The Mrsi:! whatever the Mase Inspires,
Mvsoul the tuneful strain a lmircs....srTT.
TO THE MKniTi'lIUAXHAX.
raoM the iuxdox liteiiahy sAzrm.
'Tis the sea of past ag-es that fides on tnv sight,
The sea of the: poet, the seer and the knight ;
Where Virgil hath sung, where Israel hath pray 'J,
Where Itichard hath cross'd to the holy crusade.
1'arewell, then, first sea of the wise and the brave '.
Of all that was mighty, the cradle and grave ;
For the slave and the bigot now skulk on thy
shore,
Where the Greek and the Roman trod proudly
before.
Farewell ! and with sorrow I bid thee adieu,
Thou spell that hast rousM my young feelings
anew ;
For still would I wish thee, bright vision, to last,
That threw o'er the present the charm of the past.
Though thj' brightness is faded, thy glory is fled,
Oh ! still would I muse o'er thy great that arc
dead ;
Though the land that I seek is now Freedom's
home,
Her birth-place was Athens, her station was
Home.
I have sail'd o'er thy bosom, thou sea ever blest,
With fulness and strength from the deeps of the
west :
I have gazed on the lilies, which its hearings
unfold,
Thou mirror of heaven's own azure and gold.
May thy spirit pursue me when far from thy side,
Ancl grant my fix'd purpose may ne'er know a
tide ;
With thy best and thy bravest still urge me to
vie,
Like thy sages to live, like thy heroes to die !
Variety's the very spice of life,
That gives it all its flavor.
mi. r t t
TRO? TIIE NEW-IOHK LITTRAKT ntrOSITOIt r.
The extraordinary fact, that the Jews
have continued a separate people for
nearly two thousand years, in a state
of dispersion throughout the civilized
world, does not appear to be wholly
unparalleled in the history of mankind.
We do not pretend to find an exact
parallel in the history of any other
people ; but the Gipsies of Europe
furnish another instance, of a numer
ous people dwelling among the nations
without amity or assimilation, retain
ing to themselves peculiar manners,
appearance, and language, and suffer
ing every species of oppression and
contumely, without losing their essen
tial characteristics, or perishing from
the frce of the earth like the persecuted
natives of our western world. For a
period of more than three hundred
years, the Gipsies have wandered
about among civilized men ; yet they
still remain what their fathers were ;
never incorporated into any settled
community, nor conformed to the man
ners of any nation among whom they
dwell. k Africa makes them no black-
er, nor Europe whiter : they neither
4 become more lazy in Spain, nor more
4 diligent in Germany. In Turkey,
Mahomet, and in Christendom,
4 Christ, remain equally without their
4 homage. Around on every side, tney
4 see fixed habitations, with settled in
4 habitants ; they, nevertheless, pro
4 ceed in their own way, and continue,
4 for the most part, unsocial, wander
4 ing robbers.' Grellmann.
The roost authentic accounts of the
Gipsies state, that they appeared in
different countries of Europe at differ
ent times in the 15th century. The
most remarkable company of them was
first noticed at Bologne. This com
pany consisted of about one hundred
persons o f both sexes, of a tawny com
plexion, dressed in ragged attire, and
using a language totally unknotvn to
the people among whom they came.
Their leader was called Andrew, Duke
of Egypt ; and they related, that they
had been driven out of their posses
sions in Egypt by a king of Hungary.
This was unquestionably false, so far
as the king of Hungary was concern
ed ; but it is presumed bv learned men
who have investigated their language
and history, that they were originally
from Hindoston. Sir William .rones
asserts, (Asiatic Researches, Vol. III.
p. 7.) that many of their words are
pure Sanscrit ; and he likewise suppo
ses they emigrated from their native
country to the coast of Arabia or Afri
ca, and thence they rambled into Egypt,
extending their wanderings over the
continent of Europe. That they so
journed awhile in Egpyt, is rendered
probable by the fact that a riip-r$
people resembling them is now in ex
istence near 1 hebes in Upper Egypt.
