Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1810-09-29

Cond or lncesSant Cniiunoou, ttat oCcaSloil-
ed my notice OF you.
You speak off, slanderous streams from
the dress of disappointed ambiti on, pour
ing from the dis1empered brain of mali
cious author" &c. What siander could
there possibly BE- In remarking upon your
verses! Had there been mixture OF beau-
ties and faults in the composition, and |
had wansonly dwelt ON the one ard neglect
ed to notice the other, there would have
been some foundation for the charge Of
SANDER and malice; but it IS impossible
to fn6 beauty in it. The whole of il is
far, very far, below mediocritv We're its
Imaginable b!unders and its childishness re-
deemed by single scntilation OF original
excellence or were it merely frigidly cor
rect it would have been unnoticed. If
any one has told you, as you aver, tha, it will
''live admired" he must have been some
wag who well knew the immeasurabse swal
low of your vanity and wished 70 please
himself in seeing YOU delighted. | am at
loss to know to what you refer, when you
speak of disappointed ambition. My
friends generally accuse me fhaving none.
As much have however as any man |;
but it is of silent kind, and Of a nature
known only to few. The time has not
yet come, and perhaps never will, to
prompt me 10 excrtit; So that can never
pet have been disappointed with respect to
it.
"This little backbiting critic, whose kind
r.yar MIN 70 attaf
in 'front.'" What was your meaning here!
Surely YOU are not attacked behind. You
are not attacked at all, Sill. Can he who
makes himself ridiculous IN the eyes OF eve
nv one be said TO be attacked by all that
laugh at him.
You speak Of rich anecdote and incidents
which you might detail concerning mt
Pray, sir, do not forb. ar. ask no quar-
ter. Your long life, with which an more
acquainted than you are aware, would at
ford me ample scope Tor rrtort, were you
so disposed. But this recurrence 70 per-
soaal concerns, and the unwrarled use OF
vulgar epithets which you have bestowed
on me, are the resource Of b'ockhcads on
"; never used but in failure OF argument,
good sense and urbanlty ofmsnners. They
are weapons that wouud only the person
thar yields them.
You still insist ON the propriety of the
:wo nrtt lines. Had they becua little va
RED so as TO read thus,
This military hower 70 death doth crop,
Let canmoas roar and small arms go pep pop
I know with what pertinacitv, for | have
witnessed many similar instances OF YOUR
composition, you would contend for their
6 beauty and point" and nature. De gus
thus non disputandu m and YOU have thr
same right to admire that have to smile.
You speak of the "mind of a c2nsu-
mate pct,ifogger o. that subiectvou are
quite at hom-; and perhaps no one knows
tn mind Of such a character more perfect
ly than Yourself.
You adhere to the proprietv Of Oh
greedy e'aOlous heaven - and quote the
fol!nwing scripture in justification. Why
dast thou suffer mine enemy to rise up
against me ?" And /" Thou hast afflicted
me in thy holy displeasure." 1t is impos-
sible for me to see what conn xion there is
between the two cases. And you believe
l have never read the Psalms of David. -
should exceedingly regret it were less
acquainted with the beauty and suhimity
of them than yourself. Yes, sir, have
studied them most attentively in the origi
nal Hebrew, Indulge ne in little Of your
vanity,l but never there found the Almigh-
" reproached with greediness. Envy is
sometimes POLITICALLY applied to Angels, but
a master only knows when the application
can BE- made with propriew. Yet how will
YOU reconcile this greediness with proceed,
ing line, when YOU say he would not have
died