Newspapers / Western Carolinian. / Jan. 1, 1822, edition 1 / Page 4
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The M:k! whatever the Muse inspires, Jlv soul the tuneful strain a linires....soTT. FIlO?I THE XEW-TOHK UM.N(. P J ST. Our readers will rcaclilv recognize in the fol lowing jeu d'esprita pen that has often lent its relief to our columns. THE HLUE STOCKLYG. A. SKETCH. Her Leghorn hat was of the warm gold tint That setting sunbeams give to summer clouds ; The ribbon that encircled it as blue As spots of sky upon a moonless night, "When stars arc keeping revelry in heaven. There was one little ringlet of her hair That fell beneath her hat It was as smooth And dark as down upon the raven's wing. The 'kerchief that w as o'er her shoulders flung, And veiled her bosom's purity, was woven Of every color the first rainbow wore "When it came, smiling in its hues of beauty, A promise from on high to a wet world. Her robe seemed of the snow just fall'n to earth, Pure from its home in the far winter clouds, As white as spotless, and around her waist (You might have spanned it with your thumb and finger) A girdle of the hue of Indian pearls AVas twined, resembling the taint hue of water That follows the swift bark o'er quiet seas. Her face I saw not but her shape, her form, "Was one of those with which creating bards l'eople a world of their own fashioning; Forms for the heart to love and worship ever ; The visiting angels of our twilight dreams. Her foot was loveliest of created things, Small as a fairv's on a moonlit leaf, Listening the wind-harp's music small as her's "Who left her wedded Oberon, to love Nick Bottom, weaver (who can blame her for it ? I love him too, good natured, honest soul) But 'twas that foot which broke the spell, alas ! Its stocking had a deep, deep tinge of dine. I turned away in sadness, and passed on. C. Variety's the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavor. IBOM THF NEW-YORK. LITERARY REPOSITORY. Concluded from our last." No human creatures can live with more indifference to social honour and disgrace, than the Gipsies ; nor any, more emphatically without God in the world : yet, worthless as life is with out any moral enjoyment, the mere sense of physical existence endears it to them. No great interest is attach ed to their lives ; no hazard, care, nor hope : consequently, they can suffer no fear, vexation, nor despair. A Gipsy is never known to commit suicide. WThen one of a company dies, the sur vivors bewail him with the most in temperate grief ; and when one falls under the sentence of capital punish ment, (no very uncommon case,) he sometimes makes a ludicrous resist ance to the execution of the law. The only sense of honor they ever indicate, respects those of their own fraternity. A man once requested that he might not lie hanged with his face towards the high road ; saying, 44 Many of his ac quaintance passed that way, and he should be very much ashamed to be seen by them hanging on a gallows." ' The Gipsies have nothing like ac knowledged principles of internal gov ernment. In all associations of men, however, it uniformly happens, that one or more individuals are elevated, by their understanding, above the rest ; and when differences arise, or any com mon difficulty involves the society, the superior minds will be regarded as those most capable of directing or de livering the more humble and ineffi cient : and if they assume no direc tion, the welfare of their fellow-men v ill be entrusted, from the very sense of blindness or weakness, to their pre sumptive intelligence and power. The first title of a Gipsy Chief on record, that of Duke, appears only to have been adopted by them in imitation of civilised people, and has long ago been dropped. The Gipsies in Eng land give no titles to th ir leaders ; but those of Hungary and Turkey desig nate their chiefs by the title of Wav wode. The principal authority of this reat man, is in the disposal of what i ms,- he stolen. Every time a Gipsv bri:.;-?. in n booty, he trives account of o th.- Arch-Gipsv, who divides it as fit. 44 To choose their Way- v ( :it . the oinsies take the onnortunitv . --ii - w hi n a r;rcat number of them arc as- a- iiV! .d in one place, commonly in the open field. The elected person is lift ed up three times, amidst the loudest acclamations, and confirmed in his dig nity by presents : his wife undergoes the same ceremon Every one de scended from the family of a former Waywode, is eligible ; but those who are best clothed, not very poor, of large stature, and about the middle age, have the preference. Understanding, or wise conduct, i of no considera tion : therefore, it is easy to distinguish the Waywode from the multitude, by his size and clothing." Though the Gipsies retain their own language, they have no letters. They understand the language of the coun tries where they live ; and the few that can read and write, of necessity confine their learning to their adopted lan guage. They observe no religious rites as their own ; but, as the whim takes them, they pretend to be Mahom medans, Roman Catholics, or Protes tants. No sect, however, has any con fidence in such proselytes : and though they are sometimes permitted to wear the white turban in Turkey, .they are never freed from the payment of the charadsch, (the poll-tax, from which converted Jews are absolved,) because no reliance is placed on their sincerity. The Gipsies, then, are a people with out religion, without letters or science, without property, without settled hab