The Newhampshire gazetteer — Exeter, N.H., 1790-10-09 00:00:00, page 1

Saturday, October 9, 1790.]
Clothier,
R ESPECTFULLYinforms the pu
blic, that he has lately ere&ed a New Mill,
adjoining Col. Boardman's Oil Mill—where he
intends to carry on the Clothier's Business in its
various branches. Gentlemen who will favor him
with their custom, may depend on his attention and
punctuality —and he flatters himfelf, that his en
deavors to serve the public and his friends, will be
generously rewarded by their custom.
For printing by Subfeription, the poeti
cal luorh of the celebrated Peter Pindar.
q^H E numerous editions this book has
= gone through—the rapid sale every
edition has met with—and the wit and
humour which so co'nfyicuoujly Jhine thro'
the whole work—togeher with the vast
fund of amusement afforded the reader,
are fufficient recommendations and
therefore needs no encomium to induce the
public to patronize another edition.—The
Editor therefore propojes the following
Full'd Cloth, dressed in the best manner, in one
month after it is received at the mill—other cloths
in a ihorter time.— Exe^r, 30th Sept.
ALL Persons having demands a
gainst the Estate of the Hon.
NATHANIEL FOLSOM, late of
Exeter, deceased, Intestate, are here
by desired to exhibit them —And
those indebted to said Estate, are de
sired to make immediate payment, to
Mary Folsom, 1
r } Adm tors.
Nathaniel Folsom, J
Exeter, if OHober, 1790.
THE NEWHAMPSHIRE GAZETTEER.
I. It Jhall be printed on good paper,
—•with a handsome type —and the whole
•work comprized in one neat volume in
twelves. ,
2. It will contain near 400 pages—
and be afforded to the subscribers for one
Dollar well bound, which is two shillings
iejs than the English edition fells for.
3. Those who fubferibe for twelve
copies to have a thirteenth gratis.
The work wilt be put to press as
soon as a proper number of subscribers
appear—and completed immediately.
Printing-Office, Dover, Sept. 9, 1790.
. fc^Subferiptions for the above work
ffiffimed tyrlie Printer hereof. Exeter, Oft. 1.
W HEREAS the TICKETS in;
I VV the Firfl Class of Ammonujick Bridge
LOTTERY meet with a rapid Sale—the Ma-1
nagers take this method to inform those who!
have, or shall have become adventurers in said/
Lottery, that the fame shall be drawn in Janu- (
ar, next—and the Prizes paid off agreeably to^
ithe Scheme.
N. B. Wheat, Rye or Indian Corn
received for Tickets. Sept. 30.
Daniel Clark,
PROPOSALS,
TAKE NOTICE.
CONDITIONS.
Extract of a letter on tbe fubjea 0, Luhry, tstc.
writtfo : the year 1784 —By Dr. Franklin.
IT is wonderful how preposterously the affairs of
this world are managed. Naturally one would
imagine, that the interest of a few particulars,
Should give way to general interest. But particu
lars manage their affairs with so much more ap
plication, industry and address, than the public
do theirs, that general interest most commonly
gives way to particular—We assemble parliaments
and councils, to have the benefit of their collected
wisdom ; but we uectCd Uy have at the fame time
the inconvenience vs their coite ^ed padions, pre
judices and private interest,. By the help of these,
cartful men overpower their wisdom, and dupe its
profeffors : and if we may judge by the ads, arrets
and edicts, all the world over, for regulating com
merce, an assembly of great men is the greatest foe
upon earth.
I have not yet indeed thought of a remedy for
luxury. I am not sure that in a great state it is
capable of a remedy ; nor that the evil is in itfelf
always so great as is represented. Suppose we in
clude in the definition of luxury all unnecessary ex
pense, and then let us confider whether laws co
prevent fech expense are possible to be executed in
a great country ; and whether, if they could be
executed, our people generally would be happier,
or even richer, gls not the hope of one day, be
ing able to purchase and enjoy luxuries, a great
spur to labour.and industry ? ;May not luxury ',
therefore produce more than it consumes, if with-"
out such a spur, people would be, as they are natu
rally enough inclined to be, lazy and indolent ?
To this purpose I remember a circumstance. The
skipper of a ihallop, employed between Cape May
fend Philadelphia, had done us some small service
for which h^refufed to be paid. My wife under
standing that he had a daughter, sent her a prefect
of a new falhioned cap. Three years after, this
skipper being at my house, with an old farmer of
Cape May, his passenger, he nieationed the cap,
and how much his daughter had been pleased wuh
it: " But (said he) it proved a dear cap to our
congregation"—g"How so ?"—" When my daugh
ter appeared in it at meeting, it was so much
admired, that all the girls resolved to get such
caps from Philadelphia ; and my wife and I com
puted that the whole could not have cost less than
an hundred pounds." —" True, (fays the farmer)
but you do not tell all the story : I think the cap
was nevertheless an advantage to us ; for it was
the firft thing that put our girls upon knitting
worsted mittens for sale at Philadelphia, that they
might have wherewithal to buy caps and ribbons
there : And you know that,that industry has con
tinued, and is likely to continue and increase to
a much greater value, and anfver better purpose;."
—Upon -the whole I was more reconciled to the
little piece of luxury, since not only the girls were
made happier by having fine caps, but the Phila
delphians by the fopply of warm mittins.
