Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1818-10-29

barely noticed by me, the friend OF H., as
beneath the character of gentleman and
confirms the truth OF my observation as to
The coarse quill this writer uses.
Inow approach the "piace de greve''
to give Philo-Lucius. this swagge'er, this
globeful of vanity and verbage, the coup
de grace-and without looking into Vol
taire's Mahomet, shall descend so far as TO
parody abuse--it pains me svsn TO scourge
abuse
Fat! Ia pedantric ct ia petu!ance
Auront leur reCOmpenCe.
PHO! you ought to have hesitated be-
fore you ventured 10 touch the THISTLE
of Scotland or until friend had exPound-
ed unto you its MOTTO" memo me in.pune
lacesset,' and "noli me tangere."
1.-The beautifully negligent periods OF
Hume!" 1t is really too humilia,ing, that
a mere tyro in literature, should dare thus
TO speak of that philosophical wrlter-a
writer who was the first to give US what
may be denominated the philosophy rf his
tory and who in his essays, as acsnow-
lodged by Adam Smith, furnished him those
ideas Of political economy which appear.
ed under the title of the Wealth of Ma
tions."
lily friend II. did say Gas person would
state a simple fact) that the poemof Christ's
Kirk on the Green (and he might have ad-
ded that of PEBBLES 10 the Play" very
lately discovered at oxford) was written by
James the first of Scotland-and this Phi
lo.L., most :recnnditely acquainted with
Hume, and with the " stately elegance Of
Gibbon," who, like Concanen in the Dun
clad, goes beyond his depth
A cold, long-winded, native Of the deep
This iyro dares to tell H. that he mis-
takes the sixth James of Scotland for the
first. What an anachronism! II proves
that this writer can only scribble when he
is surrounded by books; and that he has no
true bottom in literature.
OF James the first OF Scotland, that ele-
giant and accomplished scholar and gentle
man, let me quote the words Of Robertson,
and the negligent periods Of Hume. -
Robertson says:
The English made amends for their in
justice in OBTAINING that prince a prisoner,
by their generous care of his education"
And again:
cit was :he misfortune Of James, that his
tnaxims and manners were loo refined for
the age in which he lived. "
OF this same unfortunate parsonage, per-
nit me 10 transcribe what Hume says:
'.But though the king (Henry the 4th)
hy OBTAINING James in England, had shewn
himself some what deficient in generosity,
he made ample amends by giving that
prince an excellent education"
To put this Philo in complete error, as he
attempted so TO do to HIS piece, let US
speak of James 9th of Scotland and first of
England, in the words Of Hume.
"We shall ,uention the king himself at
the end OF these English writers; because
that is his place, whch considered as an
author. II may safely he affirmed that the
mediocrity of James talents in literature.
is one cause of the contempt under which
his memory labors: and which is often car.
RED, by party writers, to great extent"
But the simple and naked truth is, that
this mistake of Philo-L. can lie very easily
accounted for, in the strong attraction and
affinity of congenial minds JAMES VI.
WAS TIE PRINCE OF PEDANTS.
The last paragraph Of Philo truly be-
longs to The pressing corps of writers.
Not daring to attack the main body ol
Lucius' periods" and so on.
This torsooth is Intended for metaphor,
or a rhetorical hourish-The main body OF
a period! Alas! alas the shadow of shade.
Return at once, Phlo, 10 your Corderi-
US, and cease thus TO prate about literature;
and be no longer cormcrant for fame, in
that road.
Let me close by observing that j, is evil
den, from the vrtuperence Of style of Philo,
tina, in Lucius-" hGret lcthalis arundo Ia
teri" But as that family may not be per-
feet, as latinists, let me borrow from an ele-
CANT translator
$50 flies the wounded stag, PROVOKED with
pain,
Bounds DER the spacious downs in vain
The feather'd torment sticks within his
side,
md from the smarting woand a purple tide
| Marks all the way with blood, and dies the
| grassy plain"