The Lambertville press. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1858-1???, 1859-08-25
LambertyiIle. N.J.. Aug. 70, 1889
Eccentricities.

of society; persecutes in one age What IL ADOPTS
in another. its martyrs of the sixteenth century
are its nrecedents of the nineteenth: and good
part of the common sense OF the elder day is a
good part of the common nonsense OF the latter
day. Eecentricity is the disturbance of the re-
lations enjoned by common sense, and habit of
looking at things, not in their relation to each
other, but in their relations to the dominant will
flllness of the individuals. In regard to the &C.
centricities of character developed in social life,
the most prominent relate to freaks of passion
and impulse. Thus Doctor Johnson, at a Lord
Mayors dinner, committed the scandalous i'm
propriety of talking wit and wisdom to an alder
man by his side, who desired to concentrate his
whole energies upon the turtle. Sir" said the
alderman, in tone and with look of awful re-
buke, Gin attempting to listen to your long SEN
fences, and give you short answer, I have swal-
lowed two pieces of green fat without tasting
the flavor beg you to let me enjoy my pre-
sent happiness inp peace" The spoiled children
of wealth, fashion, and rank profess themselves
bored with this time honored, decorous dissou-
ton, and sigh after something more piquant,
something which will tickle their vanity They
take wine, not merely wine, but the "devils
wine" to give them a mad relish to excess
Such men as Rochester, Buckingham, and
Wharton, leading life of debauchery, and whose
brilliant rascaty illustrates the annals of eccen-
trio libertinism, have raised infamy itself into
kind of fame. Wharton, Dragging to Swift
of dPunl fro1io A.
cal satirst to vary his caprices little and take
frolic to be virtuous Rochester, when be fell
into the hands of Bishop Burnett, could hardly
recollect the time when he had been sober, and
might, with the amiable simplicity of another
inebriate, have staggered into an intelligence
office to know where he had been for the last ten
years. Yet this suicide of soul and body is, by
these deluded martyrs of pleasure, ludicrously
misnamed 81 fe" In the remark made by Geo.
Selvyn is concentrated its philosophy He
said as he surveyed himself after night of hero
ic debauch, Il look and feel villianously bad
but hang it, It's life--it is life"
Conceit often ends in making a man mentally
and morally deaf and blind He hears nothing
but the whispers of vanity and sees nothing but
what is reflected in the mirror of self esteem
The Earl OF Buchan, poor arstocrat, was ac-
customed to brood in his Edinburgh garnet, over
the deeds and splendors of his ancestors until he
identified himself with them, and would startle
his acquaintance with the remark, "When 7
was in Palestine with Richard of the Lion Heart %
such and such things occurred. His greater
brother, Erskine, the glory of Westminster Hall.
was an egotist of genius and was such a spend
thrift OF the personal pronoun, that Goblet.
who was once printing one of his speeches, stop
ped in the middle, giving as his reason that at
this point the "I's' in his fount of type gave
out and he could not proceed Undoubtedly
the most malignant of eccentric cyclists was Sa-
rah, Duchess of Marlborough At one time il
was thought she must die She lay for great
while speeches. and apparently senseless. The
physician said, She must be blistered or she
VIII de-" This touched her and she screamed
out, g L acOnt be clustered and I acont die ~
ana she kept her word. The proud Duke OF
somerset, whose pride was in his rank and LONG
llle OF 1orefathers, once declared that he pitied
1Ao'in because ne had no ancestors. The hob
oy-monger is the only consummated bore and
eceentricity in him becomes a very dismal Joke
In THIS country hobby riders are in the ascendant
anu YET we think it is better to ride ones bobbv
'nan give ones whole attention to discovering
'ne iutlhty OF the hobbies of Others What ever
may oe the plan of egotistical hobby riders It is
clearly identified with that of Puncb,s oraon
grlpoer, who CONTEMPORARY losses back tho
penny thrown him and clamourouslv doronaa
the shilling as theprice to move on y "Don,4
you suppose" he inquiries, that I know tho
Cdtty OF peace and quietness as well as Won do %
The conceit of ones self and the conceit Of one,s
hobby are hardly more prolific of eccentricitv
than the conceit of ones money. Ayarice tho
most hateful and wolfsh of all the hard, calous
dispositions of selishness, has its own peculiar
caprices and crotchets. Suipem is reported to
be dying. 1t is said that in his will he has left
something to charitable society, and the secre
tary thereof, happens il :" to console him
" You think" says Suipem, with malicious
smile, o. that | am going to die, but the doctor
says the attack is not fatal. IF you will take
that bequest now, at deduction of ten per cent.
III pay it," Done," says the secretary
Done " says Suipem, and dies-dies consis
tent and triumphant, with discount on his lips
instead of prayer The ingenuities ofits mean
ness defy all the calculations of reason, and reach
the miraculous in subtlety.
MRS. ANToINETTE l.. Brown BLACKWELL