Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1844-01-25
NJ Z S q g "a d A ~ Y o
"Chewing the Cud of Sweet and Bitter Fancy

few nights ago IN lone chamber situa-
ted IN the lower part of Broadway, New York,
we took up book, which lay on the table,
and opened at once to the following passage,
which seemed TO have been written for the
occaslon-so lively and appropriate is the
description to the scene, to which, had we
enjoyed the acquaintance Of a friendly Asmo-
deus, we might have been an eyewitness
The reader will recognize, in the extract, the
author OF that truly original and philosophical
work-"Sartor Resartus Boston Courier.
~ look down in all that wasp nest or bee
hive, and witness their waX-laying and honey
making, and poison-brewing, and choking by
sulphur From the palace esplanade, where
music plays while his Serene Highness is
pleased TO eat his vI"luals, down The low lane,
where on her doorsisl, the aged widow, knit
ting Tor thin livelihood, sits to feel the af-
iernoon sun, ! see it all for, except the
Schlossklrche weathercock, no biped stands
so high. Couriers arrive bcstrapped and be-
booted, bearing JOY and sorrow bagged up in
couches OF leather; there top laden, and with
four swift horses, rolls in from the country, Ba-
ror and his household; here, on timber leg. the
aims; thousand carriages, and wains, and
cars, come tnmhling in with food. with young
rusticity, and other raw produce, inanimate or
animate, and go tumbling out again will, pro-
duce manufactured. That living flood, pour
ing through these streets, of all qualities and
ages, knowest thou whence it is coming.
whittier it is going? From eternity onwards
to eternity These are appariions: what
else Are they not souls rendered visible in
bodies that took shape and will lose it, melt
ing into air? Their solid pavement is pic
ture of the sense; they walk on the bosom of
nothing; blank time is behind them and be-
lore them. Or fanciest thou, The red and vel
low clothes-scrcen yonder, with spurs on its
heels, and feather in its crown, is out of to-
day, without yesterday or tomorrow and
had not rather its ancestor life when Hengis,
and Horsa overran thy Island Friend. thou
seest here living link in that tissue of hsto-
ry, which inweaves all being watch well, or
1t will be past thee, and seen no more"
"lt is true sublimty to dwell here. These
lringes of lampiight, struggling up through
smoke and thousand fold exhalatlon, some
ialhoms into the ancient reign of night: what
'hlnks boots of them, as he leads his hunting
dogs over the Zenith III their leash of sidereal
flre! That stined hum Of midnight, when
traffic has lain down 20 rest and the chariot
wheels OF vanity, still rolling here and there
through distant streets, are bearing her to halls
rooted in, and lighted to the due pitch for her
and only vice and misery, to prowl or to
moan like nightbirds, are abroad that hum,
say, like the stertorous. uuquet slumber OF
! sick life, is heard in Heaven, Oh, under that
hideous coverlet of vapors, and putrefactons
and unimaginabe gasses, what fermerting
vat lies simmering and hid The Joyful and
the sorrowlul are there ; men are dying there
men arc being born; men are praying--on the
! other side of brick partition, men are ours
ing; and around them all is the vast, void
night. The proud Grandce still fingers r
his Pernmed saloons, or reposes within da-
mask Curtains; wretchedness covers into
truckle-beds, or shvers bunger-slricken into
his lair OF straw, in obscure cellars. Rogue
ct--Noir langudly cmits its voice Of destiny 10
haggard hungry Williams, while councillors oil
state SIT plotting, and playing their high-chess