The Portland gazette. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1818-1824, 1820-05-09

in Novels, Romances, and Plays, or who reg
llates his thoughts and feelings by the standard
ii the poets, might be very prone TO imagine
that love was about the only passion which
exerled any power over men, and consequent
ly TO expect in every word or act, some very
warm expression ol tenderness or some start ol
exiacy, or the offspring OF some pensiye emo
ton; and 10 whom homebfed honesty and
plain matter of fact feeling is quite shocking
and intolerable. Another, Who may have de
voted his attention To political economy, who
reasons upon expediency, considers the vast
distress in the community from poverty, and
calculates the innumerable checks upon popu-
lation, holds love in ligh, estimation, talks
much of convenience and the horrors Of pow
e,ty, and dies-a bachelor. Another, who is
an amateur of ethics and moral philosophy,
thinks, with Dr. johnson, that Z" love is only
one OF many passions, and has no great inilu
ence upon the sum of life" The latter is
pretty near the truth the young think its in
huence very great the old, very little; The
truth is between them. Hot, impetuous,
thoughtless love declines between the age of
% and SO, the alloy, as romantic girls would
term it, and We are halt disposed TO agree with
them, OF interest, reason, and calculation, be-
girs then 10 mix with it, debaslng its value and
almost destroying lis identity: II makes lis
possessors more particular and difficult, and
quite too iastidous ior the imperiections OF hu-
mainly and their own happiness. The softer
passion, in full operation, excludes reason from
its precinct the moment man sits down to
calculate the consequences OF falling in love.
to examine the advantages aud disadvantages
arising from II, he cannot, whatever may be
his conclusions, have much passion OF soul in
the enterprise love IS an impulse, with which
prim reason has very little TO do, and whose
influence must, therefore, be confined princi-
paly 10 the young.
But TO recur TO the cue Of our motto-we
cannot but admire the non ciaiance, with which
a man devoured by passion, rails against the
object Of his devotion and comfortably wraps
himself in this most philosophical resolution Of
having nougbt 10 do with one, who will have
noughi To do with him. The bitterness OF dis.
appointment triumphs for a moment over the
ardour Of love but the victory is transient,
the enemy returns again, The heart yields 10
its supremacy and the siege is relinquished,
only after repeated and signal defeats. Co
quetry and fckleness are excellent barriers
against The lamentable effects OF love, and are
the best preservatives OF the enjoyment Of our
lives they are what the stone is 10 the peach,
giving consistency 10 the fruit and preserving
iisheal,bfu qualities. They afford US a charm
ing variety, aud though they often give all a.
cute, il is only TO relieve from chronic pain.
H..
with which nature has bestowed charms aud
beauty and the facnalions of wit, If they could
make but one conquest, break but one heart
and receive the offerings Of but one devoted
victim And how dull and sluggish would be
the tenor of his life, who had been found in
the train Of only one woman, who had burn,
his incense only before one altar, and who
could not rest his censor on another shrine
Few instances however, occur in our town OF
coguetry or fckleness, in no place are they so
rare is il TO be attributed to the superior un-
Outstanding, candour and honesty of our beaux
and bellies, or to that nobleness OF character
which despises TO steal away heart for the
poor qualification Of triumph or merely to pass
an idle hour !, is indeed very fortunate, thai
although these ruses dc ramour, these tricks Of
love are praclised in some places still there
IS po,hiog in them alarmingly dangerous, some
sadness TO be sure is produced, bot it is not
lasting nor faial-if il were ,;alas for humanity
in these Proiean times. " The poor world Is
5000 years old, and in all this time, there was
not any man died 10 his own person, videlicct,
in love cause. Men have died from time TO
time and worms have eaten Them, but not for
love"
The worst consequence 10 be feared from
the qualification Of this humour Of coquetry
"That keeps the word Of promise to our ear,
But breaks il to our hopc,'
is, that il is often carried one step too far; and
many an elegant girl, by following an old
habit and propensity, has outlived her power
Of conquest, and been compelled to ps, up
with he freedom OF old naidensm, much
sgains, her inclination; solsced only by the
gIIttering fragments OF former feeling and the
associations Of charms and iniluesce forever
passed away and many very clever fellow,
who has panied to enjoy domestic life, has
been reluctantly forced, by cruel deserion, 10
pine away whitening monument OF despair.
But If the disappointed could follow the ex-
celeni moral contained in the lew lines which