Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1817-05-20
IS. Even our sweet Bard has had the fol-
ly to declare, that
youth
Who was caught in his grandmother
bed;

| youth
Who was caught in bis grandmother
But owns he had ne'er sucl l;quorsltootl
| As to wish 10 he there in his stead"
Royal wisdom has said, that We live in q
"new era The reig, Of old romea liz,
commenced, and if Johanna Southcote con.
verts England to her creed, why should
not Ireland, less pious, perhaps, but al
least equally passionate, kneel before the
! shrine of the irresistible widow Wilkins
| ltappears, gentlemen, TO have been her
| happy fate TO have subdued particularly
| the "cath-dealing professions. Indeed,
| IN the epistle of the heathen mythology
| Mars aud Venus were considered as insc-
| parable. know not whether any otyou
have ever seen a very beau; ful print re-
presenting the fatal glory oil Quebec, ard
| the last moments ofits Immortal conquer
orr $50, you must have observed, the =
| cure oi a staff physician. iii whose arms
the hero Is expiring that identical per.
sonage, my Lord, was the Eappv swain,
who, forty or fifty yeas ago, received the
| reward o! his valor and skill an tie eirgl3s
hand Of my reaerG5ie client The doctor
lived something more than a century, du-
| ring great part oiwhich, Mrs. wilkins
was his companion-alas Geut!eMen,
long as ne lived, he lived not long enough
10 behold her beauty
"That beauty, like the Aloe flower,
But bloom'd and blossom'd at fourScore."
He was, however, so far fascinated. as
to bequeath to her the legacies Of his pa
rents, when he found he was doomed
to follow them. To this circumstance,
very far be it from me 10 hint that Mrs.
Wilkins is indebted for any Other attrsc-
tons. Rich, however, she undoubtetllv
~ Il, IL, = >
have continued, had it moi been for her
intercourse with the family o. the plain
fin. do not impute IL as crime 10 them
that they happened TO be necessitous, but
do impute it as both criminal and un-
grateful, that after having lived on the
generosity of their friend, after having
literally exhausted her most prodigal IL
berailty, they should drag her infirmities
before the public gaze, vainly surprising
that they could hide their own contempt
ible avarlce in the more prominent ex-
posture of her melancholy dotage. The
father of-the plaintiff, it cannot be an
known TO you, was for many years in TIE
most INDECENT situation. Perhaps if is
nota matter fconcealment either. that
lie found IN Mrs. Wilkins generous he
netactress. She assisted and supported
hlm, until at last his INCREASING necessi-
lies induced him to take refuge in an act
OF insolvency. During their intimacy,
frequent alIi.sion was made toason whom
Mrs. Wilkins had never seen since be was
child, and who had risen 10 lieutenan-
c:y IN the navy, under the patronage Of
then relation, Sir Benjamin Bloomfield.
iha parents panegyfic, the gallant leu
tenant was, of course, all that even hope
conld picture. Young, CAV, heroic, and
disinterested, the pride of the navy, the
prop OF the country; independent as the
gale that waited, and bounteous as the
wave that bore him. am afraid that If is
rather an anti-climax 10 tell YOU, after
this, that he is the present plaintiff. The
eloquence of Mrs. Blake was not exclu-
siveiy confined to her encomiums on the
Fhentenant. She moved at times into an
episode on the matrimonial felciiies,
painted the Joy Ofpassion and delights of
love, and obscurely limited that Hymen
WIN ms loren, had an exact personitca-
non I'D her son Peter, bearing amatch
light In his Majesty's ship the HYDRA
While these contrivances were practising
on Mrs. Wilkins, a by-plot was got ND on
board the Hydra, and Mr.. Blake returned
10 MS mourning country, influenced, as
lie says, by his Partially for the defend
am; but III reality compelled by il-heath
ana disaappointments, added, perhaps, to
his mothers very absurd and avaricious
speculations. What loss the navy had
OF him, and what loss he had of the ma
w! Alas ! Gentlemen-he could not
resist his affe ction fora female he never
saw. Almighty love cclipsed the glories
OF Trafalgar and St. Vincent
fitted from his memory he gave ND all
tor women, as Mark Anthony did before
nm and like the Cupid in Hudibras, he
- took his stand
Upon widows jointure land
Ills tender sigh and tricklin@ tear
l,ong'd for five hundred pounds a year.
And langulsliing desires we're fond
Otstatuie, mortgage, bill and bond"
I'm Gentlemen, only ina CINE him ON
the lakes of North-America; alike to him
the varieties of season, or the vicissitudes
OF warfare. One sovereign image mono
poiizes his seDslbiities. Does the storm
Fagef HE widow wilkins outsigbs the
Wilnlwlnds. Is the ocean calm lis mir
ror shows him the lovely widow Wilkins.
is the battle won 2 He thins his laurel
that the widow Wilkins NAV inferweave
her myrtle. Does the broadside thun-
der lie invokcs the widow Wilkinsl
y sweet little cherub, she sits M aloCt,
70 watch for the lite Of poor Peter
Alas How much is he to be pified
How amply he should be recommended
Who but must mourn his sublime. disin.
ierested, sweet-sOuled patriotism Who
but must sympathise with his pure. ar
dent, generous affection! Affection all
impatient fofan interview! Affection too
| warm TO wait even for an introduction !
| Indeed, his Amanda herself seemed to
| tn. k that his love was most desirable ~
distance, for, at The very first visit ae
| ter his return, he wasrefused admitiance
ms captivating chaTmer was then sick