Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1819-07-30

/ an
Would shame the wealth of Lang uage
| his tomb - "
Yet some slight tribute to name is do,.
Reyo"d the fleeing homage OF tear,
Such work might claim: is gra,j;ua,
charm,
SO brief Of being. that it takes alarm
AT Dea'h's pale v:sage, Ger tie new made
| grave
Witbers, and finds burial with the brave,
The very dog which from his masters han
De'our'd his daily mess, tIand al Com.
Toplay the servile meIdicant, and urge
Irrational faculties TO reasons verge.
Gains fun'ral rites; and on the garden
lawn,
Where he was wont to gambol 4. TO fawr
! Some studied words tue debt of lnen'rv
Reason respect the turf that covers Tr.,,
Yet could not all the hearts ol millions
raise
To grace a Washington, one pile Of praise.
WHO, when the recrcant spirits of the time
Call'd firmness folly, & endurance crime
Here treach 'rous friends, an open faction
there,
Foes on bis rear, and in his front, despair
But the concenter'd current as they cane,
Beat back the waves, and won eternal
lame [thrown,
Lies like slave, mid COMMON coIsei
Marble, nor epilapt,. nor index none.
Oh, if the spirits of the dead can know
The deeds OF earth and augbt OF mortal
woe, [frrd
Bosdms ETHEREAL pierce, tears that night
Autumnal clouds. or summers thirsty need
Supply with fruitful showers, those eyes
might yield
As all Columbia's penny stands I.veapd!
How would his charged heart swell, Al
clos'd up life
Open once more its chronicle Of strife,
And, on the faded surface of the brain,
Display'd the pageantry Of time again;
RecalI'd the deeds his barring arm had done.
Ages OF freedom for his country won,
Yetnot heap OF stones nor rough hewa
stave,
To mark the area, haIlowed by hisgrave"
We here find the sentiments and expires.
sions of our stranger poet in direct oppo-
sition With those of the ndtiVe author the
Rackwoodsman, who exuts that his coun.
try's Hero reposes in dust, unmarked even
by stone 4; we agree with Mr.. Paulding,
That wheresoe'er Washington may rest,
There flame shall make her everlasting nest.
But. by the bye, whenever this same
nest shall be made, we much doubt whe-
Their she will ever lay at leas, q political
egg in it for Mr.. Paulding.
That it is the hero who gives lustre to
the monument, and not the monument 10
the hero, is as indisputable truisn as j.
the author had logically proved 10 US that
when the sun is ia its meridian, it is noon
day. We all know that no marble trophy
can lend beam TO the efuIgence Of WASH
ington's glory, but have we no gratitude
to commemorate 2 Almost all the remains
Of antiquity that attest the departed gran
deur of Greece and Rome are ruins OF TEN.
pies and monuments erected to the gods
and benefactors of their country ; and gra-
titude in nations as well as individuals IS
one of the noblest virtues that adorns hu-
nanty. What must the foreigner who VI
sits these shores think OF the hourishng
state of this noble and ennobling virtue
amongst US, when in this vast country.
amidst these wide extended states, which
owe their liberty, their glory, their indie.
pendence to the genius and 'irtue of Hash'
ington, be finds but one solitary attempt to
raise monument, not to the fame of this
father of his country, but OF his children's
gratitude, and that the languishing funds
for erecting that, were raised by lottery,
thus giving 10 the world an unbIushIns
proof, that the key stone Of our gratitude
is the hope of lucre !!
To return to the Ocean Harp we might
perhaps observe that some negligent verses
CRATE farshly on The ear, and that some
expressions are too familiar for the gene
raj tone of the poem, but we have no pre-
tensions 10 be critics, and if we had, we
would not dash aside the fragrant leaye'0'
the rose, to number the thorns that grow
upon its stock We cordially welcome Nh
Agg to our little repository OF the mlghy
liOing and the dead, where duns forget
ting, would we could say by duns forsot'
we wing away the moments in rapture
which but for them would be given to col.
roding cares.-Had we but the genus o.
| Walcott, like him
From eve to morn,
From Enshing morn to darki'ng eve again.
Oar muse the brow OF merit should ahon''
; A. J. 81, i;i<a e,s.Il Tho N lppuyrlc ST. AR