The Gipsies possessed little skill in
aiy useful art; were grossly ignorant ;
and, to the disgusting appearance which
usually attends excessive poverty, they
dded the utmost depravity of nun-
lers, subsisting together without
even that low degree ol decorum which
is found among the meanest ranks of
civilized society, and choosing to live
by rapacity and fraud, rather than by
regular industry. The true science of
astronomy was then in a manner un
known ; but the false one of astrology
was in high vogue. Those who pro
fessed divination and palmistry, were
peculiarly acceptable to the indolent
and inquisitive in that age. Then the
greater portion of society was much
more eager to discover " hidden things
of darkness," than to acquire that easy
knowledge of nature which has since
become general, and which has served
at once to enlighten and to limit curi
osity, ror this reason chiefly, the
Gipsies found encouragement wherev
er they came : but, though the credu
lity of the times furnished them em
ployment in the supernatural capacity
of fortune-telling, it was never a lucra
tive or permanent resource ; and they
requited themselves for insufficiency of
profit, by making free with whatever
they could grasp, to gratify their whims,
or supply their wants.
In Italv, the Gipsies were called
Zigari ; and were supposed bv Pope
Pius II. to be emigrants from Zigu or
the modern Circassia. In the 16th
century, they so swarmed in the dif
ferent countries of Europe, that the
most severe laws were passed against
them by almost every government ;
laws as wise and as merciful as those
enforced against witchcraft, and tend
ing, like them, not to enlighten and im
prove their unhappy subjects, but to
cut them off from all possible advanta
ges, even from life itself.
They began their wanderings in
England and Scotland in 1534, and
soon excited general execration. In
the reign of Henry VIII. a law was
passed, commanding them to leave the
kingdom under pain of imprisonment
and confiscation of goods, and extend
ing the same penalty to such as should
join them, or should assume a disguise
in resemblance of them, or hold any
intercourse with them. By a statute
of Elizabeth, it was made felonv with
out benefit of clergy, for any Egyptian
(so the Gipsies were called) to remain
a month in the kingdom : and Sir
Matthew Hale relates, that thirteen
Gipsies were executed inhis time at
the assizes in Suffolk, merely because
the- were Gipsies. The following ac
count of their present condition in
Engl md, may be found in the Euro
pean Magazine, of November, 1820.
"There appears to be good ground
to believe these extraordinary itiner
ants were originally of the lowest class
of Hindoos ; having emigrated, it is
supposed, from Hindoostan about
A. D. 1403. Their language is un-
doubtedly a species of Hindostanee, !
as is suown by a comparison of gram
matical peculiarities, as well as of a
number of words taken down as speci
mens of their language, from English
Gipsies, and from Turkish Gipsies in
Hungary, (printed in the 7th volume
of Archseologia ;) also, by selections
from the Vocabulary compiled by
Grellmann, the learned author of a!
dissertation cn the subject ; and by
words obtained, as a translation of fa
miliar English words, from Gipsies in
the immediate neighborhood of Lon
don. Throughout the countries of
Europe, during the four centuries that
thej- have wandered about as outcasts,
they appear to have preserved among
themselves, and transmitted unimpair
ed to their descendants, together with
other invariable characteristics of their
origin, while speaking the languages
of the respective countries they inhab
it one common language of their
own, to which they appear to be attach
ed, yet which serves them for no other
purpose, that we are acquainted with,
than that of concealment. The com
bined influence of time, climate, and
example, has not affected any material
alteration in their state. A recent
traveller states, that he met with nu
merous hordes in Persia, with whom
he had conversed, and found their lan
guage the true Hindostanee. In Rus
sia, he found them, both in language
and manners, the same, corresponding
exactly to the Gipsies of our own coun
try. In Poland ancl Lithuania, r.s
well as in Courland, they exist in sur
prising numbers. In Hungary, their
Itees' Cvclopedia.
