENT.
HERO is young, and fomewbatflim,
Fair is her form, and ev'ry limb
In due adjustment moves ;
Her skin is white as Alpine snows.
Her cheeks are red as any rose,
Her eyes are like a Disc's :
Her breath is Tweet as May -day morn.
Her words are Sharper than a thorn.
And nut brown is her hair ;
Her hands are delicately white,
Her crimson lips to kits invite ;
O! Ihe's extremely fair !
Had I an hundred tongues, or more,
I could not count her beauties o'er.
Nor aught with her compare ;
Such fine embellishments}without
Are but a covering, no doubt;
To something very rare !
LEANDER.
Salisbury, July xe, 1798.
Errata.
Our reader, will please to rectify, in
the Poetry of Leander, inferred in the
Mirror of the 3d inst. the following mis
takes, viz. In the rft verse 2d line, read
fabt instead of light—in the 4th line of
the ad verse, read lurid instead of lucid —
and in the gtb verse 1* line, read I'm in
stead of lam. Thus you have it accurate
by the Author's own correcting.
Thv beauty's like the vernal robe,
Like to the bloom es May,
Like bluftvs es the weftern sky,
“ By Sol's departing ray."
AMELIA fair, my bosom burns
With foft and gentle flames,
Love of my heart's peffeffion got.
Excited by thy charms. <
for rat MIRROR'
SENTIMENTAL MEDLEY.
—
7 <' TO RAISRThEGENIUS, AND TO MFNDTHEHFART."
to AMELIJ.
THE Bitoulet.
a difficulty occurs not easy to
be surmounted, which is, the
tide of prejudice that has been
rolling down to us for ages,
from the Greeks to the Ra* 7
mans, from the Romans to
Plutarch, and from him to all
the fonneteers of modern
times,! whom to a man have
profeffed a prediledion fora
bandfome face, if we may
judge by a rapturous effufion
on the fubjed of beauty.---
Why, in the name of wonder,
does this prejudice continue
so rooted ? Doubtless for want
of due reflexion. It would
be doing much towards erad
icating it, to take a retrofpec,
tive view of the mifehiefs oc
casioned by celebrated beau
ties, such as Helen, Cleopatra,
with a multitude of oher
beautiful incarnate devils.
ing place of fashionable re
sort; where he vied with the
nobles of the realm in profu
fion. And all to what pur
pose? To indulge the levity
of a handsome wife. Does
this happen to him who is
linked with a homely dame ?
Trust me it does not. In the
firft place, she will not infill
on such excursions ; because,
(the benefit of the water be
ing, nine times in ten, a sec
ondary confideration)fhe can
not be seen; she knows she
cannot with any credit to her
(elf. Should she covet the
indulgence, he may negative
her motkfefyith impunity^;
she being conscious of her
fant of charms to make an
impiefrion on his heart, or
wre^k her vengeance on his
head. Proceeding to the next
This tingle coofideration
should, methinks turn the
scale in favor of ugliness. If
any reputable fonneteer cart
produce an instance of whole
nations cutting each other's
throats, lacking, plundering,
and erasing populous cities,
for the fake of one or more
ugly faces. I give up the
point ; but it is so far other
wise, that no man now living,
or at any former period, could
bring home a charge of^le
linquency against his wife
owing to her ugliness. Do
but dip a little, reader, into
the chronicles of the day, Ind
you will be convinced that
beauty has a great deal more
to answer for. A file of pa
pers lies before me ; " banes
and antidotes," as Cato fays.
The firft paragraph that meets
my eye, was written in ridi
cule of a pains taking, indui
trious, money-getting trades
man, who ran away from be
hind his counter to a water-
Prior (with a strong resem
blance to him in his manner)
had more judgment, La Fon
taine more simplicity. The
former owed much to art and,
learning ; the latter all to na
ture. But Prior's harp had
more firings than La Fon
taine's. He was a fine poet
in many different ways ; La
Fontaine but in one.
SPENCER.
He had a great poetical genius.
There is a force and a beauty io
some of hit images and his defcrip
tiont, equal to any io the bell of
Homer and Virgil, Taffo and A
riosto. But he had not always the
art of (hading his pidurei. He
brings the minute and di(agreeable
parts too much into fight, and
with many sublime and noble
ideas, mingles too frequently vul
gar and mean. Hit poem is mor
al and allegorical ; but the allego
ry being continued throughout the
whole work, fatigues the mind ;
and as every canto has a different
column, my attention is ar
rested by a feene of adultery,
with all its consequences of
suits instituted, divorce, &c.
