The Newhampshire gazetteer — Exeter, N.H., 1791-07-29 00:00:00, page 1

Newhampfhire
Extraß from Mr. NECKER's Work,
on the importance of Religious Opinions.
Lately published in Philadelphia by
Cary, Stewart and Company.
WHAT a fight is that of the
world ! What a mag
nificent picture for those who
can be roused out of the Rate of indif
ference, in which habit has thrown them !
—We know not where to begin, or flop,
when we expatiate on so many wonders ;
and the mod noble of all is, the faculty
which has been bellowed on us of admi
ring and conceiving them. What an
astonishing and sublime relation is that
cf the innumerable beauties of nature,
with the intelligence which permits ss
to enjoy, and to be made happy by them !•
What relation so surprising, as that of
the order and harmony of the Universe,
with the moral intelligence which ena
bles us to anticipate the enjoyments of
wisdom and unclouded knowledge ! Na
ture is immense, and all that it contains,
all that it spreads with so much fpleo
dor, seems within the reach cf our sen
sibility, or the powers of our mind : and
these faculties, invihble, and inconpre
henfible, unite to form that wonder of
wonders, which we can call felicity.
Let not these plain words turn our atten
tion from the magical ideas which they
present. It is becaufo the grand phe
nomena of our exigence cannot either be
defined or expressed many ways,that they
are so much more wonderful ; and those
words, used by common content, foul,
mind, sensation, life, happiness, and
many others besides, which we pronounce
so (lightly, confound not Jess our under
standing, when we wish to difeufs the es
sence of the properties df which they are
the sign: It is for this reason, among
several others, that the admiration of
particulars, in the works of nature, is
always inefficient for those who have
sensibility ; ds such admiration is neces
sarily placed between two ideas fufeep
tible of being known-ideas which we
connect through the aid of oar own
knowledge. Bat the charm of our rela
tion and wonders which surround us,
arises from experiencing the imprefliori
of an infinite grandeur—and feeling the
necessity of flying to that mild refuge of
ignorance and weakness the fublim/eidea
ot a god. We are continually carried
towards this idea by the vain efforts
which we make, in order to penetrate
the secrets of our own nature : and when
I fix my attention on these aftoniftiiog
mysteries, which seem to terminate in
some manner, the power of our thoughts,
I represent them with emotion, as the
only barrier which fep?rates us from the
infinitcSpirit,the source of all knowledge.
Men endowed with the greatest genius,
perceive quickly the bounds of their fa
culties, when they wish to go very far
in the study cf abdraft metaphifical
truths. But the simplest aid lead exer
cised mind can distinguish the proofs of
that order which with so much splendor
announces the end and design of sove
reign wisdom. It seems, that all the
knowledge proper to interest men has
been placed within their reach. The
learned astronomer observing the course
of the globe round the fun, peceives the
cause of that regular succession of repose
and vegetation, wh ; ch secures the earth
its fecundity, and adorns every season
with renewed beauties: But the simple
cultivator, who fees the treasures of the
earth renovated every year, and anfwef,
with singular precision, to the wants of
animated beings, is not less a witness of
a phenomenon which is fufficient to ex
cite his admiration and gratitude!
Newton analyzed light, and calculated
the fwiftnefs with which it runs over the
immensity of space: But the ignorant
herdsman, who fees when he wakes, his
hut enlightened by the fame rays which
animate all nature, is equally benefited
by them. The indefatigable anatomist
FRIDAY, July 29, 1791.]
EXETE R, (New-Hartftbire) Printed and Pabliihed by HENRY RANLET, at Nine Shillings per annum.
A compcretire view of the utility cf dif
ferent branches of Education,
'A FAIR hand—good spelling—a
4A knowledge in orthography— 3
arithmetic, and geography—are like
small coin; filch asfiver pieces and pennies,
which' enable a man to travel every where
and to be at home in all countries.—
They are alike current in market places
and dores, and are equally necessary to
men of all profeflions and occupations.
To attempt to live in society without
this read, change, is like attempting to
live without air.
11. Natural a^d political hiderjr—
the practical branches of the metaphy
ficks,and the mathematicks—the French
and German languages—and a knowl
edge cf the arts of promoting national
happiness by means of free governments,
agriculture,commerce and manufactures,
may be compared to guineas, louis d'ors
and balfjoei. They constitute the wealth
of the mind, arid qualify the men who
possess them to become the pillars and
ornaments of society.