number amounts to about J0,000 : and
they are scarcely less numerous in oth
er parts of Europe ; every where ex
hibiting the same deeply-rooted attach
ment to their ancient habits and half
savage customs, and the same features
of an oriental character, as vagrants,
thieves, and fortune-tellers. How far
the treatment they have received from
civilized nations, among whom they
have been universally objects of con
tempt or p.rsecution, has tended to
keep them in their present state of in
tellectual debasement, by strengthen
ing their prejudices, and driving them
to the usual resources of indigence,
demands the serious and dispassionate
consideration of every friend of hu
manity. In our own country, hunted
like beasts of prey from township to
township, advertised as rogues and
vagabonds, even rewards being offered
for their apprehension, their condition
is becoming daily more deplorable,
while no asylum is offered them, and
no means are devised of remedying
the defects of their habits, or of hold
ing out to the well-disposed, encour
agement to reformation. The routing
of the Gipsies, as it is termed, from
various parts of the south of England,
has occasioned their appearing lately
in great numbers in the northern coun
ties. 41 The winter before last, severe
as it was," Mr. Hoyland states, 44 a
gang of about fifty or sixty, lay upon
Bramley-mocr, three miles from Ches
terfield." In the summer of 1815, a
numerous horde, who had been driven
from the township of Rotherham, had
two encampments in the neighbour
hood of Sheffield : there were also en
campments of Gipsies at Borough
Bridge, at Knaresborough, and at
Pocklington, in the east riding of York
shire. A few continue all the year in
London, excepting during their atten
dance at fairs in the vicinity : others
go out twenty or thirty miles round the
metropolis, carrying their implements
with them ; and are found, sometimes,
assisting in hay-making and hop-picking,
in Kent, Surrey, and Sussex.
Among those who have winter quar
ters in London from Michaelmas till
April, a few take in summer still wider
circuits, extending to Suffolk, Here
fordshire, and even South Wales. In
fact, there is reason to think the great
est part of the island is traversed in
different directions by hordes of Gip
sies. One of the most important facts
mentioned by Mr. Hoyland, is the dis
position, and even anxiety, manifested
by some of those who winter in towns,
to obtain for their children the benefit
of education. Uriah Lovell, the head
of one of the families, paid six-pence
a week for each of his three children,
who attended, during four winters, a
school for the Irish, kept by Partak
I very. Partak, on being called upon
to verify this statement, confirmed the
account ; adding, that there had been
six Gipsy children at his school, who,
when placed among others, were redu
cible to order. From Hoyland on
Gipsies." to bf. concluded.
ORIGINAL LANGUAGE OF THE AMERI
CAN INDIANS.
Lord Monboddo, who was esteem
ed one of the most profound critics in
the ancient language of any author
who has treated or written upon the
philosophy of language, endeavors to
prove that the Celtic or Gaelic, was the
original language of all the Indians in
North America, from the Esquimaux
to the Natives of Florida.
Lord Monboddo relates a number
of curious circumstances to support
his opinion. He mentions, that when
in France, he was acquainted with a
French Jesuit, a man as celebrated for
his veracity as for his scientific and
literary acquirements. That this
French Jesuit told him of a fact, which
he himself could attest, that one of his
mission, having lost his way in the
woods, and strolled into the country of
the Esquimaux, staid long enough
there to learn the language of that
people ; after which he came back again
to his countrymen, and happening one
day to go aboard a French ship at
Quebec, he found there among the
sailors a Basque, that is a native of the
rountrv at the foot of the Pvrenean
mountains, on the side of France ;
whom, by his knowledge of the Esqui
maux language, he understood very
well, and the Basque likewise under
stood him, so that they conversed to
gether. Now, the language which the Bas
que speaks Lord Monboddo tells us,
is undoubtedly a dialect of Celtic, and
differs very little from the highlanders
of Scotland. This account of Lord
Monbcddo seems also confirmed by a
fact wc have noticed in one of the late
Scotch papers in regard to the Esqui
maux who accompanied the expedition
to the North Pole. On board of the
vessel he was embarked there was a
Scotch Highlander, a native of the Isl
and of Malt, one of the Hebrides, with
whom in a few days time, he was able
to converse. Lord Monboddo seems,
however, to think it very extraordina
ry, how the Celtic language should
have found its way from Europe, or
the northernmost parts of America, to
a country so very remote as Florida,
where he says, there are the most pos
itive proofs uf the Gaelic language be
ing spoken by many of the tribes. He
mentions he was well acquainted with
a gentleman from the Highlands oi
Scotland, who was several years in
Florida, in a public character, and that
the language there had the greatest
affinity with the Gaelic, and particular
ly that their form of salutation by
which they ask you, are iott ivell r is
the very same. What is still more re-
markable, in their war-song, he discov
! ered not only the sentiments, but sev
1 eral lines, the very same words as used
in Ossian.
