Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1804-03-07
TO FAIR PLAY.
Henrise, FEB. 25th, 1904.
Mr. DEAR FRIEND,

THE completion ot my task has been
unavoidably delayed until now, but hope
that the delay has been productive OF no
injury, and that in your magnanimous
breast, no doubts Of my friendship have
been excited. have arrived a, your TIVE
last columns, and happy indeed am TO
find, that few blemishes detract from, the
beauties, OF those valuable little Diamond,
each Of them more valuable, than the
one said to be il the possession Of the
Great MS3ul, and computed 10 be worth
ef779144.
You say you do not " perceive that Ger
tain sentences OF the British Spy are bet
ter arranged than your own. Perhaps
this is vanity" ny no means my friend.
Every ono will acknowledge, that you have
less vanity than any author that ever lived.
To tel! you the truth, strongly suspect it
IS your real opinion that they are better
arranged, and that nothing bat your ex-
tremc mCdcsty, e. concomitant of great
talents> prevented you from making de-
claration TO that effect. Justice and can
dor ought never to be sacrificed 10 false de-
LEGACY. therefore humbly recommend,
that in the next edition of your works, you
=
ter arranged than any you ever read.
You inform Us that you have "stoIen''
from an author. but do not condcsccnd to
tell us who he is. Now if you were de-
terminrd to commit a literary theft, you
were at the same time jldiciou5 enough,
not to have selected passage, which lab
straetcdly9 is a most bombas,ic piece OF
nonsense, and was probably inteod-d by
Mr.. Walker, author Of the VaGabord. as
a satire on his opponents-a satire not ap-
plicablc To the style Of the Spy. My friend
strike it out of YOUR works, Gor already I
hear q ,narlcr, by way Of ridicuc, address,
ing an imitation oC It to YOU" Oh, Fair
PLAY, wi,o can f,r any Duration cont. NJ
g. nomy. One of thy feet is on The breast
" of the PROSTATE Spy-the other on the
"back Of the pestiferous Mar,inu5 Scrib-
"lcrls. Thy head in endured round
"with the rays OF glory, which ex'irpaie
81 csiumnies and dispense the mists of de-
"lusion.
:" When, when, oh light Of the world,
"wilt thou resume Thy grey goose quill,
" and burs: like lightning, upon mankind,
ewith other thirty four columns go
Youobscryc chat Zen thousand tongues
"have been employed in execrsting the
" au.hors and abcUOrs Of (the Spy Scc.)
"such shameless uutruths and groundiess
calumnics. And although perhaps very
" fewpcns 7iilbe er0pioyed to expose them,
"it does not therefore follow that there
"are not thousands who arc ready, if it
" should be necessary" have three OBJ
Ieftions to this passage. ! object 10 it.
First, Because, although you are very
great man, ynu have not the attribute Of
ubiquity, and therefore il may be presU-
med, that you cannot say q" ten thousand
tongues have execrated." II indeed YOU
can prove, that YOU and Others, have al
one or at different tines heard ten
thous7nd tongues eZccrate, then this OBJ
iectiOn viii be untenablc. Second, Be-
cause, you admit lis necessary to expose
those caIumnies and lriruths, oryou would
not have written so deliberately Yourself.
and you will not affirm that the circulat-
on OF your papers IS so extensive as IN
preclude the necessity OF REPUTATION by o.
ther writer's. Third, Because Won may
be thrown into a kind of dilemma, viz.
either many persons will have your own
confession, that the public op;rion is by
no means so unfayofahle 70 the Spy, as
you would represent, otherwise some one
besides Yourself, would have takcn uD Tire
cu1gel against hin, or they will find you
gully Of having indirectly sscfibed to the
NirRinian character, IN apathy, or insen'i-
billy 10 national honor, which submits IN
silence to the most shameless Untruths,
and groundl.ss cslumnes that can be pro.
p1gat.d--an assertion which am conf
dent your palriotem wouil not allow you
deliberately n m2kc. As Thomas Aqui-
mas, and . dozen old Logicir0s, with
Doctor - the S,rbonue at their head,
Iwere they n sriss from the dsad) could
not eXlricatc YOU frcm this dilemma Of
having uniDteniionslly mis'a,ed the public
opinion. or Of having uninteptionsiiy ca
Illuminated your fellow citizcns--i think
Che whole passage inst quoted had better
b. hereafter omitted.
You did vel in letting VS. know ,h.t you
were not " favored with an academical
o. forensic educaGon," The world is c.
yer anxious to lcarn every particular re-
Ialive to any literary phenomenon. Such