111. The arts of communicating
knowledge, with ease and elegance, by
means pffpeaking and writing, may be
compared to bank notes, which are very
valuable and easily transferred from
place, to place, to the great emolument
of society, without trouble or expense.
IV. Agronomy—logick—and iLefte
culative branches of the mathematicks
and metaphyficks are like family plate,
valuable in themselves, but proper only
for persons of a certain rank, and en
tirely useless in the pursuits of the
greatest part of mankind. .
V. The Latin and Greek languages
may justly be compared to old continental
money. They are estimable only for the
services they have performed. They
rfemble continental money further, in
Ihiving injured or ruined ail those per
,fns who have amassed great quantities
of them, to the exclusion of more ufeful
iand necessary branches of education.
attains a just idea of our inimitable ftrtic
ture,& the ingenious texture of our differ
ent organs: But the man most devoid of
inftrudion, who reflects an instant on the
pleasures, and the variety of the sensa
tions, which we find ourselves susceptible
of, partakes the blessings equally.
The tranfeendent knowledge of forte
people, is a degree of superiority which
disappears when contrasted with the in
comprehensible grandeur of nature.
When we contemplate infinity, those
talents which exalt one man above an
other are no more seen ; and probably it
is beyond the limits of our intelligence
that the greatest wonders of nature begins
The knowledge of all ages has not ex
plained what is the imperious authority
of our will over our anions, nor how our
thoughts could reach the most remote
ages, how our fouls could investigate that
innumerable multitude of present objects,
of recolledions and anticipations :
Neither has it informed us how all those
excellencies of the mind, fornetimes re
main unknown to itfelf, nor how they
are foretimes at its command, issuing
out of their long obfeurity, and succeed
ing each either with method, or are pro
fufely poured forth. At the fight, of
these aftonrfHing phenomena, we think
man prefumjeuous, when, puffed up with
pride, he mistakes the measure of his
strength, and wishes to penetrate into the
secrets, whose confines are (hut up by an
invisible hand. He should be content
to know, that his dxiftence is united to so
many wonders ; he should be fatisfied
with being the principal object of tqe
liberality of nature, and he should adore,
with reverential refpe&, that powerful
Sovereign,who bestows so many blessings
on him, and who has made him to sym
pathize all the powers of heaven & earth.
From the Universal Assylum.
'fir <
THE
THE humanity of the Englilh nation
could never be roore improperly
exerted than in the wild scheme of flip
porting the Turkish Empire in Europe.
Their settlement on this fide the Helles
pont is cf a late date. • About the year
1400, it was the tyrant Bajazct who firft
made this savage and bloody progress in
Bulgaria, Transylvania, and Wallachia
*—each cf which were before that period
free, independent and populous Rates.
He approached the Danube, then entire
ly under the government and the domain
of Christian Fririces—& it was upwards
of 100 years afterwards that Oeza
kow and Aikermaa, on the other fide of
the Danube, in BeTarabia—and Belgrade
on the confines of Hungary, were ravag
ed, conquered by the Turks. At the for
mer period B:jazet sent a message to
Sigismund, being king of Hungary,
" that when he had driven him out cf
his dominions, he would penetrate to
Rome, plant his standard upon the top
cf the capitol, and feed his hor'es with
oats upon the altar of St. Peter." —Ail
the power upon the continent coined a
gainst this tyrannical ulurper, who had
fallen upon the chrißian Rates, with the
avowed design to carry devastation thro'-
out the whole, and either to enclave or
extirpate them. He advanced to Con
stantinople, the head of the Greek em
pire,&befieged it,conquered the Morea,
with the mod savage, and barbarous ex
ecution, In 139, he was obliged to
raise the figeof that city, being attacked
in Asia by Tamerlane, the hero of the
Mogul Tartars, at the head of 800,000
The dreadful Turk being defeated at
the foot of mount Stella, (the very spot
where Pompey defeated Mithridates)
Tamerlane was loaded with chains, and
in the end dispatched. Scanderberg
prince of Albania, situated upon the
gulph of Venice, was the Jaff of the
Greek Chrittians that fuccefsfully held
out against the Sultan Amurath, and his
successor Mahomet the second, who af
feded the title of Al Binch, or the great,
being then in Arid amiy with Constan
tine the Emperor of the Greeks, without
anyoffence, in the year 1448, suddenly
attacked Con ftantinople.
