The Wheeling repository — Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.], 1807-11-26 00:00:00, page 1

WHEELING REPOSITORY.
(VOL. I.)
Thursday, 26th November, 1807.
(No. 29.)
MIS C E L L A X r.
The reader will perceive that the fol
lowing beautilul poem is built on the
text prefixed, and that the first line of
each stanza is borrowed from it.” 1
Behold, alas l our days roc s fiend;
lloxo vain they be, now soon they end!
BEHOLD,
How short a span
Was Jong enough of old.
To measure out the life ol man;
In those wcll-temper'd days, iiis. time
was then
Survey’d, cast up, and found but three
score years and ten.
ala s!
And what is that t
They come, and slid;, and pass,
Bclore my pen can till thee what.
- >1C posts Oi time are swift. wnich hav
T, • run
■* *1'-1 r seven short stages o’er, their
sliort-iiv d task is done.
OUR DAYS,
Begun, we lend
To sleep and antic plays
And toys, until the first stage end.
a welve waning months, twice five times
told, we give
a o unrecover d los^ : wc rather breathe
than live.
WE SPEND
A ten-year’s breath,
He fore we apprehend
What ’tis to live, or fear a death;
Our childish dreams are idl’d with
painted joys,
Which please our sense awhile, and
waking, prove but toys.
W VAIN
How wretched is
Poor man, that doth remain
A slave to such a state as this !
Hisdat are short at long st; few at most;
'Ihcy are but bad at best; yet lavish’d
Out, or lost.
THFY BE
The secret springs
That make our minutes flee
On wheels more switt than eagle’s wings?
Ou. life’s a clock, and every gasp of
breath
Breathes forth a warning grief, till time
shall strike a death.
HOW SOON
Our new-born light
Attains to full-ag’d noon*
And tlm, how soon to grey-hair\l night/
VV e spring, we bud, we blossom, and
we blast,
E er we can count our days—our davs
they flee so fast.
THEY END
M hen scarce begun;
And ere we apprehend
That we begin to live, our life is done.
Man count thy days—and if they fly
too fast
For thy dull thoughts to count—count
every day the last.
I
Amxdotks.
'V quidnunc once making a vehement
}.c litical speech, frequently, in the course
ci it, spoke oi his/orelathers & their 110
i'ie deeds. ou>~ lathers !' exclaimed an
Irishman standing by; “ it is extremely
fortunate for the gentleman that he has
so many fathers to talk about ; for my
own part, I had but one, anti lie was an
/n>n st potatoe merchant in the countv
of Connaught.”
It is extremely difficult to overcome
old and bad habits. An instructive
story is told of a man who used alvvavs
to stop at a certain house to take a dram.
He formed a resolution to pas i without
stopping, Si said to himsi If, ‘Stick to it
resolution: St ck to it resolution !” Af
ter he had p issed he* said, “W'ell done
resolution ! Come b ;ck now, and l will
treat you /”
Hk.w \rk...“ In war,steel is better than
gold ; in hie, wisdom excels wealth.”
For the Wheeling Repository.
It is if the utmost importance in eve
ry well regulated government, that the
constitution and laws be correctly un
derstood. Where the life, liberty and
property of every individual, depend
upon the laws, no conduct can he more
invidious, than a misrepresentation ei
ther of the law itself or its administra
tion. Party rancour is neve^'so danger
ous, as when levelled against the inde
pendence of a court of law. Tt then as
sails the interest and security of all; for
to the pure and upright administration
of justice, all are alike indebted for the
security of their lives, liberty and pro
perty. So long as courts and juries are
independent; so long as they refuse to
bend to times and circumstances ; so
long as they despise all popularity, but
that which is approved by a good con
science ; so long, and no longer, can li
berty exist. When once a ]udge, or a
juror, insttad of looking to the law and
the evidence, consults the wishes of an
administration, or the clamour of the
populace, then does all safety vanish,
and tyranny, in the semblance of justice,
stalk abroad in the land.
I r.very irienu oi tins rountrv ought to
j be alarmed at the opprobrium which is.
daiiy lv. aped upon judge Marshal, on
a< count o! his opinions and decisions
during the trial ol Burr and his confe
derates. lie has been charged in the
newspapers with distorting and disre
garding the law, in favour of the accused*
He has been accused of being an accom
plice o! Burr, and engaged in his trea
son. lie has been burnt in effigy, with
Burr, as a joint conspirator ; and in ad
dition to ail this, the President of the
United Suites has formally required
Congress to investigate his decisions,
and determine whether the law is itself
| deficient, or whether it has hten impro
i pcrly administered.
A stranger, who had any correct no
tions o! either liberty or law, would na
turally infer from all this, that judge
! •'Marshall had advanced some new and
1 uuhemd-of doctrines on the subject of