In our commercial towns upon the sea coast, for
tunes will occasionally be made. Some of those
who grow rich will be prudent, live within bounds,
and preserve what they bare gained for their potte
rity. Others, fond of (hewing their wealth, will
be extravagant, and ruin themfelyes. Laws can
not prevent this.—And perhaps it is not always an
evil to Ihe public. A (hilling 4peat idly by a fool,
may be picked up by a wiser person, who knows
better what to do with it. It is therefore not loft.
•—A vain, filly fellow builds a fine house, furnifhes
it richly, lives in it expensively, .and in a few years
ruins himfelf ; but the masons, carpenters, smiths,
and other honest tradesmen, have been by his em
ploy assisted in maintaining and railing their fami
lies, the farmer has been paid for his labour, and
encouraged, and the estate is now in better hands
—ln some cases, indeed, certain modes of luxury
may be a public evil, in the fame manner as it is
a private one. If there be a nation, for instance,
that exports its beef and linen rto pay for the im
portation of claret and porter, whi|e a great part
of its people live upon potatoes,and wear no shirts,
(wherein does it differ from the sot who lets his
family starve, and fells his clothes to buy drink ?
Our American commerce is, I confefs, a little in
this way. We fell our vi&uals to the islands for
rum and sugar% the substantial necessaries of life
for Superfluities. But we have plenty, and live
well nevertheless ; though by being sobered, we
might be richer. ^
The vast quantity of sorest land we have yet to
Published by H. Ranlet, in the Maim Street, Exeter.
MISCELLANY.
clear and put in order for cultivation,will for along
time keep the body of our nation laborious and fru
gal. Forming an opinion of our people and their
manners, by what is seen among the inhabitants of
the sea ports, is judging from an improper sample.
The people of the trading towns may be rich and
luxurious, while the country possesses all the vir
tues that tend to promote happiness and public
profperiiy. Those towns are not much regarded
by the country ; 'hey are hardly considered as an
essential part of, the States ; and the experience of
the last war has shewn, that their being in the pos
session of the enemy, did not nec^ffarily draw on
the fubjeltion of the country, which bravely conti
nued to maintain its freedom and independence
notwithflanding.
It has b^ea computed by some political arith
metician, that if every man and woman would
work tour hcus each day on something ufeful,
that would produce fufficient to procure all the ne
ceffaric^ and comforts of life ; want and misery
would be banished out of the world, and the rest
of the 24 hours might be leisure and pleasure.
; What occasions then so much want and misery?
It is the employment of men and women in works
that produce neither the necessaries nor convenien
ces of life, who, wi'h those who do nothing, con
sume necessaries raised by the laborious. To ex
plain this-
The firft elements of wealth are obtained by
labour from the earth and waters. I have land,
and raise corn. With this J feed a family that
does nothing, my corn will be consumed, and at
the end of the year I shall be no richer than I was
at the beginning. But if while I feed them, I em
ploy them, some in spinning, ohters in making
bricks, &c. for building, the value of my corn
will be arrested, and remain with me, and at the
end of the year we may all be better clo hed and
better lodged^ And if instead of employing a
man I feed, in making bricks. I employ him in
fiddling for me, the corn he eats is gone, and no
pare of his manufacture remains to augment the
wealth and convenience of the family; I shall
be the poorer for this fiddling man, unless the rest
of my family work more or eat less, to make up
the deficiency he occasions.
Look round the world, and fee the millions em
ployed in doing nothing, or in something that a
mounts to nothing, when the necessaries and con
venienej'es of life are in question. e -What is the
bulk of commerce, for which we fight and destroy
each oth^r, but the toil of millions for fuperflui
ties, to the great hazard and loss of many lives
by the constant dangers of the sea ? jHow much *
labour fpept in building and fitting great ffiips to
go to China and Arabia, for.tea and coffee, to the
Weftindies for sugar, to America for tobacco ?
These things cannot be called the necessaries of
life ; for our ancestors lived very comfortably with
out them.
A question may be atked, g could all these people
now employed in railing, making, or carrying fu
perfluities, be subsisted by railing necessaries ? I
think they might. The world is large, and a great
part of it Hill uncultivated. Many hundred milli
ons of acres in Asia, Africa and America, are still
a forell, and a great deal even in Europe. On an
hundred acres of this sorest a man might become a
substantial farmer : And 100,000 men employed
in clearing each his hundred acres, would hardly
brighten a spot big enough to be visible from the
moon, unless with Herschel's telescope, so vast are
regions still in wood.
It is however fame comfort to reflea, that upon
the whole, the quantity of industry and prudence
among mankind exceeds the quantity of idlenefii
and folly. Hence the increase of good buildings;
farms cultivated, and populous cities filled with
wealth, all over Europe ; which a few ages since,
were only to be found on the coasts of the Mediter
ranean ; and this not withstanding the mad ware
continually raging, by which are often destroyed
in one year the works of many years peace. So
that we may hope the luxury of a few merchants
on the coast, will not be the ruin of America.
One reflexion more, and I will end this long
rambling letter. Almost all the parts of our bo
dies require some expense. The feet demand shoes
—the legs flockings—the rest of the body clothing
—and the belly a good deal of victuals. Our eyes,
though exceedingly ufeful, aft, when reasonable,
only the cheap assistance of fpedacles, which cogid
not much impair our finances. But the eyes of o.
ther people are the eyes that ruin us. If all but
myfelf were blindfl (hocid want neither fine clothes,
fine houses, nor fine furniture.•
[Vol. V.—NUMB. 213