itations, without civil rights, and with out ordinary rules or motives of ac tion. lhere are between 7 and 800,- f , r . i t uuu oi tnem scattereu over Europe, exclusive of those of Egypt and Asia. What a difference would it make in the sum of human happiness, if these idlers, beggars and thieves, were hon est, laborious, intelligent members of society ! We cannot but lie struck m with the cruel and blind policy of go vernments in respect to these wretch ed creatures. England, Italy, Spain, France and Germany, Denmark and Sweden, have severally excluded them from the protection of the state, and all the privileges of citizens ; indeed, from those of rational beings : nor has any community ever yet held out to them that knowledge, which might break up their bad habits, afford them motives to a contrary course, and pro cure them means to pursue it. The millions of these miserable men, who have lived and died in their ignorance and sins, have afforded multiplied oc casions to the enlightened and the gen erous, to reclaim waste places in human society ; and as they exist at present, they are genuine objects of that mercy which characterizes the gospel. Nor does it characterize the written word only ; it is taking an acknowledged place in the public sentiment of all countries ; and it ought, and we hope one day will, lav at the foundation of all legislative and municipal measures. But we would not forget, that the 44 quality of mercy is not strained ;" it does not compass sea and land to find objects, 1 "Jlut droppcth like the gentle dew of Heaven, Upon tlse place btnitath." We are aware, that in the concern we have felt for the beggars of Europe, we have strayed from that principle of utility we commend that of confining our rewards to those we may benefit. Still, this slight sketch of a peculiar people, may be instructive ; if it does not appeal to any feeling of personal or local interest, the philanthropist is not unconcerned with it. It induces a grateful spirit in us, that we live in a land unincumbered with a supernume rary population under insurmountable moral an'd legal disabilities ; and it should induce concern and care for such of the indigent and unfortunate among ourselves, as the provision of society has not favored with means of knowledge and usefulness. Such,, whoever they are, victims of vice, or bad example, or neglected education, are those whom the enlightened and the kind are born to bless, and whom they are taught to encourage and to aid by him who was not only the friend of the righteous, but the deliv erer and benefactor of the sinner. No degree of guilt in a human being, should entirely cut him off from hu man kindness. As long as the intel lectual and moral character is not whol ly corrupt, (and who can ascertain when all capabilities of goodness are extinct r) the redeeming principle m av be resuscitated, and become operative. A certain decree of differing necessa rily accrues from transgression ; this result is ordained by God : but let his creatures leave the measure to him, who has constituted himself sole aven j;t r ; and while they strictly preserve the safety of society, also cherish the latent virtue pf the offending. A lamp to the feet, and a light to the path, will reclaim many of the devious and benighted ; and the legislator or the philosopher who has no pity for the ig norant, and for them who are out of the way, makes no just use of his powers, and has no just sense of the infirmity with which he himself is compassed. LORD CHANCELLOR BACON. FROM THE TERCY ANECDOTES. Amongst the foremost in the ranks of the fawning, treacherous, and cor rupt courtiers that surrounded James the First, we discover with pain one of the greatest men that our country or the world has ever produced. The friends of science must ever regret that this character should apply to so sub lime a genius as Lord Bacon. The proceedings in the case of Peach am show that there never was a more deliberate enemy to the liberties of his country, nor stauncher supporter of ty ranny, even to its extreme verge. This unfortunate man was put to the torture, tried, convicted, and condem ned as a traitor, for certain passages said to be treasonable in a sermon which was never preached, nor intend ed to be so, but only found in writing in his study. The minute made upon the occasion of his torture is still pre served. It is in the hand writing of secretary Winwood, and states that he had been examined 44 before torture, in torture, between torture, and after tor ture," and 44 that nothing could be drawn from him, he still persisting in his obstinate and insensible denials." 1 his monument of tyranny is signed, among others, by Bacon ; and as a fit associate in so barbarous a procedure, also by Sir Jervis Elwis, Lieutenant ol the Tower, who was condemned and executed two years afterwards for be ing an accessary to the detestable and treacherous murder of sir Thomas O verbury. The case of Wraynham, who was punished by the Star Chamber for slan dering Lord Bacon, by accusing him of injustice, is still more melancholy and instructive. lie had a cause in chancery on which his all depended, against sir Edward Fisher ; and, after expending his whole fortune, and that of several compassionate friends who assisted him, he had at last obtained from Lord Bacon's predecessors in the chancery a favorable judgment ; which Lord Bacon thought proper, without any cause assigned, to reverse. Wraynham applied for justice to the King, presenting him with a statement of his case, conveyed in language which, if reprehensible, was at least pardonable in a man in his unhappy situation. The King handed over the imprudent supplicant to the Star Cham ber. The lords asked him how he dared to speak in the manner which he had done of so pure and upright a character as the Lord Chancellor? Wraynham replied by the following simple and affecting statement : 44 In making this appeal, I mustered together all my miseries ; I saw my land taken away which had been be fore established unto me ; and after six and forty orders, and twelve reports made in the cause ; nay, after motions, hearings, and rehearings, fourscore in number, I beheld all overthrown in a moment, and all overthrown without a new bill preferred. 