The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1810-12-22
&yR Gnqulrer.
RICHMOND, DECEMBER %. 1910.
FOR THE ENQUIRER.
THE OLD BACHELOR.
No. J..

No. L.
Eheu fugaces, Fostumc, Postume,
Labuntur ami nee pie,as moran
Rugs, ct mst:n'i sea &C
Afieret, indomi eJue mlrt
Horace LIB 2. Oh II
How swiftly glide flying Years
Alas nor P,ety, nor Tears
Can stop the feeting Day;
Deep turrow'l Wrinkles, posing Age
And Deaths unronqrerable Rage
Are strangers to Delay.
FRANcIs
Alas . 1t is too true can no longer hide
the melancholy fact. even from myself : 1
am. indeed, an old bachelor. Yet let no, the
soniess'on deprive me of single reader;
for my fate is not voluntary one if il
were, should look for neglect, because I
should feel that deserved it. But lie, the
re der believe tho assurance, which OIL TAR
Their acquaintance; | fiatter myself he
VIII not doubt that narrow and sordid
cast OF Character, no selfish love of solitude
and silence, no frost of the spirit, nor (what
ismore freqnent habits Of low and grove
ling vice nave KEEP, me long bachelor
No, gentle and friendly reader am a
bachelor, as Mnliere's Nick Doctor was
physcInn an spite IF mysciE. For the last
flve and twenty years OF my life, | have not
failed to dispute his point of dying a bach
elor once year, with some charming va
man or Their but Us, III every such case
she was both jadge and party, Jared accord.
ingly lost my SUIT.
Nor let my i'll success be ascr,bed to anv
hcheness or petulauce un my part : for I
never changed the obec. more than once a
year, nor desis,ed until had met rebuff
Tor every season IN 1t. mis- last rule of con
duct adop.ed FOR a philosophical reason :.
ALI I FL,
was Tie mother of love, yet | knew. also
that the Sex not so mere a therm meter
"a to depend. entirely on the weather: |
hnew that The pecuiiai cas- of CHI rae err had
! much to do win this business, and tina, al -
though IT might, in some cases, require the
genial ray 1T spring or The more ftgvid one
| of summer to touch he consecta,ed snow
that lies On Dams lap yet hat in o;hers. ne
same approach of the sun might volatllize
| ana diSsipaJe he character be, ond the pom:
OF steady thought and feeling. Hence | fol
io"ea ana watched my reigning fair one
through every sig in the zodac, wllh all the
assldui'y and enthusiasm of an astronomer
Out without ever having once, had the fell
city to observe conjunction. have tried
every age from fifteen To forty and every
complexion from the Italian Brunette. to the
oazz inS and transparent white of Circassia.
nor LEI 1t be supposed that have gone a.
! bOu- thus, as matter of business as if &C
tuated merely by cold and formal sense of
| duy On the Con rary, think / can trul,
| ailrm that there never beat in the bosom of
man heart more alive, than mine to ALI
tina is Charming in woman. Indeed, it is TO
TINS excess OF ceiling and the officious, awk
ward and tatiguing anxiety OF manners which
| 1t nerates, that charge the ill success of
| my C'uT ships. u few men have had a better
opportunity than myself to gam the polished
negligence so pleasing women. The rea
der may not be disple tsed with sketch of
my lie he has. indeed, right to know the
man who addresses him, whether for the
purp sc OF amusement or instruction and
shall introduce myself 10 him, If he please
without reserve or policy.
| am native OF Virginia and lost nv
father at an age too young to retain any
kno" ledge OF him In the year 1870. after
having graduated at Princeton College. |
| travelled, by the indulgence of the best o.
mothers, over the whole of civilized and
refined Europe ; visited every court, associ
atea with the fl st circles, and, what will aD
pear strange to those who know me nov
received brilliant compliment on my adj
dress from The most polished nobleman that
ever adorned Court. / returned to my ma
tive country IN time to witness tho opening
of the war with G.. Britain and to receive
der at the battle of Brandy Wine. Thi.
; put an end TO my campaig ing; for eve,
sihcc, have been compelled to hobble on
cane & have been unable to lift any weign,
in my right hand, much heavier than INV
| pen.
| My mother (whois now an angel in Hea
I ven,) had taken it into her mead, with that
erring partiality which is so natural, so ex
cusedOe and even amiable i'm q Darent .
that there was something uncommon IN my
character and that | was formed to make a
figure in some line or other. MOI being
able, however. 10 define to her own salts
faction IN what the peculiar superiority Of
my mind consisted, nor consequently what
, the particular profession vas, IN which
was destined 10 shiue, she de p m ned Ina.
IN uld try them all 'rou d, Until he chord
Ot genius was struck and direc, cd my first
efforts TO the nd, of law TIER viii was
my laqo and Kew n pleasure on earth
equal to that of obeying it. Ientered, here.
tore, at once, Or he Hercu,ean labor of the
law and an HercuIeau one | made it for
having, early in lie, adopted he maxim
that whatever is worth doing is worth do
! ing well" ] took a rou,c in the study sug
gested by my own judgment. Dissatisfied
with The jcJune course commonly pursued
and aspiring to something beyond mediocre
! ty, took the science from its basis the law
OF ma ure; and raised upon it an unusual
ana most extensive superstruc.ure OF nation
al ana civIi, as well as municipal law. But
my success by no means correspondcd with
NNssa