Portland gazette and Maine advertiser., 1809-10-09
ON GREATNESS.

ON CREA l'NESS.
WE have, more than once in the
courle of our work, been mott iocofe.
ly familiar with great perfonages /;
and, in truth. treated them with as
little ceremony, rsfpetf, and eonid-
Grafton. as if they had been our mott
particular friends Now, we would
NOT fuffer the modification of having
Gun readers even fufpcet US Of an In
simacy of the kind aiTuring them
we are extremely choice in our in.
Inmates, and uncommonly circum-
fpect in avoiding connection with
all doubtful Characters, particularly
pilnps, bailiffs, lottery-brokers, chev-
alters ofinduftrv, and great men. The
world in general is pretty well aware
of what is to be underltood BY the for
mer clafss of delinquents bur as the
latter has never, l believe, been fpe-
ci6cally defined, and as we are deter
mined to initru6t our readers to
the extent of our abilities, and their
limited comprehension, il may not be
ani(s here. to let them know what
we underitand by a great man.
Firi, therefore, let US editors
and kings are always plurar premife,
that there are two kinds of greatness
--one conferred by dsavm the cx-
allied nobility of the foul--the other,
fpurious diltinction engendered by
the mob, and lavilhed upon its favour
ties. The former Of the(e diitinetions
we have always contemplated with
reverence the latter, we will take
this opportunity to "trip naked before
our unenlighrcned readers 20 that
ieby chance any of them are held in
ignomisious thraldom by this bafe
circulation of falfe coin, they may
forthwith emancipate thcmfslves
from fuch inglorious delslion.
It is fictitious value given to Inc
dividuals by publick caprice, as BAN
kers give an impreflion to WORTHLESS
Zip of paper. thereby gaining it
currency for infinitely more than
its intrinlick value. Every nation
has its peculiar coin, and peculiar
great men /; neither of which will.
for the mott part, pats current out of
the country where they are fam
ped. Your true mob created great
man, is like note of one OF the lit
tie New-England banks, and his val
ue depreciates in proportion to the
diltance from home. In England,
great man is he who has mott rib
bonds and gew-gaws on his coat,
mott hories to his carriage, mott
1avcs in his retinue, or mott toad
eaters at his table !; in France, he
who can mott dexterouay fourth
his heels above his head-Duport
is molt ipcpnteitably the grea.eit man
in France, when the emperor is abb
ient. The grea;.lt man in China, is
he who can trace his anceltry up to
the moon and in this country our
great men may generally hunt do1Vn
thcir pedigree unit! it burrows in the
dirt like rabbit. To be conciie,
our great men are thofe who are
mott expert at crawling on all.fours,
and have the happieif facility in drag
ging aud winding themielves along
in the dirt Ike very reptiles. This
may Teen, paradox to many of my
readers, who. with great good ma
ture be 1t hin,cd, are too cupid to
look beyond the mere furface of our
invaluable writings, and often PATS
over the knowing alluiion, and poig-
nant mcaniog, that is City COUGHING
beneath. Ii is foi the benefit OF fuch
heipleis i'm rants, who have no 9TH
er creed but she opinion Of the mob,
that | iha!l trace, as far as il is polE
b!e :, follow aim in his progrefs from