Lord Monboddo appears to be a firm
believer in the old reported story of
America having been visited by a col
ony from Wales, previous to the dis
covery of Columbus. He says the
fact is recorded by several Welsh his
torians, and he speaks of it as one that
cannot be contested. But, before the
; arrival of the Welsh colony in the New
; World, Lord Monboddo says, that
America was visited by some Norwe
gians from Greenland ; for, that the
Norwegians having made settlement
in Greenland, in the end of the tenth
century, some adventurers from thence,
in the beginning of the eleventh, dis
covered or rather visited North Amer
ica; for, as to the discovery of North
America by Europeans, Lord Mon
boddo regards that as an event coeval
with the siege of Troy.
These Norwegians, who visited
America in the eleventh century, Lord
Monboddo tells us, made a settlement
about the mouth of the river St. Law-
i rence, where, having found the vine
growing, they from thence called the
country Winland. This is recorded
in the annals of Iceland, which was
peopled from Norway, and from thence
the colony came, that made the settle
ment in Greenland.
Lord Monboddo, in his excellent
treatise on the origin and progress of
language, as well as in some of his oth
er writings, relates a vast number of
curious and amusing circumstances on
this subject. One, however, of the
most remarkable is an account of an
Indian Mummy, discovered in Flori
da, wrapped up in a cloth, manufactur
ed from the bark of trees, and adorned
with their hieroglyphic characters, pre
cisely the same with characters engra
ved upon a metal plate, found in an
ancient burying ground, in one of the
Hebrides Islands. Pet. Intel.
ron THE WESTEHX CAI10L1M AX.
MEssns. r.Dirons :
You will confer a favor hy republishing- the
following' communication on Uelig-ious Tolera
tion, which appeared in the Raleigh Register
of the SOth ultimo. I clearly agree with the wri
ter, that it would be much better for the cause
of Religion, if people generally would be less
lavish in passing upon the faith of others, as it is
directly opposite to the language of the New
Testament.
.Let each person examine his own conduct,
and I am certain he will not have much time to
slander his neighbors. facuicus.
moM THE TtALF.IOII RECISTETl.
ItELIGIO US TOL EltJTlQJW
MR. editor One of the greatest
and most precious blessings which is
guaranteed by the Constitution of our
country, is an entire freedom of opin
ion in matters of Religion. It was for
this inestimable blessing that our an
cestors fled from the sanctified hypo
elites of continental Europe. They
settled in the wilderness of America,
among the savages, risking their lives
and fortunes, suffering every privation
incident to such a state of existence,
rather than yield and bow down their
necks to intolerant superstition and un
holy assumed dictatorial power. They
persevered and finally gained that
which was so unjustly denied them, to
wit, Freedom of Conscience. We
now enjoy the glorious privilege of
worshipping the Supreme Being ac
cording to the dictates of our own con
science. No person at this da-, and
in this country, has the exclusive priv
ilege to dictate and arbitiarily enforce
his creed upon his neighbor. No
Genevaen flames can affect the liberal
inquirer after truth ; the ages of intol
erant bigotry have gone by, and the
will, the supreme empire of man, is
left with all that freedom which was
assigned it by the great Creator. These
blessings we actually and substantially
enjoy. It is therefore our duty to treat
every individual according to his des
erts. An innocent difference of opin
ion in matters of religion, should not
destroy the conciliating and pleasing
balm of charity and brotherly love.