To which is added, that the
lady is beautiful ; which is
Supposed, perhaps to be a
compliment to her, but is in
reality meant to exculpate her
paramour. Are these thy ef
fe&s, Beauty, beauty thou in
sidious witch ? Corae, then,
thou grim visaged maulkin,
Ugliness, come with thy gog
gle eyes, and foaggy teeth,
thou antidote against inordi
nary desires, more corrective
than the hermit's penitential
shirt, come and affett thy
claim to panegyric.
but I admire the natural spirit
and case of his wit, that Sim
plicity mixed with elegance
and justness of thought,which
charafterifes his genius, and
makes it quitc original, tho'
all the matter of his writings
D ACINE is the swan des
cribed by ancient poets,
which rises on downy wings
to the clouds, and sings a
sweet; but a gentle and plain
tive note.----Corneille is the
eagle which fears to the Ikies
on bold and founding pinions,
and fears not to perch on the
feeptre of Jupiter, or to bear
in his pounces the lightning
of the gods.
LA FONTAINE-PRIOR
La Fomaine, in feme of his
tales, is as faulty as he is ad
mirable in other refpeas.—
He has indeed been too wan-
ton and sportive with vice ;
is borrowed from others.—
RACINE
Literary Characters,
French & English.
CORNEILLE.
A Conneaicci pre# her, who
was in the habit of giving to the
letter U the broad accent, which
gave to tu the found of chew, and
to da the found of jew, as in feip
ebewer, and itdivijewal, infield of
feripme and i#d/w'&/, .unstrung
the devout grimacery of bis audi
ence by the following circum
ftaoce. In prayer, after having
observed, that "we were like day
in the hands of the potter ;" in
stead of faying in an accent, with
which the ears of his auditors had
fable, and a different hero, there
is no paffioo to interest the hears
in the whole, nor an, permanent object
to fix the attention. Had he chosen a
futya proper for epic poetry, he seems
to have had elevation and strength in his
genius fufficient to make him a great ep
ic poet ; but now he can hardly be rank
ed in that class.
THE wife of a Col. H. of
Newhampfhire, now living
in Novafcotia, from the eoldnefs of
hit conduct towards her, was led
to fofpea that hit affections were
directed to another otjed—and
food difeovered that (he had cause
for fufpicioo, and that a rich young
widow enjoyed what Abe thought
was due to her alone. Full of in
dignation the injured wife repairs
to the house of the inamorata, and
demanded to know whether her
hefband was there, , 0 wortblefs
fellow." 66 He is not a, worthless
fellow," replied the widow, but
an amiable man." —The wife con
tinued her epithets, and cone uded
with a" uell, well. I'll diftoft of
bra."—" Yuu will—laid the wid
ow, whit's your price ?'' "A
guinea a pound.” —Done! exclaim
ed the widow, 1 take him at your
word, it is a bargain." Without
more words the Col. was produc
ed, and after a short eclairciffement
with his wife agreed to the bar
gain—got into the fcalei, and
weighed to the tune of 240 lb.—
The widow not at all checked by
the ponderancy of the Col's, cor
pus, paid down the jbiuers-md
the Col. in consideration of the at
tention he had heretofore received
from hit quondam wife, added gaol,
to the purchase money.
Thus ended this, perhaps, fitft
instance, of a woman's disposing
of her hufband—(altho' we have
frequently heard of men's felling
their wives) and to the fatisfaaion,
it is laid, of both parties
usually been tainted, 66 turn w O
Lord and we fall be turned," he
cried out io the fervor of hit spirit,
^cbus ui O Lord and we (half
be cbwMd." After meeting, a
pedon who felt rather grieved at
what he fuppoled levity io the
minister, laity it wai the firft time
he ever heard any thing about
ctoming in public worth!,, and
somewhat a wag, observed, that
he thought it would have been
more apropos, indeed of faying,
that we were like clay io the
handi of a potter—to have fald.
that we were like mam in the
hand! of the to, m&^ftfy
,^ 1,. . py &. ,\ &
The Bargain.— A true Story.
Banquet or Comus.