1 discerned the representation of a prison gaping for me, in which I must from henceforth spend all the days of my life without release ; for in this suit I have spent almost 3000, and many of my friends were engaged for me, some injured, others undone ; and with this did ac company many eminent miseries like ly to ensue upon me my wife and four children, the eldest of which being but five years old ; so that we, that did ev ery day give bread to others, must now beg bread of others, or else starve, which is the miserablest of all deaths ; and there being no means to move his majesty to hear the cause, but to accuse his lordship of injustice ; this and all these moved me to be sharp and bitter, and to use words, though dangerous in themselves, yet, I hope, pardonable in such extremities." Mr. Sergeant Crew, on the part of the crown, by way of aggravating Mr. Wraynham's guilt, pronounced a most splendid tulogium on the Lord Chan cellor, whose talents and integrity as a judge w re such, he said, that it was a 44 foul offence" to traduce him. The learned Sergeant further observed, that at all events, the prisoner could not ac cuse the Lord Chancellor of corrup tion : 44 for thanks be to God, he has al ways despised riches, and set honor and justice before his eyes ; and where the magistrate is bribed, it is a sign of a corrupted state." The result of the business was, that the chamber imposed a fine on Wrayn ham, which completely rained him. Now mark the sequel ! Two years after the sacrifice of this unfortunate man and his family to the purity of Lord Chancellor Bacon, his lordship was accused and convicted by his own confession of bribery and corruption, and gave in to parliament under his own hand, a list of the bribes which he had received during the period of his filling the office of Lord Chancellor. In that list how revolting it is to per ceive a bribe received in this very case, from the miserable Wraynham's oppo nent in the suit which reduced his fam ily to beggary, and condemned himself . i i n i i to spenu me rcmuinuer or nis uays in a jail ! Yc extract the annexed compliment to Amer ican Literature from a new production of the celebrated Dugtdd Stewart of Edinburgh It forms a note to the Second part of Lis First Disserta tion exhibiting1 a General View of the Progress of Metaphysical, Ethical, and Political Philoso phy, since the revival of Letters in Europe. This Dissertation is prefixed to the new Supple ment to the Edinburg Encyclopedia, of which the fifth volume, containing- the second part, has just been received in Philadelphia. The favora ble opinion of a man so illustrious and exalted in the world of letters, is to he valued. lint it is evident, from the strain of his remarks, that he is but imperfectly acquainted with the real pro gress of literature in the United States. We do not see why an acquaintance with the philological researches of the Germans was not to be expect ed in these States for many years to come. JVational Gazette. 44 While this Dissertation was in the press, I received a new American pub lication, entitled 4 Transactions of the Historical and Literary Committee of the American Philosophical Society, held at Philadelphia, for Promoting Useful Knowledge,' Vol. I. (Philadel phia, 1819.) From an advertisement prefixed to this volume, it appears that, at a meeting of this learned bod in 1815, it was resolved, 4 That a new committee be added to those already es tablished, to be denominated the Com mittee of History, Moral Science, and General Literature.' It was with great pleasure I observed that one of the first objects to which the committee has di rected its attention is to investigate and ascertain, as much as possible, the structure and grammatical forms of the languages of the aboriginal nations of America. The report of the Corres ponding Secretary, (Mr. Duponceau,) dated January, 1819, with respect to the progress then made in this investi gation, is highly curious and interest ing, and displays not only enlarged and philosophical views, but an intimate ac quaintance with the philological re searches of Adelung, Vater, Humboldt, and other German scholars. All this evinces an enlightened curiosity, and an extent of literary information which could scarcely have been expected in these rising States for many years to come. 44 The rapid progress which the A mericans have lately made in the art of writing has been remarked by various critics, and it is certainly a very impor tant fact in the history of their litera ture. Their state papers were, indeed, al ways distinguished by a strain of an imated and vigorous eloquence ; but as most of them were composed on the spur of the occasion, their authors had little time to bestow on the niceties, or even upon the purity, of diction. An attention to these is the slow offspring of learned