The Mirror — Concord, N.H., 1798-12-10 00:00:00, page 4

True Greatness.
AT heav'nly synod once arose
A wend'rcus strong debate;
This mighty secret to disclose —
That makes a mortal great.
Mm better'd forth that love of arms
Enrich'd the daring foul;
And B,echos swore, the bughteft charms
O'^flow'd the foarkling bow);
That he, who, fill'd with gen'rous wine,
Could frolick, laugh andfing,
Was far more rich, wa more divine,
And greater than a King.
Apollo vow'd with mufick's pow'r
None other could compare ;
But Jove produc'd his golden fhow'r,
And fix'd true greatness there.
Pallas, to wisdom ever dear,
Heard gravely what had past ; 'ey
The goddess came prepar'd to hear,
And (fence br kcat lift.
Your ihow'r (he erv'd, willmelt away;
Your mufick lose its charms ;
Your sparkling bowls will all decay, &
And raft o'erfpread your arms.,
But heav'n born virtue knows no change.
No time dissolves her state ;
To blefs'd eternity (he'll range :
• 'Tis (he makes mortals great.<,
Ibe Root of Evil.
MOST people fay (while it their
turns may suit) ;'
Otev'ry evil Money is the root.
Now should we grant their centres not
amiss, [this,
They, in their turn, must surely grant us
Os all the evils wherewith men are curs'd,
The want of money is by far the worst ;
For all must grant, in spite of Tom the
' devil,
Like women, 'tis a necessary evil. D.
The following Liats were enclosed in a letter
from T, K. direAed to T. C. Esq. Member
of the Gen. Court—if you ,lease you may
give them a place in jour Rivulet, &
oblige A CUSTOMER.
DEAR Sir, these lines I fend you,
Greeting,
A Compliment upon your meeting ;
In general assembly where :
The public weal engross your care;
Laws to enta and to amend.
In Legislature you attend.
'Mnog many now in public trust,
Our Patriot Gilman stands the firft ;
Brave, firm, and fed'ral, high in fame.
Inheriting a fpotlefe name.
O' th' Executive in due parade,
He Sets resplendent at the head,
To ianaion Laws and give advice,
And Scrutinize like critic nice ;
To fee that ads and laws are good,
And faluur, as our food.
^^ Uiinn ever does appear,
la General Court, whom we revere;
And the example does extend,
Throughout the State, from end to end ;
No broils nor quarrels do take place,
Which many other States disgrace;
Inftance*, soon, awful beast,
Who's oft the fubjed of a jest,
Fomenting difeord far and wide,
But now he's den'd —to curb his pride.
There's Jef— 'tis said is full as bad,
And many more of late run mad ;
Besides there's Logan gone to France,
Perhaps to learn a Gallic dance ;
But what care we for Jef — or Log—
Or any Antifed'ral rogue,
Who would involve our happy land,
To purchase Peace of Talleyrand ;
Since Adams glows with patriot zeal,
In firm support of public weal ;
And Washington so ready stands,
To head and lead our patriot bands.
God grant that feuds and fadions cease,
And we enjoy our rights in peace ;
Be aifo every free-born Son,
Like Adams, and like Washington ;
Whither in Cabinet or Field,
With readv minds their service yield ; ;
So may Columbians long enjoy,
Their dear-bought rights, without alloy.
A FEDERALIST.
Bridgewater, Dec. 3, 1798.
• Vermont.«
1 fx^ro^A v^w^^
FOR THE MIRROR.
Mr. Davis,
the' Rivulet.
SENTIMENTAL MEDLEY.
