The Wheeling repository — Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.], 1807-07-02 00:00:00, page 1

WHEELING REPOSITORY.
(Vol. 1.) • Thursday, 2d July, 1807 (No. 18.)
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ORIGINAL POE TR 2'.
Literary Fahi.es.
Translated from the Spanish of
Thomas De Yriartc,
By an Inhabitant of Wheeling.
FABLE X.
The Pellitory of the wall and the herb
Thyme.
A pellitory from the wall,
On which it had been doomed to crawl,
Accosted thyme, an herb below,
With “ I am griev’d to see thee soy
Diffusing far thy fragrance round
Though but six inches from the ground*”
The fragant flow’ret felt the taunt
Of her conceited neighbour-plant;
When pointing to her honour’d head,
She rais’d her voice, and thus she said:
“ I don’t deny that I am small,
But, pr’ythee, do I climb the wall ?
I’m short, but lo * I stand erect,
And claim not pity, but respect;
Whilst thou, weak thing, alone, like I,
Couldst never sprout two inches high!”
Whene’er I see one author made
Bv sneaking in another’s shade,
And on his labours cavilling climb,
l ply this sage retort of thyme.
[ The above translation of this fable has
been published in the Evening Fire-side. J
• [ Selected. ]
On Merit.
How oft fair merit, high in worth,
13y woes surrounded from its birth,
For notice vainly tries ;
Consign’d thro’ life uncheer’d to dwell,
Though striving eager to excel;
It blooms, unknown, and dies.
But should a fostering aid appear,
Resolv’d its budding sweets to cheer,
And all their beauties show ;
Expanding quickly to the view.
Its various charms, of lovely hue,
la full perfection gl w. Alfred.
.[tv. Fireside,] |
The Happy Man ;
Or the Art of living, in any condition,
zvith Content.
An Epic Poem, in xxir Books.
Book I.—41—49.
41. In this philosophy, said the prin
cess, thou canst find nobody more trac
table that I ; for during the time of my
affliction, I have been a constant obser
ver of Nature : the commonest things
engage my close attention. If well con
sidered, these plants, under our feet, are
a finer carpet than any in the possession
of the famous Saladin,5* sultanf of E
gyptf, and conqueror of Persia.^ If
these flowers, which we are trampling
upon, could be exactly imitated, I would
wear upon my head, with much plea
sure, such productions of art, even if I
were established upon the throne of
Constantinople. How beautiful are the
irregular trunks of those uncultivated
trees / See ! with what inimitable vari
ety and grace they twist themselves to
gether and intertwine their verdant
branches/ On what side soever we turn
the eye, we meet with taste, pleasure,
and enjoyment. Behold now that limpid
brook, transparent as crystal or silver,
gently rising among-1 those rough
stones ; it hardly escapes from its dun
geon, when lo / it runs at random about
the earth, and bubbles amongst the peb
bles ; now, with an air of coquetry, it
seems to approach them ; now it hides
itself beneath, and frequently springs
upon them ; here it frets and murmurs;
and yonder, grow n more coy, it changes
its route, and vanishes away. Matters
of this sort, Misano, afford me the most
* Saladin fubjugated Per ft a to the Saracens.
He died in 1191.
f Sultan, in the Perfic tongue, fignifies King
of kogs.
| Egypt is a cotintry of Africa, of which
Coro is the capital, a city of many manufac
tures, particularly of Turkey carpets
$ Pcfn, a kingdom in A fi », which produces,
annually, about 10,000 bales of fi!k. of »»<!> lbs.
each. Its principal commeice co'.fifts in fine
tspertry, carpetiDg, and other c!otba of gold
(and fiircr.
satisfactory entertainment in this retire
ment and solitude.—Excuse my impa- -
ticnce : thy remarks awakened my sen
sibility, and I could not refrain from in
terrupting thee. To which Misano an
swered :
42. By what thou hast said, lady, thou
hast given more strength to my argu
ment. For since God has taken so
much pains to gratify our eyes, in this
world, with much more reason may it
be presumed he was not inattentive to
the chaste desires of the soul. Marvel
lous indeed ! in the vast circumference
of the globe we find not a single foot of
earth unadorned. On all sides, the eye
finds a table spread out, as it were,with
dainties, by the bountiful hand of Om
nipotence. And can it be possible, that
the soul should be permitted to parch
with thirst,without the means of quench
ing it ? to aspire after joy, without ever
being able to reach it ? What strange
incoherency in Supreme Wisdom! The
body, I mean this poor clod of earth,
requires so much watchfulness and care,
whilst the soul, created in the image of
God, remains—(shall I say?)—entirely
torgotten i
43. What enjoyment do not yonder
little birds express by their melodious
warblings ; those lambkins which we see
skipping and leaping about,—all nature,
in a word, which now seems to wear a
smile ? The same Almighty hand which
created these, also made man ; and who
shall persuade himself to believe that it
was more liberal to them, than to us?—
Will you suppose that the common Fa
ther of all families allowed the brutes
the legitimate enjoyment of content and
satisfaction, and only for mankind re
served affliction and sorrow ?
44. I cannot belieVe any such things
said the afflicted count. My reason
shrinks with horror from beholding
such an absurdity. But where is that
happiness, it, on every side, we are per
secuted by troubles ? This one difficulty
destroys all thy reasoning. If I, who
have always" h Id fortune at my heck,
and without stopping at any thing, have