Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1827-12-11

DY, BY MIR. MONTGOMERY, THE POET.
Dear Madam, know you love me in my
proper place. where that is, leave you 10 guess
at present; it:may not, indeed, be In your eye,
but ! assure you, il is not far from IT. am
ore Of the race of Veterinarians; and TO such,
YOU know, it is pleasure 10 complain, per-
haps the only pleasure Of their lives Pray do not
say, it is no easure 10 hear idle complaints, I'll
YOU have heard mine Who I am il will be
no easy matter TO tell in more words than one.
am determined, however to hide myelf in
many, that you may find me out, before name
that. which, like a charm, will bring me in all
my beauty and confusion upon you. In the
first place, am no, riddle; yet am fit SUBJ
iect for one; and, probably while describe
myself, may speak in paradoxes; but, unless
I come across you, do moi puzzle yourself as
you go along, my signature at the close OF this
tpste will make all clear, and prove 10 your
satisfaction, that have especial claim 10 the
counenance Of a lady
am neither person, passion, being, nor
an abstraction. ] am neither a vice, nor a vir-
tue; member Of The body, nor qualify Of the
mind; neither matter, nor spirii;--l am simply
notion Without form seen; without
substance ] am felt without intelligence am
the most nfl,lible interpreter Of the heart, tho
my meaning, unhappily, is So ambiguous that
it is seldom understood in the right sense; and
il is the misapp Ell ension Of this ofwhich prin-
cipa!Iy complain. come from the heart, and
there it is that my presence is felt, for though
speak to the eye when appear, the hear,
feels as if it were visible; and .! which Of
The wise,t virtuosest, dscreetcs,, best
even Of YOUR own sex, could bear to have fell
low creature prying into her secret thoughts,
all of which, especially those she is most anxi-
Gus TO conceal, seem 10 he betrayed the moment
she perCeives me: and to tell the ,roth they
would be, if people understood my language
well as they pretend to do.
am peculiar 10 humanity; no brute animal,
owever endowed with instinct or sensibility,
being capable Of distinguishing or exhibiting
me Though belong 10 either sex, am pre-
eminently "the glory and the shame" OF yours.
The f male who has discarded me from her at>
fec,ions has lost all sense of honor all purify OF
soul yet she with whom am not familiar is
most abashed by my presence; her pulse throbs
quicker at the thought of me; her fear brings
me upon her, though | come most unwillingly.
TIE mere recollection, that my being in COM
pany with her exposed her to public observa-
ton in certain place, makes me visit her
again in her closet For the world she would
not part with the fine feelings which draws me
TO her: yet hen | am present she would give
the world that | were gone. his is the more
remarkable. since there is nothing even in
woman more graceful than am, and one
would therefore CINE nothing more desira-
bic, especially as ! am, III the slrictest sense,
"lhe ornament Of meek and quiet spirit"
The poets eye beholds me in the rainbow, aud
in the rose; i'll the morning clouds, On the oceaa
al sunset; in the face of the f,Il moon rising.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES fas',tsrr fs-eas.et
comes 50 lovely, that il is sin TO look upon it,
because Of The ulimaginable anguish which a
single glance inflicts the fair sufferer whom
am overpowerng.
am always honest but am not always the
sign Of honesty nay, am so frequently ASSOC
clated with guilt, that the vulgar and superb.
cial a'e apt to think ne Identified with it
This is SO much the misery Of my life, that
am only happy when am put out of existence,
which may be, and yet revive again hun.
dred times day Something not fit to be ma
med, is loudly uttered, or insidiously hinred,
in conversation, and ! insrinctively bstray
the consciousness of the young and the uncor.
ruptrd to the grossncss of such an insult; hence,
it is impudehtly inferred, that they know more
than they ought, though it is only proof that
the wretch who provoked me knew less than he
ought, either of good sense or good manners
Gus, than to call the swift witness Of virtue
which am, the evidence of depravi:y? Should
this letter Though intended for NONE but your
self, fair lady, who happened 20 be lust now
reading it) ever fall into the hands of a man.
who dares to speak whal n odes' dares not he ar;
who takes pride in raising me to confound
Innocence; lei him beware, lest l rise to his
face in The day Of judgment, and oyerwheIm
him with shame and contempt.
Hypocrisy may affect me, s, force my csem.
bance where never am found but it must be
dull eye shat cannon Distinguish her false CO.
lDurs, and de,pisc heI, for deceiving herself
in wearing them. Ofall their other foibles and
weaknesses your inimitabe sex may be &C.
casionly vain;-a lisp, mole, cast of the eye,
may be a subject Of selfconplacency, fer no.
thing is TOO little or mean for vanity; but you
are never vain of me,-except' am not
Then indeed, prude or wanton may assume
me TO conceal the want of me; but the exrrlion
costs more han the counterfeit is worth, and as
il is made at the hazard Of an apopiexy, am
Il - A. =.