The Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1822-1829, 1823-09-08

his friends in Massachusetts.
TIE FOX AND THE BELL:
a .sfw Fable.
A fox in his nocturnal rambles after
game, CHANGED one night 10 pass through
an old field in which cattle from a neigh
boring farm house were accustomed 10
feed. Trailing his prey among some low
bushes which stood in the field, reynard
was actonishcd NJ an extraordinary noise
which proceeded from the foliage Of one
of them, which he happened 10 rub against
in his progress. Suspicious of danger,
with his characteristic prudence, he re-
treated at full speed 10 wood which
stood hard by. II had SO CHANGED,
that the bell co,D of the herd, had rubbed
being negigently put on, remained suspen
ded 10 twig, and it was the unusual sound
OF this Instrument, unexpectedly heard In "A
solitary spot, that caused the preeipitate re-
treat of our friend reynard. The fox hav-
ing gained the shelter of the wood, listened
with great anxiety for a repetition of the
noise, when hearing nothing, he took cou-
rage and sailed out to rcconnoitrc. APP
preaching the scene OF his alright with
utious steps, he at last espied the hell
hanging in the tree, when, mortified at his
own eowardce, and enraged at the uneasi-
ness he had felt from 50 trifiDg cause, he
thus addressed the bell -" You damn'd
noisy, tcide mouhed, hotloio headed, long
toagued rascal, was il you, that, rung by my
self, filled me with such alarm, and made
tI,;nL ba.I If ko,,.,Ia ,f
my heels ?" So saying, and well satisfied
that il was no worse, reynard proceeded to
execute his objected attack on IA flock oi
geese, whose cackling he heard not far off.
Leaving the fox to shift for himself, we
will transfer our attention, by no very for
chile nbruption,to the Enquirer preceding
the last, and to one of its correspondents
who signs himself " Mason" sIn our in.
vcstigation of the presidential question, we
had CHANGED to Iub against this self-created
champion Of democracy and of Craw ford,
who has more of the bell than the goose
about him. Long after we had forgotten
the allusion, for there is nothing about Ro.
G. Scott, that should impress the man
himself, or the productions of his genius
particularly upon the memory Of any one,
Aitbb ktbLitltdug hiHtu WI ny tlAo aNoh' w
filling place in the public eye, and desi-
Eous that the public should institute q par
tcular enquiry into the pretensions OF his
authorship of the numbers Of" Julian" and
Mason, which, no doubt, he misunderstanding
4 mortality, rings furious TRADE in the
&c lumns of Mr. Richie, against the editors
of this paper. We shall not, like the hero
OF our fable, retreat behind shelter, until
we have reconnoitered the cause OF this
alarm we are well appraised of the long
toagued, holiolo headed source from which
it proceeds. But to think OF Bob SCOTS
quoting Latin and Juvenal, Shakespeare
and Sterne Pom honor, It's ridiculous
Not less ridiculous, indeed, than a baboon's
scrapng on the fiddle of an amateur, or a
bear, growing with sore head, leading of
ddngoi 1t is not Mr.. Scott of York, whose
6udinage is to deter us from fulfilling our
duty to the public, nor Tom Richie, who
has turned tail upon our invitation to fair
and honorable argument,who is to Undue
the public to esteem this paper Or the
course il pursues unworthy Of their appro-
baton. Tom Richie once proposed to
" throU continental Europe out Of uie,o,'
but he will find the humber task of throw
ing this paper cut of ,iow, equally beyond
his attainment. What" asks Pope,
"must be the priest, where monkey is the
God 2" What, ipe ask, must the rest of the
union think ofthe deterioration OF the 'Old
Dominion" tland of the he Henry's, the
Jeflerson's, the Lees, the Wythr's, the Pen
dleton's, the Mason's, and the Madison's,
H. Il, t,h, Or G,ntt hnv h.
come the arbiters and the organs of public
sentiment What shall ue think of VIM.
II. Crawford, when Tom Richie was tho't
worthy both to ride and to guide him p
IAN honor by the bye, that vastly tickled
Toms vanity.) AS long as Tom Richie
was contented 20 act in the subordinate
agency for which nature destined him, as
the humble publisher of other mems
thoughts, we, in common with others, were
we'll disposed to view him with the appro-
baton and respect which all men, without
reference to their capacity or situation in
life, deserve, who discharge faithfully their
duties to society. Whilst Spencer Roane
lived, such was the case with Mr.. Richie,
The public were appraised of that great
mans influence over Tom, and possessing
unlimited confidence in his orthodoxy and
stern repubcanism, as well as his talents,
pinned their faith to his mouth piece, the
Enquirer. His death has involved our
friend in Egyptian darkness, and to relieve
bis distress he has had recourse to Mr..
Scott of York, who aspires to the vacant
slippers of Judge Roane. Whether the
acquisition of this gentleman's counsels is
likely to supply the cllasm which Judge
Rosns has left, the columns of the Enqui-