The mild and lovely example of Christ,
and the general tenor of the New Tes
tament, point out to mankind univer
sally, the distinguishing features of
those whose minds arc operating, and
whose feelings are enlisted in the cause
of genuine piety towards God. You
never hear the language of detraction,,
bitterness and evenomed spleen from
him who views every individual with
christian charity He will not, nay he
cannot consistently with the religion oi
the Bible, place the seal of condemna
tion upon any one who may differ from
him in some point of doctrine ; and
wTere he to do so, it would be as anti
christian as it is uncharitable. " Char
ity rejoiceth in the Truth." Nor is
truth better or more valuable on ac
count of its being adhered to by a par
ticular sect ; it is the same every where ;
it is like virgin gold, it may be hidden
for a while, but it will eventually burst
forth and emit luminous tints, like the
glorious orb of Heaven. Viewing
Religious Liberty in this light, and
such is its true character among those
who have any regard for christian char
ity, it would seem unnecessary to make
?ny more remarks touching so precious
a blessing. But when we view around
us, persons who have enlisted them
selves under the banners of our Lord
and Saviour, -who spare no pains in
trumpeting the purity of their religion
to the world who are so very zealous
in opposition to even7 other denom
ination but their own and who claim
the title of the peculiar favorites of
heaven, denying the name of Chris
tians to all those who have not subscri
bed to the same human creeds that
they have ; and finding on strict exam
ination that their moral character is
infinitely worse than that of those
whom they denounce deists or infidels,
we are irresistibly forced to the con
clusion, that there is in them a total
want of christian charity and christian
feelings, such as the gospel demands
from every one who sincerely professes
our holy religion.
I was brought to these reflections
from hearing charges very often alleg
ed against certain persons of honora
ble feelings and good moral character,
and who as sincerely believed in the
Sncred Oracles of God the religion
of the Bible, as any other persons in
the whole world. It would be well for
those who are so fond of venturing
their opinions and judging of the re
ligious belief of others, to call to mind
the emph.uical language of Scripture,
which will at once condemn them
u Judge not, lest ye be judged." And
further, who is able to fathom the hid
den recesses and secret operations ot
another's heart ? This very impossi
bility will deter every sincere christian
from hastily pronouncing sentence up
on the religious opinions of his neigh
bor. All that we can do, is to form
our opinions from the external con
duct of mankind. It is therefore our
bounden duty to award christian char
ity and friendship to him whose con
duct is moral and upright, and whose
general behaviour is a transcript of the
purity of his heart. If he has not be
come a member of the church in his
vicinity, does this argue that he is an
infidel ? God forbid it. He may con
scientiously be opposed to a part of
their creeds, such, for instance, as he
believes directly opposite to the spirit
of the gospel Such creeds, I mean,
which are the inventions of men.
Truth and Charity require of us a
great deal of caution in forming our
opinions of the faith of others. To
set up ourselves as judges of the se
crets of men's hearts is arrrogating to
ourselves a power and prerogative
which belong to God alone.
It is true, that the calling a man a
Deist does not make him one ; yet it
is an injury to his feelings and a slan
der on his character.
To misrepresent another's faith or
religious belief, is a hateful vice, and
what makes it more so, is, when it
comes from him who by his open pro
fession of religion would hare th
world to believe thnt he is a believer in
the divine truths of the Gospel !
I hold it as a maxim as clear as the
light of day, that an emptv profession
cannot benefit any one ; it is a pure
heart, and a sincere desire to do the
will of God, that constitute the true
christian character. humanitas,