Remonstrances on this infraction were
how made but the Turk replied " the
firft that dare speak a word on that fub
je&, shall be flay'd alive." —He advan
ced to that devoted city with 300,000
men and 250 vessels., It was taken by
storm the 42d day of the siege. And
here follows a feerie that renders the
Forming of Ismael by the Ruffians in the
light cf a common action —40,000 in
cold blood were put to the sword, and
60,c00 fold for Raves. The women were
reserved for a more miserable fate.
L'Abbe de Vertct, relates, that this ty
rant fell in love with a noble young lady,
by name Irene, whose Beauty was irre
fiftable. She was obliged to submit.—
She was! attended with all the ffate of
eastern magnificence, apparently the idol
of Mohemet's heart. One day when the
Janizaries were on the point of mutiny,
be assembled them,& to shew his ferocity
and power, took Irene by the hair in
the one hand, and with his fimitar in
the other, struck off her head at one
blow—then turning himfelf with a sa
vage air, " this sword can when I please,
cut afonder the bands of love." ,
Englishmen, this is the true hiftory of
the Turks in Europe—these were the
manners of that race .at the period of
their fi ft cor,quefts, and such they con
tinue to the present moment. The vari
ous states in Europe tha groan under this
tyranny formerly contained 30.000,006
of inhabitants—oppression and savage
barbarity, ba^h redtc:d them to less than
feyen millions. Their whole govern
ment is one system of cruelty and enor
mity, from the grand Turk to the mean-
TURKS ^ EUROPE.
Gazetteer.
[Numb. 4 of Volume 6—
DWELLS with the virtuous mind
virtue is that fire prop to the foul
of man, which foftensw e to raptures :
makes the exile fmile —the captive re
joice—and removerall terreur from dis
solving nature. Virtue, .then, in the
largest sense cf the word, is that jewel,
which gives a true relilh to all other
possessions: it blunts the keen edge cf
misfortune, adds a favour to prosperity,
and lifts the man above the frowns or
the flattery cf the world. But how mail
I find and obtain the golden prize ; By
seeking it—feck it earreftly, and you
will certrinly find it ; but it you despise
the proffered boon, you cannot seek it ;
unless you hunger and thirst after
it, you cannot relilh it; if you
are determined to try every other
thing firft, your taste may be vitiated—
if you are always gorged with trash, you
can have no relilh for this, tho' a de
licious morsel ; for the full foul loathed
the honey comb —he that often allays
his thurft at a putrid flream, longs rot
for the pure fountain. Would you know
the happiness that firings from virtue,
try the experiment. I never knew the
man, who would own he repented of a
moral virtuous life: from which I in
fer, that it is mere than probable, that
none ever will repent of it, that lives in
the practice of virtue. Then to attempt
to be good is worth attention: By the
trial we are like to lose nothing, and
may, it is more than likely, gain much :
for the reward of virtue, is present:
hapinefs; and future glorious profpeds.
—Taste of the pure fountain, and yod
will fay with the poet: —
est Janniffary. Reflect, before yea
tamely fuffer any person in this kingdom
to waste your blood and treasure in ftp
port of such an unnatural and unchristian
connection.
The ECONOMIST—No. 3;
Gather up the fragments, that
nothing be foft,
Was a family-order gi
ven after a plentiful
meal, by one who couldin
ftantly command a supply of
bread. The porter of provi
dence is exercised with the
fame wife economy, as the
power of miracles. Neither
of them is prostituted to the
gratification of luxury, or the
encouragement of negligence
and laziness. In the divine
works there is no profufe
nefs, and there ought to be
none in ours. Providence is
bountiful, but not wafteful;
its bleffngs are bestowed
freely, but not lavishly. We
" Where now, yc lying vanities of life !
Ye ever tempting —ever cheating train !
Where are jor now ? and what is jour
amount?
Fixation, disappointment, and remorse.
Sad, fanning thought." —
And again
"Father of lihgt and life! thou Ged
supreme;
0 teach me tubas is good,teach me thrfelf;
Save me fro % folly, vanity and vice,
From every low pursuit ! andjeed mj foul
With knowledge, cotficus peace, and
virtue pure;
Sacred, fubfantial, never fading Llifs.",
Thompson s Seasons;
HAPPINESS