The Newhampshire gazetteer — Exeter, N.H., 1790-09-24 00:00:00, page 4

QUESTION, on the ART of WRITING;
TELL me what genius did the art invent.
The lively image of a voice to paint ?
Who firft the secret how to colour found.
And to give shape to reason, wifely found?
- With bodies how to clothe ideas taught,
And how to draw the pictures of a thought ?
Who taught the hand to speak, the eye to hear,
A silent language roving far and near ?
Whose fofteft notes out-strip loud thunder s found,
And spread their accents thro' the world's vast
Yet with kind secrecy securely roll, [round,
Whispers of absent friends from pole to pole.
A speech heard by the deaf, spoke by the dumb,
Whose echo reaches far in time to come ;
Which deadmen speak, as well as those that live:
Tell me whatj^n^^
* hIR AYED from the Oakland, feme-
Sfoin ^^ dark refr
so HEIFER, ^b, white face.—
' Wfoer will ^ ^
%i fer , f 0 that the o^erfbarber
%„ (ball be handsel, rewarded.
Enquire of the Printer. Sept.l6.
THE MOUSE'S PETITION,
Found in the Trap wh^re be bad been confined all night.
BY MISS AIKIN. ,
Beware, left in the worm you crush
A brother's foul you find ;
And tremble, left thy luckless hand
Dislodge a kindred mind.
Or, if this transient gleam of dy
Be a// of life we (hare, 4
Let pity plead within thy breast
That little all to spare.
Oh do not stain with guiltless blood
Thy hospitable hearth ;
Nor triumph that thy wiles betray'd
A prize so little worth.
The fcatter'd gleanings of a feaft
My scanty meals supply ;
But if thine unrelenting heart
That Render boon deny.
The cheerful light, the vital air,
Are bleflings widely given ;
Let nature's commoners
The common gifts of heaven.
The well-taught philosophic mind
To all compassion gives ;
Cast round the world an equal eye,
And feels for all that lives.
If mind's, as ancient sages taught
A never-dying flame,
Still fhifts through matter's varying forms,
In every form the fame.
If e'er thy bread with freedom glow'd.
And fpurn'd a tyrant's chain.
Let not thy strong oppressive force
A free-born mouse detain.
Parcere fubjflis, ^ debellere fuperbos.
VIRG>
OH! hear a pensive captive's pray'r.
For liberty that sighs;
And never let thine heart be (hut
Against the prisoner's cries.
For here forlorn and fad I fit
Within the wiry grate ;
And tremble at th'approaching morn,
Which brings impending fate.
So when unseen deftrudion lurks,
Which men like mice may (hare,
May some kind angel clear thy path,
And break the hidden snare.
So may thy hospitable board
With health and peace be crown d ;
And ev'ry charm of heart-felt ease
Beneath thy roof be found :
SEAT OF THE MUSES.
MISCELLANY.
From the Royal American Magazine.
The INIQUITY and cure of scandal and
TO ETRACTION.
WERE all t,e vexations of life put together,
we fhoulc find that a great parr of them
proceed from those calumnies and reproaches which
we fprtad abroad Concerning one another.
There is scarce a man living who is not, in some
degree guilty of this offence ; though, at the fame
time, however we treat one another, it must be
confcffed, that we all consent in speaking ill of
the persons who are notorious for this pradice. It
generally takes its rife either from an ill-will to
mankind, a private inclination to make ourselves
esteemed, an ostentation of wit, a vanity of being
thought in the secrets of the world, or from a de
sire of gratifying any of these dispositions of mind
in those perrons with whom we converse.
The publisher of scandal is more or lets odious
to mankind, and criminal in himfelf, as he is
influenced by any one or more of the foregoing
motives. But whatever may be the occasion of
spreading these falfe reports, he ought to confi
der, that the effect of them is equally prejudicial
and pernicious to the person at whom they are
aimed. The injury is the fame though the prin
ciple from whence it proceeds may be different.
As ever, one looks upon himfelf with too much
indulgence, when he passes a judgment on his own
thoughts or actions, and as very few would be
thought guilty of this abominable proceeding,
which is so universally practiced, and at the fame
time so universally blamed, I (hall lay down three
rules, by which I would have a man examine and
search into his own heart, before he Hands acquit
ted to himfelf of that evil difpofltion of mind,
which I am here mentioning;
First of all, let him confider whether he does not
take delight in hearing the faults of others.
Secondly, whether he is not too apt to believe
such little blackening accounts, and more inclined
to be credulous or. the uncharitable than on the
good natured fide.,
Thirdly, Whether he is not ready to spread and
propagate such reports as tend to the difreputation
of another.
These are the several steps b, which this vice
proceeds and grows up into dander and defalcation.
In the fireplace, a man who takes delight in
hearing the faults of others, (hews fu fficiently that
he has a t^e relish of scandal, and consequently
the feeds of this vice within him. , If his mind is
gratified with hearing the reproaches which are
cast on others, he will find the fame pleasure in re
lating them, and be the more apt to do it, as he
will naturally imagine every one he converses with
is delighted in the fame manner with himfelf. A
man (hbuld endeavour therefore to wear out of his
mind this criminal curiosity, which is perpetually
heightened and inflamed by likening to such Ho
ries as tend to the difreputation of others.
