The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1811-01-15


OVID EP. Phil AID DONE.
May he still want success in all his deeds,
Who thinks no action good hut what succeeds
The same conveyance which brought me
the paper containing my fifth number, in
whish invited the contributions of the lear
ned and vir,uous, brought me, also, the iol-
lowing elegant, bu' too .ilattering epistle -.
From the coincidence of time, il was obvi-
ously written, Immediately, on the publicati-
on OF the fifth number; and is, therefore,
written in the metropolis itself This is hey oDd
my hopes. 1t was not amid the pleasures &
hustle of Richmond that l expected % be
read: 1t was not on that city that dared to
hope for an impression My hopes rose no
higher than to fill usefully a leisure mcmeu'
in the peaceful and quiet coun ~. hail this
omen therefore, most suspicious to my
views; x although modesty, perh .ps, ougnt
to induce me to withhold the e ,er, yet Can
no. deny myself the homes triumph which 1t
affords IN showing that the scheme of these
papers is at least approved by one wise and
good man One word to my correspondents
before introduce him. AS read his letter,
| felt in the style of his thinking the percuss-
ion of genius and virtue ; and am con need
that literature and science stand at heir
back. Er hede Hercuiem. He should feel
himself bound to come forth for the good OF
our common country. Ientreat the continu-
ance of his correspondence and beg him to
overlook that apparent delay in giving him to
the public, which arises, unavoldably, from
the distance at which / reside from Rich
mond
:. To DIR. ROBERT CECIL.
"CARA oELvA, January, 1911.
Z" Friend Cecil,
al REALLY venerate and
love thee Go on, my generous old fellow.
pursue with all the native warmth, and IN
the honest sincerity of tiny noble heart, the
laudabe task upon which thou hast so hap
| PLY entered.
| "Thou art right, good Cecil, in not fearing
that thy remarks on the degeneracy OF our
national character should give displeasure to
men of sense and virtue. The adulation OF
cur demagogues has, indeed, infected some
| among us with species OF moral leprosy,
that will scarcely endure the probe of un-
mitigated truth The m rid pride of such
men shrinks from the slightest touch OF can
dour. But mind not this, Friend Cecil. The
influence OF popular sycopnancy is epheme-
raj; IT'S gnuniny alone shall be permane II, =.
l TAX those who fltuer free men To be
Thousand times more abject and more deiest-
| able than the fawning courtiers OF despots.
| The throne naturally invites aduiation, and
tepels truth. The people, "a tie contrry
feel thai their dearest inter"s S are closely
interviewer with the latter and, though they
may sometimes be dehid d they never wa h
to be so. What is to them the empty boast
of fancied excellence? Il is truth they want,
and truth they must have. Popular necra-
mancers may, for while, tasCinate our
ears and eyes, and, in some measure, be-
numb our nobest faculties and energies
but believe me, their craft, their deccpti
onS, their spells must, sooner ur later, Weld
to the superior power OF sound sense, exalt-
ed reason, and genuine phi anth opy :; they
must ultimately vanish, like the grim phan-
toms of the night before the pure irradiati-
ons of intellect.
Thou, my brave veteran, hast gallantiy
sniurled thy banners In noble Cause, and
enlisted unde. Them genus, eloquence, and
feeling. / admire hy valance, aud, Though
a meek disciple OF the still meeker William
Penn, when i behold thee advarci my t. the
foe with a steady and undaunted step when
hear thee threatenii.g To parsue ignorance,
error, and vice, 20 their very last lnti en- IL
ments, SO lar share thy war Ike spirit All
glorious ardour, as scarcely TO refrain from
graspng the sword and rushing TO the al
Jack by thy side-resoved with thee to con
g'ler or To die
"Ihe force OF the moral lever which thou
proposest To employ for raising again o its
SlGNdliOu Tic ndClOndl character oil
Virginia, appears to me truly incalculabe
In the heroic ages of Chivalry, women per.
formed miracles Whoever could direct the
education of women, and determine thei-
propensties, would have it in his power to
ameliorate whole people.
"Our revolution called forth latent ener-
gies. Ii is during such crisis, that supe-
rior men become conscious of their naive
powers & display them 10 advantage. A revO-
luton always produces what we may term an
ERUPTION Of talents. The commotion of the
moment communicates Itself to all individu
ais renders them useful. necessary, and pla-
ces each OF them in his proper station. AS
long as rivers evolve their wa ers with tran
gull majes,y, the golden particles deposited
III their sandy beds, Continue buried there
but 1t rushing ,orren happen to unite with
their streams, the riches Hitherto Confined
to the bottom, rise to the surface, and soon
sparkle on either bank. Genius has its pc
RODS OF inertness, as well as OF activity. But
of all this, perhaps more hereafter. The eau
ses of our present DloraL StagnatiDH 4rs tao nu.
merouS and TOO complex to be developed ia
hasty letter, nor am adequate to the TABS.
Adieu. Friend Cecil Heaven prosper
thy generous efforts
Thine truly,
I'M bOVETRUTH.
"P. 5. IfrohoS: ,ny daushier Ruth, who
has read tny aSt number with evident de-
light, contend, thou canst not be an old ba-
I c"elor Whence the gri derives her noti-