The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1810-08-10
FART L.
ON PERSONAL Ives.

Dean Swift, who has preceded me on this
branch of The subject. divides all lyes, reia-
tive to reputation, into three classes the
refractory, the additorvj and the translate
ry.-" The auditory gives to a man larger
share OF reputation than belongs to him 10
enable him to serve some good end or pur-
pose. The detractory or defamatory is
I've, which takes from great man the repu
tation that justly belongs to him. for fear he
should use II to the detriment of the public.
Ihe fransiasory is a lye, that transfers the
merit of mans good action to another. who
is In himself more deserving or transfers
the dement, of a bad action from the true
author to person, who is IN himself less de-
serving
The first. of course, relates to your own
party the second, to the Dther and the
third. to the one or the other.--Very consi-
drrable art is to be used in turning all these
weapons to your own advantage.
AS % the auditory Ives, gentlemen, YOU
must take care TO observe this rule:
Wnen YOU ascribe any merit TO person,
Which does not belong to him, the lye ought TO
ne calculated MOI quite contradictory to his known
qualities
For want of this rule. gentlemen now ma
ny mistakes have you Committed! Y,u have
decks d out your heroes andyour sages, with
such tawdry and tinsel, that u could scarce,
MUST have "some good adven,itious quail =
~ gwen then, AID really the people in
tins county are YET 1Ue0k en- ugh toreQuire
it; why have you flown off 70 such extremes
at once! Why MOI dole nul their accomplish
mems IN some what Dig s lble dosesf Mr.
Pick ley might have been held capable of
presiding over u ] lcky club, if YOU had not
pufft d h,n ;,ff IS fl MAJ to be the head of
tue ma ION M. Pic ering might have past
ct1.- o h. Il
been held up AS miracle patriotism and
talents. Mr. Gai deniel misht have passed
as harm'es> blbbier his strains had not
been dubbed wI1h the name OF eE.Guence -
Marx the iule well, gentlemen YOU must
no' represent n ungratetui man as "rewar
ding poor man tor some good flee hat
was done hf+n thirty years ago; but you
may allow him to acknowledge a service to
person, who is Capable sill to d. him an
other A man whose pers nal cOui age is
suspected. is not fist to drive whole
squad oRs before him; but he may be al
lowed the merit OF some squabble. or throw
ing bottle al his advetsary's head"-A
word to the WISE ,oH kuow-
As to the detractOrb Lies, Gentlemen. YOU
must observe the GLOWING Rule of Swift
The Character winch y"u w'uid =, be to
your opponents, should not be quite opposite to
the qualities he persons are supp pSeu to svs.
1t is a rule in this science that nothing.
should he too tar stretcht d aud the reason,
l believe, is, that the brains and nerves of
people are elastic 10 certain degree only
they start back at any tempt to strain them
and like other classics, they do not stop at
the point from which they sat Tut, but flv off
into the opposite direction heuce instead of
believing the excessive bad things which you
tell hem OF others, they begin TO ascribe the
same qualities to yourselves Every I've should
ha ,f .r,,tb Iay :.
should not only be disbeleved itself, but faint
every other lye with the same meredith
lity.
Thus we are told. it is not "aCcording to
the sound rules Of ilSeudoiogy. to give out
OF great man who is remarkable for his
frugality tor the public, that he squanders
away the nations money, but you may freely
relate that he boards r. OF an open hearted
generous minister you are not to say, that
he was in an intrigue to betray his country :;
but you may affirm with some probabili
that he was in an intrigue with a Iady."-
For want of little attention to this par
ticular, what number of blunders have you,
lGentlemen, committed
Arithmetic Can scarcely count up the mum
Der of Lyes, which You have told about
| MIR Jefferson; but theywere so very numerous,
" that no man could swallow them ALL -
| More frugaiity would have been virtue -
III instead or saying, that he had He'd before
L aritOn in disWay, up to the caves OF Carriers
Mountain, you had said of him, that his sin
gle arm was unequal to an host, and thdt he
was unwilling to- iali into the hands of the
British, you might az least have shown that
he was neither a Sampson nor tor. Yu
should not have SAID, that he did not Com
pose the Declaration of ndependence--but
you might have safely SAID tina; ne did not
throw in every Individual expression or
stop You should not have affirmed That he
was attached to- the French POLICY but only
that he was fond of French cooking Leaving
the world to presume that ifhe was pleased
with theig. dishes, he might be seduced as o
| theirs had been through the medium of The
palate You should beware Of these whap
pers, Gentlemen. They are so cursed diff
hcult TO prove and the world is so cursed IN
quisitive after the proofs.
In such cases, the safest way is not ia
state as fact, the thing which yom wish to
circulate, but to state some subordinate fact
and then by iHueHdo construction, false rea -.
soning and the like, make out the great
point at which you aim. Thus, i'm charging
the Republican party with being under
| French Influence, the safest way is TO ask if
there are not few French BARRIERS in the
y. D. and from their not cutting the throats
II their Republican customers, to conclude
;hat there must be Il couson aud secret un..
Outstanding between them. If you should
be convicted of mistake, you know, how
much better it is TO be Charged with a