IT has been a common praaice with
our predecessors in Miscellany, espe
cially since the days of Shakespeare,
to enter into a brief Summary of the mcft
remarkable incidents of their lives, and
those peculiarities of their refpe&ive cha
raders which appeared to themselves such
interesting and amusing oddities as would
naturally engage the attention of most
readers of taste and humour. We find
the celebrated Adison, as sensible of
what was peculiarly distinguishing in his
own charaaer and manners, as those who
were most critical in their observations
refpeaing him :— And his knowledge of
the human heart was such, that he ap
peared to have no scruple of amusing his
readers by informing them of the most
trifling occurrences, which accompanied
him from the time of his firft holding a
rattle, till he completed his farce, by fi
lently Sneering at the Sidy world, from the
corners of ccffce koufes, and pits of the
theatre. But a later writer has been still
more presuming on the contrast of his
charaaer, to that of mankind at large ;
and, (besides the detail his Koran affords,
as a fpedre of his particular humour and
fancy,) to ffiow what was in comparably
singular in his fubje&s, and their treat
ment, has introduced the opinions of his
TriJiram Shandy to public acquaintance,
with a hiftory of his life, dated nine
months previous to the hour of his birth.
This, he doubtless supposed would carry
the curious mind back, as far as its ut
most nicety could foggeft, and place it
on a train of fancied events, which form
ed the hobby of his life. But, for this
tribute to the curious and inquisitive, he
has incurred the Supreme difpleefure of
our American Alma Mater, who has
doomed his eternal absence to the fair
fight of her Magisterial Highnefs.*—
With this fiagutar flow of imagination,
he borrowed the Smiles of a humorous
sensibility, from the anticipated monu
ment of his tomb; and heard the passen
ger, at the fight of his Marble Slab, with
a pitiful and faltering voice exclaim, —
Alas, Poor Yorick !
It is not so much the matter, that a
writer offers to the public, refpeaing
what he is, and does, that tends to amuse
or disgust, as the manner he ^flumes in
detailing it. For, there is a becoming
modesty, even in egotism, which renders
it not only tolerable, but a pleating em
blem of oui common nature. The chief
diftinaion between the e^otift who bears
the marks of oftentatiort, and him, who,
in every representation of his peculiar
Sentiments and affedions, speaks the sim
ple language of an honest heart, is, that
the former views his charader in a very
different form from that, which the
touchstone of an ingenious painter would
afford ; while the latter, fa his descrip
tion, gives a model toe perfea for the
most finJhed artist to mend. This is a
circumstance which renders it accounta
ble that most readers take fatistadion in
looking at the portrait of a singular char
ader, when drawn to the life by his own
hand : For it is rare at felf accusation,
that even those who value themselves on
the boon of life's best economy, would
willingly give up all the secret dealings of
their hearts and lives, for trial by the
MeneTefal of the critic.
Under these considerations, though!
have a main propensity to lay much a
bout others,! have ever observed a fcru
pulous silence refpeding myfelf, and
heard the occefional adulations which
have been offered as a bait to my better
opinion of the beftower, with feelings,
as I am wont to fuppole, peculiar to my
felf only, being a composition of the ef
feminate and philosophic ; which, I en
deavour on all occasions as yvell as poffi-
ble to accommodate to my looks. By
this double capacity of phiz and affedioD,
I am preferred from tire Cullen afped of a
ftoic—inlenfibility, and the intolerable
civility of an excessive Suaviter in mode.
But left I should transgress on the
ground I have hitherto so cautiously
trodden, I would only hint to the reader
in reference to myfelf, as before, that
1 have a main ,fo,e*fity to fa, much about
others, which is more or letsvivid in pro
* The wrks of Sterne not admitted to the
library of Harvard Univerf,. U
for the MIRROR.
" TO RAISE THE GENIUS, AND TO MRND THE HEART."
fflffcellanp.
THE
CRUELTY JUSTLY PUNISHED.
IN the reign ot Queen An
ne, a soldier belonging to
a marching regiment, which
was quartered in the city of
Worcester, was taken up for
desertion ; and being tried be
fore a court martial, was len
fenced to be shot. The co
lonel and lieutenant colonel
being at that time in London,
the command of the regiment
descended in course to the
major, a man of a must cruel
and inhuman disposition. The
davon which thedeferter was
to be executed being arrived,
the regiment, as is usual on
these occasions, were drawn
out to fee the execution.
