The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1832-02-07

The CHOLERA. The most appalling vsi.
tation of Providence, is a postilence. Men
will 20 forth and be swept away in battle
with frmness, but when the invisible agent is
waving its besom over them, and their com.
rsdes are dropping around them, al courage,
reason, justice, and virtue seem to be pros.
trated. IL the good aud few, indeed como
forth like gold from the purlfcation Of fire,
the bad become more like demons than men.
Pestilence raises curtain from the darkest
career Of the human heart :os time when
-Azrael 10 brandishing his sword over the
whole race, would seem fhad not history re.
corded the contrary to be season, when
man would repress the evil of his passions,
and become just and morcif6l In his ways,
from terros ifnc. from choice. Yet these are
the times, when, az civil rule is relaxed,
wherein human depravity rises in tie proper
tion of calamity. Scholars can recount tho
particulars Of the plague At Athens--butl less
learned men may find, in the introduction to
the translated Decameron, fearful sketch
Of the plague at Florence, in l340, and which
travelled from the Leyant, somewhss a. the
Cholera is moving now. Notwithstanding
masses and professions, strict precautions,
and rigid quarantine, it entered the city Of
Florence, which seems designed BY nature
not as q place oflamentations, but of delights.
The 6rst symptoms were tumerous, and Of.
terwards purple spots, the disease was
communicated by contagion. Boecscio re-
lates that he saw two swine roofing among
the clothes Of the dead, who, in less than an
hour, died upon the spot. IB contagious
psstilence the sick are left to die, without aid
or consolation The strong impulse Of self.
preservation takes place Of the tsnderest af.
fection or the nearest affinity. At Florence
some shut themselves up IN the castle like
houses Of the city--every one Of (which would
sustain, ., siege, end diverted themselves
moderately, never listening to the sounds
without. Others revelled, and plunged into
all kinds Of dissoluteness. The wisest, in.
deed, though not the most humane, deserted
the city, leaving dying relatives and friends.
The people became % csllous that theypwould
utter jests upon the death Of otheFx Those
who died in the streets were burned. but
those who perished in the houses, often putri4
fed there, and added fuel To-. ihe plague.
There were no servants, no attendants, but
the mercenary wretches who came to rob
more than to nurse--"to murder, not to hcsl.''
"Dire was the tossing, deep the gsoans !; Despair
Tended the sick, busted from couch TO couch
And over al, Death shook his DART" s.,s-
Boecacio states, though somewhAt largely,
that from March to July, upwsvds Of 100 0000
persisted in the city alone ;in the midst Of this
plague. he feigns that seven ladies, young
and fair, who met at church, determined 70
retire to the country, with several young and
cheerful gentlemen Of good nam6 and sc-
complishmcnts, and there in secluded but
supple dwelling, pass the time ia 90 much
gaiety, that the plague should find no coadju-
tnr, 10 hypochondria. The plesssut tales Of
Boccscios (ths Decsmeson) are supposed to
have heon told by these ladies and gentle.
men, whom under a. much apprehe nsion of
immediate death ss the improvisotrising
SchcheYazade. -.
\ But unfortunately the plague il o. destruc-
tive in the 18th, ss II wss in the llsh ceasury;
every ship may bring tho pestilsnes1 10 us,
and Il y our duty 10 considor steadily che
evil before Il may be upon us. With pesti-
lance pseesution y every thing, for ,here Is
Tbs iss, Quarterly Review cou,sins an A.,
ilc)e on the Iudisn cholers, in which great
many inteFessing facts ere discIossd. Il has
been supposed, indeed, that one party IN Eae
lsnd V very anxious 10 spread en- alarm 10
divert tho npublic sttonsion 10 soB,e, other
channel than the question Of Reform. Yet the
CholeSs undoubtedly hes gained ground. in
England. which invaded from The East, By The
wsy Of Hamburgh. Il 10 net our wish 10
esube needless constsrnation- bot what v In
England may b imported here---snd the die
tsnco y less then the spses between Calcutis
and the Isle OF France, which the, ChoIsrs
has already psssed over, "fovswarned, fore
AIMED" Security y gpsst enemy, Dot fssS
often ioes good saevsro Tke Choisrs IL n