The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1811-01-22


our ladies. Mr.. Squaretoes. l presume, wou ID
not choose to decorate Miss Bridget, Miss
Winitred or Miss -Dinah in the long waist,
the stiff stays and Powered stomacher OF
Miss l.ucretia Nc Tab ii ne did, they would
be very apt TO share the fate of that lofty
lady; and in the shudderng winter of super
annuated and peevish virginity, go down to
Scotland. or some where else, to look for
some siateenth cousin. whom they might ho-
nor with their dependence: which may their
stars avert! LII, presumptuous in any man
to EXPECT, that fashion or opinion, mind or
manners, will stand still at his bidding: or
that he can escape ridicule and contempt
If he stands still, while all the rest of the
world Is in motion. Mr.. Squaretoes might
as we'll insist upon our going back to the opi-
Mon, that this globe of ea,th is as fiat as
trencher, and the firmainent a solid arch of
blue. set with starry spangles, as to seek to
confine the knowledge of our ladies within
the limits OF his family oanons, which my
friend Grace has very jus ly branded as OBJ
solete and Gothic. 1he passion for know
ledge is natural to the female character; it
will be gratifed at any risuue it was this
which led our mother Eve astray aud al
though we paid dearly for 1t in her case.
yet the instance may serve to show Mr..
Squaretoes the impotence of all mandates
(even those OF omnipotence,) which seek to
restrain the female passion for knowledge
Nor let him suppose that he derives any aid
in the argument, from the case of Eve as
it the Deity had thereby indicated his de-.
sire TO oppose "A barrier to the excursions of.
female curiosity into the regions of know
ledge /; for the prohibition extended to A.
dam as we'll as to Eve; and the knowledge
inhibited, was only the knowledge of good
and evil. The curse annexed to the breach
OF that prohibition, has already fallen upon
us. We are all frone TO eUHas The sharks
ny uf7vardS: and the more ignorant and
Indolent we are, the more prone are we to
it.
Whether science and literature increase
the virtues OF nation has, indeed, been
some times questioned by European writer's :;
but questioned rather with the view of dis
playing the dexterity and powers of the dis
putant In desperate Cause, than of main
tanning position WHICH he himself believ-
ed. For whether we judge by experience
or the reason ofthe thing, it seems TO me
impossible for candor TO doubt that the af-
firmative of the position is uuquestionably
true. Go, for instance, to those inhabitants
OF the southern parts of Africa, whom Bar
row calls BosJesmans, and who seem to be
among the lowest links, if not the very low
est. in the chain ofthe human family Their
| form is described as scarcely human their
gle skin, stretched semi circularlv on sticks
o. wood driven into the ground; under which
skin they creep, make an excavation in
| the earth, like hat which our hogs some
times make under the lee of fence or out
h use and in this bed me Bosjesrnan coils
himself up and sleeps during the day. At
| night, ne goes out to feed on the larvx of
ants or locusts; and when this resource
fails, they rush down in troops, like band
! of fierce and hungry wolves, upon the Eu
ropean settlements at the Cape, and riot on
the blood and carnage of their f1ocks. If ig
norance could secu e an exemption from
vice, these people have, at least, as fair
title as any that have yet bsen made known
to US by travellers. Yet they have, no mo-
raj sense no conception of any difference
between vice and virtue; no ideas of reli
| gion of any k nd; and almost the only m TX s
of human intelligence which they give, are
displayed in acts of violence and vllainy :;
for they poison their arrows and live, in
great measure. by plumber. The mournful,
INDECENT and torpid Hottentot, is another stri
king example of the intimate union between
ignorance and to'aI destitution of virtue
1t may think be assumed as general
truth that in proportion to their ignorance,
natl ms are cruel, dishonest, mean and per-
hdlous. In some instances, as in Otaheite.
from the softnes of the climate, the abundance
of the earth, the insularity of situation and
fewness nf inhabitants, the character instead
of being fierce, is indnent, languid and vo-
luptuous; but there is nothing of tile option
nor consequently of the merit OF virtue among
hem. Their. gentleness itself, like their
propensity opleasure, is The effect, not of ig
iii'fahce, nor selection, but of climate and con
stitution, an instinc'iv and necessary effect
and not the voluntary effect of virtuous
choice. They form, therefore. no just ex-
ception to the rule that ignorance and the
destituion of virtue, go hand in hand. So a.
gain, on the other SIDE, it will be obvious To-
any one who will make the comparison, th al
in proportion as the dawn OF knowledge has
advanced n y nation. such nation has e
merged from the darkaess of vice 1t will
DE nothing against this position to adduce in
dividual exceptions In he Rolla and the CO.
ra OF Marmontel and Kotzebue, or the Qua
tImozcn and Pocahunias of real life speak
of nations and net of individuals and of the
virtues of peace as well as those of ware
l speak, too OF positive, active, discrimina-
ting, elective virtue and not of A mere ne
gative exemption from vice ar ine from eli
mate and constitution from relaxation. torpor
lmbecility and inanity Compare for in
stance, the ignorant, the rude, the surlv and
barbarous boor of Russia, especially before
the ara of Peter the great, )who amid the
risor OF Russian sky, would,
On the houseless stranger shut the door,
with the pure, the gentle, the hospitable
peasant OF Switzerland. IN both, these
trai;es are national.--How is this con-.