It is the custom on these
occasions for the several cor
porals to cast lots for this dis
agreeable office ; and when
every one expected to have
seen the lots cast as usual, they
were surprised to find that
the major had given orders,
that the prisoner should die
by the hands of his own bro
ther, who was only a private
man in the fame company ; &
whoivhen the cruel order ar
rived was taking his leave of
his unhappy brother, and with
tears faft flowing, that expres
sed the anguish of his foul,
was hanging for the last time
about his neck.
On his knees did the poor
fellow beg that he might not
have a hand in his brother's
death ; and the unhappy pri
soner, forgetting for a mo
ment his petitions to heaven,
begged to die by any hands
but, those of a brother. The
unrelenting officer, however,
could by no means be prevail
ed on to' revoke his cruel sen
tence, though intreated to do
so by every inferior officer of
the regiment; but on the
portion to the probability of Succeeding'
in the common attention. This circum
dance calls to my mind the malady of my
unfortunate Simile, which has languished"
many months under the cold hand of an
unfeeling editor. My corfcaures on its
unhappy fate have been various—But my
attachment to the Semblance, as it was a
favorite, would never wholly permit me
to difeard the design of its publicity.—
Now, ladies, withjear leave, here it is.
Amus'd I've oft beheld theJhepled sane,
Witbftatel, grace, its wonted,oft retain ;
As the' feme Jentiment its motion flay'd,
Till frantic air its want of icnlebetray'd ;
For, in a breath, thefirft oblique-boundgale
Reverts its gaudy beau 13 glitt'ring tail.
So have I fan a model of the fair,
With faming fenje & well-becoming air,
On quaint rejervt, & nicef utfro^ fix,
ITben fare Jucb bead could never harbour
tricks.
For ne'er was flee, led image found more
free.
From ought, of any true design than foe.
But sane, in ,enttment, the flatt' ring gale,
Round flirts her giddy beau & giddier.
Without comment on the renovated
Simile, or an apology for obtruding thus
abruptly, I leave i. to the censure or tole
ration of my readers, as may best rend to
nourish their Spleen or good nature.
the POLITE PHILOSOPHER.
Contrary, he swore that he,
and he only, fliould be the
executioner, if it was mere!/
for example fake, and to make
justice appear more terrible.
When much time had been
wafted in fruitlefs: endeavors
to fofien the rigor of this in
human sentence, the prisoner
prepares to die, & the broth
er to be the executioner.
that can give no mercy, no
merev let him receive. Now
I submit ! I had rather die
this hour for his death, than
live an hundred years and
take away the life of my
brother." No person seem
ed to be sorry for this unex
pected piece of justice on the
inhuman major, and the man
being ordered into custody,
many gentlemen present,
who had been witnesses of the
whole affair, joined to intreat
the officers to defer the exe
cution of thetcher brother till
the queen's plealure should
be known.
This request being compli
ed with b the city chamber,
that very night drew up a ve
ry feeling and pathetic address
to her majefty,letting forth
the unparalleled cruelty and
character of the deceased offi
cer, and humbly intreating
her majesty's pardon for both
the brothers.
The petition was granted,
the brothers Were pardoned
and discharged from their ser
vice in the army, and the
queen received from the city
a most grateful address of
thanks for her well timed
mercy. f
ANECDOTE.
A Scholar, a bald man, and
A a barber, travelling to
gether, agreed each to watch
4 hours at night, in turn, for
the fake of security. The bar
ber's lot came on firft, who
shaved the scholar's head
when asleep, then waked him
when his turn came. The
scholar (cratchcd his head, &
feeling it bald, exclaimed, —-
" You wretch of a barber,
you have waked the bald
man inflead of me !" -
The major, Aria to his
maxims of cruelty, stands
close to fee that the piece was
properly loaded, which being
done, he dire&s that the third
motion of his cane should be
the signal of his difeharge,
and at the third motion re
ceives (instead of the prison
er) the bullets through his
own head.
The man had no sooner
difebarged his piece, than
throwing it on the ground, he
exclaimed as follows :—" He