The Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1822-1829, 1823-02-28

In America the name Of Johnny Hook
viii never die 5; Genius has touched it and
made it immor;al-but what was johnny
Hook when contrasted with Parson Walls
as candle 20 the sun. From the moment
/ that the Parson glanced his keen, worldly,
1.-THE discerning eye into the poor mans
box, his very imagination appears To
have become bossilied. Throughout all
creation he could see nothing but beef
This rounded world, with all its rich var-
eties. was in his mind nothing but-a round
Of beef; his roses and his lilies became
transformed into bullocks not text
could he think of except the feshpots OF
Egypt. Beef became To him what ale was
10 boniiace, his diet and his dream, his gar
ment and his pillow /; in short whether the
Parson was eating or thinking, dreaming
or preaching, it was all the same ; he saw
nothing, SAID nothing, thought of nothing,
but beet, beef, beef The disease inn0-
cent at first, became at least malignant, it
excited all his sympathies, and he vowed
by his holy hatred of persecution--by his
love OF Christian charity and forbearance
by his adherence OF all sinful appettes
in the POORLY his Reproduction of all lux
ury out of the pale of the Church-that
he'd grind the devoted beef eater to the
dust II he relented but for a moment
the multitude round swan across his me-
mory, and with IT came the train of its per-
fiction. Oh, it was round fiji for Rec
tors appetite roundihe very Corpora
ton might have enyied--a round to bid
defiance to the whole Common Council
after fast dav--
The round was a picture, for painters to STU
DIV,
The fat was so white, and the lean was so rud-
dy.
And then his Roman indignation burst in
to soliloquy-' III make an example of the
miscreant III make it a city business j:
III have the monster tried at Hicks Hall !;
III retain Judge to prosecute him the
deputy recorder shall prosecute him I'll
go further, the Court of Aldermen shall be
on the bench, and he shan't have even
chance, for I'll have him indicted five mi
nutes before dinner; the rascal shall be
come perfect Pythagerion, and take
| dlstaste to the whole animal creation !;
Laughter j even in Botany Bay he won't
| have the hardwood to look bullock in the
face" Continued Iaughter)
80 far this may appear Jest, and as
much SO far you see have not been I'M
willing 70 treat it. But what will you say
when tell you that he actually took three
whole days to deliberate, and then though
the poor man returned TO This garden to his
daily work as usual, actually had him ar
rested on a charge of felony Yes, when
the poor peasant with all the boldness ma.
tural to innocence, day after day present
ed himself before him when he was
bending in toll over the sluggish soil of its
more inscnsible proprietor, he had him ar
rested on charge Of robbery And who
did this man Of wealth a man of God!
the very Dives of the Bible, faring
sumptuously every day. and grudgng to
poverty even the crumbs from his talIe
Who was the Magistrate before whom he
brought him A Sergeant-at-Law his
own father-in-law the son in-law accus-
ed, and the father-in-law committed him :;
and, indeed, they were right not to let the
glory of the achievement go out of the ia.
mily. Imagine, Gentlemen, YOU behold
the spectacle the Paren swearing to the
complexion of the penny worth the but
Ter endcaVorlng To coax him into reason
the cook maintaining the inviolabity of
| the larder; the Sergeant threatening to
| bundle her out of the office, until at last,
amid the Babel of the contest, and the al.
ternate ascendency of beef Church =
Newgate and Botany Bay ? he was
confined to five hours imprisonment by
these twin ornaments Of Law and Diyini-
| ty.
| At length his friends heard Of his situa-
| ton; he was then necessarily admitted
to bail, and bound over to meet'h chart
| table Pastor and Master at the Sessions.
Let us pause here, Gentlemen, and reflect
on the situation ofmy client during the in
| teryal. Turned out of his service on a
charge of robbery that robbery the rob
berry Of his master unable to procure EN-
ployment under the doubt. obliged to ex-
pend the last Of his little savings, amount
ing to 90 pounds, in preparations for his
defence with many weeks before his in
nocence could be yindicated, and with the
certainty that even in case Of an acquittai
the fact of his having been tried would
cilng 10 HIM forever weigh these suffer-
lhgs OF poor man and an innocent man,
and then say what rich man and a guilty
man should pay for their infection. The
interval, however, might have had its
valHe 1t might have awakened in the pro
secutor some compunctions of humanity;
did 1t do so no for four weeks did he
brood over the serpent egg his n,;.,;gnity;
for four weeks, night after night, did he lay
has head upon his pillow, after PRAYING to
the almighty tif such men ever prav) to be
forgiven on the terms of his own forgive
ness will suppose for a moment the
worst against my client: will suppose
mat inns charge fright have been true, and
.hat Tue poor rlan, goaded by hunger, and
tempted ny opportunity, had taken the rich
man s'peet, value one penny : ought he