Literary cadet and Rhode-Island statesman. [volume] (Providence, R.I.) 1827-1829, 1828-03-26
Wine None but the brute deserv.

or ind 1t. Ii he have mind, u he
possess feelings, these he can never
drown. He may steep his senses in
filthy forgetfuluess he may shatter
his nerves and destroy his health, by
the gross poisons of debauchery but
his memory, he can never annuI, he
will only debase it; his soul-but no
man, whose soul merited the name,
ever walIowed in a mirc like this
True. But it was not OF wine as
mere animal stimulant that ! spoke.
! used il as the type, pars pro toto, Of
society animated by the flow of con-
vivial intercourse F.; spoke Of its use,
not abuse (; as giving warmer circula-
ton to the blood, and thence to the
wit; as cheering the gloomy, not in
ebriating the cheerful ia short, as
indicating those symposia in which our
greatest and our .gravest, our most
brilliant, our most gifted, and our best,
have loved to congregate. Well then,
l seek this feast of reason-Aow of
soul. adisirc the apothcgms Of the
wise, and laugh at the jests of the wit
ty: the mind is frightened by the ex-
citation Of the body; and, under their
conjoncd influence, the hours, con-
fcss, dance along Oh feathcred feet,
and on path Of showy flowers. But
is there any thing in all this, that can
touch the feelings or satisfy the heart?
To the otherwise happy, such enjoy
mcnt is probably unclouded and un-
alloyed; but will it Gil the void Of an
aching bosom, or restore the youth
and freshness Of shattered spirit
Alas, no!
Though wit may fash from fluent lips, and mirth distract
the heart,
Through midnight hours that yield no more their former
hope Of rest
IT'S but vy-eaves around the ruind tunet wreath,
Al green and wildly fresh without, but and gray be-
Meath"
And when the circle is dispersed,
when | return home, and, entering
my solitory room, my mind recols
upon itself, is not the sigh, which
heavily struggles from my lips, ST.
lent confession, that this is all vanity
that the excitemcnts' Of society (and
for the moment | admit they are
strong) exist only during their actual
application, and, passing away, leave,
like a lamp that is extinguished, the
gloom as unbroken as before ?
Love? Can seek, by rousing the
heart again, to make it forget the
storms which have formerly passed
over it? Can hope that it can ev-
or feel what it has felt, or be what it
has been? The glow and the ardor
of passion the soft, delicious thrill of
tenderness; the engrossing devotion
of every word, action, feeling, thought,
to one object; can know these again.
No! not as | haze known them--that
is impossible. But the charms of wo-
mans society-the enjoyment of gaz-
ing on female lovelincss-of listening
to the female voicc-thc interest of
associating with a fascinating object
the qualifications, if not of the heart,
at least of a very dear vanity, in be-
coming the object of the gradually in
creasing attachment Of a beautiful
and gifted being--thcse, and they are
much, you sayI may still enjoy.
Ay! may so ? and at whose cx-
pcnsc would it be? What right have
to dress up the withercd mummerv
Of the heart in the colours and sem
blancc of life, and warmth and fresh
ness, and barter it for one possessing
them all? Is it fair dealing, to pass
the echo Of the voice of dead aifec-
lion, for the real, burning, winged
words, which passion sends instant to
the lips from the hearts mintagc to
represent that as living water, which
| know to be on ly the mirage of a de-
ceitful desert? +? Is it, to drop all fig
urc, allowable or just, to tamper with
the feelings Of a young and sensitive
creature; to excite attachment we
never can repay, and call into life the
affections the most exquisitively bliss
ful to the human soul, only to render
them productivc-ofpain unutterable?
No one, looking at the matter thus,
could be so cruel and yet how many
are there, who, unwittingly, land drawn
on by imPerceptible degrees, are so
in fact Can this be
Ay, it is quite simple, and OF daily
occurrence. We are thrown by the
circumstances Of society into inter-