The Wheeling repository — Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.], 1807-12-10 00:00:00, page 1

MISC E L I. A N
The Selfish Alan's Prayer on the pros
pect of War.
Again the clouds of batde lower
With terror and dismav:
Protect me, all-disposing' Power,
In this disastrous day/
As in the camp the soldiers learn
° curse and swear,
1 would g;ve my pious soul concern,
i o see my boys go there !
A hen while piy neighbours Sc their sons
Aie cad ti to war and arms,
Grant that my boys, secure from guns,
iMay, cult:va; my farms!
And while with taxes and expense
My kindred are distress’d,'
- K^apt txiat all my hard-carn’d pence
.•May slumber in the chest!
An. i sppnld iii invaders gain the day,
Ana a 1 thc:r fots contemn_
Then may I wash my hands, and say,
I nc er opposed them /
Vet if by thy disposing will
My country g ins the cause,
O may I find a refuge still
In her indulgent laws/
And should she disbelieve my word,
May I upon thee call
lo nit.less i m\ r drew my sword,
Or fir’d a gun at all /
For since from frailty and mistake
No human mind is free,
t wish no active part to take,
Hut leave the whole to thee/
Though impious pirates ®n the sea-)
Our me rchants’ ships despoil;
Yd shall my spirit r at in case,
Till lots invade the soil.
Then let the funds oi battle rave—
My pt'ClCrJul voir , .shall shift,
Jlnd oxen, cor/?, ancl all I have,
•Full 1*1*10* t^ieir valve lrino!
WHEELING REPOSITORY.
(Vol. I.) Thursday, roth Dec ember, i 807. (No *11
0 may my lands yield twenty-fold,
Idle army to supply;
Mav fat contractors,"fraught with gold,
My copious harvests buy/
May continental rags no more
Usurp the place of coin ;
But crown my basket and mv store,
With blessings from the mine/
What tho’ the fig-tree shall not bloom,
Nor oxen seek the stall;
M hat though it be thy righteous doom,
1 hat half our youth should fall;
Yet if thou wilt thy servant bless,
And my posterity,
1 il joy in my own righteousness,
To perpetuity.
'.« •< •« •< <>>•>• >
A writer in an English publication
nas given to the world a number of ele
gant essays, under the title ofil Hours
o? Leisure. In these essays he ex
poses some of the follies and foibles of
mankind in a very agreeable way. His
obse rvations are so obviously just, and
bis illustrations so entertaining ancl ap
posite, that \vff make no doubt they
w ill be acceptable to every reader of
taste.—\Y e intend occasionally to co
py some of these masterly j reductions
is to the Repository.
IIoi'P.R OF J.J'ISURF. ;
> , Essays iu Ihonnanucr oj Goldsmith.
Eras on is extremely a fit to he tamped
h hablt- Kaims’a Sketches.
Reason is said to he the glory ol hu
man nature : a reasonable man is thcre
nuc, the most excellent of ail human
beings; and the nearer any man ap
proach s to that character, the nearer
he approximates happiness. It is bv
our false judgments and misconceptions
oi the true value ol things, that we are
deceived and allured into error and
vice.
A truly reasonable man resembles, m
lis stea y walk through lile, one of the
p.anets hi the grand system of the uni
veis , ievolving in its orbit* As to a
c^i.Ue ut gravity, lie is everywhere at
tiucted^ by 1 ruth, through the space in
which he moves ; from which noble or
der ol self-regulated harmony, no acci
dent or example, power or temptation,
can cause him to recede. Envy may
we\v his fine and admirable course
tnrough her treble-reflecting telescope,
and scarcely detect the smallest aberra
tion. How grand \ how beautiful! how
sublime is such a character! the acknow
ledged resemblance of the Creator.
It is much to be lamented, that men
uo not set a higher value upon this best
gift of God to man; by which they might
attain pleasure and peace,and know how
to preserve themselves from evil and
mischief; by which they might acquire
a proper knowledge of the duties of so
ci.il life, anti practice them reciprocally
lor their true interests and happiness.
.. J he *uct that we usually set out in
iiie, without even a common share of
that kind ol knowledge, by which we are
enabled to distinguish good from evil,
and right from wrong.
1 iic art oi using reason constitutes
no part oi public education. A youth
is generally launched into the world
without anv fixed principles, or rule of
conduct, thence he adopts any example
ol novelty or folly that makes an im
j.i ession, and takes a bias whichever
wav he is strongest bent: and thence
tnihng declinations from truth grow' up
at last into the strong 8c crooked shoots
ol prejudice, which can scarcely ever
after b< straitened. Iiappy is it win*re
they do not arrive at that enormous
growth which destroys the fair tree of
virtue itself, or encumbi rs it with a
weight ol hardened and inflexible habits
of vice.
Hut as the latter investigation would
only lead us into a melancholy research
not exactly suited to the nature of these
essays,let us content ourselves w ithsone
ooseiv aliens ou the many absurdities