Martinsburgh gazette. [volume] (Martinsburgh, Va. [W. Va.]) 1810-1825, 1825-03-03
MISCELLANEOUS.
From The New FORK Mirror.
II

"And solid pudding against empty praise"
| walked out one SPINNER afternoon
10 amuse myself after the troubles Of a
long and toilsome day, spent in porlng
over musty volumes of law AS /
rose from my fatiguing studies, and
breathed the fresh, free air of heaven,
/ enjoyed. that natural cheeriulness
which is ALWAYS felt when the elastic
mind scars from the object to which
it has been bound down, and sports
away at pleasure through the regions
of fancy. Alter having CROPPED among
the shadowy labyrinths OF ambiguous
science. wearied and bewildered 10
its May path, l rejoiced to ne in a
lighter sphere, amid merrlment and
busting adventure-wberet the brilliant
confusion of Broadway gave a liveiier
character 10 my meditatIons, and the
rosy. checked, bright eyed girls who
passed by NE impaired a Sweeter sen
salion to mind,
1t had been extremely warm and
sultry, but now a light breeze cooled
the air; the pigeons pecked, and cooed,
and sported about in the shade; a PR.
vileged dog might now and then be
observed irottng along behind his
4 master, painting and tired, with his
Nongue hanging from his Enclosed
mouth, and those unpoetical animals
in the record. OF our Common Council
{slenomiDated-hogs, grunted through
their long and dreamless slunber, ! u
oil the glory of independence aud mud.
Il is an old maxim that something
nav be learned in whatever situation
we are placed. The darkness of a So
lilary dungeon improves the contem-
platlve disposition, and the mid day
splendor of the city is replete with in
struction.
The vast and wonderful variety of
face and figure which on every side
met my view, afforded an amusement
for my ramble, of which did not fail
TO take advantage.
Sometimes brushed by me the smart
beau, ready dressed, and polished for
his lady's eye; his new, shining bat,
upon a head each particular hair OF
which possessed lis assigned station,
like we'll disciplined soldiers at a mi
litary post. In dark contrast behind
him dragged the lazy ~sweep-wrap-
ping his dusky mantle around his
gloomy form, the personihcation OF a
noonless night. The mar OF broad
dimensions waddled before the thin,
consumptiye, meagre wretch-pover.
ty and plenty. emblematic Of the rapid
vicissitudes Of life. Bullies thinking
of thunder and lightning-Dlndles
thinking of nothing but themselves
and fools thinking Of nothing at all,
went one after another before my OBJ
serving sight. Editors composing ex-
temporaneous editorial articles Play
ers coming over their half learned
parts-Lawyers calculating what no
one but lawyers could calcuIate-and
Doctors in ~ruelul, but resigned antici,
patton Of their patients demise, passed
by, and disappeared like Macheth's
visions in the regions of Hecate. Now
came a crowd OF
"Noisy children, just %IetIoose from school,"
10 high glee at having escaped from
the vicissitudes OF their mimic world,
some from the troubles of incompre.
hensible ancient languages, and lines
terrible to scan-and other young B0,
napartcs, who had "fought and con
quered' whole troops OF mathematical
problems, who had surrounded obsta-
cles seemingly insurmountable, and
lahored far up the rugged hill OF sci
ence in spite of the brambles and sha-
dows with which it 5 plentliully "a
bounds. Then / beheld, the phlIOso-
pher, in his ordinary habillmenEs, scru-
pulously plain, careful to own no por.
ton Of his celebrity to the vanlties OF
dress-his brow clouded with . sub
lime frown, which spoke of crucibles.
air-pumps, powerful acids, and cleo.
trical Misunderstanding his steady
way, with measured strides-all sci
c and severity from head TO foot
After him came the Poet, in a poetical
dress, with short sleeves to his coat,
short legs to his pantaloons, and short
allowances for his hunger-hls hat was
put back from his forehead in negligent
grace there wa 10 awkwardness in
his moving attitudes-no rose upon his
thrughtful cEIcek-andnO craVataround
neck; but bewlldered, Byron like, and
brim.fu' Of imagination, and wrapped
up in splendid visions. invisible to All