The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1852-05-29
ON DlT-THEY SAY.

Sir Peer. Foregad, Madaihi u tney eo"ni
dered sporting with regulations OF as mncn
consequence as poaching on menors' ano
passed an act for tSe preservation OF lame, they
would find many 70 thank them for the bill.
Lady Sneerweg, o, lud! Sir Peter would
.-depriye Us of our privileges.
Sir p. Yes, Madam and none should then
have the liberty TO kill characters and run down
regulations but privileged old maids and dis
appointed widows.
Lady 5. Go, you monster.
Mrs. Candor. But surely you would not be
so severe upon those who report uhat they
hear?
Sir P. Yes, Madam, would have law for
them too and wherever the drawer OF the lie
was not to be found, the injured party should
have a right to come on any of the endorsers.
School for Scandal. Act III. Scene "a.
We very much fear that the vice which olr
Peter Teazle held in such special adherence.
was not confined to his day, or to the coterie
among whom he found himself. 1t exists, we
are disposed TO think, in all its primitive
strength, at the present time, and pervades the
whole mass of society. We are disposed to
think that it has not overlooked our own city,
and though we would not be indscreet enough
to call names, we fancy we could find ample
material for commentary upon this fashionable
foible, after we had exhausted every thing that
we could possibly say in the shape of pane
gyric upon manners.
1t 10 true, it is just as difficult now, as il was
in the days Of Sir Peter, to discover the draw-
er of lie, affecting any persons reputation
that mysterious NJ On Dit, who NEEDLES with
every body's business, and has none ofhis own.
He generally hides himself in impenerabe
darkness; he is as hard to come at as the
heads of the Nile. He stalks about society
like Jack the Giant. Killer, "endued with the inn
munites of invincibility," ito use the pompous,
but expressive phrase of Johnson) and being
beyond the reach Of dete ction, murders reputa-
ton without fear, and without reproach. He
is the convenient scape goat for all Islander. Few
have the boldness TO fabricate an original lie !;
there are too many like Lady Candour, ready
and willing, and anxious to circulate at second
hand. When taxed with it, they content them
selves with laying itupon generalrumor. Your
well-drilled sianderer, never sees any thing
himself. He always begins his story with
"they say" The effect is precisely the same.
The poison takes as full effect as though ad-
misistered by the hand of him who concocted it.
The character dies as certainly as though the
man whose malice first conceived its destruc.
ton, had dealt the fatal blow. The victim is
as defenceess against the infection as though
1t had not come at secondhand.
The Due de Rochefoucault, stern, yet acute
judge of mankind, has said that there is some
thing in the misfortunes of our best friends
that is not always displeasing to us. We are
unwilling to admit the truth of this doctrine il
its full extent; yet every day added to the life o
man, subtracts somewhat from the confidence
he entertained originally in his species. Every
day gives him occasion, more and more, to OBJ
serve the spirit of detraction which peryades
society, and which seems to become every day
more and more, its necessary alment. 1t il
true that persons frequently engage in discus
sions upon the characters of their neighbors
without any definite motive, beyond the desire
to pass away time in what they may esteem in
nocent gossip. They should be, if they ar
not aware, that such pastime is frequently a.
fatal to its object, as though it had been dicta
ted by the most deadly malice. Some one O
the idle groupe reports the sayings of tn,
others, a little embelished the second nara
tor takes it up, makes actual facts out of sur
misses, turns jest into earnest, magnifes every
thing, darkens every thing, and delivers il to
third person, who, not to be outdone in inge
nuity, adds his quota to the tale. Soon
grow into a serious matter; matter, tn,
orig in or truth of which no one can trace; ant
when it reaches the ears of the victim, Away:
the last man to hear it, he is already undone-
He had as we'll look for a needle in a haystack
as attempt to trace the Islander. "They say
is alone responsible" they say" is the Alphs
and Omega, the beginning and the end, of tina
which, in all possibility, may have embittered
the remainder of his days, snd left him ruined
man.
The suggestion of Sir Peter Teazle is right
IN principle. Let the circulator of SANDER
Gus report, he held responsible, in the first in
stance-let him be made responsible TO society
for the dissertation of its pIivacy-et him suf-
Ter, as though he had fabricated the lie. 1t
would teach wholesome lesson, to all those.
VINO having no business of their own. under
take TO manage the affairs of every BODY else.
Ii would mp SANDER in the bud. 1t woud mt
an end to the trade of the traducer. II wonld
teach every man TO keep guard upon his
tongue, that "unruly member, which hos
caused more distress in society than all the
wars from the days of Nimrod TO those Of M.
poleOn; than all the plaques tina, have desc
lated the world, from the Athenian epidemic
10 the Asiatic Cholera than all the fam;,as
from that which was relieved by the fore.
thought of Joseph, to that which is now sweep.
ing China with the bosom of destruction.
Would that it were practicable to produce
such state of society; to dismiss MIR. "They.
Say" to the shades of night, in which he
seems to take such especial pleasure-and
to hold those who talk after him responsible
for all he may have taught them. We care