Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1818-09-01

what are called in the half Joculsr slang
Of the coarse ones of the world, tough
old sayings" something which experience
shows to be Sc conformabie to plain com.
mon sense, (that best mental gift OF God
TO MANI that ! have always some one or
other OF them ready at my tongues end, to
utter upon every emergency OF deep I'M
preston or lively interest.--That pious
adage man proposes, tut God d'sposes,"
has ensoolhed me under unexpected dis
appointments, by suggesting to me the pru-
dence oil referring them TO the will Of that
Being, who often nips the bud Of enjoy
ment as it is expanding into flower, or
blights the flower itself just as It is knitting
into fruit, out of mere secret mercy to the
sufferer. OF the benefit Of this, at least in
nocent mode OF soothing the stings of mis-
fortune, and beguiling the wounded soul of
its pain, oyer-use at last deprives US; as
narcotics lose their effect by being fire.
9ueui!y administered. And am compel
led by an occurrence which has recently
fallen under my observation to think that
the only cure for The miseries OF disappoint-
meut is not TO hope,-not to propose to
ourselves any thing beyond what we are
secure OF, bat 10 leave all 10 the disposa! of
heaven.
II has been oft:ner observed, than the
cause OF it has been explained or under
stood, that persons of warm OF lively ina
ginations are frequently involved in sorrow
and modification, while those who are SO
blessed with a comfortable crassitude of
skull as never to purpose any thing beyond
the demands Of instant necessity, or i'm
pulse Of animal appetite, seldom experiences
either. The truth is, that the former are
TOO sanguine in their expectations-they
are generally, what great philosopher,
Of whom the world, to its irreparable loss,
was deprived some twenty years ago, was
wont to call mighty hopers. TO them
promise seems the same as performance
Ia brilliant prospect as an indefeasible
possession; fortune has only to throw out
few Turing glances Of Aattery, and she
loses her Characteristic versatility in their
eyes-and he who calls her tickle is no
better, in their judgment, than slanderer
All the illusory pagean,ly with which she
dazzles their eyes, are for the time as rap
turously enjoyed as dream Of gold6nding,
and all the snares she spreads to waylay
our peace are pursued and clutched at by
them with no less fond eagerness and san
guine expectation, than those with which
children run headlong with their eyes fixed
on the horizon, in hopes Of catching the
rainbow. A butterfly starting into sight,
however, relieves the child IRON the effects
Of ITS disappointment-but Indebtedness,
modification, and often despair follow the
disappointment OF the others.
Whe herit be fate more peculiar TO me
than others, or that only share it in COM
mon with all othe. men OF quick sensibility,
and rapid, warm Imagination, cannot teli;
but so it is, that | rarely hope without al.
forwards undergoing all The goadings Of
disappointment. Even where, after all my
well earned experience, ldave been able,
on the most reasonable grounds, to assure
myself that was secured by every circum-
stance which could render permanent pos.
session the same as certain--when | have
had the cup not only at my lips, but griped
fast, as thought, within my teeth, have
had il dashed from me. What the agony
Of such en- unexpected privation of hope
is, none but man oil delica;e, sensible
and generous heart, who, when he suffers
for himself, feels his pain mingled with re.
greet for the unworthiness OF those who &C.
casion his disappointment, and who rejoice
in bis modification can possibly imagine.
] remember TO have been once greatly af-
fec,ed by an incident that occurred when
| was in England in III. year 1871, he re-
citsl of which may serve to show .he dire
effects OF disappointment upon the feelings
and fate Of soul filled with sensibiiily and
honor, and to caution men Of feeling against
being instrumental to the disappointment Of
t:hers.
A Mr.. Sutherland, who was judge of the
admiralty court at Minorca, was, in most
tyrannical, cruel and arbitrary manner,
dismissed by general Murray, the governor
of that island, who, soon after, like pal
troon, surrendered it to the enemy. For
this wrong Mr.. Sutherland received peeu.
mary satisfaction; but il was not money