leisure, and of the diligent study of the best models. This, 1 pre sume, was Gray's meaning, when he said, that ' good Writing not only re quired great parts, but the very best or those parts ; a maxim which, n true, would point out the state of the public taste with respect to style, as the surest test among any people of the general improvement which their intellectual powers have received ; and which, when applied to our Transat lantic brethren, would justify sanguine expectations of the attainments of the rising generation." TVcWgums. SMVLL FAULTS. EXTRACT mOM IIAAH MORE. Procrastination, is reckoned among the most venial of our faults, and sits so lightly on our minds, that we scarce ly apologize for it. But who can as sure us, that had not the assistance we had resolved to give to one friend un der distress, or the advice to another under temptation, to-day been delayed, and from mere sloth and indolence been put off till to-morrow, it might not have preserved the fortunes of the one, or saved the soul of the other ? It is not enough that wc perform du ties, we must perform them at the right time. We must do the duty of every day in its own season. Every day has its own imperious duties ; we must not depend upon to-day for fulfilling those which we neglected yesterday, for to day might not have been granted us. To-morrow will be equally perempto ry in its demands ; and the succeeding day, if wTe live to see it, will be ready with its proper claims. Indecision, though it is not so often caused by reflection as by the want of it, yet may be as mischievous, for it we spend too much time in balancing probabilities, the period for action is lost. While we are ruminating on difficul ties which may never occur, reconcil ing differences which perhaps do not exist, and poising in opposite scales things of neatly the same weight, the opportunity is lost of producing that good, which a firm and manly decision would have effected. Idleness, though itself 44 the most unperforming of all the vices," is how ever the pass through which they all enter, the stage on which they all act. Though supremely passive itself, it lends a willing hand to all evil, practi cal as well as speculative. It is the abettor of every sin, whoever commits it, the receiver of all booty, whoever is the thief. If it does nothing itself, it connives at all the mischief that is done by others. Vanity is exceedingly misplaced when ranked, as she commonly is, in the catalogue of small faults. It is under her character of harmlessness that she loes all her mischief. She is indeed often found in the society of great virtues. She does not follow in the train, but mixes herself with the company, and by mixing mars it. The use our spiritual enemy makes of her is a master stroke. When he cannot prevent us from doing right actions, he can accomplish his purpose almost as well 4fc by making us vain of them." When he cannot deprive the public of our benevolence, he can defeat the ef fect to ourselves by poisoning the prin- . ciple. When he cannot rob others of . the good effect of the deed, he can gain his point by robbing the doer of his reward. Peevishness is another of the minor miseries. Human life, though suffi ciently unhappy, cannot contrive to furnish misfortunes so often as the passionate and the peevish can supply impatience. To commit our reason and temper to the mercy of every ac quaintance, and of every servant, is not making the wisest use of them. If we recollect that violence and peevish ness are the common resource of those whose knowledge is small, and whose arguments are weak, our very pride might lead us to subdue our passion, if we had not a better principle to resort to. Anger is the common refuge of insignificance. People who feel their character to be slight, hope to give it weight by inflation. But the blown bladder at its fullest distension is still empty. Sluggish characters, above all, have no right to be passionate. They should be contented with their own congenial faults. Dullness, however, has its impetuosities and its fluctua tions as well as genius. It is on the coast of heavy Bceotia that the Euripus exhibits its unparalleled restlessness and agitation. Trifling is ranked among the venial faults. But if time be one grand tal ent given us in order to our securing eternal life ; if we trifle away that time so as to lose that eternal life, on which by not trifling we might have laid hold, then will it answer the end of sin. A life devoted to trifles not only takes away the inclination, but the capacity for higher pursuits. The truths of Christianity have scarcely more influ ence on a frivolous than on a profligate character. If the mind be so absorb ed, not merely with what is vicious, but with what is useless, as to be thor oughly disinclined to the activities of a life of piety, it matters little what the cause is which so disinclines it. If these habits cannot be accused of great moral evil, yet it argues a low state of mind, that a being, who has an eternity at stake, can abandon itself to trivial pursuits. If the great concern of life cannot he secured without habitual watchfulness, how is it to be secured by habitual carelessness ? It will af ford little comfort to the trifler, when at the last reckoning he gives in his long negative catalogue, that the more ostensible offender was worse employ ed. The trifler will not be weighed in the scale with the profligate, but in the balance of the sanctuary.
Jan. 1, 1822, edition 1
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