Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1818-09-29

And nothing strikes youreye but sights Oh
bliss:
All various nature pressing on Inc heau =
An elegant sufficiency, content,
Retirement rural quiet, friendship. DOCKS,
Ease and alternate labor, useful lille,
Progressive virtue and approving heaven
These are the matchless joys OF vlrtuous
love,
And thus their moments fly" ,,,n,o
To II.
The apparent extent Of your reading, and
the accuracy of your knowledge make 1t
embarrassing to plain. unlettered man.
Though inspired with love OF learning to
address you. But hope | shall be excu-
sed for seizing upon an idea, by way OF JUS
tifying the liberty have taken, o'making
you the particular object Of This commune
cation, and saying it was TO get rei'ef
from the avocations of this great hunoug,
the world" do not mean to praise or to
blame you, for the beauties or deformities
inyour last or any previous communications
to the editor Of the Gazette because can
not forget, if would, one of the best pre-
cepts of the great poet Of what you are
pleased to call the "Augustin age OF Eng
land -
"Let those praise others, who themselves
excel,
And censure freely who have written WELL"
would only exhibit to the public, some
of those reflections which irresistibly forced
themselves upon my mind, in reading your
letter published in Saturdays Gazette
Without disputing the precise correctness
of your division OF paragraph writers, |
could not help endeavoring TO ascertain to
which of your three classes you belonged.
The subject OF your epistles, shews that e.
molument is moi your object. The epheme-
raj nature of the vehicle in which you have
sent your thoughts to the public, proves
that man OF your abundant information,
could not have aimed at fame and while 1
am obliged to put you down in the class,
who, you say, write to get "quit OF few
ideas" Ihave to regret, exceedingly, that
you had not made it little more easy for
those who take the trouble to read you, to
avail themselves of the lessons TO be drawn
from your fluctuations.
You observe, cit is principally in the
poetical and bellies lettres publications Of
the day, that is to be found much interest or
enjoyment" Without remarking the I'm.
business of the above sentiment, criticism
would find ample room for severe repre-
hension, in the unusual and inelegant in
version of language but what strikes me
most forcioly, is the distinction you make
between poetical and bellies lettres publ
cations, in direct contradiction to the lee
lures Of Blair, for whom you express so great
a veneration And confess too, have been
puzzled TO find any sort Of resemblance in
the literary characters Of Blair and Massil-
Ion e1ceptthat they were both distinguish
ed preachers. How the calm, elegant, and
morality Of Blair, could be
thought like the enthusiastic warmth, and
evangelical earnestness Of the almost del
fed Frenchman, is to me, matter OF the
greatest possible establishment.
1t seems 10 me that there is great singu-
larity in what you say of modern religion.
If religion has made colossal strides, the
great body of mankind must be interested
in the propagation of the spirit and morali.
ty of the gospel: and we know that the
scientific works Of the age afford very
great enjoyment to considerable portion
Of society. II would have been more true,
perhaps, if you had said that goa have plea
sure and take an interest in bellies lettrcs
publications principally, instead Of saying
that it is principally in the poetical and I
bellies lettres publications Of the day that is
TO be found much interest or enjoyment.
You take all proper occasions, no doubt, OF
your love for polite literature,
and your perfect contempt for scientific in
formation or distinctions. You think it is
nothing to confound cause and efect-or
else you could never have written, The
best negative description Of a preacher
that ever met with is in that moral wri.
ter, Cowper's Task"
Essays, (you contlnue) such as those Of
Dugald Stewart, professor in Edinburg) |
although admirable in style, and profound
in abstract and metaphysical disquisition,