The Wheeling repository — Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.], 1808-01-28 00:00:00, page 1

THE
WHEELING REPOSITORY.
(V<3L. I.)
Thursday, a8th January, i8o8,
(No 38.)
M IS C E L LA NT
For the Wheeling Repository.
ALL hail the morn that ushered into light
Ohio’s Bard, who sings so wond’rous right;
Who Homer like, in self-created rule,
Has sung to prove he’s not of Darwin’s school :
Full fifty lines he rattles off pell-mell ;
* J is over much—one would have done as well.
In song not only does our Poet reign,
in politics he distances Duane ;
And charger-like, he makes his faulchion fall
On Samuel,* Darwin, and the Demo’s all.
For he who saw through time, could never see
Oood Ivings, or Lords—so lov’d Democracy.
Tlie Quakers too may blush, for they are blam’d,
And Clarkson burn his book so widely fam’d ;
For they are Democrats:—With conscience clear,
Ai! meet in council, or all meet in prayer:
.no officers have they of high renown—
Xo ermin’d judge with petrifying frown—
In simple justice ail of them agiee-—
On earth the only pure Democracy.
Then hail the morn that usher’d into view
A Bard so sturdy, and w ith song so new
And so severe. The firm decrees of Fate
Are almost loosen’d by fits ivord, “I hate.”
His critic irown would teach us to believe,
i hat Prophets lie, and Quakers but deceive ;
J hat sainted Washington, with spirit free,
A\ is wrong when forming our Democracy.
All these, and more, his mighty mind condemn—•
I love him much, and more I pity them.
So meteor-like he blazes through the sky,
His heated song bids Darwin’s foxvers die ;
w thrice happier, Darwin, in thy bed of thyme,
Than if thy garden bloom’d and deck’d thy rhyme ;
* And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the
profile that asked of him a King-. This shall he the man
ner of the King, fc?c. lie mill take your fields, and ijour
vineyards, and your olive yards, even the best of them,
and give them to his servants, &?c. And ye shall cry oi{t
in that day because of the King you have chosen you,
and the Lord will not hear you in that day_Samuel
vjij* chapter. *
For hadst thou liv’d to thi.s auspicious day,
And seen thy useless science thrown away ;
Seen plants medicinal all laid aside
As useless, but to puff “ botanic pride
I m bold to say, that to thy former plan
I hou wouldst adhere, though scorn'd by such a maa;
But it more meek and sought a range less free,
And never wrote a line ’gainst slavery ;
Ne’er taught the “ Senates” this bold“ truth sublime,
“ He wf\o allows oppression, shares the crime
Ne’er call’d “the pearly drops from Pity’s eye,’*
Nor stay’d u Despair’s disanimating sigh :**
Instead ol this, hadst thou with those advis’d,
Who long have known this Bard so very wise,
1 hou wouldst have chid the Poet’s song “ too sweet,”
And prov’d that bread’s too good for men to eat ;
Have ceas’d in glowing lays to play the fool,
lt Restrain’d by no prim prud’ry’s purring rule;’*
But join’d this mighty Bard in Critic’s dress,
And prov’d how wonderfully “ trifles press
Instead of themes that some have thought sublime.
New vamp’d old Dido to fill up the line,
And il she fail’d our sympathies to move,
Call’d Cleopatra in to court our love.
Hadst thou done this, thy fame, now very low,
(At least as far as Wheeling waters flow)
Had been secure within this mighty range,
And, as elsewherty beyond all power of change.
Farmer.
Character of John Randolph,
Draivn by Mr. William Thompson, brother to the celc~
brated author of Curtius.
His appearance is by no means prepossessing—he is
considerably below the common stature, without sym
metry of shape. His manners, haughty and supercilious,
excite a personal prejudice agaiuat him, which nothing
but a long and intimate acquaintance can remove. Mr.
Randolph is not calculated for popular association—the
commanding superiority of his colloquial talents, may
force from his audience the convictions of their judg
ments ; but he leaves the circle without having awa
kened one sentiment of affection in their breasts. He
is not content to use the victory which superior talents
and extensive information ensure, over those who en
counter him in debate ; with seeming moderation, his
adversary is made te feel the mortification of defeat_
In the eloquence of Mr. Randolph, there is nothing per
suasive—it would seem as if the energy of his mind
could never stoop to the arts of oratory: the animation
of his manner, the dignified chastity of his style, the