In the second place, a man should iconfult his
- heart whether he be not apt to believe such
little blackening accounts, <and more inclined to
be credulous on the uncharitable, than on the good
natured fide. ~/ . ~J
Such a credulity is very vicious in itfelr, and
generally arises from a man's confcioulnefs of his
own secret corruptions. It is a pretty faying of
Thales, “ Fallhood is just as far distant from truth,
as the ears are from the eyes." By which he would
intimate, that a wife man should not easily give
credit to the reports of actions which he has not
seen. I (hall, under this head, mention two or
three remarkable rules to be observed by the mem
bers of the celebrated Ab bede'la Trape, as they are
published in a little French book.,
The fathers are there ordered, 'never to give an
ear to any accounts of base or criminal actions ;
to turn off all such difeourfe if possible : but in
case they hear any thing of this nature so well at
tested that they connot difbefeve it, they are then
to suppose, that the criminal action may have pro
ceeded from a good intention in him who is guilty
of it. This is, perhaps, carrying charity to an ex
travagance, but it is certainly much more laudable
than to suppose, as the ill-natured part of the world
does, that indifferent, and even good actions pro
ceed from bad principles and wrong intentions.
In the third place, a man should examine his
heart, whether he does not find in it, a secret in
clination to propagate foch reports as tend to the
difreputation of another. _
When the difeafeofthe mind,which I have hitherto
been speaking of, arises to this degree of maligni
ty, it difeovers is @ its wor&fymptom, and is
in danger of becoming incurable. \ need CT
fore infill upon the gu^t Ui this last partmlar,
which every one cannot but disapprove, who is not
void of humanity, or even common diferenon. 1
Ihali only add, that whatever pleasure any man
may take in spreading whispers cf this nature, he
will find an infinitely "greater fatisftdibn in con
quering the temptation he is under, by letting the
secret die iq his own breast. Which is not only the
sentiment of a chriftian, whose r^hteoufnefs Ihould
exceed that of other men ; but of Horace, who, in
the language of Mr. Creech, has left us the follow
ing teflon:
HE that (hall rail a ainft his absent friends,
Or hears them fcandaliz'd, and not defends ;
Sports with their fame, and speaks whate'er he can
And only to be thought a witty man ;
Tells tails, and brings his friends in difefteemt
That man's a knave : befure beware of him !
•^ Q>q><,<,<^<irf> G>G> G^° <,+ <^ "^,<> o'<,c^ <^> ^,<,^^,^
ALL per fens indebted to, or that have
any demands again ft the estate of
Do^or BENJAMIN ROWE, late of
Kensington, deceased, are requeued to
fettle the fame immediately with the sub
scriber, Executor to the last Will of said
deceased. ^, Attendance will be given
for the above purpose from 6 to 9 o'clock
A, M. at the late dwelling-house of said
dcceafaf. BENJAMIN ROWE.
Kenfirgton, July 28, 1790.
WE the fubferibers being appoint-
Commissioners by the Honourable John
Hubbard, Esq. Judge of the Probate of Wills,
&c. for the county of Cheshire, to receive and ex
amine the claims of the several creditors of the
estate of SAMUEL SMITH, late of Acworth, in
said county, deceased, rendered insolvent, give no
tice, That Six Months is allowed from the Tenth
Day of May last, to the creditors aforefaid, to
bring in their claims—and that they will attend on
said bufmefs at the dwelling-house of Mr. Wil
liam Markham, in said Acworth, on Tuefday
the zift September next, and the four Tqefdays
following, from 3 to 6 o'clock in the afternoon of
said days. WILLIAM MARKHAM, 7 O
JOSEPH MARKHAM, }1
ISAAC DUNCAN, R
Acworth, August 21st, 1790.
. _ -— -— - —, a lot,ii ■-
Blanks of most forts
For sale at H. Runlet's office. .
DY licence from the Hon. fudge of
" Probate, for the count, of Rocking
ham, will be Sold, at Public Vendue, on
Wednesday the 29th in/lant, at the house
of Mr. Daniel Smith, in Exe
ter, at 4 o'clock, in Abe afternoon —
Thii ty-four acres of Woodland,
adjoining Beaver-brook, north part of
said Exeter —it being part of the estate
of Job Judkins, deceased.
JOB JUDKINS, Adminijirator.
Exe:^, 13th Sept. 1790;
✓ILL Persons indebted to, or have
== any demands on the estate of SA
MUEL FOLSOM, late of Exeter,
E/q. deceased, are desired to exhibit the
fame immediately for settlement, to
Elizabeth Folsom, Adm'trix,
Exeter, ift August, 1790.
Rocking- 7 /ILL PerJons who are in
ham—fi. j ^debted to, or have claims
against the estate of John Tolford,
late of Cbefler, in Jdid county, Esq. de
ceased, are hereby requeued to fettle with
the fubferibers. Executors of his Will.
JANE TOLFORD,
HUGH TOLFORD.
Chefler, Aug. zSth^ 1790.
Public Vendue.