Litchfield enquirer., 1837-03-09
IThe rest ofthc evening passed off very

pleasant in conversation, good humored enjoyment, and convivialIy, and il was not till towards l2 o'clock that poor George Fortescuc' was again remembered.
 They all agreed at parting however, that they had .hrver passed such q happy day, congratulated each other upon ins'itnting so delightful a meeting, and promised to be punctnAt [" ;hcir appointment the ensuing evening, when they were to celebrate the new year, whose entrance they had well comed in bumpers of good claret, as the watchman bawled, past twelve o'clock y beneath the window.
 They met accordingly, and their gaiety was without any alloy or drawback. It was only the first time of their assembling after the death of poor George Fortcscue, that made the recollection of it painful; tor, though but few hours had inIervened, they now took their seats at the table as if eleven had been their original number, and as |! all were there that had been expected to be there.
 It is thus in every thing. The first time man enters a prison-the first book an author wri'es-the first painting an artist executes-the first battle a general wins nay, the first time rogue is hanged-(f (for rotten repe may provide a second per- lormance, even of that ceremony, with all its singleness of character) )-difTer incon- ceivably from their first repetition. There is charm. spell, novelty, freshness. delight, inseparable from the first expcri- ence, Changing always excepted, be it re- remembered } which no art of circumstance can impart to the second. And it is inc same in all the darker traits of life. There is degree of poignancy and anguish in the first assaults of sorrow, which is never found afterwards. In every case it is simply that the first fine edge of our feelings has been taken off, and that it can never be restored.
 Several years had elapsed and our elev- en friends kept np their double anniversa- ries, as they might op,ly enough be called, with scarce v any perccptible change But alas! there came one dinner at last. which was darkened by calamity they never expected to witness, for on that very day their friend, companion, brother al- most, was hanged !-Yes, Stephen Row. land, the wit, the oracle, the life of their lit- ,le circle, had on the morning of that day, forfeited his life upon public scaf1old, for having made one single stroke of his pen in a wrong place. In other words, bill of exchange which passed into his hands for G7OO, passed out fthem for 17OO: he ha- wing drawn the important little prefix to the hundreds: and the hill being paid at the bankers without examining the words of it. to Rowland-and though the greatest in,e- ,,LO Al~ 0I sl penalty, poor Stephen Rowland was hang ed. Every body piticd him, and nobody could tell why he did it. He was not poor; he was not gambler; he was not spec nlator, bot phrenology settled it. The or- gan of 0cquisitivemess was discovered in his head, after his execution. as large as pi- geon's egg. He could not help it.
 It would be injustice to the ten to say, that even wine, friendship and merry ses- sion. could dispel the loom which perva- dcd the dinner. It was agreed beforehand that they should not allude to the melan- cholv theme: and having nterdicled the only thing which really occupied all their thoughts, inc natural consequence was. that silent contemplation took the place of dis maj discourse; and they separated long be- fore midnight.
 : Some fifteen years had now glided away since the fate of poor Rowland, and tho ten remained {; but the stealing hand of Time had written snndry changes in most lrgible characters. Raven locks had become grizzled-two or ,hree heads had not as many locks aito- gether as may be reckoned in walk of hail mile along the Regents Canal-onc was actui,lly covered with brown wig; thc crows feet wcrc visible in the corner of the eye; good old port and warm Madeira car ried it against hook, claret, Burgundy and Champaign--stews, hashes, and ragouts, grew into favor; crusts were rarely called for to relish the cheese after dinner; con- yersaiion was less boisterons, and it turned chiefly upon politics and the state ot the funds, or landed property: apologies were made for coming in thick shoes and stock ings the doors and windows were more carefully provided with list and sand bags the fire more in request; and a quiei game of whist filed up the hours that were wont to be devoted to drinking, singing, and ri- otous merrimcnt. The rubbers, cup ot coffee, and at home by eleven o'clock, was the usual cry, when the fifth or sixth glass had gone round after the removal "t the cloth. At parting, too, there was now a long ceremony in the hall, b"ttoning up great coats, tying on wooIeu comior'ers, fix ing silk handkcrcbiefs over the mouth aud np the ears, and erasping sturdy walking canes, 10 support unsteady feet. ',
 Their iiticih anniversary came. and Death had indeed been busy. One had been killed by the ovcrlurning of tl'e mail, ;n u h;ch he had taken his Dliste in order to