The Wheeling repository — Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.], 1807-06-04 00:00:00, page 2

oi happiness was altogether unattainable,
in this life. But being now'assured that
thou hast found it, I know that I am
more wretched than I even thought I
w as ; since I ime!, unit w ith the capacity
to he happy, the unjust Jutes made me
only to be unfortunate.
I.', i. nlortunate indeed / replied 1 is
t ister,—seeing I know no om who has
If. sc, reason to complain of Fortune.—
That haughty power that h aves the
greatest monarchs pleased and cheerful,
if she happen to smile upon them, has
always treated thee as her darling son.
A rue it is, that \\ ith her inconstant feet
fixed in her fast whirling wheel, she
keeps the whole world going on in a per
petual round. Constant only in her fic
kleness, this foolish being who if at any
true she chance to shew us an affable
:u..l cheerful aspect, soon distorts it into
the terrible and frightful ; and who, the
more she* is 11 ittem cl and worshipped by
us, tne more ihe scorns and despises us;
towards thee has ever proved loyal and
constant. 11 to others sin- is a goddess,
to (Jj.ee sue is a : lave. Others idolize
her, and she shuns them ; thou hast al
w ays despised her, and she has never
ceased t > attend thee. Behold, then,
my brother, how uniasllv thou com
plainest oi being unfortunate.
14. And of what service is Foitune
to me, replied the count, if she has never
granted me the happiness I seek ? The
iiches which she has settled uoon mv
person, are, I own, like an estate in fee
tail; hist incumbered wita t.n annuity'of
melancholy payable out of it. Anxious
and industrious, I have employ, d mv
d in drawing a circle ol amusements
around me, in order that my soul, in
trenched in the midst of them, might
not be penetrable by melancholy ; but,
with new artifice, she assailed me in mv
very diversions. j\Iy appetite for them,
it is true, was very ki cn, and I enjoyed
them, at first, with an exquisite relish ;
but by repetition they cloved, and if 1 1
pci- isted in the use of them,they became 1
mv insufferable torment.
i5. Like a sick man, whose appetite
igone, and whose listless imagination
wanders over the whole world, without
finding any thing to excite it ;—in this
manner I,who judged from appearances
only, was bent upon trying every thing;
but I no soon1 . liuscd any to mv mcutli,
than it became loathsome.
1G. From the entertainment of the
senses, I passed on to tlw gratification
of my passions. I impost d no emb ui>
on thcv.i ; I catered for every desire ;—
they also deceived me. 1'hcy promised
me a pure, a delicate, and a lasting cn
joyme nt; but my heart scaredv ever be
gan to led glad, when a black cloud
suddenly arose, like a thundc r-gust, and
Idled me with gloom ; and this too when
every body else in my companv would
seem to he delighted. In thi-s'manner
have 1 lived, and thus have I run all o
er Tun ope, and in this disposition am
I come to the house of my sister, to trv,
at least, if in the tasteless and simn’l •
love of nature, 1 might find any conso
lation for my dejected mind.
1 T. jo give thee, in a few words, add
ed Sophia, a full idea of the count’s de
jection, it w .11 he sufficient to recite a
passage from a letter which he wrote to
me, after he left Paris, by which, in
spue of the muses, whom he invoked in
order to please me, it is evident that
Sorrow held unlimited swav over Iris
heart. After describing the diversions
of that court, he added :
\ uftim to ftdnefs and incefiant woe.
It. :3 t!iy brother's n.iture to be fj.
Sid is to hi:n the night, fid day s bright noon,
Acd fid the fell face of the “jolly'* moon i
£ id is to him the fun's far weftern ray,
Sui when to fuuthern froftn he bends hi; way;
S id is the blpom of Spring, ChJ Autumn’s balm,
S.nJ Winter’s fnow, o’fad dull Summer calm!
From these lines, concluded Sophia,
thou may.it infer, that hi melancholy
co;.1 1 not be more obstinate than it was.
lb. Ah ! my son/ said the old man,—
permit me, on account of the years 1
have lived and the affection I feel for
tli v, to use this endearing nam -—how
profitable to thee will this adventure he,
if thou wiit follow my counsel / Then in
the latest years of an advanced life, and
in the remotest climes, whither ijiv en
gagements may lead thee, I assure thee
that thou shalt never forget this rock on
which thou art sitting, that river which
thou ; t est, nor this old man who is now
I speaking. Foil >w, mv son, the road
" hich I am going to shew thee ; and I
promise that thou shalt be completely
hapf'y.
11.’, I lie word-, of nn enchantment o
perate not more suddenly, than these
operated upon the lu art.s of Sophia and
the count. Their inward rapture was
seen in tin ir eyes, and tli ir whole souls
’ "ve eager to start through them, to be
held the road which the old man was
pointing out to their. Apprehensive
that only h> r f rother would be attended
to in the promised prescription, Sophia
was anxious to inform Misano of the af
flict i in s which her heart also suffered ;
and, in fact, that her grief was more ra
tionally founded than that of the count
although, bv incessantly struggling a
gainst it, she had, in a manner, over
come it.
THE JUNKET.
By Richard Rummagkr, Esq.
No. in
....L’Horrmp fans arret,dsns fa courfe infenfdc,
Voltige inceflammcnt de pi nice rn penfe'e 5
II rnurne <*u moindre vent, il tombe au moirr
<lre choc,
Anjourd’hui da.13 ua casque, et demain dan&
un hoc. Boileau
i' 1. no f.x’J aim, / in my z'gzif* route,
F '>m thf't to tno’t torever gad about, ('oven.
Veer with each bretze, am by a draw pufh d
Oiie day a [cither wear, the next a gown.
I he drawer of an old fashioned bu
reau which formerly stood in my fa
ther’s parlour, was become such a com
mon re;x’. itory as commonly to go by
the name ol the Rummage Drawer. It
was ol very easy & allowable access, and.
was usually crammed with such a mis
cellaneous huddle of articles, that when
a thing was found to be missing, it wa
a pretty uniform practice to apply to the
rummage drawer for it. Now as the
human mind, for the most part, is die -
posed to observation, and children uni
vcj-sahy are strongly i xcitcd by the bias
of curiosity, it is little to be wondered
at, it, whilst ransacking this drawer for
one thing, the Rummager should be di
verted from hi:, search by another. In
the way I speak of how often have I
been amused by a score oi candidates
lor attention, which would arrest my
progress and draw me aside from my
principal pursuit / And I can at this
time well r. collect, that when I have
been searching, even in a hurry, for a
mislaid cork-screw or whip-lash, I soon
became so engaged with the leaf of an
old almanac, or some gim-crack which
f li in my way, as entirely to forget
wlrtt I had gone thither to seek.—Hai
ley > old dictionary lias frequently treat
ed me precisely in the same way. Ma
r.y a good half hour have I spent over
it, amused by the different items which
forced themselves under iny notice; un
t!', in fact, f found it necessary to shu*
the book, in order to recollect the wort!
which lnd started the hunt.
Well! says some phlegmatic render,
to what puiposc h nil this matter r<;